We are back from Montana, but there is a problem.  Ever since, Pat has been acting very strange.  He insists on wearing his cowboy hat—even to bed!  And drinking his orange juice out of a shot glass!  I don’t know how it happened.  Maybe it was the wide open spaces of Montana or driving over Lookout Pass or being exposed to too many writers at one time at the Outdoor Writers Workshop!

For some comfort food, I decided to bake me a pie, a huckleberry cream pie.  The pie was delicious, if I do say so myself.  This is unusual.  My cooking skills have gone down to nil.  I never made pies anyway.  That was our second daughter’s area of expertise.

The huckleberries were from our freezer.  We haven’t been berry picking this year except in our own backyard.  Pat used to be out there roaming the mountains looking for the “big” ones.  I, on the other hand, would find a spot near the road, plunk myself down and pick the bushes clean.  I usually got more berries, too!

This past winter we donated our collection of huckleberry pickers to the Sandpoint Idaho Museum.  We had been collecting the handmade pickers for years and had them displayed in our library.  As the years go by, I am getting rid of things and have made an effort to get them to people or places that I think will want them.

The prize huckleberry picker donated was made by Pete VanderPas, an old-timer from Sandpoint.  He was also husband of Mae Russell, mother of the Russell bunch who is featured in many of Pat’s stories.  This is a fine picker and was used by Pete and his step-sons to get many berries over the years.

Another huckleberry picker was made by Dolph Whitehead, formerly of Sandpoint and summer resident in the Pack River Basin.  His was made of titanium and was probably the most expensive picker of all.  Dolph has a manufacturing business in Seattle and has all the tools to make any kind of picker he dreams up.  Pat and Dolph had contests for years on who could pick the most berries with their pickers.  The last I heard Dolph was working on an electric picker.  The first prototype sprayed the berries over half an acre.  Back to the drawing board!

I saved one berry picker so the figurine Pat made would have something to hold.  The picker is small and light-weight and doesn’t work as well as hands do!

Favorite Huckleberry Cream Pie
From Whatchagot Stew, Patricia McManus Gass

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cream, whipped
1 baked 9-inch pie shell
Cream the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla.  Gently fold in the whipped cream.  Spread on bottom and up sides of the pie shell.

3 cups huckleberries
1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
Dash of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cook above ingredients over low heat until they come to a boil and thicken.  Cool and spread over cream cheese layer.  Refrigerate.  This pie is very rich—serves eight.  (Some people save some huckleberries out from cooking to stir into the cooled sauce.)

I used frozen berries and the juice from the thawed berries so increased the flour to 3/8 cup.  Worked just fine and thickened up nicely.  It was way too much for the 9-inch pie shell so I added berry sauce when serving.  Of course, Pat wants whipped cream on top!

Pat always says he can tell when I am home when he comes into the house after one of his adventures.  That’s because I’m always here!

All the best,
Bun

[Web-daughter Note: As always, all photographs in Bun's Blog are by Bun, who has always been a talented photographer. Please check out her new Photo Essay "A Day in the Life of Gus" on our Photo Album page. Gus, as most of you know, is the current love of Bun's life, but don't tell Pat! ]