Watch 90s Kids From ‘The County’ Pick Maine Potatoes On CBS TV
There is so much for me to love about this video from the 1990s. It comes from a TV show that was, and continues, to be a weekend tradition in my house.
Nowadays, I tell Alexa to turn on the TV after I pour my first mug of coffee and I'm usually right on time for a morning program that I've been watching since I was in my early teens. That was in the 1980s and it was hosted by the late, great Charles Kuralt.
It's always been an engaging show that focused on stories of art, music, history and science. I thought of it as a little PBS on CBS.
The show is Sunday Morning. It comes on at 9am right about the time I'm slowly getting going, so I catch it pretty regularly.
CBS Sunday Morning has been hosted by Jane Pauley for the past few years. She does a fantastic job of keeping the easy vibe going with her delivery.
That easy vibe that started with Charles Kuralt and then was carried on by Charles Osgood. It's just the right tone to start the quiet day of rest.
The video I stumbled upon today is from the mid to late 1990s during the Charles Osgood era. It was a piece featured as part of the 'Postcards From Maine' segments with our own Tim Sample. Tim did a fantastic job of showing Maine life to the rest of the world with this series.
In this story, Tim Sample takes us way up north to Aroostook County in the fall. The time of year when generations of kids were excused from school to help farms harvest the potatoes.
My father grew up in Oakfield near Houlton. I love hearing his stories of picking the pommes de terre as a kid. When I was young I thought the kids in 'the county' were wicked lucky to be able to be excused from school so they could work the fields.
However as you'll learn in this gem of a video, it was very hard work. Work that caused lots of sore backs, for not much pay. Still tough, I'm sure there's a lot of pride for having been part of it. Thank you to Chad Wilcox of Orono for sharing this on Facebook.