Strawberry Season Over

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Friday, June 23, 1911: Was to pick strawberries this afternoon, but decided that it would be too hot. I’m going to stop now, as the season is over, having earned a snug sum of $2.65.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma had begun picking strawberries on June 12. $2.65 in 1911 would be worth about $75 today.

When I was young we ate strawberries day in and day out during June—and ate black raspberries day in and day out during early July, and corn on the cob later in July and August. For each fruit or vegetable there was a season, and it tasted so wonderful the first time it was served each year—and we were so tired of it that we thought we never wanted to see it again by the time the season ended. But we were always thrilled when strawberries (or raspberries or corn) was again available the following year.

(Photo source: Wikepedia Commons)