The Reality Reports

The Old Way Still Rules Many Orchards: For decades, apple picking meant workers climbing ladders with canvas bags strapped to their shoulders. This traditional method remains popular across Washington State's vast apple orchards.  Hand-picking allows workers to carefully select ripe fruit while leaving unripe apples on the tree for later harvest. This selective approach ensures only the best apples reach grocery store shelves.

What Is An Apiary: The Home Of Honeybees An apiary is a special place where beekeepers maintain colonies of honeybees in wooden boxes called hives. These organized spaces serve as bee farms, where thousands of bees work together to produce honey, beeswax, and other valuable products.  The word "apiary" comes from the Latin word "apis," which means bee. Most apiaries contain anywhere from a few hives to hundreds, depending on whether they belong to hobbyist beekeepers or commercial honey producers.

Empty Fields Signal Growing Food Crisis: Immigration raids across the United States are creating serious problems for farms that grow the food we eat every day.  High-profile immigration raids are scaring off workers and leaving employers unsure of how they'll manage without them.  In some areas, up to 75 percent of farm workers did not report for duty in some regions after ICE enforcement. The impact is happening right now. Farmers in California, Texas, and other states report that their workers are too scared to come to work.  Some farms have completely shut down for days at a time. This means crops are not being planted, harvested, or processed when they need to be.

A Fruit With A Rich History: Watermelons have been cultivated for thousands of years, originating in Africa and spreading across the globe. Today, the United States grows over 200 varieties, showcasing the fruit’s incredible diversity.  From seeded to seedless, mini to full-sized, and even yellow or orange-fleshed types, watermelons come in a range of shapes, sizes, and colors that cater to different tastes and needs.