We’ve had a wonderful summer with a lot of warm and sunny days and enough rain to keep the soil moist and this perfect mix overloads us with tasty and juicy berries. Even in my own garden, I have a lot of tasty raspberries and some small strawberries. The apples got a magnificent start, but with the abundance of rain from the last few weeks en sudden colder temperatures, I’m unsure about the harvest.

When we go out to the woods, taking our containers and mosquito- spray, it’s not only us who are looking for the goodies. All 3 of my dogs love the berries as well and with their excellent noses, they find them without any problem. Even Oona, the most clumsy one, found out how to only pick the berry without destroying the plant. It’s fantastic to watch- but one has to keep an eye on them so they won’t take the easy option which would be stealing from us 🙂

In the book “The Organic Artist“, I found several recipes for nature-based and natural artist supplies like ink, paper, brushes, clay, and much more. They also shared a recipe for ink from blueberries, and this late summer with an abundance of berries seemed perfect to give it a try.

First I had to freeze a few- I didn’t take much as this is my first try- that then had to melt a bit and being squished and crushed as much as possible to get as much pigment as possible.

When going into a small bottle, salt and vinegar need to be added for preservation.

The final result is a small bottle with a reddish-colored ink- but as you can see in the last picture, it turns blue again when it tries.

This is just a few drops of ink on paper, but the color intensity is surprising! It is, of course, natural ink so it will be affected when left in sunlight. I now only have to get my windows and table clean again as crushing the berries made purple splashes all over the kitchen haha! But it’s definitely fun to try. Some of the other recipes for ink are less easy, but I’m curious to test some more!