Huckleberries!

It's something I've always wanted to do.  But somehow every time the huckleberries were ripe, something was going on.  Last year I was super pregnant/had a newborn and the year before we had JUST moved to town.  And before that, it would have taken an entire days drive just to get to the huckleberries.

So I pulled out all the stops this year.  I called one of my friends who grew up around here and seems the generous type (as opposed to the 'don't even mess with my huckleberry secrets' type, which I've heard is a pretty common thing since huckleberries are small, hard to find, coveted, and take forever to pick).  I think I said something like, "I have a HUGE favor to ask . . .

She was excited to take us.  And I was excited to go!  Woooo!

And yesterday we picked the kids up from school, fed them cold dinner in the car and headed out to find some of the little gems.  Really, I would have been thrilled to get enough for breakfast in the morning. 

The first patch we found was apparently an "average" patch.  But I was thrilled with the success.

Can you tell how happy I was??

I asked Grace to get the camera out of the car, and she took a few pictures.  Here's another thrilled huckleberry hunter.

She was actually the champion huckleberry picker of the whole short crew.  I think she got about a cup.

She's like that; gets in a groove and just goes and goes and goes. 

The little Mister had a good time, too.  He figured out that the little purple berries that were right there in his reach were pretty good. 

Oh, and did you know that a mom can nurse a baby while sitting in huckleberry bushes and still pick huckleberries?  And then the baby is happy and goes back to what he was doing, leaving the mom to pick more huckleberries.

He also fell down and kind of rolled down the hill a couple times.  But he was no worse for the wear and got back on the wagon again.

Here's what a huckleberry bush looks like, if you didn't know.  They really aren't tall at all. 

I get why some people just don't enjoy it.  But we had a good time.  The kids were loud so all the wildlife knew we were there.  That's good.

Shameless cute baby shot--right before we were headed down the hill and off the mountain.

A shot on the way home.

Another shot of the way home.

This is what my hands looked like--though I'm sure if we'd picked all day they would have been more purple.

I was actually hoping to get a shot of all of our huckleberry-stained hands, but when I asked to see the girls' hands, they told me they licked them clean.  It made me giggle.

The fruit of our labor.  That bag on the top is full of Calla's efforts.  She did a great job.

What fun.  I think we'll take daddy up there next week to show him the fun.  I was sorry he missed it, but sometimes that happens.  Now I know what to look for on these kinds of excursions!  A huge thank you to my friend (who I shall not out here for fear that the secret huckleberry police might come in the night and take her away) for taking us and being such fun company!