Short armed, pickin', purple berry eater...

The berries are in full swing here.  I went out and picked, first, in the chicken yard, then in back of our  pole barn. 

The chickens were curious, as they usually are, when I am in the yard.  Then... I dropped a berry.  The race was on!  They do know what those are!  I made a point of picking (and tossing) a few berries as I went along.  I dropped a couple, too, that I hadn't intended to, but they didn't last long enough to worry about...  I use a #10 coffee can for picking, and it was nearly half full by the time I finished in the chicken area.  The chickens would have been quite happy to have me continue to pick, if I had kept up with the random tossing of fresh berries.

I went to the pole barn, and worked there.  I might bug Husband, depending on how much I get finished, that I would like a ladder.  I was able to finish off my can, but there were some lovely berries, just much higher than what I could reach.  I took the full can in, and started mashing berries for jelly/syrup.  Husband had been cleaning out the freezer for me, I have found that my hands just ache after I clean the freezer.  I use big mitts, but that makes it very hard to pick things up.  I had been asking Husband if he could get some of the jelly out of the freezer, when he picks up a big juice container I had in there. 

What's this?

I laughed.  It's berry juice I didn't get to last year.  So, I have two big bowls of berry juice.  One will be jelly, the other, blackberry syrup.  I really enjoy maple syrup, but this is a close second.  And it goes over ice cream well, too...

And the chickens?  They were given the "sludge" (the seeds and skins, etc., that were left after I mashed the berries), and they nearly were climbing over one another to get at the stuff!  I have to skim the top of the berry juice, and they will, once again, have a fine bit of feasting...

And boy, does it make the next time I clean the chicken house unique...