Comments on: Potato Pickers Special and an Early Wake-Up Call

by: Chris

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:56:24 +0000

I enjoy waking up @ 4 in the moring during harvest to wake potatoe pickers special. ya during luch we would find a way to break the harvester with the new harvesters they have the rock crusher we would let junk like steel go in it and jam up the crusher so we would get all happy and then start to take our break while the boss would try to get it to work and after he would get it to work we would throw something else in it and take r breaks often the best way to do it is work 2 hrs and jam it up badly so u can at least get a 10 minute break but now that i go to Loring Job Corps Center i still get up @ 4 and get ready then sit down and watch the potato pickers special to see if any farmers were looking for workers on the weekend up in van buren so it has been a tradition for me 11 12 years now i have been watching it since i was 5 but i don’t think that nothing will stop me from watching it but i really do think we need some farmers from each town to do the old way for the younger kids so then they won’t be lazy it would keep the entertained

by: Ashley

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:30:02 +0000

I to enjoyed your blog. I was wondering if there are even any farmers that still have people hand pick the potato’s. It seems as though the old way is gone and ther eare no memorie’s to be made for our kids to work long hours in the fields. It is actually sad to think about it.

by: Rene Cloukey

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:47:43 +0000

Vicki,
Thanks for the kind words and the trip down memory lane. It is fun to reminisce about the way things were. My children never had the opportunity to work in the fields. I think that the potato harvest is one of the reasons that the work ethic of people in the County is among the best in the United States. Thanks again for reading the blog and letting me know your comments

by: Vicki

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:48:06 +0000

Rene
I was touched by your story. Growing up in the county surely was a unique experience. I used to, as a child, wake up and pray that it would rain, or watch the bottom of the screen for my farmer to say he wasn’t “digging today”. My friends and I also tried to come up with ways to break the digger. The thing that we used most often, but never worked, was rolling a big rock into its path hoping it would get caught up in the lags. It was a hadr and dirty job, but it was rewarding. When the season started there was always excitement. as it went on we prayed it would end, but when the season was done, there was a little sadness and anticipation for the next year. My childeren neever really experienced the “Harvest”. The pickng has just about disappeared and been reolaced by the harvester, first the conventional and then the air. Even still they always had the Harvest break. We have moved down near Lewiston. My daughter was absolutley shocked that they do not have harvest break down here. I told her “Maggie, Aroostook County is a whole differet world”.
Thank you for the smile and for the trip down memory lane.