How To Be a Fruit Tramp
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Also, it turned out, our boss was an extremely nice guy,
and we became quite friendly with him and his wife.
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I guess this is what really turned us on an awful lot about
the whole apple-picking deal. You see, it was not only our
boss and his wife who were friendly, but everyone we met,
all around this apple area. Everyone was SUPERfriendly,
nice and open with us. No standoffishness because of long
hair, beards or obvious hippiness. It really freaked us
out, but it was great!
We finally figured that those people must see so many
oddies - winos, fruit tramps, greasers - coming every year
to pick, that we were nothing new. There were even a few
heads, but there could be a lot more.
Pickers are getting harder to find every year. This is due,
in part, to the dying out of the traditional wino fruit
tramp (or fruit removal engineer, as the joke claims he's
called during picking season).
The orchardists will hire anyone, experienced or not. And,
if you like the work, you can come back next year and get
preference from your boss: Better trees, higher paying
apples, etc.
Picking season starts about the middle of September on the
southern edge of this region and begins progressively later
in areas farther and farther north. The season lasts four
to six weeks, depending on weather and quantity of crop.
During that time, if you're working a good orchard (one
that's well kept, well thinned, pruned and mostly younger
trees on reasonably level land), and if you work your tail
off seven days a week (most places, you set your own
schedule, within reason), you stand a chance of making $800
to $900. Maybe more, if you really hustle.
Now that's optimum conditions.
Facts to remember are that you'll be toting a bag - that,
full, weighs about 30 lbs., strapped around your shoulders,
up and down ladders to the bins - a good part of the day.
It's not easy work.
