Ben R. Crenshaw

Guess what? I worked 12 hour days on a commercial rutabaga farm in Maine when I was 20 harvesting rutabagas by hand. Bent over all day. It hurt to stand up.

When it got dark we’d bring the rutabagas into the barn, and wash, wax, and box them up. Up at 5:30am the next morning, we’d deliver them to the local grocery store before going back to the field all day.

It was 2005. I was right out of high school. I was a US citizen. Not an illegal in sight. It was hard work, but good for me. Americans can do jobs like this, and in time, we’ll use tech to help us.

We don’t need an illegal, indentured agri slave class. We don’t need to lose our country to the cowards in the Chamber of Commerce. Put Americans to work!

Some people think I’m referring to a summer job in this post. But no, this was after high school. I worked full time at this farm, from early spring until late fall when the work dried up. Agricultural work is seasonal by nature. 

I had worked farms since I was 14, baling hay, taking care of animals, running an organic CSA garden. I also mowed laws, and at the Christmas season packed 18-wheelers for @LLBean.

I’ve also done manual labor in other states: house painting and forest management in Colorado. Manual labor is part of my life, despite the fact that I’m about to finish my PhD.

Americans are capable of great things!