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Work We Do: Manuel Canel, Jamesport landscaper

My name is Manuel Canel, Jamesport fireman volunteer and also owner of Canel Landscaping based in Jamesport on Main Road. It’s also known as Colorful Garden. I’m co-part owner in that business.

I’ve been doing this business for quite some time now. This is the 21st year I’m doing the maintenance.

On a normal day, we go from 7:30 to 4:30 during the fall. The reason why we stop at 4:30 is because it gets dark and obviously in the cold weather on a dark night, you don’t produce anything. In the springtime, we’ll work from 6 o’clock a.m. to 8 o’clock at night. It’s like that pretty much from May to the end of July.

This is pretty much what we do every day, one or two houses a day with a crew of three. My leaf vacuum is my new toy. Basically that’s it. I do it, I love my job.

It’s hard work. Sometimes at the end of the day I want to quit my job and say to myself, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” But then the next day I get up just happy to go out and enjoy again what nature brings me every day.

It’s hard work, I’m not lying about it. It’s a tough business to be in. A big job takes about four hours.

My favorite part is the fall. There’s nothing better than working in nice, cold weather in the morning and then during the day you get that 50 degrees. You can’t ask for more than that. It’s just amazing.

Like I said before, it’s a tough business to be in. It’s a hard way to earn a living, but it’s an honest living.

Jobs are out there, you just have to get out there and do it.

“The Work We Do” is a Suffolk Times multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork. It is made possible by Peconic Landing. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview.