It’s Time For A Conservative Purge

[roamer_1]

Looks a mite like Juneberries, but far too late in the year.

Nope. them is huckleberries. Down low they're comin on, and we'll be chasing em up in elevation for the next month or so...

[Frank Cannon]

Is that some flaming homo remark?

Nah. I thought you were posting from Brazil.

[Smokin Joe]

Nope. them is huckleberries. Down low they're comin on, and we'll be chasing em up in elevation for the next month or so...

We don't have 'em in these parts. We only get a couple of weeks to pick juneberries, and you have to beat the birds to 'em.

[roamer_1]

We don't have 'em in these parts. We only get a couple of weeks to pick juneberries, and you have to beat the birds to 'em.

Lucky you - We have to beat the griz

[Sighlass]

Nope. them is huckleberries. Down low they're comin on, and we'll be chasing em up in elevation for the next month or so...

Love em huckleberries, they come earlier in the season for us, but forget blueberries, these suckers are far more tasty. Just watch out for rattlesnakes while gathering them (and it takes a lot of picking to make a pie).

[RoosGirl]

Is that some flaming homo remark?

@Frank Cannon knows a surprising amount about the homo lifestyle considering that he claims he's straight.

[roamer_1]

Love em huckleberries, they come earlier in the season for us, but forget blueberries, these suckers are far more tasty.

Funny thing, that. We ain't got blueberries or blackberries, but just 2-3 hours away
 around Coeur d'Alene in the Idaho panhandle, they're there thick as a privet hedge...

Just watch out for rattlesnakes while gathering them (and it takes a lot of picking to make a pie).

We ain't got rattlers either... Just griz.

[Frank Cannon]

@Frank Cannon knows a surprising amount about the homo lifestyle considering that he claims he's straight.

That's a damn lie......I've never claimed to be straight you backwoods homophobe.

[roamer_1]

@Frank Cannon knows a surprising amount about the homo lifestyle considering that he claims he's straight.

That's why I asked. I thought maybe it was a cultural thing... And maybe it is... He came back talking about Brazil, which may be another cultural thing... I just quit while I was ahead... 

[Smokin Joe]

Lucky you - We have to beat the griz

Well, thankfully we don't have those, only the occasional wolf and a few cougar.  They're the first wild ripe berries in these parts in the spring, followed by chokecherries and then the raspberries and wild plum, and the bilberries are last in the fall.  I know guys who found coulees where all were present in distinct patches, and we guessed that the indigenous folks saw to it that they were that way, so they'd have something no matter what time of summer they passed through.

[roamer_1]

Well, thankfully we don't have those, only the occasional wolf and a few cougar.  They're the first wild ripe berries in these parts in the spring, followed by chokecherries and then the raspberries and wild plum, and the bilberries are last in the fall.  I know guys who found coulees where all were present in distinct patches, and we guessed that the indigenous folks saw to it that they were that way, so they'd have something no matter what time of summer they passed through.

Well, to give you an idea, I just started pickin maters. Got my first two off today, along with a handful or so of cherry tomatoes. Razzleberries are about half done, chokes are probably a week or two from comin on, plums are just turning... As are the leaves.

[RoosGirl]

That's why I asked. I thought maybe it was a cultural thing... And maybe it is... He came back talking about Brazil, which may be another cultural thing... I just quit while I was ahead... 

I think he's mixing up his terminology.  He probably got a Brazilian.

[RoosGirl]

That's a damn lie......I've never claimed to be straight you backwoods homophobe.

I ain't scared of you.

[roamer_1]

That's a damn lie......I've never claimed to be straight you backwoods homophobe.

Hold on now... I'm backwoods... She's more of a swamp dweller down in there.

[roamer_1]

I think he's mixing up his terminology.  He probably got a Brazilian.

I don't care... So long as they're legal and speak English.

[Smokin Joe]

Well, to give you an idea, I just started pickin maters. Got my first two off today, along with a handful or so of cherry tomatoes. Razzleberries are about half done, chokes are probably a week or two from comin on, plums are just turning... As are the leaves.

Plums are in the same state here, raspberries are coming on again, and I just got my first tomatoes last week. The cayennes are red enough to pick and the habaneros didn't do so well this year. The spuds have all lost their tops, so I'm going to have to see what's under there,  Got a few bell peppers now, ready to pick. I have had lousy luck with onions, and being it seems I am the only  one who gives a d@mn about the garden, with limited time to tend it, the weeds have taken over.

[Frank Cannon]

I ain't scared of you.

You should be. I will come into your neighborhood and gentrify it by putting antique shops, vegan restaurants and put 2 Starbucks on your street. You won't be able to pull out of your driveway on the weekends.

