Are you ready for huckleberry season? Huckleberry picking rakes are currently in stock and ready for the 2023 huckleberry season!
SPECIAL NOTE:
The post-Covid SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION has reached us in 2022, so we could not access the WIRE loop tine model of huckleberry picker/rake we’ve sold since 2008. At this moment, we are unsure when the situation will improve, according to our manufacturer.
However, since the purple picker/rake has been so popular, we currently offer the hard but flexible PLASTIC tine model (in beautiful purplish color) again for the 2023 season. This model takes a bit more finesse to use than the wire tine model but is essentially identical in function (and some huckleberry hounds prefer).
ORDER THE PLASTIC-TINE MODEL HERE!
We do not know how the upcoming 2023 huckleberry crop will pan out, but the warm spring is a good sign. We’ve seen pictures of small huckleberries already beginning to form on the bushes. We are crossing our fingers, hoping this will be a good year. Other than that, we hope for more moderate summer temps than we had in previous years. Prolonged hot, dry weather leads to a short, poor crop, as seen in 2021. Some value-added huckleberry producers (jam, syrup, etc.) who were forced to downscale operations are still recovering.
Since we are right on the edge of the huckleberry season, we want to clear up some misconceptions about picking rakes.
Huckleberry Rakes Do Not Damage Plants
Frequently, we receive inquiries as to the safety of using rakes to pick huckleberries. Over the years, we have responded to comments with the facts about the issue — especially questions about the damage to plants when using huckleberry pickers.
The blueberry industry has been using rakes to pick commercial berries for several decades, maybe even a century.
Native Americans traditionally harvested huckleberries using rakes carved from wood or made from the backbone of a salmon or steelhead together with the rib cage on one side. (See the following resource: USDA: A Social History of Wild Huckleberry Harvesting in the Pacific Northwest.)
No one would be using rakes if they damaged the plants, much less killing them.
We have included extensive instructions (and videos) on how to use huckleberry picking rakes on the following pages: