This is a working vacation for me. I have been putting in some hours remotely on my job back in Burbank. Pegerty and Kitty put me to work picking strawberries, too. We went to LeCount’s Strawberry Farm near Wawaka, IN. They expect to be open till July 1st, so there’s still time, Noble County folks!
My beautiful sister with 2/3 of our haul.
My first job outside the family was picking strawberries at Binney’s just down the road from us. I had a pony, StarBoy, that one summer. I rode him to work and tied him to the cherry tree while I picked for 15 cents a quart pay.
Mr. Binney was a great boss. He showed me how to pick. “You know what you want to do when you find a big perfect berry like that?” he asked, holding one up.
I shook my head.
“You eat that one, because it’s never going to be as good as it is right now.”
Berry cart parking, for the serious harvester. There were several Amish families there picking a lot of fruit.
Kids heading into the field. It was a nice cool morning.
Many hands make light work. Kitty and I had these berries cleaned about as quickly as Pegerty could wash them.
We tried rinsing the strawberries we didn’t freeze in a solution of 1 part white vinegar to 10 parts water (eyeballed it, didn’t measure it), and it seemed to help preserve them in the fridge! The idea is that it kills off the mold spores that can give strawberries those little soft spots.
Any Given Sundry 
Sweet story. I thought your account of your first job would describe how difficult it was, stooping in the boiling sun, etc. A delight and a surprise to read about StarBoy and Mr. Binney telling you to eat the perfect berry!
It’s not quite so hard when you’re eleven and you only really have to work when you want to. There is a little more to this story, but I thought maybe I’d save it for a bit.
Now my first in-family job, cleaning at my father’s service station…not such a sweet story. Hmm…an idea may be forming.
My first family jobs at age 7 were driving the Holstein Friesens up to the barn for milking and in the summer, calling out when the hay fork reached the sweet spot in the mow so my brother driving the horses would stop and the load of hay could be dropped.
Wow, you used horses?
I can almost smell the hay. We used to play in a barn full of it when I was little.
Wow, you used horses?
I can almost smell the hay. I used to play in a barn full of it, hauling around the bales to make forts out of them.
Super-duper wonderful to have you for 2 whole weeks!
It was great to be there!
A wonderful story well told! I love your Mr. Binney. Those strawberries look delicious.
They were delish! My sister has two gallons in her freezer. Nice to look forward to this winter.