Money Does Too Grow On Trees!

Image Gallery PHOTOS BY MARIE AND ALLEN CHILLSON

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Brush picking-the gathering of sword fern, salal, and other forest greens for sale to florist-supply
housesprobably won't make you rich . . . but as a quick source of emergency cash in the Pacific Northwest,
says Marie Chillson, it can't be beat!

It's a long way from San Francisco to Canada and back in a Volkswagen . . . but my husband and I had saved for that vacation for ages and we were enjoying every minute of it. Enjoying the trip, that is, right up until the tooth I broke on a piece of chicken in an Oregon roadside diner suddenly-and unexpectedly-blew $100 right out of our travel funds.

"Oh well," Allen said, "we've looked forward to seeing Canada for so long that we can certainly wait a little longer. But we still have enough money to enjoy a leisurely drive back to San Francisco along the scenic coastal route."

Three hours later and a few miles short of Coos Bay, Oregonhowever-the Canadian vacation that had just slipped through our fingers was suddenly given back to us again . . . and by a most unexpected "Santa Claus".

We had just pulled into a rest area, only to be somewhat puzzled by a parked pickup piled high with . . . well, with what appeared to be green foliage of some kind. At first we thought the mass of limbs and leaves had been the end result of someone's roadside cleanup campaign. But no . . . the foliage was simply stacked too neatly and tied too carefully with twine for that.

"What the heck you got here anyway?" Allen asked the young man who-from behind a magnificent beard and beneath a wide-brimmed hat-was grinning out the pickup's window at us.

"I'm a brush picker," he replied. "I make my living picking sword fern, cedar, salal, and huckleberry foliage and selling it to packing plants in the area. The packers then grade and case the greenery and ship it to florists throughout the country for use in floral arrangements."

"Gee, can just anybody get in on this kind of work?"

"Yep," our new friend answered cheerily. "There's more than enough brush around here for everybody who wants to be a picker. And the packers! They're shipping tons of forest greens and they never seem to get enough. This is really big business . . . even though it's still a relatively unknown industry, even in these parts."

Our accommodating new acquaintance then went on to show us how an arrangement of salal (right off his truck) should be put togetherspray by spray, with odd single leaves tucked neatly in between-and gave us further tips about harvesting foliage as a business:

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