Blue fingers and blood spots

      Having managed to get myself out of sequence with the post on making bramble jam here's what you could call the prequel.
      The season of plenty is now in full production and this time it is the turn of the first crop of brambles for harvesting, and then straight into the jam pan for a little alchemy.
      Our retired farmer friend gives us full run of the two or three acres of orchard he owns and deep inside the groves of apple, plum and pear trees are a couple of dead apple trees that have become the supports for some fantastic brambles. As well as that they also make home for lots of wildlife and a larder for the wildlife too.
      The downside to the picking is the blue-dyed fingers from the juice and the lacerated arms that you get from reaching for the extra succulent clump that is always just out of reach.
      Right, the orders from the boss are to 'pick about four and a half pounds of the little beauties and don't eat too many while you are doing it'.
      Would I ever do that? Anyway there are lots of plums to eat, much safer.