Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Berry Picking Ride

There's something about harvesting berries, especially wild berries, that's always been very satisfying for me. It doesn't seem to be a particularly great year around Juneau for berries but if you're patient and don't mind some bushwhacking there are plenty to be found. Wild blueberries are damn small though, and you can pick for a couple hours just to get enough for a small pie. But somehow it always feels worth it.

Over the years I've had many "dream careers". A couple years ago I wanted more than anything to be a berry farmer. Find some cheap land in a remote part of Alaska, plant my bushes, wait for the berries to come, and then hopefully for people to give me money for my berries. Ahhh, if it were only that simple. I guess I probably had a better shot at making it as a berry farmer than I have of making it at my current "dream career" of endurance racing.

After a week of sun the trails are more dry than I've ever seen them here. Best biking conditions we'll likely ever get in Juneau

My harvest of salmonberries and blueberries

6 comments:

  1. If anyone could get paid enough to live off endurance racing, besides pro triathletes, it'd be you Geoff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Man I would love to run in 70 degree weather right now!! Probably would need a sweatshirt. 90's, humid as hell and insande dewpoint up here in the midwest, but ya gotta love the seasons. We are dry here as well. Much of the corn has to be turned into silage. My garden is great though! Love peppers! eat them like apples.

    My grandpa was a District Attorney for one year, despised it so much that he worked at a nursery and was a cranberry famer for the next 20+ years and loved it. Living simple is best.

    ReplyDelete
  3. (not to put down my beloved SE AK, but) you should try the blueberries in central Alaska - they're even better (smaller than the southeast ones, but they don't have the worms) :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. dorothea, you're right,
    there are a lot of worms in the berries here. i've also done some berry picking in central alaska as well as south central. the tastiest salmon berries i've ever come across were in whittier and the tastiest blueberries were a toss up between denali highway and kachemak bay state park. although i found some while i was lost in the woods today that were very tasty... unfortunately i was more concerned with figuring out where the hell i was to stop and collect berries.

    ReplyDelete