Berry berry, quite contrary
Late July til mid-August is the best time to pluck berries in Norway, although if you travel up north you find that the berry-plucking season extends to as late as September. Recently Viking Man and I had great fun going up a mountain to try our luck with blueberry plucking.
A lot of Norwegians take blueberry plucking very seriously. Others take it as a nice leisure activity with the reward of juicy berries with rich Vitamin C and antioxidants at the end of the day. Many also take it as a excuse to exercise (or å trene) in fresh outdoor air, give their legs a good stretch or go out with someone they fancy in a group date (this applies to many young adults).
Usually the best places to pick blueberries is higher ground on a mountain forest (fjellskog in Norwegian). Usually the best places are low mountain plateaus around 800 - 1200 metres above sea level, which provide nice gradual slopes which are very conducive for blueberries to grow. One new thing I learnt yesterday is that blueberries (blåbær) grow in the same kind of terrain with other berry types like tyttebær (mountain cranberries) and markjordbær (wild strawberries). One of my favourite native Norwegian flowers grows in abundance in this mountain terrain too, but I don't know its name. Would be good if someone lets me know :) I had it in my wedding bouquet.
To our disappointment, we were a little late for blueberry plucking - either that or we chose a mountain too popular for plucking. Most of the blueberries were gone and the sight of blue-stained leaves and no berries isn't pretty. A lot of Norwegians nowadays like Viking Man, prefer to use a berry plucking device ("berry picker") that allows one to pluck berries very quickly but berries come along with leaves, branches and crushed berries, which I dislike. Maybe I'm old-fashioned and picky, but I like to hand-pick my berries despite the slower pace and juice-stained fingers at the end of the day. The berries I get are cleaner and I derive more enjoyment from it. Using a "machine" reduces the tactile and visual enjoyment, I feel.
Anyway, while looking for a picture of the berry picker, I found a nice blog on berry picking in Sweden, where apparently not all the blueberries are plucked yet! Lucky her. I'm envious! There's a picture of the berry picking devise on her blog.
Since there were few blueberries for us to pick, we picked more of tyttebær (mountain cranberries) instead. They ripen about 3 weeks after blueberries so we came just as they are ripening. Some of them are not that red yet because we were picking on the east side of the mountain where the cranberry bushes get less sun.
A lot of the tyttebær were red on one side and white on the other. I find it amazing that the fruits require sunlight to ripen. Look at the pretty little cranberry flowers too! Sometimes when we chance upon a patch where pluckers have not been too, I get a little obsessed with getting as many as possible.
Tips on berry picking:
1. Wear dark old clothing - long track suits are suitable, as well as cotton yoga tights with a dark jacket. Wearing a dark t-shirt and bringing a long-sleeved jacket is good because it gets cold on top of the mountain.
2. Wear rubber boots or summer mountain climbing boots that support the ankles. Berries tend to stain a lot so it would help not to wear fashionable white canvas shoes! Most paths are rocky and muddy, so thicker soles and waterproof material are better protection for the feet.
3. Bring a backpack or sling bag. Keep your arms free from carrying anything. If you bring a bucket and berry pickers, then make sure they are brightly coloured so that you don't "lose" them while you wander off to better pastures.
4. Mosquito repellent - helps to keep the mozzies away!
5. Sunscreen lotion - helps prevent sunburn in case there is strong sunlight.
6. Sunglasses - they come in handy while driving to the mountain.
7. Many snacks! Bananas, "kvikklunsj" (chocolate bars for energy), apples, yogurt etc. In our case, we also brought yummy dried bean curd from Taiwan ("Naughty Spicy Dried Bean Curd").
8. Plastic bags! Clean plastic bags are useful when you are picking berries - sling them over your lower arm or wrist while putting them into the bag (if you are hand-picking), then transfer the berries to the bucket. It's much easier than carrying the bucket around. Plastic bags are also useful as trash bags, because where are you going to discard all those banana skins and plastic wraps? Not on the Norwegian mountains of course. Actually, I must confess that Viking Man did discard banana skins in a hidden corner of a blueberry bush, claiming that nature will take its course to decompose it. He was careful not to fling it anywhere in sight though. I didn't prepare any plastic bags beforehand, so I had to use my tissue packet to stuff all our trash in it.
But as a tool, plastic bags are useful, according to my two meagre years of cherry plucking experience!
9. Gloves - optional. I personally don't care if my fingers get (blood)stained or not, but blueberries can leave quite a purplish stain on your hands. This year I brought a pair, but found them to be more of a hindrance than help. I didn't use them and they kept dropping out of my jacket pockets. I wouldn't bring them the next time.
10. Waist pouch - optional. Bring this if you didn't bring a backpack! But if you are bringing a bucket, make sure that it is not so cumbersome that you cannot climb a mountain with it.
11. A small book on mushroom picking. If you are lucky, you might find that the mushroom season is starting just when the berries ripen! We saw a few mushrooms but didn't dare to pick them in case they were poisonous.
Enough chattering... time for photos :)
Kolsås (or Kolsaas) was the mountain we climbed and I forgot to take a photo of it, so this is from the internet. It is in the municipality of Akershus, west side of the Oslo fjord, near the city of Sandvika. It's a place where the wealthier would live, and has a few farms around the mountain. Along the way up, we saw many signs that explain the geological history of the mountain and rocks. Apparently there is a rare type of basalt lava only found in Antarctica and Iceland on top of this mountain, with a rather unique white speckled appearance after it is cooled. Wish my geography teacher Mr. L.A. Gomez was here! He would explain everything to me much better.
Signs were in Norwegian, though.
The path crossing the farm that we took to get to the mountain.
We were rewarded with a beautiful view of the Oslo fjord and lowlands after 1 hour of climbing.
We only managed to pluck this much because we began our journey in mid-afternoon and the sun was going down after 4 hours. To ensure an enjoyable trip, try getting up early and traveling in the morning for the picking. Trust me, once you start, you won't stop! There's something about berries; maybe it's greed or some other primeval instinct that makes one want to gather all the berries the eye can see.
Two of our small blueberry pickings. The leaves are stained by blueberry juice.
The progression of the tyttebær - from flower to ripe berries. I've added Norwegian coins for scale - 50 øre, 1 krone, 5 krone, and 10 krone. The 20-krone coin is missing because I didn't have one at the time of photo-taking. 1 krone = 100 øre = SGD 0.22. The 50 øre is like 5 Singapore cents for us.
Even though mountain climbing was hard work, the satisfaction of snacking with a view is rewarding. Make sure that if you are intending to pick the whole day, bring along a matpakke (lunch box) too, so that you can enjoy your sandwich while sitting on the cliff.
I feel so good! One can see the slalom (snowskiing) slope in front of me.
Have fun,
pixy
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