It is good that others are taking up where Dr. Dan Barney left off with his huckleberry research. Here is a recent story from Idaho Ag Today on the work of University of Idaho Professor Stephen Cook: Domesticating huckleberries Idaho’s state fruit isn’t commercially produced, nor are there any domesticated huckleberry varieties available. Native to the […]
There is new research from the University of Idaho study on huckleberries: the Idaho state fruit. Historically, the domestication of wild huckleberries has been a challenging project. Dr. Dan Barney did manage to make some serious progress, but unfortunately, his research project was halted in 2010. Much of his research is listed on this site: […]
From the reports, some areas are experiencing an early crop of huckleberries. Great news for huckleberry enthusiasts! Maybe this year will compensate for the poor crops the last few years! With folks out foraging, I thought I would remind everyone to be kind while you are out picking: Take care with the huckleberry patches. Be […]
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, […]
If you have never tasted huckleberries, you may be confused between the two different berries: Huckleberries and Blueberries. Add in Bilberries, and you may really be confounded. According to Wikipedia: Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within […]
With huckleberry season in full swing, there is still controversy around huckleberry picking rakes. To help folks decide if rakes are a good option or not, the following is a short history of huckleberry picking rakes and how we began selling them. Early Discovery and Use of Huckleberry Picking Rakes One of the earliest mentions […]
Despite the hot temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, we are hearing that the huckleberries are beginning to ripen. Depending on where you live and pick, you might want to start searching around your area or your favorite patches to see how they are doing. In the meantime, enjoy some random fun huckleberry facts (Some taken […]
In April, we shared an article about research ecologist Tabitha Graves and biologist Nate Michael mapping out huckleberry patches in Glacier National Park: Locating Huckleberries from Space. As an update, Graves and Michael’s research is also used to protect the grizzly bear population. Futurity.org shares the background for this research: Tracking where huckleberry plants live […]
The International Wild Huckleberry Associate was first founded to share the research of Dr. Dan Barney on the domestication of wild huckleberries. When Dr. Barney’s facility at the UI Research Center in Sandpoint closed in 2010, and he retired a few years later, others took up his quest to domesticate the wild huckleberry. (If you […]
Huckleberry picking season is nearly here! With all the talk about picking huckleberries, I am reminded that there are several misconceptions about using huckleberry rakes. So, I have decided to share some excerpts from an article I wrote awhile back on this particular issue: What is the Real Story Behind Picking and Harvesting Wild Huckleberries? […]
