The good news is that this was a bumper year for salmonberries, huckleberries and thimbleberries — there have been so many that I and a number of bears and deer have been happily out harvesting them together with plenty left on the bushes that not even the birds have bothered with.

Hopefully the blackberries do just as well in August/September and none of us need to head into town to supplement our food supply.