Appendix:
Strawberries

Leslie Baker

            For thirty-six years, the strawberry has been my favorite fruit.  Since I am the daughter of a third generation farmer here on the Eastern Shore, I have gotten to know this fruit very well.  Its smell, taste and looks I know by heart. The berry itself is green in the beginning. Then the color turns as the berry grows. As the sun hits the berry a lighter green color fades away to an almost creamy white color. Finally after much ripening the redness comes in and makes a little green berry into a beautiful color of red, like fire. The outside of the strawberry has what I like to call seeds that look like teardrops; they look exactly like the seeds on a sesame seed bun. Its amazing how two totally different things, a bun and a strawberry, can have one similar look.

             In the summertime, mine and my brother’s chore of the season was to help in the fields with the crops and gardening. We had produce stands every year. What was a chore in the beginning turned out to be my favorite pastime. I can remember one day when I was four, in 1972: the soil hadn’t seen rainfall in quite a few days and our plants in the field were drying up; the fruits and vegetables were dying. My grandfather and Dad took me and my brother out in our three acre strawberry field and told us to start eating. I just assumed he was crazy and the heat had finally started to get to him, but I was wrong. When my Poppop bent over and ate the first and then the second strawberry, I knew he was serious. The temperature that day was at least ninety-five degrees and getting hotter. I bent over and picked my first strawberry of the day. It was the biggest one I could find and the juiciest. I blew the dirt off of the strawberry, held it by the stem and dropped the whole thing in my mouth, tossing the stem on the ground when I was finished. I honestly had never had anything like it. My Poppop, my Dad and my older brother and I ate until we couldn’t eat anymore. This was the best way for me to eat a strawberry. I didn’t have to be neat or worry about not getting anything on my clothes. Here I was sitting on the dirt in the middle of the strawberry patch; with every bite I took the juice would just run right down my chin, fingers and arm. The riper and the warmer a strawberry was, the juicier and messier it became. Of course, there was also heartache that came with this glorious moment. I can remember bending down and spotting this big strawberry and going to pick it and my finger went straight through the berry; it was rotten because of the heat. I picked the strawberry and chunked it. The berry hit my brother who blamed me for doing it on purpose. He threw a strawberry at me. This meant war between us. As long as Poppop and father weren’t looking, every rotten berry we picked we hurled at each other. When we got finished, I was the messiest my mother had ever seen me but I was happy.

I still have the pleasure of eating strawberries straight from the field, strawberries cut up with sugar sprinkled on top then placed on strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, the topping of strawberry cheesecake, in a fresh fruit bowl or cooked into strawberry jam, like my Mom-mom made. My Pop-pop and Mom-mom were not the only ones that have taught me some different ways to enjoy the fruit. A recipe that my mother and I always enjoyed making and eating was from an old church cookbook from Stevenson United Methodist Church. It reads as follows;

Strawberry Glazed Pie by Ruth E. Hall

4 cups fresh strawberries                                  3 Tbsp. of cornstarch

1 cup of water                                                  few drops red food coloring

¾ cup sugar                                                      1 baked 8” pastry shell

Crush 1 cup of the smaller berries and cook with water about 2 minutes,

strain. Combine sugar and cornstarch, and stir into berry juice. Cook and

stir until clear. Add food coloring. Place half of the berries in pastry shell,

pour ½ the sauce over. Repeat with remaining berries and sauce. Chill. Serve

with whipped cream.

            The experiences that I have had are rare to find in Wicomico County where hardly anyone grows strawberries for trucking anymore. In the summer season, my children and I go out to the garden where the strawberry patches are and we stand and pick berries and eat them like I did when I was a kid. I have now created the next generation of strawberry lovers. My children are growing up in a different agricultural world than I did. My experiences are different than that of my fathers and my Pop-pop’s. This difference is much like the strawberry popularity on the Eastern Shore. At one point in time the farms were all around. Now, however, they are slowly fading; hopefully not into extinction.

