My neighbour's coconut trees were fully laden with nuts, and I knew that the vendors would soon show up to purchase them.
Well, yesterday was the day. I heard the van drive up, but paid no attention at first, since I was watching "The View".
When I did pay attention, the guy had already scaled the first tree and was almost half-way through.
So for all of you who were wondering how the wayside coconut vendors obtain their produce, here goes......
To their credit, this crew had a system which worked very well for them, and made quite light work of the process.
There were three guys. No machinery involved. All they had was a long piece of rope with a noose on the end, which went up the tree with the coconut picker. He had a sharp knife in his hand as he scaled the tree in three seconds flat. It always amazes me how they do this with no ladder required.
The other end of the rope hanging off the tree is controlled by the second guy who then pulls or releases depending on whether coconuts are attached are not.
The third guy waits below to detach the bunches of coconuts after they're lowered to the ground and places them on the back of the truck. The three of them made it look so easy.
This takes some skill to hang on, and still cut the coconuts and load them on to the rope noose.
It was quite windy too, so he made sure to hang on tight
The guy then sliced off all the superfluous branches from the tree leaving it nice and neat.
Here is the "cleaned" tree
The guy on the truck loading the coconuts
A bunch of coconuts being lowered on the rope noose. (see the guys hand on the left controlling the rope and the descent of the coconuts)
The guy controlling the rope noose.
All filled up and ready to go.
Moving on to the next group of coconut trees to reap more produce.
I'm not sure how much they pay the owners of the trees, all I know is that they make a good living this way.
Easy peasy.
Those guys are amazing - obviously no fear of heights.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Marisa...they're amazingly fearless.
ReplyDeleteWhen we stop to buy coconuts from the roadside vendors, we never think of what was involved at getting them to us.
"Marisa?" please forgive me Ros...that's why I shouldn't respond to comments late at night.
DeleteFascinating. I never knew how it was done. I think I assumed they threw the coconuts down one by one. Silly me. I like the idea of getting the tree cleaned at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSome folks do throw the coconuts down one by one, that's why I was impressed by their system. Cleaned trees make less damage in hurricanes and windy conditions.
DeleteI am always astonished when I see people climb trees like that. There was one on television not very long ago and he was barefoot (presumably to get more grip) but it did occur to me that there must be quite a lot of sticky out bits to cut the feet of the unpracticed or unwary.
ReplyDeleteApparently it is easier to climb barefooted.
ReplyDeleteSome coconut tree owners do have slats of wood nailed on in a ladder like fashion which makes it easier to climb the tall trees...not for the faint-hearted at all.