Fruit Picking

[RnJ]

Hey, I'm considering picking fruit on the Canadian west coast this year. Anybody done this? Obviously, but please let me know how it operates, I'd like to get some sense of what it involves. Obviously, I can bum my way to the nearest city and go from there, but I wonder if I need to secure a job ahead of time, or do I just show up with a tent for a few weeks and hop from farm to farm as needed?

Help me make an informed decision. If I do a earning summer, I plan to make good use of it. But there's other things I would like to stick around here for, so it'll cost me to mosey my way west for a few months.

 

[kai]

no need to plan ahead. just show up buddy....picking starts in osoyoos and works its way north....come around the first couple weeks of june...might be a shitty season though so don't expect to get rich right off the bat! It pays well if you are a good picker and it's easy to find work as pretty much every transient in the okanagan valley and the creston valley is there to pick fruit!

keremeos has lots of organic fruit, coral beach in winfield is pretty much guaranteed work and has lots of work at that. it's not so bad...in a couple weeks I made a couple grand last summer....get up early, go to bed early, get off early....bring a tent cause albeit not often it does rain in the okanagan in the summer. if you want any more specifics or what not pm me and i'll hook you up with hwys, dumpsters, missions, yards and hitching spots that I know of....I'm from the okanagan so I got a good grasp of the area!

 

[dirtyfacedan]

Show up early, like Kai said, early June. I start in Oliver...Osoyoos is great too. If dumpsters are not your fancy, then have some dough. Work might not happen right away. Cherries are first, and GOOD MONEY. 100$ or more a day is easy reach if you enjoy work. Ask all farmers what they need for crews, it's often easier to work with friends...new ones are great, farmers like to have a work pool they don't need to manage. They know if this crew doesn't work out, they can easily find another one. Tenting is norm, showers are few. Protect yourself by knowing your farming and human rights, and knowing wages....especially what this season is. Stand up for yourself! Many farmers count on new pickers, whom they might be able to screw over. These are things that have worked for me, hope they do for you too. I do know you'll meet lifetime friends..blah blah blah, make good money...blah blah blah...hope to see ya there!!!

 

[compass]

Is it paid under the table? Can an American go do it?

 

[compass]

Thanks for the info barbuchon! I'm actually considering the Alaska fishing thing, and thought it would be cool to hit the harvest on my way back down to the states.

 

[kai]

not every orchard pays cash!! alot will but some won't. a lot will screw you over too so be careful...if someone comes to you and asks you to work for them be wary!

careful too, some really scummy fuckers fill the camps from time to time...don't leave your valuables in your tent. People come pretending to want to pick, then when everyone heads out for the day to go work they raid tents. I've seen it happen on one particularly large orchard north of kelowna where there was 200+ pickers.

 

[EastCoast315]

oh shit, thats fucked up. Scum.

This seems like a great idea, is the work hard?

 

[kai]

osoyoos has fucking good dumpsters too!!

pretty much everyone speaks quebecois french and drinks tons of beer and smokes lots of pot!! it's easy to avoid all that too, but if you want to have fun it's available!!

 

[dirtyfacedan]

pretty much everyone speaks quebecois french

YEs!!! and everybody squeegees when fruit is not ready, drinks Labatt's blue, and pays 15$ a gram for so-so (Commie ci, commie ca) weed and says "c'est bon". HAHHAAAA....
There are a lot of kaybeckers. Loose bay is good, I stayed the last week till closing in Oct last year....and have been there almost every year since it opened. I remember the old VW van i was nicking parts from (for mine) that was there 15 years ago before it was a campground...just pocket desert. The history of kaybeckers coming to pick fruit in the south Okanagan goes way back to the dirty 30's. Just DON"T LEAVE ANYTHING BUT YOUR TENT in loose bay during time when you are not there. There are gremlins that pilfer.

 

[kai]

kelowna has lots of free food....breakfast at the friendship center, lunch at the drop in and dinner at the mission and the best part is they are all on Leon Ave downtown and the mission overlooks city park and the drop in and friendship center are across the street from one another two blocks up!

 

[madewithpaint]

i think i'm gonna have to check this out... sounds too good to be true haha

 

[thenomad]

I know this is not in the northwest, but try going to Maine for the blueberry harvest

 

[spoorprint]

So what are the seasons on the U.S. side? I understand Wenatchee is September for apples,I've always arrived to early.

 

[like A cloudless morning]

would i need a passport to do this?

 

[dirtyfacedan]

So who has made it up to the Okanagan? I'm staying put here on the island for the next few weeks, we have farm work here too.

 

[steelcitybrew]

Im running a bit behind but Ill be out there soon

 

[dirtyfacedan]

The season has been behind as well, but it seems things are kicking into high gear with the arrival of the hot weather this past week. lots of farm labour work popping up here mid Island as well.