Blackberry Winter

Sunday and Monday were cold and windy, more like February than April. Could it have been blackberry winter?

It's true, the blackberries are in full bloom, and this usually doesn't happen until the tenth of May. I suppose everything is running two or three weeks ahead this year because of our mild winter and spring.

The big wood stove that heated our house was always taken down during the summer and stored in a back room out of the way. It didn't matter what the thermometer said, we couldn't take that stove down until after the tenth of May and blackberry winter was over. After that, the stove was taken down, the insects came out, and the shoes came off.

The frost threatened but didn't make it to our house this week. The wind has settled and the air is balmy again. It looks like there is going to be a bumper crop of blackberries.

It's all good.

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Amish in Stantonville, Tennessee

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