Dear Angela,

I’ve come up with a great idea to add to your tourist booklet of interesting and unusual things to do in our province. As you know, I’m on vacation for 4 weeks. I decided to check out apple picking as a seasonal worker. Can you imagine me picking apples? This wasn't my original plan, but I saw a few ads for pickers posted at a café, and I thought it would be interesting. Although, I was a little worried because the work is extremely different from my usual web design job.

After applying for one of the jobs, I bought cheap work clothes from a store in a nearby town. The employer suggested I get bug spray and sunscreen, as well. Although it's fall, the orchards still have insects and the sun is still strong.

I had heard getting work at an orchard was easy in autumn, and it was true! They didn’t even ask for a resume or references. They just wanted to know how long I would be available, and when I could start. The pay is low and it's in cash, and the hours are longer than I expected, but they provide free accommodation on the farm and three big meals a day. I left my computer and smartphone at work, thinking I could live without them. Well, I'm certainly doing that! Imagine handwriting a letter like this in the twenty-first century! Unbelievable! I'm also keeping a handwritten journal.

A full day picking apples can be very tiring. We climb up and down ladders to get all the apples on a tree. We carefully twist the stem of each apple to get it off the tree. Once picked, the apple goes gently into a container. After you master the technique, it's amazing how many apples you can pick in a day. At the end of the day, we all get together in the kitchen and talk about many different things completely unrelated to apples, until we're too sleepy to say another word. I'm learning a lot about what people do outside my little web design world.

I would love to hear how your booklet is going. Mail is delivered directly to the apple farm several times a week, so hopefully you can get a letter to me before I get back to the city.

Sincerely,
Janice