But by the next season, the bushes would be growing as profusely as ever. These berries make good eating, but they do not give of themselves without extracting a toll. Show me a Delta berry picker, and I will show you a person whose arms and legs are a mass of scratches. Even if the weather is hot hot, as it can be in the summer in the California Delta, you wear long sleeved shirts or blouses and trousers or slacks when you go a-berry pickin'. You ought to wear gloves, as well.
Bushes bearing the best supply of fruit, usually also are the hardest to get to.
Someone has been there ahead of you. Although many people drive their vehicles out to where the berry bushes are, and then pick them while on foot, it's more fun to pick them from a boat. Seasoned California Delta berry pickers will construct a foldable walkway to carry on the boat. They will bring the bow of the boat right up to the bushes, then lay the walkway on top of the bushes. Thus, they are able to get far back into the bushes where no one else has yet picked.