Swamp land, Big Lake: Great spruce tips. Currants have had small berries for about a week. Beautiful white flowers (like dogwood) appearing. Lots of flowers or buds for berry plants; highbush cranberry, rose, raspberry, elderberry.
May 2
Swamp land, Big Lake: Red currants flowering all over. Lots of fiddleheads and mushrooms available all over the Valley.
April 29
Swamp land, Big Lake: Early blueberry flowering. Fiddlehead ferns are ready. Birch greened up a week or so ago, and lots of currant plants are nicely leafing out.
July 2
Hatcher Pass, Fishhook: multiple blueberry types in full flower along with other berry plants flowering (nagoonberry, highbush and lowbush cranberry).
Jun 29
Kenai Lake, Primrose: Gathered many of the super irresistible spruce tips and rose petals everywhere. Trailing raspberry flowering. Blueberries and red currants small and green.
June 28
Swamp land, Big Lake: Picked ripe red currants. Enough are red now to be worth it! Many are still green or just about ripe.
October 18
Swamp land, Big Lake: Picked quite a few lowbush cranberries in dry meadow areas. People are picking crabapples in Anchorage and other areas.
October 4
Swamp land, Big Lake: Probably the last time I’m going to pick a bunch of red currants this year. I still can’t resist the perfectly good racemes, but some clusters are getting brown or slimy so they’re all about done.
September 30
Little Susitna River, Houston: Picked lots of lowbush cranberries.
September 22
Swamp land, Big Lake: Did some more late currant hunting. Picked lots of red currants. Many or most of the plant leaves have dropped off but there are still great bunches of tasty squishy berries hanging everywhere, good for using immediately in recipes.
Alaska Berry Bog 