Oregon Public Broadcasting

Loads of Rainier cherries hang from branches in Broetje Orchards, east of Pasco, Washington.

Over the next several weeks, the Northwest is on track to harvest a record number of cherries.

Many of the pickers who bring you those cherries pass the time in the orchards by singing.

Most of them are Hispanic.

They bring songs from Mexico and South America and invent new ones here.

Correspondent Anna King has this audio postcard from one of the largest fruit orchards in the United States.

Maria Arebalo sings with so much passion the veins on her neck pop, and her eyes wince.

Other pickers call out and cheer her on from tall aluminum ladders hidden among the man-made forest. It's like a jungle, alive with whistling and singing.

Maria Arebalo, 58, of Pasco, says she sings to pass the time and remember her family members who are dead and gone.

We're a couple-dozen miles east of Pasco, Washington at a vast fruit farm called Broetje Orchards.

Arebalo comes from Michoacan. She's 58 years old.

Her red nail polish is chipped from the hard work.

She says singing keeps her young and helps her and others pickers get through the day.

I ask her why her songs sound so sad.

Maria Arebalo: "Sometimes when I remember that I donít have parents or brothers or children that are gone forever, and that I have loved so much, that's why."

Another singer works few trees away. His name is Jose Lopez. He's 35, and comes from Oaxaca. He sings, sweetly.

But Lopez's singing is not about passing time. He's in a band that travels to places like Walla Walla and Tacoma.

Jose Lopez, 35, of Walla Walla, picks cherries during the week and sings with a traveling band on the weekends.

Although picking cherries is considered one of the best-paying ag jobs in the Northwest -- it's still rough work. Lopez has carefully bandaged each of his fingertips with white medical tape.

Jose Lopez: "When you are working, sometimes you work too hard. And that's how I peeled the skin off my fingers. So I need some protection."

After our interview, Lopez is quick to get back to work and his singing.

STORY NOTE: Translations provided by Alma Medina, Roman Lara and Juan Ortega.

FULL SONGS:

Singing by Maria Arebalo of Pasco

Singing by Jose Lopez of Pasco