That's a hard, hard job. Crews did the same thing with seedling trees at the nursery the OH worked at. Similar set up. I hope Andrew had a nice bath drawn so you could soak your weary, dirty bones in suds and epsom salts each day.
I work for a local farmers, transplanting greenhouse grown plants to the field. This year we had 200 acres of Brussels sprouts to do and 50 acres of Hungarian/Banana Peppers. We had a very wet spring, so about the time we should have been getting close to finishing we were just starting. I put in close to 140 hours in 12 days. Leave the house at 6:30am, arrive at the field just before 7am, and not get home most nights until 8:30/9:00pm. Just enough time to shower, eat and get ready for the next day. I'm glad Andrew was able to step in and keep the house running and garden taken care of.
This year there was one other Canadian working instead of just me and the Mexican seasonal workers. Nice to have someone to talk to. Though I was getting better at communicating with the guys and since most of them have been coming back for several years they can speak more English than I can Spanish. I had the honour of sitting beside Poncho. He was almost always humming, whistling, or singing and that's if he wasn't laughing at something someone said. One day it was hymns, including The Little Drummer Boy.
It's not that it's hard work, but it is very tiring on the back and shoulders. Repetitive movement for long periods of time. Grab a handful of plants with one hand and drop them in one at a time into the cups with the other. If we are going at a good speed, it's about 65 plants per minute.
Here's a few pictures from this year and two years ago:
Transplanter, tractor and water tanker. After every round the water tank behind the tractor is filled up, empty racks taken off and full ones put on.
Back of the planter, ready to head out for another round.
I had the second seat. Poncho was beside me on the outside.
This years crew, minus the tractor driver.
That's a hard, hard job. Crews did the same thing with seedling trees at the nursery the OH worked at. Similar set up. I hope Andrew had a nice bath drawn so you could soak your weary, dirty bones in suds and epsom salts each day.
Kleb (06-09-2014)
That's a lot of work! There are some Brussels sprouts in my refrigerator right now. I will think of you when I eat them, Faye!
Kleb (06-09-2014)
That sounds like such back breaking work. Glad for you that it's finished.
Uh oh, if I remember right, you also do tomatoes?
Kleb (06-09-2014)
This farmer doesn't have a tomato contract anymore. Heinz sold their plant in Leamington and only a small number of the growers got contracts with the new company. However, I will most likely be working at the tomato canner in town once that season starts (late August). Another stint of 10 hour days, with no days off for five or six weeks, unless we get a rain day.
hard work for sure.
just had roasted sprouts, with a ton of sautéed onions, and a bit of bacon. i bet andrew would like that!
Kleb (06-09-2014)
It sounds painful. The farmers around here aren't very far in either because things were so wet. Do you harvest as well?
I'm curious about brussel sprouts in your area. I grew a few years ago and they were tiny. Thought it was me then went to a local farm and they were tiny there as well. What makes a good sized sprout?
I'm sure you're exhausted at the end of the day, but what a great job you have, Faye! And you have good company.
I love playing in the dirt .
Hard but very rewarding job.
KAZ
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