Enslaved Afro-Marylanders survived on a diet that was especially poor in nutrition, protein, and calcium and came from three main sources. Rations provided the basic monthly allowance, which Frederick Douglass, enslaved in a county adjoining Caroline, recalled as eight pounds of pork or the equivalent in fish, one bushel of unsifted Indian meal, and one ping of salt for a full-grown enslaved person working constantly in an open field every day except Sunday; he said the pork was often spoiled, the fish were of the poorest quality, and about 15% of the meal was more fit for pigs than for people. Such rations often made up only 50% of the diet, leaving enslaved people to obtain much of the rest themselves. As much as 40% came from foraging in nearby forests, fields, marshes, and waterways before returning from work or on Sundays, including fresh-water plants, nuts, birds and small animals, fallen fruit not taken by the slaveowner, and fish, eels, and turtles from Mill Creek and the nearby Choptank River. This foraging was constrained by limited time, the need to catch some fish at night, and the lack of fat or cooking oil. The remaining 10% came from small gardens called truck patches, usually on poor ground or beside individual dwellings, where corn and potatoes were most common, along with beans, peas, herbs, and melons, and where the very young and elderly were expected to guard the crops from birds and animals.