Dillonbuck,
Years ago I picked apples for a day down around York. One day..................never again. I learned a few things that day. Picking apples by oneself was a lot slower than folks working in teams. Moving that heavy ass orchard ladder around, picking the top and the bottom of old school trees was hard work. What I earned in piece work that day worked out to minimum wage at best. Families in the area made decent money (probably 2x min wage) by having more than one person on a tree, the top person didn't have to move up and down the ladder for every picking basket.
I don't harbor a grudge against anyone, Mexicans included, willing to do hard labor, having done it more than once in my lifetime.
From the sounds of it I don't want to work tobacco and I'm glad I never had to either!
We have ads in our local rural papers for farm workers, for about $10.50 to $11.75 an hour, doing way more work than I'd ever want to do for those wages. Hard to make a living on that, perhaps the H2A folks can do it if housing is provided.
Thanks to you farm folks for keeping this rural forum going. I appreciate your stories.
Geno
