Huckleberry pie and a mauve-ish end to the day

My neighbor with the backhoe LOVES pie. In the past, I’ve sent over a cherry pie (ok 2/3 of a cherry pie as I kept 1/3 for me!) as a thank you. They and now mostly Mike, since he retired and is home – have helped me many, many times with things that needed a 2nd pair of hands, tools and of course, the backhoe! Mike sent me an email after the last pie that said “will work for pie!”

Last weekend, I called for help again as the end of my driveway was in a mess after the road crews worked on snow. It is unavoidable – the road needs clearing and when the plows pass an open drive, the snow and in this case, ice – fly off the blade at the end of the drive and around the mailbox. It tends to compact as it lands and even my dream machine of a snow thrower cannot clear it.

Backhoe to the rescue!

When I emailed requesting help, I wrote that I didn’t have cherries, but I had huckleberries and would a huckleberry pie be acceptable “payment”.

I received a “YES!!!”

When I went to make a pie, I was out of the foil pie pans I use for sending pies. In our neighborly exchange of food, we’ve found that returning dishes is just a pain, hence the disposables. But, I did have some “chicken pot pie” sized foil pans…

Mini-pies it was…

Three…perfect!

In the evening, I noticed the light looked almost light purple with the snow and a clearing sky.

The soft light and the snow called us all outside for a final walk before it got dark.

That last walk, I am usually close to being done with work so am winding down. At the moment, it is after the school bus and parents have retrieved kids, but before the after work crowd comes home so all is quiet and still. Bear and Auggie and I putz around and enjoy the quiet and the ever changing and different light … this evening, the light was mauve-ish.

3 Responses to “Huckleberry pie and a mauve-ish end to the day”

  1. Margaret

    I have never eaten a huckleberry. What do they taste like? The pies look delicious, can I have a virtual slice?

    All that snow you have is awesome!

  2. Liz

    Sue, You can buy them online: https://www.oregonmushrooms.com/default.aspx? but they are $12/pound and you must have them shipped 2nd day or overnight as they are frozen. I buy mine locally in season and freeze them. They freeze very well.

    Margaret, You are welcome to a virtual slice :) ! If you’ve had blueberries, huckleberries are somewhat similar although smaller and usually sweeter. There is another component to their taste that is different …best I can think to describe it is a bit of a floral taste. They grow wild, i.e. not commercially. And they are a favorite of bears. Most people go up in the mountains and pick their own or pick to sell to stores and roadside stands. I wimp out and buy them from the stands where the pickers sell them. When I first moved here, 21 years ago, a gallon was $18-20. Now, a gallon is $48.00. Still, it takes 4-6-8 hours depending on where you go, to pick a gallon so I am content buying a gallon or 2 . My newish neighbor with the chickens has informed me that she will be taking me to her favorite patch this summer and we will pick 2 gallons each in one day. We will see. If I am “forced” to do this, at least it will be a picking party as her mother and sister go along and maybe some of the men folk to watch for bears.

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