Even when most families no longer depended on blueberries for income, we were conscripted as kids in the 50s to pick them, mainly for pies and cakes. Every plastic beach bucket was deployed for gathering berries and we were barked at by our mothers if we included leaves or twigs. Wear a huivi, get thirsty and sunburned, clamber up on the side of the mountain. Life was good.
I can empathize with Hilma. My cousin and I picked blueberries on my grandfather's farm for 10 cents a quart. In later years we picked them in Bank Village. However it was voluntary with no quotas.
Even when most families no longer depended on blueberries for income, we were conscripted as kids in the 50s to pick them, mainly for pies and cakes. Every plastic beach bucket was deployed for gathering berries and we were barked at by our mothers if we included leaves or twigs. Wear a huivi, get thirsty and sunburned, clamber up on the side of the mountain. Life was good.
Hilma was of my father's generation. She was a classmate of Walter Kuusisto, close friend of my father.
I can empathize with Hilma. My cousin and I picked blueberries on my grandfather's farm for 10 cents a quart. In later years we picked them in Bank Village. However it was voluntary with no quotas.