YAKIMA VALLEY, Wash. – Maribel Teran works quickly and methodically. She doesn’t like to take breaks. The faster she works, the more asparagus she cuts. The more asparagus she cuts, the more money she makes.

But the basket on her hip weighs about 15 pounds when it’s full.

“It’s heavy,” she said.

The first couple of weeks, she really feels it. In her legs. In her back. Her muscles are stiff from stooping. “You get sore,” she said. “Many people, they quit.”

Harvesting asparagus hurts. Each spear is hand-cut with a quick jab of a long knife that ends with a notched “V” tip designed to clip stalks below the soil. So asparagus cutters spend most of the harvest with their backs bent in fields throughout the Columbia Basin and Yakima Valley/Adriana Janovich, SR. More here.

Question: Are you an asparagus fan?