For the time being I have changed jobs. I now work for the six fruit trees in the front yard, and they are tough task masters. Every day fallen fruit must be gathered and composted. Then the good stuff needs must be sorted, and the canning and drying seems to go on forever.
Giving away this fine organic fruit takes time, too, but it has turned into one of the most rewarding aspects of an over-the-top harvest season. Using my local Freecycle group, I've placed pears and plums with a baby food-making mama, and loaded the trunks of three families with all the apples, plums and pears they could carry.
Fruit makes good tender for barter, too. I've traded apples for pottery, pears for goat milk, and plums for free-range eggs.
I'll be chained to be desk soon enough, but meanwhile these trees have made us rich in ways that never happen in the work-for-money world. Working for them isn't easy, but as jobs go, it's one of the best.
