OREGON BLACKBERRIES! YUM! AND FREE TOO!


I googled the Oregon blackberry and this particular species, as opposed to the species found mostly along the Oregon coast, IS more or less a noxious weed, & it surely does seem to have taken over the State! But what a wonderful, delicious "weed" it is!

The Himalaya blackberry was introduced by Luther Burbank at the turn of the century. He thought it was from the Himalaya mountains in Asia. Later he learned it was actually R. procerus of Germany. This is the common blackberry in the Pacific Northwest and is found wherever humans disturbed the land. The Himalaya has become a well known weed, as well as a source of berries for pies and jams, however, it is not commercially grown.


When our boys were little we used to vacation on the Oregon Coast most summers and as a family would pick and fill containers of that species of berry, tote them home, and I would make up jars and jars of jam. The memories of those vacations, the taste, the emotional feelings, always come flooding back everytime we pass through this area. Needless to stay we stopped several times to munch our fill of these wonderful, wild "delights", laughing at each others blue-stained happy smiles.


God gave us memories that we might have roses in December. ~J.M. Barrie, Courage, 1922