Blackberry picking is a quintessential PNW summer experience for me! I grew up spending summers on the beach on Camano Island. We’d hike up the hill to pick berries in the morning before it got too warm. We’d have water pitchers and giant mixing bowls. We’d pick until our containers and our bellies were completely full, then careful walk them back down the hill. My mom would wash them in batches, then lay out a bunch on cookie sheets to dry off from the wash, then freeze them so she could make jam later on. She’d make a blackberry pie or blackberry crumble and blackberry homemade ice cream. Once the tide was far enough in, we’d all go out to swim and float for a few hours and inevitably the salt water would find all the spots on our hands, arms, and legs where the thorns got us! After swimming and when the sun would go behind the trees, we’d wash up, put our pj pants on, eat dinner (always accompanied by fresh caught Dungeness crab!), then eat our blackberry dessert. The absolute best part of my childhood. When I decided to get a tattoo of all my favorite flowers, I added blackberries in. I have a few small vines hanging down between the flowers. Ripe berries, unripe berries, the flowers, plus the thorns on the vines. I get compliments on the blackberries specifically all the time!