Well I wrapped up my month of work in Bokhoven at Henri’s apple farm at the end of August and moved onto his colleague’s farm in Lobith for the next little while in hopes to save some pennies to travel down to Spain for the winter!
I quite enjoyed my month of work on his
farm and with the other pickers. A perfect location only a 9km bike ride there
and back, dependent on the wind could take longer or less – man there is a
strong, constant wind here in the Holland!
So to bust some
of the myths out there, most apple farmers don’t have those huge tall apple
trees with the really long ladders leading up top. Would be waaay too much time
wasted/money spent on employees and I would think a liability in some cases
(sorry to those who thought that’s what I was doing). In actual the trees don’t
grow much over 12 feet tall with the help of altering them, most of the time
they linger around 8-10 feet tall making it easier for most people to reach
(most people).
With my time on
his farm, I learned how to prune the trees to best let in the light, but still
leave growth for next year and how to pick apples. Which seems simple and is
but there are some rules you need to learn and know about, most importantly be
gentle! Next, pick only apples that have “Real Red” (as Henri says) that covers
about 75% of the apple. Then place gently into the crate with the other apples.
Any apples with apple scab, rust, have been dropped go into the “Fabric” bin to
be made into apple juice – so no wasting! Any apples that are juicy to touch or
have had critters eating on them become that fragrant apple cider smell you get
a whiff of when the wind picks up in the right direction. Most of that is easy
enough, it’s picking the one or two red apples in amongst the cluster of yellow
ones without letting the rest come loose, or juggling the whole cluster in your
hands before they drop to the ground and not into the crate where they belong.
You will also learn quickly; that out of
the five-crate train, the last one is always the last to fill up, and so handy
apple bag/boxes with pull bottoms are handy – but sometimes a pain in the butt.
Sitting on the Italian tractor at the end of the row will give enough weight
for it to make around the corners, there is always someone tall around to get
the really high apples! It’s always easier to ride the train then to make your
way through the branches, trusty boxes under the fabric bins are great storage
for rain clothes at a moments notice (because the moment you take off you rain
coat and pants is the moment it rains again, then again). The two touch beep
coming from Henri’s tractor means it’s coffee time, don’t try to run through
the train carts when moving – you might end up shorter than before, the metal
platforms that the crates ride on are stronger than you and will leave bruises!
The backs of the platforms are great for free rides, singing in the apple tree
is always welcomed – especially the occasional “la la la” coming from Henri and
finally everyone sneezes while picking apples!!
So that’s what I have learned in the last
month working on Henri’s apple farm – we will see what I learn on Harmen’s
apple and pear farm the next little while.
In the mean time, I am really hoping that
September and October are warm/dry months as the temperature really dropped in
August and there was a lot of rain, but this is Holland – so no promises!
In the mean time, I just arrived at my new
campground/home for the next little while and am hoping it goes well here. It’s
a tiny little campground owned by an older couple – who don’t speak English, so
their son and grandson had to translate for me, but they seem nice – from what
I can gather, ha! And within five minutes of their son showing me the campsite,
I managed to get the van stuck in the back and he had to pull me out with the
tractor, ha ha! I guess they have had lot’s of snow!
The campground is just on the outside of
Lobith and only a kilometer away from the farm – so you can’t get any closer
than that. It has a shower, toilet, washer, wash-up sink, electric plug-in, so
what more can a girl ask for, ha ha!
Oh well, it will save some pennies and is
open all year long and if you can manage to hack into the wifi only reachable
at their front door – then you’re doing good!
So off to work I go tomorrow and some
exploring of the area will haft to be done and I already drove through Germany,
so a 2km bike ride will take me into the closest German town and on the other
side of Lobith is the River Rhine, so I am sure there is a good biking trail
along there too – here’s hoping for sunny weather and good work!
