Ironically, 2 months after my first visit to Keremeos in which we worked on a farm called the Mariposa, I now find myself on another farm in Keremeos of the same name. There are a lot of farms in this area, true, but it's still strange that in this tiny place there are two with the same name and that I happened to have worked on both of them.

But besides their name and the fact that they both have employed me, they couldn't be any more different. The first was large, with fruit orchards both in Keremeos and in Cawston, and the owner was callous and cold, a typical businessman/farmer, always in a rush. The second, where I am now, is a small organic farm mostly dedicated to squash with a few other ground crops thrown in and the farmer is very friendly and warm to us, and if the squash don't get picked today, well they'll only be riper tomorrow, right?

A WWOOFer and a couple other workers share the land with us and I can honestly say that it's the most beautiful place I've ever worked in. A river runs right next to the old 5th wheel camper that Lucero, a 19 yr old Mexican girl, and I share. A few ancient pines give us shade and it's so quiet that even when every one is working at the same time, the loudest sounds are the flocks of red-winged blackbirds and the buzz of bees tending to all of the flowers. The pace of work is much slower, so I'm not making as much money as in the demanding fruit picking orchards, but right now I wouldn't trade it for anything.


On our side of the mountain we can even see the moon at night, who would want to give that up?


So far I've gotten know, whether by picking or packing or both, spaghetti squash, orangetti squash, red kurris and funny-looking turks, pie pumpkins, and tomatoes. I've gladly come to the realization that I am much more of a ground crop gal than a fruit picker; for whatever reason I work better the closer to the earth I am.