Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/668668
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower MAY 1, 2016 9 house. Landlords divide trailer homes in half for make- shift duplexes. "For Rent" signs rarely last a day. And the crunch is starting earlier each year, said Silvia Barajas, a Mattawa city councilwoman who has owned a bakery and restaurant with her husband for 20 years. "I usually see that in cherry season, but now it's March and I'm starting to see that," said Barajas, once herself a seasonal farm laborer. Farm worker life Back in Cashmere, life at Brender Creek is usually boring, with "de descanso" and "comiendo" (resting and eating) the most common activities. One resident runs several times a week and asked for permission to store a weight set in his room, but he's the exception. "A lot of them, when they get off work, they just want to go to bed," said Cody Chrismer, the on-site manager who lives at Brender Creek with his family of four. But the grounds have their lively moments, too. Cooking competitions break out, residents fish and hike on their days off and kick a soccer ball around. One sum- mer, a Norteño band was among the group of workers, and music from their rehearsals drifted late into the eve- ning, eliciting complaints from neighbors, Chrismer said. Ross CouRtney/Good FRuit GRoweR The Sage Bluff seasonal farm worker housing facility, shown in March in Malaga, Washington, was built in 2009. The Washington Growers League, which owns a couple of housing complexes, is building a new one in Mattawa.