When life gives you blackberries, make something delicious! 
 

Blackberries are tasty, but they’re also aggressive growers and can crowd out prairie plants. The stubborn blackberry patch at the KU Field Station's Rockefeller Prairie is producing a bumper crop this year, and we're planning to make the best of it.
 

Whether you turn them into jam, pie, cobbler, or smoothies, or eat them fresh off the stem, we invite you to join us to pick as many berries as you like. By harvesting the fruit, you’ll help remove the seeds and support the prairie’s health.
 

We waited all of June for the berries to ripen, but they are finally starting to color up. While most are still maturing, the early ripe berries are sweet and juicy. We expect a good wave of ripening with the sun this week, with fruitful picking this weekend. Register for the event—to receive updates—by emailing wendyholman@ku.edu. You'll get an email update a couple of days before event to let you know if the berries are ready or if we need to wait a little longer.
 

What to bring: Baskets or bags for your berries. Water. Tick spray.
 

Wear: Long, thick pants to protect skin from brambles, closed-toe shoes.
 

Where: Meet at the Rockefeller Prairie trailhead (Google Maps) at 7:30 p.m. From there, we’ll walk about 0.3 miles along the paved trail before heading into the bramble-filled prairie to pick. There is a parking lot at the trailhead.
 

Register: Email Wendy Holman (wendyholman@ku.edu), education program coordinator for the KU Field Station.

The KU Field Station is managed by the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research.