It’s that time of year again when the blackberry bushes are in full swing and everyone in the area of Welton (including all the staff and children at Free Rangers!) are out to pick them!

Last week and over the past few days when we have been venturing out on Forest School we have noticed some Blackberry bushes around the farm, paddock and orchard. Tiff and I took the plunge and got in the bushes (whilst getting thoroughly scratched and stung) picking and passing some juicy blackberries to the children to put in their cups. We have also been lucky enough to go along the greenway to the green bridge to pick some more where we also saw the roadworks in Welton in full force!

Back in the Orchard we have noticed how well our Apple trees are doing and wondered what we could do or make with all the apples…my brain pinged and thought apple and blackberry smoothies!

We are lucky to have a range of apple trees in our Orchard (which Ed is still currently teaching me on which apple is which!!) We have “James Greives” “Blenheim” “Jackets and waistcoats” and “Russet”. However we also have another apple tree by the cabin which is where we have collected our apples from for our smoothies. I asked Ed the name of these apples and with a smug grin he tells me “The beauty of Welton”. I looked at Ed with an expression of disbelief and he admitted he didn’t know the official name of that apple tree, so he has decided to name it “The beauty of Welton”.

So after collecting the apples and more blackberries with the children we came back to the Burrow and gave them all a good wash. Tiff had very kindly brought in her smoothie maker and our activity was ready to go.

We set up a table with ready peeled apples the children independently chopped up the apples into small bits and placed them into the pot along with the blackberries and a bit of water. The adult used the blender and the children watched the fruits whizz around turning into a deep purple juice. A few moments later when our smoothie was ready, we all had a taste!

Our very simple recipe for our apple and blackberry smoothie is: