Trudy Schetter

“I am 18 years old and I came here from Canada to work the potato harvest. When it’s not harvest time I work in the houses, taking turns to cook. When you turn 17, we can have a cook week and a baking week. We rotate the cooking job so we cook every 8 weeks. Other than that we also have a feedlot, so we bring the cow’s home. In the fall we preg check cows and in the spring we do the branding. During our hay harvest, some of the girls drive balers and some drive swathers.

When a colony gets too big it splits. Ours just split at 150 people, so now I live in a colony of about 60 people. Everything is new, new houses, new kitchen. This year my Dad said we could take a break and go down to Washington for the potato harvest. We get to experience it once, so this is my first and last time to come to potato harvest in Washington. We are enjoying ourselves because next year we will stay home and drive our balers and harvest hay. We knew some of the people here because our cousins live here, but we also get to meet new people. I love it!”

#agriculture #hutteriancolony