 Strawberries in the mid 1800 to late 1800

            In the mid to late 1800s, the strawberry has been a sometimes very profitable fruit that was grown here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, especially in Wicomico County. There were so many strawberries being grown and picked in Pittsville, Fruitland, Salisbury and the surrounding areas that there were truck loads being taken to the train, and loaded into cars. The fresh strawberries were then sent to markets in major cities such as Philadelphia, New York and Boston. This over abundance of strawberries here on the Eastern Shore help spread the delightful taste to many people.

            The strawberry was considered, at one time, only to be bought by the upper class. They were expensive at market and unaffordable to few people. But, as the quantity of shipment became larger, they became more affordable to the working laborer. The reason for this is because of the special railroad transits that only transported strawberries from Maryland all the way up the east coast by express. The steam-boat was also a transporter of strawberries.

 The strawberry plant can easily adapt to the soil in a home garden or in a field. According to the Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, “...the greatest importance from the fact that a crop can be secured in a little over a year from planting. Its yield per acre is equal to that of an apple in quantity. The grower can expect to secure 5,000 to 15,000 quarts to the acre.”[i] This means for example, if the local farmer here in Wicomico County plants 15 acres of strawberries. It produces about 10,000 quarts per acre. The farmer can sell it for 30 cents per quart that gives the farmer a profit of about $45,000.00. In the 1800’s would be considered very good money. To show what I mean by good money. Our local farmers were able to supply with such great quantities the northern cities the, financial outcome in 1881 and in a couple of years to follow were outstanding for the strawberry grower. The Washington Post reported on June 21, “The strawberry crop of Wicomico County, Maryland sold for over $100,000, of which the growers received something over one half after paying all expenses.”[ii] If we compare what the farmer made more than 120 years ago to what a teacher’s salary is now in the year 2004, the farmer made about $20,000.00 more.   

In a May 24, 1872 article from the New York Times it told the readers how important the strawberry has become to people. It was quoted as saying that “the strawberry trade has now become one of the great features of the produce market. Also, during the summer season it gives employment to a large portion of the community, if we are to include the growers and carriers as well as the wholesale and retail sellers of this one commodity.”[iii]  Not only on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is the strawberry producing jobs and a profit, but also the whole east coast of the United States are being effected by a tiny little plant which can produce delicious red berries.

“Wicomico County was named as the greatest strawberry producing county of Maryland, and in no other crop is there more capital invested or as much money realized.”[iv] This was a quote in the New York Times, an article on June 21, 1885.  

Strawberries in the 1900

In the early 1900’s the strawberry was still the dominant fruit in the market of produce. The year of 1921 the United States Department of Agriculture said, “There was 7,096 acres grown in Maryland.”[v]  The majority of these acres are being grown here on the Eastern Shore. The shipment of strawberries was bountiful in the years of 1917 thru 1922. The markets that our local farmers were selling the berries to were located in the major cities on the East Coast of North America. According to the United States Department Yearbook of 1922 “…In 1921 the New York market for strawberries was 47 cents per quart and in 1922 it was 60 cents per quart. Philadelphia’s market in 1921 was 33 cents per quart and 1922 it was 50 cents per quart.”[vi] It is prices like this per quart that shows why even after 25 years has passed since the booming of the strawberry took place there were still strawberry farms in Wicomico County. The strawberry market was already looking for ways to expand into having the fruit last longer by freezing it. Refrigerated boxed cars were the next way to ship fresh strawberries up the east coast. This allowed for the strawberries that were picked ripe, red and juicy to keep while being transported all the way north as far as Maine.

However a profit was not always made in the strawberry business. In 1903, thousands of dollars were lost by local Wicomico County farmers. There was an exceptional drought this season which caused the strawberries to ripen faster than they could be shipped out. According to the New York Times “…Pittsville, in Wicomico County, is a centre of the berry shipping business to Philadelphia and New York. Half a dozen shippers there have lost $26,000.00 in a few days. The reason for Wicomico County strawberry farmers to be placed on such a financial strain also is because the refrigerator car companies have been unable to fill the demand for cars and in consequence the overripe fruit went north in ordinary ventilation freight cars.”[vii] In the 1920’s, the strawberry growers were receiving somewhere between 47 cents and 60 cents per quart, and also there was at least 7,000 acres being grown of strawberries. But this was not always the case, in 1944, the decline of strawberries were shown evident.

