Historic Hood River
Strawberry Pickers
4-29-2019
Notes
It shouldn’t be too long before the strawberries are ready.
In the early days of agriculture in the valley strawberries were grown for the Portland market. Packing houses with refrigeration drove the conversion to apples and then pears in later years.
L. E.
I learned here at HHR that early orchards planted strawberries amongst their young fruit trees so they had some income while waiting for the orchard to begin producing.
JKG
Arthur–do you have any other information on this one (year, location, etc)?
Arthur
Unfortunately there isn't much information on this one. My best guess is it's between 1900 and 1910. Strawberries were were grown heavily in the lower valley, near the city.
Dayne Weatherill
I've also seen and heard that asparagus was planted the same way. But maybe only up in the Dee Flat and Trout Creek Ridge area orchards?
Bill Seaton
I picked strawberries one summer around 1951 at a patch in the lower valley. Looking back, it was the hardest job I ever had.
Judy
Two of my three boys would agree with Bill. A lot of work for not much money, but as the Mom .. it kept them busy.
L.E.
The fruit trees in the back ground, (cherry?) have some size to them.
If you click the strawberries tag, you will see some more good photos of HR strawberry crops and read some of our comments whining about picking strawberries when we were kids.
nels
Is the faint outline of a building look like a house or a barn?
And it looks like this may be on a hill top as the fruit trees in the upper right corner appear to drop down and no visible land past there.
Dave
I picked in the 60's starting when I was 8. Hard work,hot as all get out by July. Didn't make any money, but one summer my brother and I both saved enough money to buy Western Flyer 10 speed bikes. They were a piece of junk, but boy was I proud of mine. Mostly picked in Parkdale for Homer and Kimi Akiyama.
ArthurB
Dayne, there were asparagus planted between rows of fruit trees at Koberg before the dam and highway displaced them.
Charlott
Asparagus was grown by the Shibahara family just south of Parkdale. Best aspargus in the world. Used to buy it for 5 cents a pound, can you believe that when you see the price now in the stores.
We all picked strawberries, first for Ole and Hazel Blackmer on Eastside Road, then my great-uncle planted strawberries between the rows in a baby fruit block and all the cousins picked there……Those were kept going until the trees got big enough that they started to shade them out and then they were plowed under………….not too soon enough for me!!!!! Worst job one could have, in my opinion…..
K Alley
John Merz was my Grandpa. He and his brothers Lew and Kenny all had strawberries in Parkdale. I remember Grandpa driving his bus to Portland and bringing back guys to pick. They all liked their wine and for the reward of picking a row, there would be a bit of wine at the end of the row. He had picker cabins for them to stay in too. They were all quite the characters! There was never a dull moment during strawberry or pear harvest.