The Graduate Student Who Wants to be a Field Worker

A lot of citrus is grown in deep south Texas.  From the time she first arrived here, Trang has been fascinated by the rows of orange trees she passes on the way to campus.  On more than a few occasions, she asked if she could go into the groves and pick some fruit.

So we did.

The Klement Grove is near our home and it offers “pick your own” buying.  It caters mostly to the Winter Texans (retirees who spend their winter here) who like its kitschy gift shop and low prices.  For $7.25, we got a ½ bushel bag to fill, a long-handled picker and a little red wagon to haul our citrus with.  The Mystery Guest Blogger was to be a picker, Trang was to be the supervisor, and I was the designated photographer. Off we trooped into the grove in search of perfect grapefruit.

(Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.)

The graduate student became a field worker – and laughed every minute she was among the trees.  She and the MGB used the long-handled picker, but the tomboy in Trang came out – and she climbed a tree.  I guess that is the best way to find the best fruit – up close and personal.  While the MGB stayed on the ground, Trang picked a few more while in the tree – and the two filled their bag in short order.

But – all this brought about an idea.  An idea to make money.

The idea goes like this:  if a graduate student from Việt Nam wants to be like a field worker for a little while, maybe western tourists to Việt Nam might want to do the same thing.  Maybe what Trang could do is open a similar place in Việt Nam – not for picking your own citrus, but for working in the rice fields.  Western tourists love to take photos of Vietnamese farmers in their fields – why not offer those same tourists a chance to work in the rice fields – for a fee, of course.  The fee would include a souvenir conical straw hat, sprigs of rice to “plant” in the field, and of course, a bag of rice to take with you.  Photos of  the tourist, with pant legs rolled up wading in ankle-deep water, conical hat on the head, and water buffalo in the background will be available for a small additional cost.

I’ll take the photos, of course – and I won’t even laugh.

Comments

[Paul Stanley]

Great idea about the rice farming. Sign me up!

[Martha Stanley]

Golly,- complete with video! but see Mom was a member of the clean plate club that meal! So what if it took forever....what else does she have to do? And LOVED the fruit picking blurb. Guess if you did the rice farming you would need boots? That Trang is a MESS!! and a lovely one at that!

[Russ]

Let's see here. Let someone else do all the work and make them pay you for the privilege. You've got a little Tom Sawyer in you. I sure do hope that a few of those grapefruits make it to Angel Fire.

[Bill Edmunds]

It would have been fun to be able to work briefly in a rice paddy when we were over there. Our daughter Anne did it once and enjoyed it. You can't be squeamish about leeches, though.