Blackberries

My mom has raspberry bushes at home in St. Louis. She makes amazing raspberry jam with them. So, the idea of having some blackberry bushes on the Ranch seemed like it would be okay. Mmmm. No.

Blackberry bushes are wild. Invasive. Enormous. Impossible. They can be six feet tall and extend for acres. Yes, acres. We have about 15 acres of wild, invasive, enormous, impossible blackberry bushes on the Ranch.

Slowly, but surely, they are coming out. It started with the goats. They chewed everything chewable within reach. From there, we hired Bud with the Kabota tractor and the grapple. Until his tractor broke.

Lately, Greg with the Case tractor and backhoe has been going at them. He has been doing a great job. His work uncovered entire rock walls that we didn’t even know about. He has even been getting the blackberry roots.

Then his tractor broke.

The blackberries may have won a battle, but the war is not over.

— KLM