The Real Oregon

Put simply, Oregon is berry heaven. Those cool rainy winters, those warm, dry summers and the abundance of ground up tree bark to use as an acidic mulch all make this a great berry growing state.

Oregonians of a certain age practically all remember — usually fondly — picking strawberries to make money during childhood summers here.

But there’s plenty more than strawberries — which are just about in their prime in the Willamette Valley — in those berry patches. Blueberries are just coming on; raspberries can’t be far behind.

Wild berries abound. Blackberries are so common they’re considered a pest, except during those perfect days in August when you can pick them for free in just about any rural roadside ditch. Huckleberries and salmon berries are in mountain forests.

If you don’t happen to know someone with a berry patch where you can pick for free, the U-pick industry is ready for you. That means a commercial berry farm where you can pick a few pounds or a few flats of berries for a fee that’s much cheaper than buying them in the store — and much more fun.

Find a U pick farm in Oregon at pickyourown.org.

1. Go running in the Alvord Desert
2. This Bud’s for you: Have breakfast with the fishermen at the Basin Cafe in Charleston
3. Check out the Rembrandt show at the Portland Art Museum.
4. Be a pendulum lover: Stay in the Edgar Allan Poe room at the Sylvia Beach Hotel near Newport on the Oregon Coast. Then drop by the cool wax museum there.
5. See Shakespeare under the stars at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland