Rock Creek Elderberry Trip

[IdahoHerbalist]

Two Saturdays ago (9/5) we decided to take a trip up to Rock Creek in the South Hills near Hansen, ID. If you remember a post from last December ( ) we had to brave the elements to get some collecting done. We did not get very much elder that trip. People and animals had already had their way with the trees and we got just a few handfuls: enough for about a half quart of tincture.

We were NOT going to let that happen again this year!

I called a store that was local to the area just to make sure we would not be too EARLY. Sue told me that she had seen LOTS of rip berries the previous weekend while herding their cattle.

I let Renee know and bless her herbalist heart, she started prepping for the trip IMMEDIATELY! We have had a few powerful experiences lately with the tincture from last year and by darned, she was NOT going to be without.

It was beautiful up there. Not a snow flake to be seen anywhere. A few isolated sprinkles is all we had. The place and the weather invigorated both of us, but especially her.

As expected, the elder trees had already been heavily harvested, mainly by humans. We were quite successful though. It took a bit of calisthenics and circus acting to get to the berries as most were quite high. Pulling over branches, climbing 75* gravel embankments, up on HUGE boulders. We vowed to remember to bring our pole trimmer next time. We would have been done in a quarter of the time with that.

What was the catch? 25 pounds untrimmed, 24 pounds trimmed and FIFTEEN 1/2 GALLON jars of tincture. Did I mention that Renee did not want to be without this herb? She insisted that I tincture ALL of it.

We also stopped and got some teasel root, about 4 pounds trimmed.

Yes, those ARE half gallon mason jars!

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