THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407090198
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Friday began foul on the road but ended fair at the Farmer's Market in Virginia Beach with a pint of the sweetest blackberries I ever met - or et.
It started with the old car's right front tire blowing out on narrow Princess Anne Road. I nursed it into the market's parking lot and sought relief in Bergey's, which cranks out the best ice cream on the East Coast or anywhere.
Fortified with two scoops of vanilla, I called AAA, where Deborah, her voice soothing, said help was coming, and why not relax with a Bergey's ice cream cone?
So I had cherry supreme. That ice cream and AAA are two of the best bets ever to bless this land.
Then toddled to Rob's Garden Shoppe for fresh tomatoes, first of the year, in a sack like Santy's pack. Also bought a pint of blackberries twice the size of those of yore.
And ate them while talking with Rob Mays, who said he likes to pour Bergey's cream on the berries. It's enough to make Gabriel drop his horn and come to Earth.
A scarcity of rain has turned this season's berries extra sweet because the bramble bushes haven't drawn up excessive water that would dilute sugar in the plants.
But then, Mays said, the berries would be even bigger had there been more rain. Mother Nature is forever offsetting things.
If you're of a mind to raise blackberries, a plant costs $4.99. Three for $13 would feed a family of four during the season, from early July to early August. Rob's blueberries also are reaching sweet perfection and will thrive until mid-August.
You have to mulch the plants - Rob uses pine bark - to keep weeds out and the water in. During a dry spell, give each plant a drink of three gallons of water a day.
Mays favors the black satin variety, as do I, after tasting them.
The few tiny seeds are in a soft core at the berry's center. The stems are thornless. Peter Rabbit wouldn't find refuge there.
It is a jovial crew with Rob, his mother, Kakie, Joe McEntire and Audrey Salzman. Old friends drop by. Friday I found Russell Bowen.
When Bowen retired recently from teaching at Lake Taylor High School, Rob strung a banner aloft at the party honoring her: 41 YEARS WITH CLASS!
That salute smacks of his father, Jim Mays, one of the finest word-smiths ever to serve these newspapers and Landmark radio and television. Jim also started the family farm at Blackwater, still producing from vines he planted.
A tow truck (Milton's) pulled up. Emmett Powers, working the old car onto it, noticed a leak in the fuel line. Resourceful, he patched it and delivered the old car and me, both of us restored, to Norfolk.
On my desk was a note from Sidney Berg, director of the Tidewater Winds: ``THE AIR CONDITIONER HAS BEEN REPAIRED FOR SUNDAY EVENING'S CONCERT!''
The free band concert will begin at 7:30 at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk. The doors last Sunday had to close at 7:10 when 1,600 arrived. This time the hall, as well as the music, will be cool. by CNB