I didn't get to bed till midnight last night. Early for me, but still late for getting up before 5 am. To make matters worse I woke up out of a dream at 2:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep as my mind wanted to be active and work on the Planning Board approved subdivision and the County Growth Policy issues in addition to the needed replacement for my well's water tank leak. After an hour I drifted back to sleep at some point. With as little sleep as I got I still woke up 5 minutes before the alarm went off. How do I do that?
I got to MA's house by 5:30 am. We picked up her sister and then met Joyce at 6 am. As we drove it was iffy as dark rain clouds were to the west over the mountains. I even saw a large long lightning bolt strike three times. Fortunately that was the only lightning. A little thunder and a few sprinkles as we drove but again fortunately no rain once we started picking.
As I only had plastic bags and ice cream pails MA's sister lent me an extra paint pail. The paint pail's handle can be looped into ones pants belt to free both hands for berry picking. The paint pail beats using an ice cream pail as the ice cream pails occasionally have the handle fall off. A big nightmare is for one to spill a pail of picked "hucks". As MA said, she never has anyone else carry her picked huckleberries as she doesn't want to be mad at them for life if they spilled her berries.
These women ranged in age from the lower 60s to lower 70s and I struggled to keep up with them. They are serious berry pickers! At the end of the day I picked the least berries by far.
We searched for huckleberries at the same location I had picked them with a few years ago with MA and one of her friends. MA and her sister went up one part of the mountain and Joyce and I another. It was spotty. Areas where the bushes had no berries; then areas where the bushes had plenty. Over all we were pleased.
The ladies were getting near full with their paint pails. I remained a little while as I had a ways to go to fill my pail. Eventually I worked my way back down the mountain and over the numerous fallen trees and tried to resist picking berries I seen along the way. MA had mentioned she wanted to try another spot up the road. My being late was no problem as they were eating lunch. Joyce was back out picking.
MA drove down the road to find another spot while Joyce continued to work a patch she found near the road. She said she would walk the road to join us. It turns MA didn't have a specific place in mind and after a while she carefully turned around on the narrow one lane gravel road carved out of the mountain. We ended up back near where we last picked.
MA's sister said she would remain at the car as her back was bothering her. The three of us ventured back up the mountain. This time in an area with no real tall trees. The picking was slim so we worked our way back to the treed area where we had success earlier.
Again the two women picked their way back to the road faster than I. I did find success in the strategy in working my way down in areas where it was difficult to climb up. We weren't the first berry pickers to this area. When I couldn't go down any more I went up then down again. I repeated this as I found a number of "hucks" this way.
I heard MA back at the car call to me. It was far enough away that I couldn't make out the words, but as she mentioned she had to be back home by 1 pm I figured it was the "time to go" signal. To my surprise I found all three women sitting on the ground on the mountain side below the car picking furiously. MA's sister went to sit down while waiting for us and found lots and lots of "hucks". We think these very short bushes were producing "hucks" for the first time as the bushes were loaded with them and the berries were large and ripe. Everyone was in heaven.
We picked and picked and still there were more. MA had to leave but she didn't want to. She tried working her way back up the mountain side back to the car but kept getting sidetracked by heavily loaded bushes. She kept saying she had to leave but the rest of us kept picking. We told her we weren't stopping until she actually was standing on the road.
Eventually she reached the road and Joyce and I reluctantly quit picking. This was the best huckleberry picking these women had found in many, many years. These women have picked all their life and are quite experienced. The women picked from a gallon and half to almost two gallons of "hucks". I picked 5 quarts. Lots of huckleberries. Huckleberries sell for $35 a gallon - so a productive day.
MA and her sister can't return tomorrow but Joyce said she would be returning. So I decided I will join her and return to pick more. We saw the patch stretch on as far as we could see.
So I need to go to bed now as tomorrow is another early day as I will meet Joyce at 6 am.
And the huckleberry patch? I am sworn to secrecy, as all the women are. ...maybe I shouldn't even be writing about this in my blog?! Mum's the word!!!
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