How to Dress for Blackberry Picking
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Blackberry picking – it’s no beauty pageant. If you want to have a good time doing it, you have to dress for the occasion, and that means leaving your house in a crazy get up. If your neighbor’s don’t raise an eyebrow when they see you heading out, you’re doing something wrong. It’s as simple as that.
Over the years, I’ve perfected my blackberry picking look. It isn’t pretty, but it does a good job of protecting my family from the thorns, chiggers, ticks and poison ivy. My youngest daughter was kind enough to model it for you (quite generous given her fashionista tendencies). I now present, the key ingredients to a good blackberry picking outfit:
Long pants and tall boots are a blackberry-picking must. They’ll protect you from chiggers, ticks and poison ivy, too. I recommend a pair of galoshes. They’re tall enough to tuck your pants into.
Wild blackberry canes are thorny, and you’re bound to get a few pokes and scratches along the way. Protect your arms with a long-sleeved shirt or make yourself a pair of blackberry-picking sleeves out of an old pair of cotton tights. Just cut the top and feet off of your tights, and you’ll be left with a set of sleeves. These are great because they allow you to wear a short-sleeve shirt, and they’re thicker (read: better protection) than most shirt sleeves. The elastic in the tights ensures that they stay in place while you pick. I consider these a must-have accessory for kids, but it wouldn’t hurt to make yourself a pair, too.
My husband also likes to wear a glove on his left hand (he’s a righty). This allows him to grab a briar with one hand, while he picks the berries off of it with his other hand.
A good hat is my final must-have accessory. It helps to keep the ticks off, and provides some much-needed protection from the sun.
Bonus points if it’s a John Deere hat 🙂
Once you get home from picking, I’d also recommend jumping straight in the shower to wash off any bugs or poison ivy oils that may be hanging out on your skin. An ounce of prevention, and all that good stuff.
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This is totally accurate! LOL
The cotton arm protectors would get caught in the thorns. And the hat too. The galoshes are a good idea because the thorns will bounce off that. Some gloves that won’t get shredded by the briars would also be handy. Honestly, I would probably be up for trying a thick rainjacket to wear, just so that the briars wouldn’t be poking into my clothing.
I also wear a net and spray it with off, put it over a hat. It gets caught once in awhile but easy to get loose