3 o'clock in this early morning, when everyone was still sleeping soundly in the bed, me and my boi already wake up to get ourselves ready for the farm job. Quickly, we had our breakfast and headed to the bus-stop 5 minutes before 4 a.m. We had brought our caps, towels, tissue, jackets, sunblock and plenty of water with us.
As we arrived the tomato farm, all of us were given a big white pail (bigger then normal laundry pail) then everyone was instructed to pluck cherry tomatoes right the way. We were told to pluck only those in red or yellowish color, and the pail must be fully filled with cherry tomatoes ONLY (AUD 12 for each full pail).
Me and my boi have chosen our own lane and start plucking without wearing working gloves (we didn't really buy them cause we thought they will at least provide us the working gloves). At the beginning, I was able to pluck really fast and not feeling tired at all until we've reached a few hundred meters squatting up and down, up and down without rest.
My both legs started to feel numb and pain, and my both legs were shaking when carrying the full pail of cherry tomatoes back to the very first place we started. Luckily, the driver then parked the trucker somewhere which was not so far from us.
This is what will happen to your both hands if you work after the rain.
The black soil were really irritating as they covered almost half of my favourite sport shoe. From time to time, I was forced to use my hands to remove the bloody black soil from my sport shoe. Trust me, you won't be able to stand or walk properly with those soil sticking on your shoe.
As the pile is getting heavier, we filled our own bag with those cherry tomatoes instead. So when the bag is almost full, then only we group them all together. This is to save our energy from walking back and forth, back and forth...
Are you willing to work under the hot sun? I believe none will say yes. My body and skin felt like burning as the sun rise up, my fingers were hurt and feeling numb too. Plucking tomatoes is not an easy as you think, you'll need to open up the bushes and search for ripe ones. Sometimes, you'll even have to bend down to search for ripe tomatoes among the leaves.
Now, please tell me, "“How would you like my job?” Are you able to wake up early in the morning and work under the burning hot sun? Does AUD 12 for each full pail of cherry tomatoes seem attractive to you? Please stay tuned for the second part of "Challenge The Limits", you may get to see more interesting photos and read more exciting story.
