Following the Harvest. Migrant workers scaling 24-foot ladders fill their pails with hand-picked cherries in the orchards of Cherry Ridge Farm, near Hudson, N.Y. Work starts at 5.30 a.m. and for most workers goes on until 5 p.m. the migrant workers' season in New York begins with the early -July harvests and winds up with apples in the early fall. Then many will go down to Florida for the eight-month citrus season.