u/Tricky_Being_7383

About three weeks ago, Miss Bonita Pepita was wandering the countryside with her mom and two sisters, and after a couple weeks getting acclimated to indoor and urban life with the help of our husky mix and four cats, she met a wonderful family yesterday at an adoption event and we dropped her at her new home this evening.

She was so happy to see the family again and started making herself at home right away - such a special girl and I'm just so thrilled for her and her adoptive family!

We'll be giving some extra focus to our boy as he processes that his foster sister is no longer his roomie - hoping to reunite them for a playdate in the future though!

There are four thornless blackberry varietals who serve in Berry Kingdom, and three of them have aligned in their production enough for a direct berry comparison!

Top: Black Satin

Just starting to pop off, and my plant is in its third season. He produced some sad and weird berries in year 1, improved last year in quantity and size, but not in flavor. This year he is going to be very productive, but I'm still not wowed by the flavor of the berries - they are both watery and tart, and aren't the most pleasant for fresh eating. I'm roasting some up for a compote this morning to see if they shine better when baked though. I'll give him next season to see if the flavor of the berries continues to improve, but if not, he'll be losing his plot in Berry Kingdom to give up more space to his up-and-coming neighbor, the Columbia Star.

Middle: Columbia Star

Also in her third season, she is rapidly catching up in reputation to Berry Kingdom's prodigal son and golden child, the Probably Navajo. She is tenacious with her canes, but not obstinately conquesty like the Boysenberry, and her production this year has been early (I started harvesting toward the end of June), bountiful, and so rich in flavor. The berries have the sweetness of a more traditional blackberry that's gone just a hair overripe, but with a firm and satisfying texture that makes eating them fresh and absolute pleasure. She also provided a great source of food for our local pollinators with her early flowering!

Bottom: Probably Navajo

Paragon of virtue, strength, and generosity, my Probably Navajo sets a shining example for all the other denizens of Berry Kingdom (photos 2 and 3 show him off a bit 😍). He is in his 6th season now I believe, but from the get go has been an excellent and consistent producer. I cannot remember with 100% certainty his variety, but it's either Arapaho or Navajo, and given his usual production timeline he's most likely Navajo. He also grows strong but polite canes and is very cooperative when he needs to be reorganized - and he *never* disrespects the space of his neighbors (looking at you, Boysenberry and Driveway Raspberries). The berries are quintessential blackberry flavor and texture, and immediately transport me back to childhood Augusts of picking buckets of blackberries off the long hedge of thorned blackberries that grew feral along our fence line. The main trick with these is they will look ready for several days before they are truly best to harvest - I look for the slightest mattifying of the skin, a small gap forming between the crown of the berry and its stem, and just the right amount of give/squish when you apply gentle pressure.

My fourth varietal is a Triple Crown, and she is about a week or so behind the Black Satin and Prob Navajo, so no ripe berries yet. She's in her third season as well, and has had somewhat a rough go of it, producing berries the last couple summers I can only describe as "having a cob" 😬 but I have hope she'll do better this summer after some targeted care and support this winter and spring!

Had some blueberries to use up and a box of the KA muffin mix burning a hole in my pantry, so behold! Impulse muffins!

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I used salted Melt non-dairy "butter" sticks, full-fat Oatly (spouse is Celiac and has an allergy to cow's dairy), and added some Vietnamese Cinnamon, dried lemongrass, and blueberries + some secret raspberries from our garden. Topped it with some crumbs left over in a bag of "Lil' Bucks" buckwheat and honey clusters, and ended up with some genuinely excellent Monday treats!

Hugh is healing up great from his unilateral enucleation, and tomorrow he'll be joining his new family, where he'll be the center of attention and doting 🖤

He's come a long way from being dropped out of a car on the highway, and we are going to miss his sweet sassy self trundling about the house, but I am so excited for him to start this new chapter of his life!

My thornless blackberry is going on 5 or 6(?) seasons now, and has proven himself to be a paragon of grace and generosity - he is the shining star of my Berry Kingdom, and I have finally begun upgrading him from his humble wood trellis beginnings to something more fitting of his regal size and noble life goals.

Come fall I'll be able to rearrange him more intentionally, but in the meantime he is mostly on the new arch and can set a good example for my marionberry, who is on her third season and still getting her bearings after being relocated further away from the boysenberry (out of frame), who was very devoted to smothering her (and possibly all life in the known universe?).

Our foster is headed into surgery today to have his ruptured left eye removed - all indicators point toward a smooth and successful procedure, but I'll still be spending the day worrying about him.

He has some likely adopters lined up, so this is a big but important step toward setting him and his future family up for success!