Season One : Episode 2 "The Peach Perspective"

So recently I have had the opportunity to become a Professional Peach Picker at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, AZ. It isn't super close to my house but I really needed the hours and they provided a very decent wage that made up for the gas. I wasn't sure at first how I felt about being a Peach Picker. "Isn't that a job for ...other people", I ignorantly thought. My experiences would soon begin to alter my perspective. As it got closer to starting the job, though I was nervous, I was more excited just to work and went full force. I wore my lovely western clothing and boots to fit the atmosphere of the work.

My first day I was practically 30 minutes late because my GPS, "Nephi", led me astray... It took me to some Admin. building for a local high school. Then when I did find the farm I was at a closed off entrance. As I finally arrived at the main office I remember feeling relieved as I saw someone driving forward who would become my foreman and friend. When I told him I was here to pick peaches he looked at me and said... "They hired you to pick peaches!?" "oh, no" I thought, then he looked at my boots and said, " Your gonna pick peaches in those?" I just laughed to myself and wondered what to expect. When I made it to the field I was surprised to find most of the workers were my age and ethnicity! bahahahah! I began to wonder why Richard had questioned my being a peach picker so strongly. My boots remained a standing joke the rest of my time working for Schnepf Farms.

As I worked on the Peaches I enjoyed it much more than I had expected. Though it was routine, some may even same menial, in some peculiar way it was meaningful to be in the outdoors breathing fresh air, arising early & working hard. I found joy and fulfillment literally "by the sweat of (my) face." ~ Genesis 3:19

Unknown to me when I accepted the job I learned a lot more than just how to pick a peach but to start out I will teach you just that. When you are in a peach field at schnepf farms it can be exciting as you see all the trees with so much delicious fruit. One might be tempted to just take every peach from the tree but as a picker we needed to be more selective. We had an order of our picking and requirements such as wearing 100 % cotton gloves for both cleanliness and to not harm the peaches. We then would need a box and a liner. Then when we were at the orchard we would start in one corner and go East to West picking the peaches down each row. When we got to the tree we looked for the best of peaches by both size and color. Depending on our liner, our fruit size would be determined. The color would need to be a deep red with yellow it had to be firm but soft to the touch at the same time. Often one would need to step into the tree and then look out to see all the wonderful fruit that was really there. I realized soon the importance of these company procedures. The customer paid for each box, and they expected them to be quality peaches. On a long day when sun is beating and the demand for peaches is high one might feel justified pickin smaller, bruised or slightly damaged peaches. It would be easy with so many boxes to easily turn one to the other side and hide the blemish. The thing was after all the picking, the packing, the storing, and the delivering of those boxes was if the receiver opened your box and found one bad peach in box of thirty all 1000 boxes on the truck would be rejected. It seemed that something so menial would not be of so much importance yet it was. The peach picker was important.

I think in life it can become so easy to be complacent, to justify our actions and to be lazy. We often deceive ourselves with the lie that it is no big deal and won't affect anyone else. But truth is far from that. As taught in the book of Alma, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass."~ Alma 37:6 Each of us have "glamorous jobs" and "menial jobs." I hope that both you and I can learn to do our best and have pride in our work before we are responsible for the rejection of 999 good peaches. "And Again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."~ Mosiah 4:27.

Also out in those peach fields I began to meet people who became great friends. Most of us had very different backgrounds but being in those fields no matter who we were or where we came from we were all there to perform the same purpose. No one could be better than the other. We all took the job because we needed the money and so we all worked we all did our part.  It would have been really hard to find any place for any kind of pride. As we worked together our days were happier and we were more successful. I find it amazing as I look back and see that if perhaps we met in 'real  life' at the store or someplace else perhaps we never would have tried to form a friendship. I wish it could be so more in life the way it was in that field. What would happen I wonder if we didn't pre-judge those around us? What would happen if we didn't label others or put them in groups? How would our world be if we could simply see each other as equals and did our best at whatever we did? I would say it would be a much different better place. 

I have left Schenpf Farms a different man, the night before I left it dawned on me I would not just be leaving my job. I felt sorrow in my heart for I would be leaving a place of meaning,  friends and a perspective of life found few places else. It will be a time I look back on with great joy. As silly as it may sound I am honored and proud to say that I have been a Peach Picker.

~Trent D. Nielson

Keep the Faith & Never Give Up, Never Surrender