Huckleberries

I am ready to crash.  I got up early (before 6 am!) to go pick huckleberries with Joyce.  She was here at 7 am.  We arrived at the huckleberry patch at 8 am and promptly started picking huckleberries.  Four hours later (which flew by and felt like only two hours to me) Joyce had picked two gallons of berries and I picked one gallon.  Joyce - in her late 70s - is a fast picker and she has not slowed down since we last picked huckleberries four or five years ago.

The morning was cool and our time spent picking huckleberries had moderate temperatures.  Once we left the mountains and returned to the Valley we were back in the blast furnace heat.

As the huckleberry bushes are low and I am tall I spent a fair amount of time on my knees in order to save my back.  The knees of my pants are stained purple.

Supposedly this is a banner year for huckleberries as there are lots of them.   Ads have people selling them for $40 to $45 a gallon.