Apple pickers taking their morning break at harvest time. Photograph taken in the 1930s
On this photograph we can see apple pickers in the 1930s taking a morning break. To save precious time, ‘elevenses’ and a warm mid-day meal were taken into the orchards and eaten there. Men and women used overturned cane baskets (Siften), so they could rest and eat comfortably for half-an-hour; but just 15 minutes were allowed for the mid-morning break.
If it was anyone’s birthday, the farmer would supply coffee and cake (the local Butterkuchen, or butter cake) for the workers under the apple trees, before they went back to picking. In the background of the photograph we can see what were then tall fruit trees that had to be picked with the help of long, heavy ladders.
By wind and rain the apple harvest was indeed hard work. Nowadays the trees are much smaller and planted in rows, so that picking stands can move readily from tree to tree.
