Our neighbours grow strawberries up on their little hill. A couple of days a week (when they're fruiting) I go over to help harvest them. As a result... well, I think it's fair to say that we've never had so many strawberries in the house. Now, we all love strawberries... and these ones are spectacular... juicier and sweeter than any I've bought in a shop for a long time.
The photo below shows only a fraction of the patch, along with the 'trolley' that we use to hold the boxes while we're picking the berries.... having a seat to sit on also saves the old back somewhat.
As I mentioned, the patch is on top of the hill next to our place. The view's pretty cool from up there. It just goes on and on and on, all the way around... well, there are some trees to block the view in some places, but you know what I mean. I'll have to get a snap of the fog down below as it dissipates some time. Here you can see the fog band between the mountains in the distance, but when it's at the base of the hill it's pretty (it doesn't make it all the way up the hill).
These people are our closest neighbours, but the patch lies between us and their house. It'd be about one and a half kilometres from our door to theirs. This spot would be about a kilometre from our place. There's our house peeking through the trees.
The kangaroo below was sitting just on the other side of the fence that lines their driveway. He didn't move a muscle as we drove past, just stared at us. Kangaroos are ok... they tend to stay away from the strawberry patch... but the local wallabies can be a pain in the rectum for the growers. Apart from gorging on the berries, they break the plants off and squash the unripe fruit as they crawl over their banquet... no table manners at all. The other day I took LM8 with me and she had to chase one away for us. It was sitting at the end of one of the rows happily munching away, despite the fact that several humans were only a matter of fifty or sixty metres away. Cheeky bugger.
When I was at Uni I was a strawberry picker over one summer at Allen's Flat near Yackandandah Vic (you know made famous by the movie that Paul Hogan was in "Strange Bed Fellows"). Anyway there was no nice little seat contraption to sit on, it was crouching and bending the back all the way. This is not an exaggeration I ended up with a numb little toe on one of my feet for nearly a year because of the way I had to crouch down. I also got the worst sunburn on part of my lower back because my T-Shirt had crept up and I didn't realise it and once again I had this strange tanned area on the small of my back for over a year. There was a pay off though, the strawberries were the biggest and best I have ever tasted. The strawberry wine that they made wasn't bad either. Juicy photos, good enough to eat. ChezzaJT
I thought the same thing when I saw the bike contraption that Tinacee gets to use. I worked on a farm cutting the hearts out of lettuce (so they go to seed). The whole job is bending over while standing up (you know what I mean). If we'd had them bike thingies, we'd have been laughing. Oh, the rows in the lettuce field were about a km long if I remember correctly.
I also worked as jug hound in seismic work many, many years ago. We spent most of our time bent-backed. My friends didn't recognise me from behind when I'd get home because my back looked more 'native' than a white-boy's (seriously dark skinned). I'm still waiting for the masses of skin cancers to start forming on my back.
:o)
I was a bit worried when I was first asked if I'd like to help. I was picturing just that... carting a box along the rows as I bent down to pick the berries. Having had a bad back for the last 18 or so years (since a botched epidural with my firstborn) I didn't think I'd last long. But that thing is pretty cool. There still is some bending, but it's side to side, not up and down. Once your back muscles get used to the twisting, it's pretty easy.
• Wednesday 16 August 2006 - Picking Strawberries