Home DIY How to Make a Berry Picking Bucket

How to Make a Berry Picking Bucket

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How to Make a Berry Picking Bucket
Those berries are going to pick themselves...

DIY Berry Picking Bucket Video


A bountiful morning when you have the right tools.

Berry (and cherry) picking is serious business; you pick a few, eat a few, then try to get them in the berry picking bucket or basket without spilling your handful from a high altitude. And then there’s the bending down to fill the bucket part. (Bad backs need not apply.) There’s got to be a better way!

Tulameen raspberries berry picking bucket
Those berries aren’t going to pick themselves…

The Tall Clover Farm prototype during its testing phase: lightweight and no rope burns and holds about two pounds.

I took my design inspiration for a better berry picking bucket from the clever folks at Bybee-Nims Farms at the base of Mt. Si near North Bend, WA. Their berry bucket: a clothesline cut to four feet, ends threaded through two opposite holes in an open coffee can and then knotted, basically a bucket pendant necklace, that bounces about my belly when I walk. The blueberries went a flyin’!

The prototype: cheap, comfortable and with several applications.

I adapted the idea, using a light weight plastic storage container and a tennis shoe string. My extensive testing proves the design reliable and my capacity to eat fresh berries without match.  It’s especially handy when you’re on a ladder. But why limit it to a berry/cherry picking bucket. Here are some other options for your consideration:

  • a cereal bowl for your morning commute or late night snacking
  • a place to store your reading glasses
  • a new-fangled air sickness bag (don’t forget lid)
  •  a popcorn holder for movie night

Ah the list goes on, but for now I have a date with some overripe raspberries.

Ladies, gentlemen, don your buckets!

berry picking bucket with blackberries
I also tried using a foam-covered wire used for tying plants up, but it only lasts for one season, and gets brittle. I prefer a tennis shoe string.

12 COMMENTS

    • Good point Susan…”pick one, eat one, pick one, eat one…”

      Oh and Susan, try this link for the video, maybe this will work better for you:

  1. Creative idea! Is it not thrilling to be so creative with all the simple things.

    I have a few raspberry bushes that I have planted as they seem to grow under any condition at the corner of my property that when people walk by they will pick a few sheepishly as a treat. I guess I should put a little sign there to tell them to enjoy!

    Happy Canada Day today!

    V and the Furry Gang

  2. I thought this looked ridiculous until 3 days ago, when my neighbor up the street informed me her cherry tree was ready for picking and that I should come soon. Suddenly, a hands-free bucket makes perfect sense. Call me a convert…

    Happy Canada day to any other Canadian readers.

    • Oh good a convert. Bwah-ha-ha! And Happy Canada Day QCprepper, your country and citizens deserve to be celebrated everyday. Hmm, I think I need a trip to Vancouver in my future!

  3. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the video work. It doesn’t really matter, though, as I have no fruit that needs a bucket. I have one kiwi plant and several tomato plants but, as Susan says, there is very little in my garden that makes it from the vine into a bucket. I’m so impressed by the bounty of your many harvests, Tom and by the creative recipes you share for ways to “process” all the produce you grow! Canada Day was wonderful – we even managed a barbecue before the rains came.

    • Hi Sandra, Happy Canada Day, my friend. And thank you for such kind words. I fear my photos only show you the best of my harvests, as there some disappointments along the way, too. I just pretend they didn’t happen. 😉 Well wishes to you and yours!

  4. Tom-
    Just discovered your wonderful website while I was looking for blackberry recipes. Clever idea with the basket! I have lots of blackberries left to pick and it has been awkward to hold a pan with one hand and pick with the other so I plan on making one of these and increase the amount I pick!! I’m in coastal Oregon area, not quite the island setting like you have, but I see many similarities in some of your posts. I’m pretty excited to try some of your recipes-especially the peach pie. Keep up the great stories (I loved the Brown Betty story-can relate-had a rooster that met the same fate)

    • Hi Laura, nice to meet you and thanks for the kind note. And I say definitely try that peach pie recipe, it is seriously one fine pie. Warm regards, Tom

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