why blackberries?

original art by Sarah Hart

original art by Sarah Hart

Many places have their iconic crop.  In New Mexico, where I live, it’s the green chile.  In Iowa it’s corn; in Georgia, the peach; upstate New York, apples; in Orange County – well, duh.

And northern California?

Okay.  So blackberries may not be the first crop to come to mind when you think of Humboldt County.  For me, though, blackberries epitomize the place.  They are luscious and juicy and rich with flavor, and they spring up rampant and uncultivated along the wild margins of civilization.  You have to work a little to get to the best bushes, and you might get a little scratched up along the way.  But you know it will be worth it, because when that fat dark fruit squishes against your taste buds and floods you with everything that is good and sweet and real, it brings as well an edge of tartness that grounds you firmly in the here and now.

Wrecker, which comes out this February, is set in amid the giant trees of northern California’s magical Lost Coast.  That’s Humboldt County, mainly.  And a lot of the trips I’ve taken to Humboldt, both before and during writing Wrecker, have included encounters with wild blackberries.  A few have included encounters with that other iconic crop.  But the legal system frowns on that; and besides, this book is about something else.

It’s about the thorny path and sweet rewards of raising a kid.  It’s about love in a world where not everything is perfect – some mothers land in prison, some friends disappear into the woods – but where, in spite of its tendency to break your heart, love is the only thing that has a shot at saving you.

I’ve asked the friendly people at Mad River Farm to put together some special jars of wild Humboldt blackberry jam.  It’s an essential ingredient for the blackberry jam cake I’ll be serving at Wrecker readings and booksignings.  For every jar they sell, they make a donation to the Humboldt County Library (go, guys!).  If you’d like to get some for yourself, you can reach Marika at 707-822-0248, or go to their web page at www.mad-river-farm.com.  I’ll be sharing recipes in future posts.

Enjoy responsibly, as the beer ads say.  In this case, I think it means washing the jam off your hands before you touch any books.

What foods say “home” to you?

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