huckleberries

Lately Adelaide and I have been going out and picking lots of huckleberries. The huckleberries here in the Pacific Northwest are red in colour, and are like a cross between blueberries and cranberries. Sometimes they are kind of tart but I really like them and oh are they good in muffins and pancakes. They are small so it takes a while to get a bucketful, but I am hoping to gather enough up to make some nice jellies. I am just looking for a good recipe that uses fruit juice or honey instead of a lot of sugar as a sweetener.

For every two or three berries I plunk into our bucket, Addie gobbles up one, too. I have to pick fast to keep up with her! She likes it best when I pull down a big branch of berries, so that she can pick, too.

We have also been taking some of our pickings down to the marshes to feed our Mallard friends. They love huckleberries too! The more often that we visit them there in the reeds, the more and more other little birds show themselves to us, too. I am enchanted by the beautiful Cedar Waxwings, they have quickly become my most favourite bird of all. They are so curious and friendly, they fly right up all around us, and perch real close to check us out... it seems that they may soon come right up to sit on my hand. Cedar Waxwings adore fruit, so perhaps they are hoping that we will share our huckleberries with them, too!