Huckleberries

This year’s huckleberries are plentiful and good size, but they’re not selling, said seasoned picker Art Morin.

“I like to get $35 a gallon, but the market is very weak and I’m not sure why,” Morin said. “People who bought last year aren’t his year.”

The 75-year-old Bonners Ferry man also claims there are more pickers because the berries are so plentiful. He’s considering reducing his price to $30 a gallon.

Morin began picking huckleberries about one week ago.

“They’re good size berries, but not the biggest,” he said.

Morin attributes this year’s crop to rainfall combined with warm weather.

“Get those things coordinated and you get good berries,” he said. “If  you get the frost when they’re in bloom, you don’t get many berries. I expect a long season.”

Terry Frazer, who has been picking huckleberries for 30 years, also says the season looks good.

“There’s lots of good berries,” Frazer said. “It’s thick (with berries) because there’s been a lot of moisture and nice warm weather. That makes for a good huckleberry (season).”

His son, Robbie Frazer, is doing most of the picking this year.

Father and son sell the berries at $30 a gallon or $10 a quart from Terry Frazer’s South Main Street building in Bonners Ferry occupied by family businesses E.T. Wireless and Stoves-N-Stuff.

“We started about a month ago and have had lots of good berries,” Terry Frazer said.

The huckleberries ripened early this year, which Frazer also believes was due to the moisture followed by warm weather. The crop seems to be plentiful because the blossoming plants were not hit by a hard frost.

“If they get frozen in the spring when the buds are coming out, they’re like fruit trees,” he said.

Sales have varied.

“The last couple of days we sold two quarts, but three to four days ago, we sold seven or eight gallons in one day,” Frazer said.

He likes putting the berries in pancakes and on ice cream, and freezing them.

“Huckleberry margaritas are always good,” Frazer added.

Ken Wolf enjoys baking, so the recent Pennsylvania transplant looked forward to picking his first-ever huckleberries.

The Bonners Ferry man chose the right summer.

A cook at Panhandle Restaurant, Wolf said he picked a gallon on his first outing and a half gallon on the second. He used the wild berries for pancakes and in a fruit bowl.

“I plan to return to pick more,” the 37-year-old said.