Cherry Camp

 

After Horseshoe Bay Farms discontinued its elite Holstein breeding operation in 1925 the farm transitioned to focus on orchard production.  As hundreds, upon hundreds, of acres of cherry trees reached full maturity there arose a seasonal challenge; harvesting millions of pounds of cherries.  The technology of the time required thousands of hands picking cherries one by one and just like today local labor was in short supply.  Frank Murphy, who owned Horseshoe Bay Farms in Egg Harbor came-up with a novel solution.

Cherry Camp.

Functioning as a part-time summer job and youth camp bringing local teenagers together with other 13 to 17 year-olds from across Wisconsin and as far away as Chicago. 

The original Horseshoe Bay Golf Clubhouse, located right on the shore of green Bay, was converted into a dormitory.  The clubhouse featured a mess hall and a canteen where campers could purchase soda pop, treats and snacks.  As an exclusively all-boys facility, following a day's labor, most campers stripped-down, soaped-up, and jumped into the waters of Green Bay to clean-up.  The dorm also featured an outdoor basketball court, baseball field, horseshoes and a boxing ring.

As co-owners the Cowles family held longstanding seats on the Green Bay Packers Board of Director.  Consequently, Packers players, supplemented with local high school coaches,  served as chaperones and camp counselors.  

The daily routine began with reveille and calisthenics.  Following breakfast, trucks transported the kids up the bluffs to the orchards.  Campers had to pick 7.5 pails of cherries each day to cover their room and board.  Profits of every pail picked beyond that went directly to the teenage camper.  Lunch was at the orchard and quitting time was 4 PM.  Following supper, candy bars were awarded to the day's highest pickers.  Each day closed with the Pledge of Allegiance, retiring of the colors, taps and lights out. 

 This was not a vacation experience; it was back-breaking work.  Climbing ladders and hauling pails of cherries in the July sun was not a leisurely summer day.  Nevertheless, the organized camp experience combining hard work with summer adventure away from home likely left some fond memories.

The boom years for cherry camp extended from the early 1940s thru the 1950s.  The camp operated at peak capacity during these decades often drawing 100 teenagers each July and August.  With the introduction of mechanical limb shakers and automated harvesting equipment in the 1960s the need for the manual picking of cherries was eliminated.  The need for seasonal teenage labor disappeared and so did cherry camp. 

It is worth noting that girls picked cherries too alongside the boys - but under a different arrangement. Local girls commuted daily to the orchards to pick alongside the camp boys.  The children of families visiting for the summer also earned summer cash making cherry picking a rite of passage for generations of teenagers.

                                                       Photo Credits - Horseshoe Bay Farms 

Survivor

Growing-up we had a redwood picnic table that I suspect my father assembled in 1960 or thereabouts.

I looked-around and was surprised you can still purchase genuine redwood outdoor furniture.  However, it is exceedingly expensive.  Of course, that is because redwood is naturally rot-resistant.  And scarce.

Anyway, part of my vast inheritance was the family picnic table (and benches) that I grew-up-with.  Birthday parties, backyard BBQs, cocktail parties, throwing a big blanket over it and building a fort - that picnic table has a pile of history.

I refinished it this week.  Had it been in pristine condition I would have applied a clear neutral stain.  Because it was messed-with over four generations I stripped it as best I could (without disassembling it) and applied a quality tinted redwood stain.  

It turned-out reasonably well considering it is Medicare-eligible. 

Beyond the inherent durability of the redwood material; dad had the foresight in 1960 with galvanized hardware.

Any all I had to do is tighten the fittings with a crescent wrench to rectify any minimal wobble and creak.  When's the last time you saw square nuts?  

Friday Music

I'm old enough to remember when Greg Lake was the front man for King Crimson and I possessed a coveted cassette tape.  And, yes, I am old enough to have purchased the vinyl album and most assuredly was drawn to use of a Moog Synthesizer to juice-up a tune that the rest of the band found uninspiring.   

Written by Lake as an acoustic tune on his first guitar at the age of twelve – it surfaced years later when the group Emerson, Lake and Palmer needed an additional song on their debut album.   

Greg Lake has been gone now for a decade already; thankfully his music persists.  

 Lucky Man…

 

More Fawns

From the trail camera trapline there are more fawns.

Whitetails all over the dang place.

The gift that keeps on giving. 

                                                      Can you spot the twins?

  

Oops From The Oriole Ranch

The orioles are making a liar out of me.  Watching the news last evening I spotted a juvenile on the feeder just outside on the feeder.

The bird cam is still on the porch and two of the three jelly feeders were empty.  Empty feeders do not necessarily imply orioles feed at them as other birds like grape jelly.  Nevertheless, I swapped-out the memory card to check on who's been visiting.

And from yesterday afternoon there was an oriole and a house finch and a solo female oriole. 

 

Brief Economic Briefing

 

Once upon a time you could count on Republicans to stand for lower taxes.  No more.  In case you missed it, last Friday, July 24, President Trump imposed new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 trading partners covering 99% of U.S. imports.  In a fit of pique, an additional 50% retaliatory tariff singling-out Canada was imposed as well.

Because the cost of these additional trade taxes are paid by consumers, the Yale Budget Lab now estimates that Mr. Trump's tax increase will cost American households an average of $1,100 per year.  That is double what it would have been had the president declined to impose higher taxes replacing the global tariff that expired on Friday.  

Notably, this tax increase wipes-out the $300 - $1,000 increase in average tax refund generated as a result of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.

Five months into the Iran war the national price of gasoline is around $4 a gallon; so there is that additional household budget item. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed.  The Red Sea's Bab el-Mandeb (Gateway of Tears) is now threatened by the Houthis.  U.S. bases throughout the Gulf States remain vulnerable to attack.  And oil is trading close to $100 a barrel.

Naturally, it should come as no surprise that with the imposition of new and higher tariffs, rising energy costs, Iran war supply chain disruptions; businesses are raising prices.  Which increases the threat of rising inflation pressures. 

In closing this has pushed yields on the 10-year treasury - a major benchmark for setting consumer borrowing costs - above 4.6%.  The bond market looks spooked.  This impacts commercial loans and pushed the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate to its highest level of the year, a move that could chill the housing market.  Notably, this is higher than where they stood following Mr. Trump's Liberation Day announcement that sent the bond markets into a tailspin. 

Admittedly, updates and briefings are incomplete.  For instance, unemployment for the month of June was 4.2%, ticking down from 4.3% in May.  According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics total unemployed persons stood at roughly 7.09 million, reflecting a stable labor market.  

Watch the Fed today. 

Final Update From The Oriole Ranch

I’ve been checking the bird cam on the porch and for the last several days I haven’t gotten an oriole photo. 

 

Neither of us has spotted any in the yard. 

 

I’ll keep the camera out for a while longer just to be sure; but if my diary is to be believed the orioles have departed. They’re winging their way south already for their wintering grounds in Mexico, Central and South America. 

 

One of the last photos was July 23

 

 

They arrived May 7 and left, on or about, July 25. 

 

Last to arrive - first to depart. 

 

Anecdotally, 2026 has been a bumper year for house finches and Monarch butterflies….