Berry Bliss

Last night we had a brand new kind of tundra adventure: berry picking! We knew ‘twas the season when our patients’ injuries suddenly shifted from fish cutting accidents to sore knees/backs (from bending down to collect tundra berries). After hearing all their bragging stories about the gallons upon gallons of berries they’d acquired, we decided to venture out and see what all the hype was about.

The sun was hot this afternoon, so we waited till later in the evening to trek out to the tundra. No more than 15 minutes into our walk, Brandon stumbled upon a blueberry treasure trove. I swear that man has eyes like a hawk because they were definitely not easy to spot. They grew on the underside of small bushes that blended in quite nicely with all the other tundra vegetation. Here is my artistic rendering:

Both of us began collecting feverishly. Brandon even got so excited that he forgot he was holding a bucket full of berries....and returned them to their home on the tundra floor (:

We picked and picked and picked to our heart’s delight. 

But I still wasn’t satisfied. What I really wanted to lay my hands on were some of those infamous salmonberries that all our patients rave about. So I left the blueberry hotspot to hunt ‘em down.

I walked far and wide and seemed to find everything but ONE. FREAKING. SALMONBERRY. PATCH. What I did find:

A predator.

Some cranberries.

More  blues.

BINGO.

Those bright orange things really stood out against the greenery once you could find a patch of them. We got a couple handfuls and called it a night, since by this time it was 10pm and the mosquitoes had sent in their army.

Not bad for our first pickin!

Mr. hawkeye even found a couple of raspberries