The strawberry plants at Mulu had to be irrigated so that they were all on a level that enabled the water to flow into the mini canals. I think we had a dam on the Alaltu River and as I had learnt how to allow water to flow on a gradient using a telescopic lens it was my job to work out the level at which the water would flow.
Some years we had a bumper crop of strawberries and we tried to export them to Djibuti and even to the Netherlands but were not successful. We were not knowledgeable enough about the right moment to pick them in order that they travelled well. So, we gave up on that and used to make jam and sold them to missionary groups to make their own jam.
We sold the rest to shops in Addis Ababa like Vaporides and Ghanotakis, but we also sold them to the street boys who sold them by going from car to car and of course this was much cheaper than those being sold in the shops. They were very successful and managed to sell a lot. (probably varying from day to day) but so long as the money they handed to me was what I expected, all was OK. If it did not, they would put their hands into their pockets and add more money until I was satisfied – a mutual way of doing business that pleased everyone, especially as they would smile at me and shrug their shoulders before going away and trying to do the same thing again.
The other thing I remember having learned was that we had to have punnets covered with cellophane to stop potential customers from trying a few strawberries to taste, thereby diminishing the amount of fruit a punnet.
But it is fun to remember all we had to learn to stop customers from cheating us, all those years ago…