Amanda Gross

“We work hard in the kitchen; we have a lot of people depending on us. During harvest I am at the kitchen at 4 o’clock in the morning. We get ready to make breakfast for the harvest crew. They eat breakfast at 5:30. We set up a buffet line so they get their breakfast. They also make their lunch boxes. After breakfast we clean up a little bit, then at seven we make breakfast for the ladies and the children. We then get ready for the afternoon meal, that’s just for the ladies and kids. In between that time we get everything ready for dinner. We start making 80 to-go trays at 4:00, so they are ready to go out to the field workers at 4:30. They usually get them by 5 or 5:30 to eat. We get dinner ready for small children and school children at 5 then 5:30 for the ladies. There are three cooks and the head cook, she does the meat. During harvest there are two more ladies who take turns getting up early to make sandwiches for lunch bags. Everyone helps clean up, the Mom’s do the dishes. I like to get things ready the night before, so I can come in and get things in the ovens. We cook for 130 people all year long, but during harvest there are about 40 more people. We do that for about 5 or 6 weeks for potato harvest. We normally have breakfast at 6, lunch at 11:30 and dinner at 6. I work one week in the kitchen then I will go out to the field to work harvest.”

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