Diary 8/31/13

I am putting most of the huckleberries away in the freezer for winter. I haven't picked as many this year, so they are going into quart baggies rather than gallons. They are that precious. You can't really wash them before hand or they fall apart when freezing with water on their skins. It is OK though. They come from such pristine places, no dirt or dust on them at all. I swivel them around in a strainer to take out leaves, stem ends, pine needles, and basically anything that isn't purple. The natives used to dry them over smoking logs which probably made them keep for winter use. I have dried them before, and they are delicious, tiny droplets of sweetness. Having them to eat whole out of a bag in the middle of a cold winter's day brings a glad remembrance of a warm

sunny day picking on the edge of a mountain under old growth trees.