Mrs. Slater visits with Mrs. Boyer. Mrs. Slater is desperate for milk for herself and her children. Mrs. Boyer offers Mrs. Slater milk from her cow. Mrs. Slater is shocked that Mrs. Boyer feeds her cow instead of putting it out to graze for food on its own.

As the winter months arrive, the strawberry crop blossoms. School is let out early for the winter so that children can help their parents pick berries. Birdie and her siblings work hard to pick the strawberries. Their father sells the first batch in town and the entire family is proud of their first crop.

Shoestring catches a rattlesnake and intends to make it his pet even though the snake is extremely dangerous. Birdie finds the rattlesnake in the Slaters’ chicken coop. She is disgusted that Shoestring has given the rattlesnake a live rabbit to eat. Birdie decides to save the rabbit even though “She knew what the bite of a rattlesnake meant. She knew how quickly they struck, and how great the danger was when no help was near. But she never thought of waiting till her father and Buzz returned. She never thought of herself at all” (115).