I took my own children berrying every year and we had our special patches and places to pick where we found big sweet luscious berries. I had a CB and because we lived in a logging community many logging trucks would travel the same roads I did to get to the berry's. So I would let them know I was on the roads and the loggers began to look out for me, dubbing me "Huckleberry Honey" which became my CB handle.

We picked first for our own use for a week then by August first until school began we would go out 3 days a week and pick 25-30 gallons to sell each day. Taking along lunch. We would sing songs which kept the kids picking steady and I gave them incentives when they were younger by telling them the first one to fill a bucket got a dollar etc.

No one was allowed to eat lunch until everyone had their bucket full. The younger ones had a small cup to fill which as they got older became a small can and up from there.
At lunch time we would dump our full buckets into a 5 gallon bucket and go out to pick more. Often my dad was along as well or some friends or other relatives.

It was pleasant picking most the time being out in the woods we would see a lot of wild life and flowers. The next break we would drive to a nearby lake and take a refreshing swim then drive down to Trout Lake when we had 20-25 gallons and sell them to the local store or gas station. By 1985 the price we got was $10.00 per gallon. I would then take the kids to "Bonnie's Cafe" and buy them each a large soft vanilla ice cream cone. Then we would go home, rest a day and go back out.

In 1988 the price per gallon of berries went from $12.00 per gallon to $15.00 per gallon. My teenagers earned enough money to buy their own school clothes, We would make around $2500 in one month selling the berries and I gave each of my kids $500 for school clothes, supplies and other things they wanted. The rest I set aside for holiday gifts and events.

In addition to selling to local business. We sold to friends, family and neighbors and traded with The Native Americans who lived in the compound across the street from us for salmon.

Around that time in the late 1980's the Latinos and Vietnamese discovered the berries, many did not respect the signs designating areas for Native Americans only. there was more demand from people to buy berries for commercial selling and people began to use mechanical devices like combs and rakes to harvest the sought after fruit.

People would come from Europe to pick berries or buy them. With commercialism and greed, the Forest Service had to make new regulations for picking berries, limiting folks seeking berries for their own use to three gallons per harvester. They also banned the use of mechanical methods of harvest because the combs and rakes were causing major damage to the bushes and reproduction process for years to come.

Roads were blocked and closed off as well when people began driving into an onto the berries, crushing bushes and to keep many from going into Native American areas.

My family still picks Olallie's today. My kids have grown up and now take their children out to pick huckleberries in and around Mt Spokane area. We moved in 1991 from my home town area of Trout Lake, Washington to Spokane area due to need of schooling and work for my husband. We still find berries, though we have found them harder to find and we have to walk in 3-6 miles to pick them.

This year the youngest child picking was my grandson, age 20 months, he was carried in on mom's back, set down and given a Styrofoam cup and we set to picking. He had three berries in his cup and most in his tummy as was evident by the purple ring around his mouth when he grinned. We took some home and put them in the freezer, got some vanilla ice cream and made huckleberry shakes and sold the rest for $40.00 per gallon.

and we will do it again next year and I know when I am no longer able to go out the tradition of picking the wild Olallie has been passed down to the next generation to continue.