Memories of Strawberries

Strawberries and west Sherburne County seemed synonymous for a number of years.  At the highpoint, the Becker Strawberry Days Festival solidified the connection.  The lesser known memoirs of Sherburne County residents remain equally important to connecting the local strawberry crop and the county.  A brief paragraph in the published memories of Walter Gohman bear out this important connection:

I remember vividly a strawberry feed.  There was a strawberry patch that went the full length of the garden.  The Gohman farm had some of the most fertile soil in Minnesota and the strawberry patch produced a large crop of luscious berries.  A big strawberry feed was in order.  In the morning when they separated the milk, a large pitcher of cream was saved.  The pitcher or cream was placed on ice in the ice house.  A long table was set up by placing planks on saw horses in from of the long porch.  We were each given a bowl and told to pick our own berries.  When we were all seated beside our big bowl of berried, Bert’s Anne went to the ice house to get the pitcher of cream.  As she returned across the lawn, a large garter snake crawled across her foot.  She screamed and tossed the pitcher into the air.  What was intended to be strawberries with sugar and cream turned out to be strawberries with just sugar. 

Although created as a means to sell more fruit, the Becker Strawberry
Festival highlights the important connection between the county and
the local strawberry farms

Walter Gohman didn’t enjoy his berries and cream on that day, yet his memories reinforce the importance and enduring impact of strawberries in Sherburne County. The berries continue to impact the community and the economy to this day.