Strawberry Fields

It might not look like much but soon there will be strawberries.

Driving along the 101 South back to Los Angeles, I'm again struck by the immensity of the agriculture here on the West Coast. Miles and miles of crops - as far as the eye can see. Our ability to maintain a continuous food stream for our nation is staggering.

As we make our way south of Salinas, it's fields of lettuce. On one building I quickly notice the "Andy Boy" brand sign and am suddenly excited. Yes, Andy Boy is one of those large scale industrial agricultural brands, but it's one that I'm familiar with and one that I've used in the past. If it wasn't so late in the day, I might try to stop and ask for a tour.

Continuing on, it's strawberry fields aplenty. Right now they're not much to behold but in a few weeks time, they will be bursting with red fruit ripe for the picking. Hoardes of migrant labor will descend upon these fields to pick and harvest that food which will feed the people. Yes, some of them are guaranteed to be illegales and lest the more narrow-minded of you start complaining about paperless workers, ask yourself if you're truly ready to pay Kona Coffee prices for that head of iceberg lettuce for your thousand island dressing tonight?