Lesson 1: Berries and Rain

While many may assume that the concept of a snow day ends for most in high school (especially those attending Smith College where there is a remarkable pride in never having snow days), throughout a summer of berry farming one may experience a handful of rain days. To all students spending their summers inside an office or grocery store: Be jealous. There have been many a morning where somewhere between 7 and 7:45 AM the phone will ring and it will be my wonderful boss telling me not to bother coming in, it will be too wet and rainy all day. Ahhhhhh. Cue big happy yawn and the climb back into bed.

However, the lesson here lies not in the awesomeness of working on a berry farm, but in the differences between berries that cause the inability to work on some rainy days. You see, strawberries are the only berry that my boss will allow to be picked if it is rainy or if the leaves are wet. As long as there is no lightning (or thunder, in which case we advise customers to "pick at their own risk"), customers are allowed to get drenched in order to fill their baskets with our beautiful berries.

Blueberries and raspberries are a completely different story. Because disease spreads across these plants if they are picked while the leaves are wet, customers and workers are not allowed to touch them unless they are completely dry. Our blueberry plants are generally damp in the morning from dew but dry out with sun by 10 o'clock. Raspberries, however, are a much thicker plant and their fields are not hit with as much direct sun. If there is rain in the morning or later in the day, it is possible that they will stay wet and therefore unpickable for the majority or entirety of a day. This is when the phone call would be made.

The moral: Strawberry season means getting wet. Because customers can pick if they so choose, we must be there to direct and pick if the weather clears up to a drizzle. No chance of a rainy day morning phone call.