Swheat Farm Life: 07/03/16

Sunday, July 3, 2016

A Lesson to Me

I’m mad at myself…… I got caught off guard by an ungrateful shopper and I didn’t say anything. I was in Winco in Lewiston this afternoon and it was one of many stops on my “to do list”. So while I was mentally ticking off what I needed because I had forgotten my list at home, I was standing in the produce section picking out potatoes. And this older guy comes up next to me and says, “these potatoes don’t look very good, they’re all scraped up”. I wasn’t really paying much attention to him, but did glance at him, then he says to me, “well I guess you don’t care”….. I mumbled something like the potatoes look fine to me and walked away. (And for the record, the potatoes were just fine) Of course now looking back, it was the perfect setting to say so many things to perhaps change his perception. Geez! Here I am supposed to be the voice of Ag and I completely blew it! What the hell was I thinking?? And to make matters worse, just last night I was having dinner with a well-known, world-class researcher and we were discussing that very topic of how fortunate Americans were when it came to our food source. And so Mr. Ungrateful, Cranky Shopper, I do care!!

What I should have said to him,

“Do you realize that it costs the farmer about $3,500 per acre to plant, tend and harvest potatoes?

And that these potatoes were most likely grown by a generational farm family?

And that we, as Americans, enjoy the safest and best food source anywhere in the world?

And that we pay the least for our food compared to other people in other nations?”

So this was a lesson to me to never waste an opportunity to enlighten someone (politely of course) should they voice their displeasure about the implied inferior quality of our food.

So while writing this, I put on some favorite tunes (Daugherty) and grabbed a beer and decided to confess my shortcomings to you on the eve of our great Nation’s birthday. I for one know that I am extremely lucky to be an American and have the benefits of a safe and reliable food source, freedom, the benefits of modern medicine and the ability to pursue our dreams. I thank God that I live in America, and hopefully you will take a moment to say your thanks too.

A view from my front window

With that, I'll leave you with some pictures from this girl's front porch. And wishing you a very blessed and wonderful 4th of July. As always, thank you for stopping by and if you have any questions, thoughts, comments, well shoot me an email at swheatfarmlife@gmail.com as I always love to hear from you.

All my best, Gayle