Huckleberry Preserves

It is at least ten degrees cooler in Huckleberry Preserve than it is at our house. We escape to its mossy trails overhung with bays and bordered with swordferns and bracken.

Glimpses of the view across the canyon reveal how different this microclimate pocket is from the surrounding area.

We are here for huckleberries.

The first we find are not yet ripe.
But then we find them.

Ripe, their color is somewhere between Greta's eyes...

...and her boots.

For a while not many make it into our cups.

Greta pouts about not having as many as her sisters. They pour some of theirs into her cup and her smile is this big.

Now she can't see the bottom of her cup.

Back at home the huckleberries are so small some pop right through the masher whole.

Eventually we get them all.

It is our first time making preserves. Our berries yield 1.5 cups of crushed fruit. We need two cups. Evelyn leads me down into the backyard where she has found wild blackberries. We return victorious with just enough blackberries for 1/2 cup, crushed.

One of our jar lids didn't pop. It will have to go in the fridge.

Might as well have some now.