 In the Washington Post, Wicomico agent James P. Brown reported “the usual acreage was 2,000, but that because of dry weather last year not more than 1,000 acres were harvested. Eastern Shore berry growers, meanwhile, protested that the ceiling prices of 16.5 cents a pint and 32 cents a quart, effective may 4, would be deterrants to the restoration of strawberry acreage. The growers claimed that seasonal troubles caused by disease and weather made the Office of Price Administration ceilings on strawberries unfair.”[viii]

Besides the drought and frost there was disease called the Red Stele. Red Stele would hit the tips of the roots and rot it. Then the root would become infected and turn red in color. The longer roots would also die and decay. Once the Red Stele has hit the plant then it will look like its growth has been stunted. The disease does not hit one plant it hits usually the whole entire field. The Red Stele usually hits in the Mid-Atlantic region where it is not as warm as the southern part of the United States from North Carolina on to Florida.

There has also been human error in transporting the berries to market, which can cause a loss in profit for everyone. On June 4, 1888, in Willimantic, Connecticut, “An east bound strawberry freight train collided with west-bound train. Several cars of the strawberry train were wrecked, and the fruit scattered around. It is said that the night train dispatcher was at fault.”[ix] Also, in Sharon, Mass., there was a collision between the local freight for Providence, and a berry train, running as special, with sixteen cars, from the Harlem River for Boston. The local train reached Sharon Heights and was switching. In doing so some of the cars were still on the south-bound track when the strawberry train came along at a good rate of speed and ran into them, this also sent berries spilling out along the tracks and ground. It is thought that a flagman did not go back far enough with his signals.”[x]

Ratings in Wicomico County

            According to the Washington Post, March 9, 1953 “Twenty-one of Maryland’s 23 counties rank among the top 100 in Nation in one or more categories of farm production, the Committee for Conservation Now reported today. Included in this list was Wicomico County, they were given one of the best overall ratings by the committee, placing among the top 50 in at least seven categories – 7^th with 9,687,875 chickens, 12^th in tomato acreage, 16^th in sweet potatoes, 22^nd in green beans, 33^rd in vegetables harvested, 35^th in strawberries, and 46^th in watermelons.”[xi] The reason for strawberries to show such a decline in ratings of production is because of canning. Tomatoes became a great canning product for Wicomico County and brought a profit for the farmers who chose to grow tomato plants and sell them. My family, were big strawberry farmers but they eventually found that raising chickens in a controlled environment brought them great profits. It was controlled setting that the chickens lived in and as long as the chickens were walked through often and the feeders were turned down when they were suppose to be. Raising chickens became a very profitable business for them. It usually was about a $7,000 dollar a pay check every six weeks, after expenses, and that is just for one farm with 3 houses on it. My family has three farms with 4 houses on them now. There income does not include the crops of corn, soybean and wheat that they grow.  

Here and Now

            As far as the here and now of strawberries, they are still around but not as much. The acreage is less and less and the farmer is also. More and more developing is going on and taking away our precious farmland. I have lived here all my life, for thirty-six years now and it is hard for me even as an adult to sit back and watch what used to be farmland slowly disappear. As my mother told me, for an example of how things change over time, the picture that is shown above is a development called the Strawberry Village. It used to be a large strawberry field and the land also had rows of small houses on it where migrant workers lived. They would live on the land that they helped farm and pick strawberries. It sits along Rt. 50 in Pittsville. The location that I have showed an interest in is where my mother lives now. I feel so strongly in what’s done is done now. But I wish the developing could stop and leave the farmland alone. I am really lucky, I still live on a farm and my children are being raised on one also. They are getting to enjoy all the things I did when I was a child but they are making their own memories.

 So, when the warm weather comes around again, and you are looking for something sweet instead of going out to the local grocery store, put on your not so nice clothes and if you ever ride by a U-Pick strawberry patch I encourage you to take an hour to go out in the hot sun and pick strawberries of your own, you will enjoy it so much more than just buying them.   

home