Food for the Cause

"For Peace Sake… Pitch In!”

At the beginning of the season, Farmerettes worked on their hands and knees to plant and weed crops. That included celery, cucumbers, and onions. Throughout the summer they harvested tomatoes, asparagus, and rhubarb. They picked and packaged fruit such as raspberries, strawberries, and peaches. Another chore was to rub Dutch onion sets softly on wire mesh to remove the dried outer skins.

Farmerettes were paid by the day or if they were harvesting fruit, by the basket. One Farmerette recalled, “We received four cents a quart and had to pay seven dollars a week for room and board. Some of us didn’t make it!”

In Lambton County, produce was sent to canning factories in Forest and Exeter and sold at markets. An interesting local crop was peppermint. On the Sitter farm, they distilled peppermint to oil which was sent to Wrigley’s Gum. For many girls, this was their first experience working in the field. They persevered through their physical aches and the heat to help bring in the harvest.

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