Farm to Fork, Harvest Report Late August

You have a beautiful life and family is what one person wrote in their email to me….. this person went on to say he was raised on the East coast where life was filled with jaded people in a hurry to go nowhere and he wanted a better life for his family.   It made me thankful once again, that I found my path in life to be beside my 4^th generation farmer where we raised our family in our small farming community.

The grand-angels & Farmer Joe & the Idaho Farm Wife

Yes, we do have a slower way of life in rural America, our lives revolve around the crop cycles, and our interactions with others have a shared respect and trust, but it is far from an idyllic picture. While we love our way of life, farming is not without our own share of pitfalls.  Joys or heartaches in our daily lives are all part of life regardless where we all live, but what sets a farmer apart from the non-farmers is that our livelihood is dependent on the good graces of Mother Nature and the market prices, and it is a gamble every year.  Sometimes that gamble doesn’t pay off and risks taken by the farmer can result in a deep debt that takes years to climb out from under.  As I have said before in my blog (it’s from something I read a long time ago), but hits home to so many of us in this livelihood – “ that many farmers will borrow  more in one year to get their crop in than what most non-farmers will borrow in their lifetime, and a farmer will do this year after year. “    This year’s drought shows us just how vulnerable our food system is and just how many farm lives it has affected. 

Harvest Sunrise



As for what is happening on our farm??.... well it has been a rather low key harvest so far as we are still waiting for the wheat to ripen.  Which means we harvest only the parts of the field that are ripe and leaving parts of the field to finish ripening and will have to go back to in a few days - so we are "field hopping".   This year's harvest pace has been more  like a stroll rather than a sprint.  Sunny skies are forecast and that is a blessing for us as we continue this process.

So while I’m telling our local farm family story, it is always my hope that this blog will reach someone in some way to assure them that the Anderson Farm, as well as the thousands of other farmers throughout the USA work hard to maintain the safe and abundant food sources that we have all have come accustom to. And after this harvest is over, that we all will start the process over again.

Lastly, 2 of the grand-angels were helping me bake up some magic, after all we need to support our efforts by using some of that flour that Papa harvests.  As always, thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day week-end.  We will be harvesting, but maybe will get a day in to play, sort of depends on if the crops are ripe enough to harvest.  All my best, Gayle  idahofarmwife@gmail.com

A messy kitchen mean lots of cooking memories for these two little bakers