If I returned to my former days, in weather like today, I would be wondering could I stand the cold to work or should I just stay home. The photo above was taken in the spring, at the end of pruning. What I am pruning here is some grafts we did of this apple that was huge and red. I cannot even think what we called it...Maybe Garnet Beauty. My boss got the grafts from someone else who did not know what they were....
If I went to work, my boss had to be there on the super cold morning because my picker was pull start and I simply could not start it in the cold. I had a little Echo chain saw, actually I was on my second one when I quit. My boss had a local guy he bought from and he told the guy he needed one easy to start...and they were. Turn the choke on and pull once it fired, turn the choke off and it would start on the second pull. I am sure there were probably a time here and there it didn't but I do not remember them. It only had a 12 inch bar...but I could cut down the oldest apple trees just fine.
When I first started working there, there were 5 long rows of Red Delicious...when I left we had taken out all but one....well, on another row we had grafted Granny Smith.
I would give anything for you to have been there the first year. I worked there 19 years and there was never another year quite like it. The apples were huge! and limbs had to be propped up to hold the weight. I do not know why I didn't take a camera...I think because I was so new. And though it was like coming home the first time I visited the place, I still was not quite comfortable enough to take a camera and take pictures instead of going straight to work. Now I know they would have loved it as much as me.
Enough reminiscing for tonight...
I had no idea you did this kind of work! It's interesting...and looks a bit dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThat looks scary to me!
ReplyDeleteWhat interesting work! You are not afraid of heights or hard work!
ReplyDeleteI echo the previous comments....you were not afraid of heights ( like I am)!!
ReplyDeleteI just showed the picture to Bob and we both said you could not do that now as a teen. it would be on the dangerous year. this is something I did not know about you.. I would be way to afraid to do the chain saw or the riding up high or a ladder... I did know about the apple orchards but not the 19 years or what you did there
ReplyDeleteI'm with everyone else. I had no idea you did this kind of work. I bet that was a fun job.
ReplyDeleteI am not a heights person at all - but I know you loved working there. It is amazing the things we did when we were younger.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a job! Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating and hard job you did. Heights and I don't get along so I guess I would have failed. Yes its too bad you didn't photograph the early years of the orchards.
ReplyDeleteSue
Wow that is really cool Rose. What an interesting job!!
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your memories of this place Rose. Sounds like a very enjoyable job I would have liked that a lot. What an interesting contraption that is.
ReplyDeleteYour reflections bring to life a time of hard work and deep connection with nature. It’s clear how much that experience shaped you, especially the early days when everything was new. The vivid memories of the orchard—large apples, grafted trees, and even the challenge of starting a cold engine—capture the essence of a hard but meaningful time. Sometimes it’s those small details that leave the biggest impression, like the unexpected beauty in what we do every day, even when we don't pause to document it. Thanks for sharing a slice of your past!
ReplyDeleteGreat memories! What an interesting job!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to reminisce and share your memories ... an enjoyable read, thank you.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan