Beans and Berries

I've been thinking about child labor.

We have a bumper crop of wild blackberries, green beans, heat and humidity.

As I swat mosquitoes and pull a thorn from my thumb, I think $5.50 for a quart of picked blackberries is a pretty good deal.

As I pull beans from the vines, I think this is only the first step. Snapping, washing and freezing the beans will come later in the day or week.

But then I consider the whining that comes with child labor, and resume my picking in silence.

I could have had silence this afternoon as I snapped the beans. Instead, I opted to listen to an audio book, with no interruptions. But a few hours into it, I again found myself considering the merits of child labor.