Living in Washington means that right now is in-your-face apple season. In all of these years, it has never once occurred to me to think about HOW the apples ended up in the grocery store or road side stands that I typically pick them up from. Did you know that every.single.apple that we eat is hand-picked? Of course, when you stop to think about it, it totally makes sense, but since I have never stopped to think about it, it kind of blew my mind.
According to an NPR article, I found, most apples are picked by seasonal employees {largely immigrants}, who come each year to pick their daily six tons of apples {that’s if you are an experienced picker}! Holy buckets that is a lot of apples for one person to have picked! There is no way on earth that I could pick that many apples–or scurry up and down a ladder with what added up to 6 tons on my shoulders over the course of a day.
The mostly immigrants that head to “Washington, western Michigan, the shores of Lake Ontario…and Pennsylvania” kind of chase the harvests, moving from one location to another, depending on what is in season. They pick apples in the fall, then strawberries in the winter, and blueberries in the summer. They go with the harvests–all hand-picked. On a good day, good-pickers make $250 a day.
I spend all day long gardening, talking about gardening or recipes, etc., and yet it has never really occurred to me to think about the harvesting process in depth. Does this blow your mind too?
~Mavis
Oh, and here’s a few more little factoids to take with you today:
- The largest apple ever picked was 3 pounds 2 ounces.
- The average apple tree produces 42 boxes of apples that weigh about 42 lbs each.
- A peck of apples weight 10.5 lbs.
- A bushel of apples weighs 42 lbs.
- There are over 8000 varieties of apples
- Crabapples are the only native apple to North America.
- Apples are a member of the rose family.
- Apple trees can live to over 100 years old.
- Apple trees take 5 years before they start producing apples.
- The average person eats 65 apples per year.
~Mavis
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Cheri says
I don’t miss living in Minnesota, but I do miss the autumns there. Not only were the colors lovely, but we also loved to make trips to the many apple orchards there as a family tradition. At some of them you can pick your own apples right off the tree. If Washington has these orchards that are open to the public, you’re missing out! It’s a lovely tradition to begin.
Kathy says
I absolutely adore picking my own apples! Here in NE Ohio, I’ve a favorite spot to go in search of just the right apples. The Apple Cabin sells everything apple and pumpkin, from the end of September to the first week of November. Period. The rest of the year they are closed. Brilliant orchard to collect the perfect mix of johnagold, cortland, macintosh and red delicious for the most perfect apple butter. They also hold the haunted orchard attraction weekends during October.
Carrie says
I probably eat closer to 200 fresh apples per year, this doesn’t include anytime I eat applesauce or add apple to recipes. Pink Lady and Honeycrisp are my favorites. I planted a Honeycrisp and a Golden Delicious tree this year. I can’t wait till that 42 pounds of apples comes! 😉
Johnny says
What we are all wondering, does an apple a day (almost) actually keep the doctor away? 😉
Jules says
Interesting facts. That really sounds like grueling work. I decided this year I’d love my own apple tree. We picked apples from a local orchard and they only lasted about two weeks and I never want to eat an apple from the grocery store again. Straight from the tree tastes so much better.
Kristina says
Man, that is a tough gig, picking a large fruit orchard. Not an easy thing to find a few dozen workers with a few days notice. We don’t have Washington’s apple crop here in CA, but we have a pretty good peach growing community, and the labor situation is very tricky when you have a short window to harvest (5-7 days?, guessing), and only know you need labor (maybe) a week in advance — deciding when to harvest is as much an art as a science, and can vary year to year by weeks, depending on a whole range of conditions. My hat’s off to them. Also, don’t know if there’s a youtube video of farm workers “walking” their three-legged orchard ladders from tree to tree, but it’s pretty impressive (not sure if this is OSHA approved or even done anymore….). Lucky you to have luscious apples in such abundance and so fresh.
Jan says
I think most large orchards/orange groves, etc. Have contact with groups (of migrant workers) whose business it is to get workers where they’re needed. Like every other business, there’s a supply of resources!
Love fresh apples, used to do a couple bushel every fall into pies n apple dumplings…getting to be that time again!!
Deb says
I spent several years growing up in central California so I am well aware of migrant fruit pickers. Back then, in addition to a daily wage depending on productivity, they were provided with housing, medical care, and migrant schooling for their children. They worked during the harvest season and then went home with transportation provided by their employers. Now, because of current immigration policies and Cesar Chavez and his ilk, they get daily wages and fend for themselves for the rest. They are ordinarily very hard working people trying to make a better life for their children just as our ancestors who arrived here with nothing did. Most of the people in this country do hard backbreaking work like this…..they are motel maids, gardeners, kitchen help, ditch diggers, garage mechanics, store stockers, maintenance men, grocery checkers, etc. and we are mostly oblivious to them even though they keep our country and our society running. We all seem to be much more worried about free college for pampered children so they can major in some sort of “studies”. Mavis, I admire you greatly but I am absolutely shocked that you seriously never considered how apples got from a tree to your grocery store. You are intelligent, caring and creative and your blog is witty, well written and full of good information….for middle class folks like you and me. There is, however, a whole other world out there and it is full of people who think they are truly fortunate because they are making $13.00 per hour and are capable of supporting a family on that amount. I have worked in that world with those people and they are honest and hardworking and proud and deserve much more credit from us than an occasional startled aside.
JAN says
Stated their plight very well. Without the migrant workers, ppl wouldn’t have many foods and amenities we take for granted.
Preppy Pink Crocodile says
Have you ever watched any documentaries on immigrants and their families as they go from farm to farm? I think if more people opened their minds to what an incredibly hard life that is, they might be less hateful towards such an important group of people to this country. They often live in horrible conditions on the farms and make just enough to stay alive. Not to mention working outside in every possible condition bent over or on their feet all day. And every time they move, the kids move to new schools. It’s a hard life. But an important one. Geeze…I didn’t mean to get on a soapbox at all. I think find it so fascinating.
Jean says
Just struct me as odd that they included blueberries in this article, but, where I come from blueberries are all mechanically harvested– not hand picked.