Article: Steeped in Hops

My mother passed away June 2007 at the age of 88. A few months before she left us, she told me that she had seen a hop basket in an antique shop. She told me the story of the summer when she was 10 years old (1929) picking hops, for 10 cents a pound, "Do you know how much a hop weighs?" "NOTHING!!" At the end of the summer she had made $12.00. The summer picking hops was a good memory for her. She was a wonderful story teller and she told it with humor. It wasn't until she was an adult that she learned that she had suffered a slight case of polio, (the dread of every parent) the doctors told my grandparents that she would heal if she was out in the sun, working her muscles and limbs hard. It worked and was wonderful advise from the doctor.

The article was published one month after Mother passed, it brought tears to my eyes remembering her story.