When a strawberry is not just a strawberry

(Photo by Ivar Leidus)

Perhaps you pick strawberries from supermarket shelves.  Or perhaps you round up the kids for a fun day of plucking their own at a local farm.

It’s not quite like that in the migrant fields of California.  Laborers are compelled to plant berries in overnight shifts, sometimes lasting through wee hours of the morning.  It doesn’t matter if their bones ache, or if bugs are chomping at their skin.  The backbreaking show must go on.

So next time you fill your cart with juicy items, at least remember that they didn’t just fall from the sky.  Manna from heaven is one thing.  Migrant drudgery quite another.

Resources

https://www.news9.com/story/60cabb12e7f3970bd90c309a/college-graduate-honors-her-parents-with-photos-in-fields-where-they-worked 

Copyright June 18, 2021 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved