Some interesting stories from huckleberry pickers around the region:
I’m Your Huckleberry
Huckleberries may quite possibly be the best thing about summer in McCall. These round purple berries have a tart kick that make them the perfect addition to pies, ice cream, pancakes, syrup and more. …
Finding a bountiful huckleberry patch can require a bit of adventure. Start by getting to the right elevation (between 4,000 and 6,000 feet). Forest Service and old logging roads are a great way to access these high country areas. Huckleberry shrubs range in size from 2 feet to 6 feet and some of the best patches can be found in shaded areas. The leaves of a huckleberry bush are deep green with thin stems while the berries are small and range from deep red to purple to blue-black. Huckleberries typically ripen between July and September in the McCall area.
Check out the full story for a detailed list of picking tips
Personal Foodstory: Tart, sweet and wild, huckleberries represent this family of foraging jokesters
… If you’ve ever been huckleberry picking, you know that to reach even the half–gallon mark takes approximately an eternity. …
Huckleberrying requires patience, grit and awkward crouching. Swatting mosquitos and sweating in the summer heat, you must crawl through mountainous underbrush as scraggly branches and sticky spider webs collide with your face, only to pluck four meager berries from an entire bush.
With stained fingers and dirty jeans, you remind yourself that: Every. Berry. Counts.
If you drop one berry, you desperately hunt it down and place the precious fruit back in your picking container. Otherwise your hard labor was wasted…
Read the rest of this humorous story
Experts say this is the best season for huckleberry picking in years
One month in to huckleberry picking season, with up to 100 pickers each weekend, Nathan May with Washington State Parks said, “there’s still tons of huckleberries to be picked.” …
Rangers and pickers are even finding huckleberries pop up in places they never been found before….you just may have to go off the beaten path to find them.
The only place pickers haven’t had much luck is in areas with direct sunlight. as the extreme heat has hurt the bushes.
Kathy Grier has gone huckleberry picking twice already this season. Last weekend she headed to higher elevations and says she could sit on the ground and fill a quarter of a bag easily. …
