7,220 kilograms of apples

that’s the total weight of apples i picked, carried, and transferred to bins on my first week (6-day work) in the orchard. i tell you this is a seriously horrible job. now, i miss working in the vineyard with all its boredom. like i mentioned, a bin is about 380 kilos, and each bin is paid depending on the apple type, ranging from $30-35 a bin, so minimum wage could be achieved by getting atleast 3 bins a day.

it never occured to me that picking apples could be this complicated. first, you rely heavily on how good your orchard row is. apple trees are planted in rows and i pick apples by moving along my designated lane, picking apples from trees on my left and right side. i don’t pick all around the apple tree as the other half belongs to the next lane. i only pick on the side of the tree that is facing my lane (alright, hope you get the picture). now, if my lane is very good, meaning full of red apples that i don’t care at all which apples to pick, i just ransack along the row and then i can definitely make money fast. second, the job is apple picking. so, we only pick apples that are ready. this is easily determined by the apple color, which has to be red in color of course. of all the human senses, i’m pretty sure my vision is of excellence…not until now. i’m starting to believe i’m suffering from color blindness. looking at the red and yellow blotches for hours, by the last few hours of the day, i couldn’t be totally sure if i’m picking the right color or not! third, picking the apple has to be done in a proper way, and that is not by pulling them. the way is to grasp the apple with one hand, and just with enough pressure on your index and thumb, gently twist the apple and it should come off. the reason for this is to minimize bruising in apples, not pluck leaves and break branches, and retain that short stem on top of the apple. i’ve learned that when people buy apples, they usually prefer pieces with the short stem intact on top of it (that’s a trivia!). however, i saw fabian picking his apples by moving them in upward motion, i might try that technique..fourth, the ladder works. getting the ladder stand in just the right position and perfect angle to get the more apples is a technique that can be learned for days, or weeks even. the apple tree is not as high as a mango tree (like i originally thought). it is much smaller that you can’t build a tree house on top of it. picking is done at the bottom and top, where we make use of the ladder. in the orchard, there are 2 types of ladder. one is heavy, and the other a bit lighter. luckily, i was using the lighter one last week, so it was easier to carry it around. fifth, apples has to be tranferred from the smaller bucket (we carry around picking apples) to the bins in a manner so carefully that no sound must be produced (well, technically only when the boss is around!).

and so, by fate if all the good fortune befall. having an extremely excellent lane, mastering the technique of picking the fruit, having a clear vision with no color blindness, getting the best ladder there is, and to add the perfect weather that is not too hot or raining, plus most important of all, the supervisor not hanging around, bugging at your lane always, only then i can get to make more than 4 bins i guess! (my best day was picking 4 bins, that is 1,520 kgs)

also, the apple tree is the most fragile tree i’ve ever known. the branches just break so easily. it is never a good practice to depend on its branches when standing high up the ladder and leaning on to get a single piece of beautiful apple. i always remember not to risk my life for such one single fruit. many have fallen from the very top of the ladder. a vanuatuan co-worker, just working on the lane beside me has fallen from last week and as he fell, he grabbed the main tree cutting it perfectly into two. now, the apple tree is half its size. the day before that, francisco, a chilean backpacker lost his balance and fell from the top of the ladder too. he was quickly able to grab a branch with one hand, and the other one to save his bucket of apples from falling! he even cared for his apples! i had quite a few close encounters to falling down the ladder, but good i always get my balance right. haha. *knocks on wood*