Picking blackberries to make a pie is kind of like picking MLAs to make a government.

It was one of those mindless thoughts that come to mind once in a while.

This odd thought reached out from the nether corners of my cranium as I was reaching through a mass of brambles, trying to avoid getting a nasty prick.

I was stretching for a berry that looked like it was better than all the rest. It looked so brightly dark and shiny black and deliciously juicy that I felt it was worth the risk of delving deeper into the mess of thorny canes… but just as in politics, you don’t really know for sure what you’re getting until it’s baked in a pie and you get a taste of the final product.

Then there’s the reality that the berry you pick might not even end up in the pie.

Indeed, you may not even end up with the pie you were planning when you went out to pick that berry.

And then you have to wonder if the effort and risk were worth that single, albeit beautiful berry. Even if you do get the pie you planned for and it turns out to be just as good as you hoped, how do you know it was that special berry – one small part of the overall mix – that gave the pie that certain touch of je ne sais quoi?

So this week, after we came back from our annual blackberry foraging foray, we tossed a bunch of berries on a couple of waffles and threw the rest in the freezer.

If Christy Clark could wait forever to switch recipes on us at the last minute, and if John Horgan can keep his berries in the fridge till the whole province has forgotten… what was it we were supposed to remember? Something in May rings a bell…

Well, anyway, then certainly Donna and I can wait till things cool down before we get out the pastry cutter and pie plates and fire up the oven.

Past experience has taught us that like MLAs, all blackberries are not created equal.

And some of the finest blackberries can be found right here in 91Ô­´´.

Okay, maybe the political analogy breaks down a little at this point, but they’re out there lining the roadsides and ditches… ripe for the picking.