(255/366) Cherry Berry Bin

Sept 11, 2012 – The Cherry Berry Bin was an orchard near my grandparent’s orchard. Both my sets of grandparents lived in the same community, one with a farm, one with an orchard. I worked every summer on that orchard (and the farm too). We didn’t have a fancy name for our orchard, but we were recognizable. It was the little white house, at the intersection of Lakeshore and Broadview. The little white house with the red garage door that held the big letters “Schultz”.

But I always loved the name of that other orchard.

“The Cherry-Berry-Bin”.

It rolled off the tongue. Sadly, like so many other orchards in the Shuswap, it has given way to vineyards or residential neighbourhoods. Like so many agricultural businesses in BC, poor profits have forced owners to sell their land or shift products to try and make ends meet. So now many of our fruit products are imported and our valuable agricultural land is squandered. The farm-girl part of me saddened by the changes I see when I pass through the region.

Progress is not all positive.