4 ms·

A Hunger for Tomatoes

23 points by samsolomon 8y ago

GlenTheMachine 8y ago
I've never grown tomatoes commercially, but growing up on a farm my dad didn't believe in allowances and therefore always found us work to make money. There were few jobs because the area was so rural, so most of his ideas revolved around growing and selling various crops. I earned the money for my Commodore 64 by raising and selling sweet corn one summer. Growing sweet corn for market is its own special kind of hell. The silk of the individual ears have to be sprayed with insecticidal oil several times during the growing season to prevent corn worms from getting inside the ears, making them unsalable. This is accomplished with a backpack sprayer, basically a ten-gallon water tank you carry like a backpack, with a spray head and a pump handle to pressurize it. Corn fields at full growth are murder to walk through. Corn ears are abrasive at best, and if you catch them right they cut like a serrated razor. And there's always morning glory climbing the stalks, meaning you have to push through; it's what I imagine walking through rain forest must be like. The corn is high enough that there's no wind, and the stalks actively produce humidity. Then there are the ticks and chiggers. All in all, that was the hardest job I've ever done. And at the end of the summer I cleared $200. Which was enough for the C64, but it worked out to be like 25 to 50 cents an hour. I never looked down at physical laborers after that, and farm workers least of all. And I also went to college, and the fact that this was a privilege that most of the kids I grew up with didn't have was not lost on me.
- simonebrunozzi 8y ago
  Thanks for sharing. What does it mean "there's always morning glory climbing the stalks"? I am not a native English speaker and some clarification would be much appreciated, thanks!
  - el_benhameen 8y ago
    It's a vine with (very pretty, in my opinion) violet flowers. It's invasive and grows thick and quickly, so I would think that getting through it to the ears of corn would be a pain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_glory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_glory
    - GlenTheMachine 8y ago
      Exactly right. The morning glory vines spread from corn stalk to corn stalk, tying them together into one big mass that can be almost impossible to walk through. I believe it's called “morning glory” because th flowers open in th morning and close in the afternoon.
      - dakna 8y ago
        We grow vegetables in a community garden. Years ago, some silly soul planted morning glory in his plot because they look great. At least that's what the garden leader told us when we joined. To this day, everyone growing food there curses at that person (he is not there anymore) each growing season. And I pull more morning glory vines than regular weeds each year, hoping it will be less next year. By now, I can identify the vine leaves from 10 yards away.
        amrx431 8y ago
        I am from a tropical country. When you started describing the pain caused by morning glory, I though this must be a certain climber which has the best of abuses reserved by the farmers here. I google it and I was right.
- stevenwoo 8y ago
  How do those industrial sized farms do the spraying for corn worms - is that crop dusters? Your story reminded me of the recent reporting on the attempt to replace Mexican migrant farm workers with American high school kids in the 1960's. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/wh...
  - GlenTheMachine 8y ago
    The industrial guys are likely using some sort of broad pesticide, so they don’t have to specifically target the silk on each ear. There are special tractors with really high clearance and sprayer arms that are often used. https://goo.gl/images/9ozRxC https://goo.gl/images/9ozRxC

23 points by samsolomon 8y ago

I've never grown tomatoes commercially, but growing up on a farm my dad didn't believe in allowances and therefore always found us work to make money. There were few jobs because the area was so rural, so most of his ideas revolved around growing and selling various crops. I earned the money for my Commodore 64 by raising and selling sweet corn one summer. Growing sweet corn for market is its own special kind of hell. The silk of the individual ears have to be sprayed with insecticidal oil several times during the growing season to prevent corn worms from getting inside the ears, making them unsalable. This is accomplished with a backpack sprayer, basically a ten-gallon water tank you carry like a backpack, with a spray head and a pump handle to pressurize it. Corn fields at full growth are murder to walk through. Corn ears are abrasive at best, and if you catch them right they cut like a serrated razor. And there's always morning glory climbing the stalks, meaning you have to push through; it's what I imagine walking through rain forest must be like. The corn is high enough that there's no wind, and the stalks actively produce humidity. Then there are the ticks and chiggers. All in all, that was the hardest job I've ever done. And at the end of the summer I cleared $200. Which was enough for the C64, but it worked out to be like 25 to 50 cents an hour. I never looked down at physical laborers after that, and farm workers least of all. And I also went to college, and the fact that this was a privilege that most of the kids I grew up with didn't have was not lost on me.

simonebrunozzi 8y ago
Thanks for sharing. What does it mean "there's always morning glory climbing the stalks"? I am not a native English speaker and some clarification would be much appreciated, thanks!
- el_benhameen 8y ago
  It's a vine with (very pretty, in my opinion) violet flowers. It's invasive and grows thick and quickly, so I would think that getting through it to the ears of corn would be a pain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_glory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_glory
  - GlenTheMachine 8y ago
    Exactly right. The morning glory vines spread from corn stalk to corn stalk, tying them together into one big mass that can be almost impossible to walk through. I believe it's called “morning glory” because th flowers open in th morning and close in the afternoon.
    - dakna 8y ago
      We grow vegetables in a community garden. Years ago, some silly soul planted morning glory in his plot because they look great. At least that's what the garden leader told us when we joined. To this day, everyone growing food there curses at that person (he is not there anymore) each growing season. And I pull more morning glory vines than regular weeds each year, hoping it will be less next year. By now, I can identify the vine leaves from 10 yards away.
      - amrx431 8y ago
        I am from a tropical country. When you started describing the pain caused by morning glory, I though this must be a certain climber which has the best of abuses reserved by the farmers here. I google it and I was right.
stevenwoo 8y ago
How do those industrial sized farms do the spraying for corn worms - is that crop dusters? Your story reminded me of the recent reporting on the attempt to replace Mexican migrant farm workers with American high school kids in the 1960's. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/wh...
- GlenTheMachine 8y ago
  The industrial guys are likely using some sort of broad pesticide, so they don’t have to specifically target the silk on each ear. There are special tractors with really high clearance and sprayer arms that are often used. https://goo.gl/images/9ozRxC https://goo.gl/images/9ozRxC