Work is actually pretty cool. Well, hot too.

Organic farmworker here. Sunscreen really is important. Bug spray too. Water most of all. And those red bandana handkerchief things? Great when dipped in ice water and put on your neck. Hats, very important. Did I mention I'm a city boy? Not exactly, not anymore.

It's great to look behind you and see how far down the row you're working you've gotten, then look ahead and see exactly how far to the end before you can break.

Some of the specialty crops we sell to expensive restaurants require lots of special handling, because they are our big cash crops for $20 a pound. Imagine how careful you have to be, in the sun, bending over.  This may be unskilled labor, but It seems like the care involved makes it more than that.

I like the sense of progress and being satisfied at the end of the day with how much I accomplished, how many things I repaired, the new skills I learned, how much progress we've made laying in new crops or prepping new beds. Harvesting a crop is pretty great.

And yes, I really do like the money I earn. It makes a lot of things look different though:  I keep thinking about how many hours I'd have to work for the money something costs. Interesting when you look at it that way.

Decisions have consequences

So I decided I didn't want to work in fast food, and when I applied for jobs in May and June I discovered that my 9-1 class schedule was a problem for a lot of employers.

Which is how I came to be working in the sun during one of Texas hottest summers on record, by my own choice.

I'm working on an organic commercial farm, doing pretty much what farmworkers do: weeding, mulching, planting, clearing out old crops and preparing for new ones. Also changing tires on tractors, repairing their engines, and figuring out how to retrofit safety equipment on old models.

But here's the thing:  I've made quite a few discoveries. Shade moves. Did you know that? I'm a city kid, and I never really understood that one reality until I was faced with working the five planted rows on a 300 foot long raised bed that when I started was in the shade... and then it wasn't, as the sun rose higher and began to clear the trees. I don't know the temperature difference of full sun in Texas in July at 10:00 in the morning, but what I can tell you is that it feels like the difference between "OK, I can do this" to "I need water. Now."