AH - in all my 18 years in AK I did not pick more than one cup of berries. Very first time out picking - 1966 - ran into a family of Inuit Indians picking also. It was an entire family project - as I remember - husband, wife - three children.
They harvest berries in a totally different way. Low sided cardboard box - appropriately sized stick - bend the berry bushes over the cardboard box - gently beat on the bush with the stick. When you get home you do have to use the wool blanket and float them in the bathtub routines to finish the job.
As long as my back could tolerate all the bending, stooping, etc - - I could easily harvest four gallons of berries an hour.
Now, this was in the good patches.
The old grandfather of the Inuit group advised us - see, Mother Nature is providing everybody with a plentiful harvest. Always keep one person as lookout only - he is to notify everybody when the bears come to visit the patch. You be surprised how dexterous a bear is with the claws on his front paws. They can rake a bush with those claws and get berries along with the best of us. And their advantage - they will have the patch all to themselves.
