Huckleberry ----State Fruit of Idaho

A few weeks back my friend Penelope stopped by, thrust a plastic bucket in my hands, told me to get a stepstool and my bear spray.  We then were off to pick huckleberries.  This was my first foray into the woods to gather this elusive fruit.  We drove up into the mountains, found a patch and in 3 hours time picked a decent amount of berries.  I still have them in the freezer.

Finding a berry patch that hasn't been found by another human or bears requires some exploring.  But once you find a patch you sit down in the middle of it (reason for the step stool) and start picking.  The berries are hidden under the leaves and the branches need to be turned over to find them.  It is quite labor intensive, picking one berry at a time and transferring it to the bucket.  I found that trying to hold more than two berries in your hand before putting them in the bucket results in dropping at least one.  And when I tell you the price they charge in the grocery store for these you will understand that can make you really sad.

Huckleberry bushes only grow in the wild.  They cannot be propogated.  Therefore the local grocery store charges $60 per gallon for these fresh berries.  (up $10 from last yr).  

On our drive last week I showed the family how to pick.  It was along a road, we only picked for 10 minutes, and of course we had to taste our harvest so we didn't bring any home, but did get these photos.