A Day In the Life of an Asparagus Farmer

What shall I say about my experience here in Port Burwell?

I love the remoteness of my current home. Although the mailing address is for Port Burwell, “The Ark” and Sandy Shore Farms’ are in the middle of Lakeshore Rd. very distant from both Port Burwell and Port Rowan. (In other words, I am situated in the middle of no where). There is great beauty in the remoteness that I appreciate:

The crisp stars in the night sky
The setting sun as the backdrop to preceding fields of asparagus, tobacco and wind turbines.
Walking across the asparagus field to the sand cliffs and the vast view of Lake Erie.
Walking left either to work, or down to a graveyard, elk farm, and of course, encountering some road kill along the way.
Walking right to either visit the Konrad or Wall family or Dan’s place for NHL playoff games - these are people who make this place feel like home.
Appreciating the simple things of life – community and God’s creation.

Living here “The Ark” with my 11 new friends and the community surrounding us has been nothing but enjoyable. I enjoy the fact that they will feel like family by the time we leave for Guatemala on July 3rd.

How has Andrew been keeping in shape on this fine program? I’m glad you asked. As most of you know, we work in asparagus land for Sandy Shore Farms – the family business run by the Konrad’s and Wall’s. On average, 65 hours a week over the 6 day work week. I am working in the Pack Barn where the asparagus is prepared for distribution, as a Line Supplier. This means that I lug 1200 pound skids of asparagus to the start of two lines to be processed for distribution. This means I walk into a very cold cooler where the asparagus is stored to maintain its freshness. I then lug the asparagus out, and lift each of the lugs onto the line. I’m getting quite the work out each day.

The work at the asparagus barn has been challenging at time, until it became the normal routine - wake up, work, eat, sleep…repeat. In the pack barn, I have been immersed in the Mexican Mennonite culture, as they form the majority of the employees (More thoughts on their culture at another time). I have been able to practice my Spanish and learn a few phrases in Low German (such as “no I do not have a wife”). The long hours – sometimes from 6:30 a.m. to as late as 8:15 p.m. – were hard to get accustomed to. After long days of work, the dinner table was filled with laughter as we all found everything hilarious as we were purely exhausted.

I will now try to keep you updated weekly with thoughts on my refining passions and new adventures.

Until then, Andrew

P.S. Here is a picture of the family, after an ice cream trip in Port Rowan.