[RoosGirl]

You should be. I will come into your neighborhood and gentrify it by putting antique shops, vegan restaurants and put 2 Starbucks on your street. You won't be able to pull out of your driveway on the weekends.

You obviously don't know my neighborhood.  I'm the most modern person on the entire road.

[Bigun]

We don't have 'em in these parts. We only get a couple of weeks to pick juneberries, and you have to beat the birds to 'em.

@Smokin Joe  @roamer_1

Believe it or not, we have Huckleberries down here in East Texas. Not a lot and the deer love them and generally beat us to them.

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe  @roamer_1

Believe it or not, we have Huckleberries down here in East Texas. Not a lot and the deer love them and generally beat us to them.

We're about as far as you can get from salt water, here, on the North American Continent. Temps are brutal in winter, as a rule, and hit triple digits in the summer. Not sure why they never made it out here, but it may be a flyway thing, too (since birds 'dropped' my little chokecherry grove here). But, for whatever reason, be it virtue of our climate zone (3) or the migratory habits of fowl, they just aren't present, naturally. I'd be willing to take on an 'invasive species', though.....

(added) But I just checked, and according to the botanists, I'm about 4 growing zone numbers away from them surviving here, and the soil here tends toward too alkali with the pH here tending a little above 7, and the huckleberries preferring something closer to a 5. (Not enough conifers to acidify the soil here, too many sulfates).

[Bigun]

Well, to give you an idea, I just started pickin maters. Got my first two off today, along with a handful or so of cherry tomatoes. Razzleberries are about half done, chokes are probably a week or two from comin on, plums are just turning... As are the leaves.

@roamer_1

Maters quit producing about the middle of July due to nights being too hot for them to set fruit.  Vines are still healthy and pretty so I'm nursing them through the hot weather in hopes of getting another crop this fall.  Mustang grapes all gone now but Muscadines will be showing up in a week or so and they make the best jelly you ever tasted!

[roamer_1]

@Smokin Joe  @roamer_1

Believe it or not, we have Huckleberries down here in East Texas. Not a lot and the deer love them and generally beat us to them.

@Bigun
Yeah, they have em in KS/MI too, but they ain't the same thing... Heck, I can't even get mountain huckleberries to grow in my own yard - They only grow up in the mountains... If I could figure out how to farm them things, I would make a million.

[Bigun]

We're about as far as you can get from salt water, here, on the North American Continent. Temps are brutal in winter, as a rule, and hit triple digits in the summer. Not sure why they never made it out here, but it may be a flyway thing, too (since birds 'dropped' my little chokecherry grove here). But, for whatever reason, be it virtue of our climate zone (3) or the migratory habits of fowl, they just aren't present, naturally. I'd be willing to take on an 'invasive species', though.....

@Smokin Joe

Maybe the winters are too harsh for them to survive there or perhaps the soil isn't acidic enough to support them.

Found a site that sells plants if you should care to give it a try.  https://www.tnnursery.net/wild-huckleberry-for-sale/

[Bigun]

@Bigun
Yeah, they have em in KS/MI too, but they ain't the same thing... Heck, I can't even get mountain huckleberries to grow in my own yard - They only grow up in the mountains... If I could figure out how to farm them things, I would make a million.

@roamer_1

There are four species of huckleberry in the genus Gaylussacia, which are native to the eastern and southeastern United States, but these are not the berries to which we are referring. Western huckleberries belong to the genus Vaccinium and found among the coniferous forests of the West Coast of the United States.

From https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/huckleberries/huckleberry-plant-care.htm

Obviously, yours are the ones they refer to as Western huckleberries.

Edit to add that the ones that we have down here grow in shady low places in the woods. Doubt they would do well in a cultivated environment anywhere.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

Maters quit producing about the middle of July due to nights being too hot for them to set fruit.  Vines are still healthy and pretty so I'm nursing them through the hot weather in hopes of getting another crop this fall.  Mustang grapes all gone now but Muscadines will be showing up in a week or so and they make the best jelly you ever tasted!

@Bigun
I can't wait for the plums... That's what they are for - Plum jam or plum butter... Apples and pears are about last... They go heavy to apple and pear butter around here... Though a family friend makes a caramel apple jam that about turns any ol hunk of bread into pie, I swear... That's my favorite time... the apple harvest is all of what you'd figure... everywhere you go there's apple pie, and apple cobbler, apple fritters, and more pie... *THE BEST*

I hear tell of folks weathering through and getting two harvests... planting early and then late... not here, as we get about one shot at it and then we're done. That's good though, as that leaves us open for hunting season