Behind each peach, pear and plum ...

Behind each peach, pear and plum that arrives safe and fresh on a table, there are a lot of  busy people working really hard to bring that fruit to fruition. 

It's that time of the summer when the soft fruit is being harvested.  On a warm day when I'm driving past an orchard I can smell the peaches.   If I can smell the peaches, they're ready and they need to be picked right now.

Who picks the fruit?  Guest workers from the Caribbean and Mexico who arrive in February and stay until the end of November.  They do all the hard work to keep the orchards, nurseries and vineyards producing, pruned and picked.  Guest workers are here legally as part of a Seasonal Agriculture Workers Program.

These guys are a part of our community.

Sometimes I only catch a glimpse.

Or they are past me before I know it.

There is not much chance for snapping photos, these guys are on the move.

 

Sometimes I think the rides on the trucks must be their only rest this time of year
and that truck does not look comfortable.

 

Thanks to the guys who work so hard to keep things going around here.

Kath

Comments

[robin bird]

ahhhhhh yes! the smell of fresh peaches ready for harvesting. i could inhale it all day, wear it as perfume, use it to wash my face, my laundry, eat them morning, noon and night. pet their fuzzy bellies like a babies' bottom. the color of a perfectly ripe peach is enough to make me cry.

i remember living on the property of a peach orchard in Southern Illinois when i was first married in 1972. we rented a 15 foot uninsulated trailer that was a cast off of the migrant workers who came to pick each august. the days were regularly in the 90's (Fht) with about 50% humidity and it was hot, hot in that happy little trailer. i remember the day i ate my first perfect peach picked right from the tree. it was a gift from the farmer's daughter who brought it over in a paper sack for us to try. it was warm, ripe and the juice just dripped right down my front. i will never ever forget the way i felt when i bit into that peach. like i lived in heaven even though it had to be about as hot as hell in that cozy pile of scrap metal.
xo

[Wayfaring Wanderer]

Those guys are behind the scenes in a lot of places.....most people don't care enough to notice.....but you did.......

My company provides workers for surrounding golf courses....it breaks my heart to know that they are away from their families for such a long period of time, but there isn't another way for them to make this sort of money where they are from.....They are such hard workers.......