Well, not really woodworking, but there IS wood in them thar trees!
From my blog this past weekend:
Summers in NW Missouri involve many outdoor activities, including setting aside time to collect berries from blueberry bushes and mulberry trees. Our trees are loaded with berries! And the blueberries should be ready to pick in a few days, if wild animals don’t get to them before we do.
This weekend we had wonderful weather, everything is green around us and, for a change, no storms have hit our area in the last few days. The ground has dried to some extent, at least sufficiently so that driving the truck in 4-wheel-drive mode was a cinch. Time to get the girls on the back of the pick-up, and head for the two largest and most prolific trees:
Procedure:
1. First, a tarp of similar implement is placed on the ground, closest to the area where one suspects the berries are most likely to fall.
2. Then one must shake the living daylights out of the limb(s); no climbing is allowed for older folks, and was ruled as unsafe for the little ones.
3. Collect as many berries while successfully avoiding stepping on them. Better yet: Fold the tarp into a smaller area, from which one scoops the berries carefully – no smashing is allowed at this point
4. Maximize the take by shaking the limbs a little more, to see if more have loosened since they were first shaken.
5. Count the number of quarts, or gallons, or buckets, etc., and take home to render into delicious jams and jellies.
And a couple of the photos of our busy granddaughters:
-- Al Navas, St Joseph, MO, http://sandal-woodsblog.com
5 comments so far
Karson
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25802 posts in 1296 days
posted 520 days ago
Looks good.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 960 days
posted 520 days ago
Let the staining of lips and fingers begin!
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
Scott Bryan
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20707 posts in 718 days
posted 520 days ago
Sounds like a wonderful way to spend time with the grandkids but to tell the truth I haven’t found anything that wasn’t fun to do with them.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
Betsy
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2386 posts in 792 days
posted 520 days ago
Now that sounds like a whole bushel of fun. Only thing better would have been if one of those limbs came off——then you’d have berries and some good turning wood!
Thanks for sharing.
-- You can't get a hug from Facebook.
Al Navas
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289 posts in 771 days
posted 520 days ago
Thank you all!
Karson: It was wonderful!
Douglas: Stains on the bottoms of feet, on hands… :-)
Scott: The girls are terrific, and always a bundle of fun.
Betsy: One and a half gallons worth of jelly – our daughter got it done today. Yummy!!! Unfortunately, one of the limbs on the largest mulberry tree is damaged near the tree’s trunk, from the ice storm this past Winter. I hope we don’t lose it, or a good part of the berries will be lost.
-- Al Navas, St Joseph, MO, http://sandal-woodsblog.com