I am a reasonably efficient huckleberry picker. When I strike a good patch, I get pretty busy.
“Let’s get after them,” I will call out to anyone picking with
me. “These berries are not going to pick
themselves.”
Now the mystery. I and all
my normal huckleberry picking partners constantly hear other people bragging
about a somewhere patch on somewhere mountain where they pick a gallon of
huckleberries in an hour.
I am sure such a mark can be reached on occasion, but neither I
nor my normal berry-picking buddies have ever achieved the legendary gallon of
berries in an hour. And I have been picking
berries regularly for most of my adult life.
A few years back, I took time to calculate how many berries are
required to make a gallon—based on the normal mix of huckleberries we find in
our neck of the woods. The answer: 6,400
berries. That’s 106.6 berries per
minute. Meaning 1.7 berries per second.
Considering, we pick them one at a time, that’s a lot of
berries. You could do better with consistently bigger
berries. But we simply don’t have them
in our adjacent mountains.
Yesterday, I figured out how to meet that legendary gallon-an-hour
mark.
“What time is it?” I asked one of my buddies across a decent patch
we struck early on our arrival in the mountains.
“Eleven-thirty.”
I flicked out a berry-purpled thumb and two fingers, calculating. “So,” I said, “That means we have been picking
for almost three hours.” I peered inside
my gallon berry bucket. “I have about
three-quarters of a gallon. That’s a
gallon an hour!”
—Mitchell Hegman
People in Noxon (where I grew up) would THROWN DOWN if their huckleberry patches were invaded. The summer of my 15th year was spent getting up before dawn and picking until the sun came over the mountain at that magic 11:30 a.m. hour. At which time the berries became too mushy to resell. $50 a gallon and I never picked a gallon in an hour. We didn't pick by hand, we had the coffee can homemade "chuggers" that unless used correctly were not of great use as you'd get as many leaves as berries and leaves had to be picked/cleaned out when everything was dumped down the chute. It was quite the operation and I made good money. Now though, I'd be in it only for myself as I miss the availability of huckleberries in Wyoming.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this response. I am sure you have also heard of the "gallon an hour" patch. Have yet to find that. I can assure you, people are still protective of their huckleberry patch. A couple of my buddies tried manufactured huckleberry "rakes." They soon went back to picking by hand. Too many leaves and bugs and twigs. Bummer that you have move beyond the berry. I fear I might physically suffer without huckleberries.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that at least two Hegman women don't like huckleberries. I can take them or leave them - unless they are in a frozen daqueri. And how many do you consume while picking? Another gallon perhaps? How many does it take for bear to eat its fill? Why don't huckleberries grow in Wyoming? It's hard to believe they bring so many questions to mind.
ReplyDeleteI’ve done it. I only went picking once Gallon plus an hour can be done, but it’s high risk high reward. You see, hucks love rockslides. It’s dangerous to do, but they grow thick on rockslides. That’s all I’m gonna say.
ReplyDeleteI’ve done it. I only went picking once when the gold just wasn’t showing up in my pan... I didn’t even know I had done anything special. Gallon plus an hour can be done, but it’s high risk high reward. You see, hucks love rockslides. It’s dangerous to do, but they grow thick on rockslides. That’s all I’m gonna say.
ReplyDeleteWe are from MT and if we don't get a gallon an hour then we don't consider it worth doing. That says something about th size and quantity (and work ethic lol).
ReplyDeleteI haven't used a rake and I am very sceptical about it.