Welfare Square

I had an assignment at the Welfare Square cannery tonight. I have never done this before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. No, the photo to the left is not our group, however, we did look like that. All dressed up in those beautiful white smocks, white hairnets and for some, gloves.

We were part of the clean-up crew. We showed up at 5:00 PM and basically hosed down the place after they had made raspberry jam. I was assigned the task of hosing down the 5 gallon buckets (there were about 60 of them and I did half) that transported the raspberry puree that I assumed went into the machines. The water was extremely hot which means that I am sure I got rid of plenty of toxins from the free steam facial I received tonight. I was pretty wet after the ordeal because it was hard not to spray yourself when the edge or lip of the bucket caught the high powered stream just right. Then, we used the same high powered hoses to spray the floor and machines down. I also washed some of the smaller equipment by hand in one of the sinks. With the many hands we had helping in our group, we were done by about 7:20- 40 minutes early! Needless to say, it was an interesting evening. I left with pants soaked (on the front) from the knees down; including my feet. I got in a nice warm shower when I got home so I could warm up.

They gave us some of the raspberry jam they had bottled that day as a thank you. I am sure it will be very yummy. (And, if I don't happen to open it any time soon, it has a shelf life of one year. Who knew?!)