For the Homies

Atrocities not covered in the main stream media

Those of you that enjoy maraschino cherries should discontinue the reading of this post. You are complicit in the problem – you are the demand for a horrible process – a genocide of sorts…



We harvest many types of cherries – all delicious. The purpose of this post is to discuss the processing of the gold and emperor francis varieties.



After they are taken off of the tree they commiserate about their fate in large tanks We transport loads to a local drop-off – huge vats in the ground after which they are shipped, soaked in a brine and completely bleached of all color and flavor. They are then macerated to be set upon the top of your sundae.




This mug is the last view up through the water at the loving world that they have known:

Homage to Felipe

Or: Peripatetic agriculture and its contents


Some people talk about being an itinerant fruit picker, some act on it.

This is my tractor:



See the world from my eyes for most of the day:


I told you it was my tractor. I drive boxes or tanks filled with water to and fro. Sometimes they are empty. Sometimes they are full.



Sometimes it rains.



Fun factoids:

-Weight of filled box: 700lbs.
-Weight of filled tank: 2000lbs.
-Number of breakdowns of shaker (from 1970): 4
-Number of breakdowns of catchframe: 2
-Number of uses of various saws (chain, circular): >8
-Number of bats (BFBs) caught in catch frame, paralyzed but still hissing: 1
-Number of exploding boxes filled with cherries: 1
-Number of apple trees uprooted from runaway catchframe: 1 (ghost ride the whip)