With huckleberries ripping and huckleberry hounds picking in their favorite spots, I am reminded of our friend, Roy Baldwin, and his impact on the International Wild Huckleberry Association.
Unfortunately, Roy passed on June 6, 2022. He was Malc’s friend in college at UI, when the guys spent a lot of trips hunting elk, huckleberry picking, and drinking cheap beer. Of course, we knew he was one of the nicest guys on Earth.
But Roy also played a special part in the work with the International Wild Huckleberry Association.
Back in 2007 and 2008, after numerous requests from our readers, we purchased and field-tested every model of huckleberry (or blueberry) picking rake we could find — nine different rakes! Along with testing them ourselves, we loaned the rakes to amateur and novice huckleberry pickers to see which one worked the best, was easiest to use, and was gentlest on the huckleberry bushes. (The whole story is listed here)
Roy and Dr. Dan Barney, the huckleberry expert at the time, tested the picking rakes for us. The videos we made during that time featured Roy picking techniques using the picking rake we sell today.
Also, Roy was an active member of our Huckleberry Facebook Group and often posted reports of crop forecasts, comments, and other interesting tidbits on huckleberries.
Roy will be missed!
In tribute, I want to share some videos of Roy field testing the huckleberry picking rakes.
We have lost some of the videos due to the wildfire that took our home and computers, but a few more are posted here.
I like to think that Roy is still out there in some obscure huckleberry patch, searching and picking away.
Rest in Peace, Roy!
Oh my goodness. I hope it’s okay if I ask what happened. I received a message from him in May or June asking if I would pick with him this year. I responded back, but never got a response. I am so saddened to hear this.
We were told he had a sudden heart attack.