Posted on 05/03/2013 8:22:46 PM PDT by Route395
About 30 minutes into my job as a picker, the strawberry fairy left her first gift. On one of the beds of berries that seemed to stretch forever into the Santa Maria marine layer, Elvia Lopez had laid a little bundle of picked fruit. She and the other three dozen Mexican immigrants in the field were bent at an almost 90-degree angle, using two hands to pack strawberries into plastic containers that they pushed along on ungainly one-wheeled carts. They moved forward, relentlessly, ever bent, following a hulking machine with a conveyor belt that spirited away their fruit. But Lopez, a 31-year-old immigrant from Baja California, knew I was falling behind.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Does no one understand the difference between “immigrant” and “illegal immigrant”?
***Folks thats boot camp for the oilfields and we all go through it but not many graduate. Long hours of hard and dangerous work.****
I remember those days in the NW and SE New Mexico gas camps. I was way too young to work then but my dad did.
“has more to do with the fact that it is the illegals who pick the fruit who are unsanitary than you want to admit. “Thou doth protest too much.”
Just sayin’......”
Nope.
I’d be creeped out no matter who was touching them just the same as if I was at a deli and saw an employee making my sandwich with bare hands.
Maybe you’re projecting?
Just sayin’.....
That’s sad..and gross.
it was in the local liberal rag here, it was about doing business in Mexico, front page if I recall
How do you wash lettuce with soap?
“Produce is not magically grown in sterile hydroponics labs and then washed, polished and packaged like medical equipment”
Some is. We just have to pay 3x more for it than field grown.
I use a vege wash which I put in a spray bottle. Spray the produce then rince with water.
The wash is made with 1 cup water, 1 cup shite vinegar and i T baking soda. Alleviates the use of chemicals (dish soap)on the produce.
Wow I started in 1971 at 6 years old and I think it was still only 5cents a hallack... I made $25 that summer and bought myself a go-cart... Then next summer I made enough for the motor.
That is big problem nowdays... No work ethics... Kids cant go work out in the fields because the government says so...
Yes, and once in a while the bus driver would stop at the A&W on the way home. No root beer float has tasted better since.
By summer 1971 I was doing yardwork mostly and helping my brother paint houses, though I hated painting and still do. I don’t recall whether the pay for picking berries increased between 1962 and 1969, which was the last summer I did that.
You’re right; it’s too bad that young kids aren’t allowed to get out and earn money these days. I still remember buying my first new bicycle with money that I had made.
I read something long ago about a group of teens who picked cherries to earn extra cash. The first day out they didn’t earn squat because they didn’t realize they were being paid based on what they picked. After that, they teamed up and everyone did what they did best. They’re collective efforts outshined what each would have done on their own. Capitalism Rocks!
One cup WHAT vinegar? That’s the funniest typo I’ve seen for a while.
How else are you gonna wash the shite off of the veggies?
Well, given that apple cider vinegar is made from apple cider, I don’t think shite vinegar has a place in my kitchen. I’ll keep washing veggies the same way as always.
Good idea. But that was not available or known of in 1957 when we lived in Spain so my mom just used what was available. A light washing in the sink with some dish soap and water in it and then rinsed served our purposes back then. Sometimes I wonder how people and kids from my generation and before ever survived without all this modern technology and solutions. We Just learned to wash our produce and hands and did just fine.
Thanks for your response.
Simple. Put some water in the sink, add a small amount of dish soap, mix until it’s soapy then add the lettuce. Iceburg lettuce is all we had when I was a kid so washing the outside was all that was necessary. Nowadays, all types of leaf lettuce, spinach, greens, etc. are common. You wash them the same way. Mix the leaves around in the soapy water a little and then rinse clean. My wife does it all the time with her vegetable garden lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and collard greens. I have to wash individual celery stalks off from dirt that collects at the bottom of the main stem before I can eat it. It’s not that big of a deal. Of course, lettuce or cabbage cut up and processed in sealed bags nowadays has been pre-washed before packaging. But if it is unpackaged, raw produce, it’s wise to wash it before consuming it. Just think of how many people pick over cucumbers, apples, etc. before they pick what they decide on. Even the grocery worker has handled the produce when they put it out for display. Unsanitary is in the eye of the beholder. Some people never clean their produce and do just fine. It’s a matter of personal preference and choice. To each his own.
I don’t know old you are but no one wore latex gloves when they prepared your food when I was growing up. It was all bare hands. The people in this country don’t know how good we have it. We are spoiled nowadays. I’m not sure how kids ever made it to old age from my generation because we never had all the modern technologies and solutions in use today. People just washed their hands. And believe it or not there weren’t any fast food places to eat when I grew up. Just sit down restaurants. Food preparers in the kitchen never wore latex gloves either. If you’re creeped out by that, its because you’ve been taught that. People have survived for generations without being creeped out over normal human actions, like food preparation. My wife doesn’t prepare dinner with latex gloves on and I haven’t gotten sick or died yet, nor am I “creeped” out over it.
But to each his own.
Thanks...I’m not a good typist to begin with and I guess I forgot my glasses this afternoon. Pretty bad it’s true
1C WHITE vinegar and 1C water + 1Tbsp baking soda. Works great. Glad I made your day.
Of course, lettuce or cabbage cut up and processed in sealed bags nowadays has been pre-washed before packaging. But if it is unpackaged, raw produce, it’s wise to wash it before consuming it.
I still wash the bagged stuff. I don’t know if there’s a chemical or something added, but I detect a strange odor/taste on it.
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