cobblerless

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Just in case this post becomes a Hollywood movie, let's call it "Cobblerless in Seattle." Of course, I've never been to that western city or have any idea even if they eat cobbler there. (I think they drink a lot of coffee while watching it rain. And rain, or the lack of such, is at the root of this entry.)

June was the hottest, and perhaps the driest on record. The weather affected this year's blackberry crop. The few scattered rains of July came too late, most of the berries that I've found the past four weeks have been small and non-juicy.

Blackberries—and I'm not talking about those devices you carry in your hand and text message your mom with—are odd sorts of plants. They fall in an in-between category botanists label as "brambles," being neither a shrub nor a herbaceous non-woody plant. There are also many different types of brambles. In 1960, UT's Dr. Aaron Sharp identified 30 species of blackberries, dewberries and raspberries found in the state of Tennessee alone.

Although the root is a perennial, the blackberry canes themselves last two years. The flowers and fruit grow on the second-year canes which die back in the fall. It has recently been discovered that blackberries are high in antioxidants, as well as being loaded with vitamins A and C.

But this year, they do not seem to be loaded with juicy flavor. I haven't found enough to make a descent cobbler, so if anyone has a spare cobbler they are not using, please let me know.

Until then, I remain cobberless.


- Photo taken at Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area.

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