In which blackberries are delicious, and there's a poem I like to share

Every Swamp kid picks blackberries--either in great huge buckets as part of a family effort, or just as a casual grab-n-go while waiting for a friend, or a bus, or whatever.

Most adults here also pick blackberries, usually in moderation, a bucket or two each summer, made into jam to carry summer forward into winter, or syrup to drizzle over Sunday pancakes.

Moderation in blackberries is not my style.

blackberry crisp

When the berries are ripening, at least one of us will head down to the bottom of the pasture every morning to pick some.  Blackberries top our summer oatmeal breakfasts, they go into jam and syrup, they get mixed in with applesauce to add a bit of color and tang.

I know that blackberry pie is the go-to dessert for many people, but I'm more about crunch.  Over the years, I've messed around quite a lot with recipes, and am quite happy with this one.

Haiku Farm Blackberry Crisp

The bottom:

Blackberries, mixed with sugar, agave, maple syrup, or whatever you have handy until they are as sweet as you like.  If you prefer a bit of tang, be sure to include a few berries that are not-quite-ripe.

Butter the bottom of your pie pan, casserole dish or baking container, and then dump in sweetened blackberries to fill the lower 3/4 of it.

The top

Oatmeal uncooked (traditional, not quick)

Oat flour (or almond flour, or flour, or whatever you have)

Butter, a generous amount 

Vanilla, a splash

Cinnamon, quite a lot

Raw pepitas and/or sunflower seeds (optional, I use both)

Brown sugar, agave, maple syrup or some other sweetener, to taste

If you like the topping to be more like a cake, use more flour. If you prefer the topping to crumble, omit the flour.  

Vanilla makes it taste like cookies--if that suits you, use a lot.  If not, leave it out.  

The cinnamon gets drowned in the blackberry flavor unless you dump in a bunch, so if you like cinnamon, be generous.  

Seeds like pepitas and sunflower seeds (unroasted) make it extra-crunchy.

Spread the topping on the blackberry mixture, and bake at 350*F for 30 minutes or until the top is crispy.  Maybe put it under the broiler for a minute or two at the end to caramelize?  

Serve warm to friends, with ice cream.  Lick the bowl when you're done.

August

When the blackberries hang

swollen in the woods, in the brambles

nobody owns, I spend

all day among the high

branches, reaching

my ripped arms, thinking

of nothing, cramming

the black honey of summer

into my mouth; all day my body

accepts what it is.  In the dark

creeks that run by there is

this think paw of my life darting among

the black bells, the leaves; there is

this happy tongue.

--Mary Oliver