March 20th, 2009_update

Nothing much new here. Just thought I'd send an update. This week picking wasn't quite as good, but our boss still isn't charging us rent and we spent about $100 total last week. Like I said, picking wasn't as great this week. We had one slow day because we were doing what they call a second pick. You take all the best apples the first time (Grade A) and the second time you pick the ones that are good enough to qualify for Grade B and C. When there isn't much ripe fruit the first pick, the second pick is great. When the fruit is really good on the first pick, you only have a handful of apples at best per tree.

My boss is super great. His name is Ross and he is probably in his mid-forties. He owns a bit of the land and rents the rest. Basically the land owners charge him commission on the amount of apples he grows. The last two years he hasn't paid rent because the crops weren't big enough, but it is looking pretty good this year. Man, he works so hard! All day, everyday. He actually looks like he is related to your family dad. Sometimes he looks a bit like you and sometimes he looks a lot like a red- headed Uncle Todd. Our tractor driver is pretty great too. His name's Boydy and he moves our bins and ladders around for us as well as organizes who is picking in which rows at which times. Its unbelievable to me the amount of organization he has to do all from the seat of his tractor. He brings us veggies from his garden sometimes which is super nice. Oh yeah, at the orchard we can eat as many apples as we can possibly stomach and they have pears, lemons, grapefruits and plums too. So, on the fruit front, we are set. Anyway. That's a lot of ramlbing.

So far, the weather is still quite warm. Hot, sunny days with cool, windy nights and mornings.
I think that's it for now! Love you all and keep me posted.
Love,
Sara