A Glorious Life of an Idaho

The Vegetarian who Supports Animal Ag

2012-05-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

I’m a vegetarian who supports the animal Ag industry 110%! Just because I don’t eat meat, doesn’t mean that I want to force my food choices on everyone else, but that is not the case with others, so please read on. But first, let me share that I’ve been a vegetarian all my life and it’s not because of any certain beliefs or convictions, I just don’t like meat. As my mom tells the story, I quit drinking milk at 4 months old and later refused to eat any kind of meat. After many trips to the doctor to see what was wrong with me, she finally let me eat what I wanted. Frankly being a vegetarian is a pain in the you-know-what, but it is just the way I am. Being a non-meat eater has its challenges, like when packing my very first lunch for Farmer Joe (as a new farm-wife) and wanting to be sweet, I made a tuna-fish and bologna sandwich (yes together) as I thought they are both disgusting so I’m sure they go together…. Well that was the wrong assumption! =) And it was the very first day of harvest too, oops poor guy. However, I've since improved my culinary skills as my family loves their beef, (T-bone steaks in particular), pork and poultry. So now that I’ve bared my soul and shared an embarrassing story on myself, you are probably wondering why am I telling you this? Well this blog is about the freedom of choice and the important goal to preserve this right. Whether or not you are aware, there is a real threat to your freedom of choice on what you put on your dinner table if your meals are centered around meat. Anytime one sector of Ag is affected, there is a trickle down effect on the rest of Agriculture, so this vegetarian wants to speak out on behalf of the animal Ag sector. click here if unable to view the videos

My spoiled pooch

Let me say it takes a special person to raise animals and long before I wed my farmer, the farm had a hog operation. Farmer Joe said during his years caring for the pigs that "there is always something that needed feeding, doctoring, tending, cleaning or fixing and was a 24/7 job- lots and lots of work". We have tremendous respect for all animal producers, but our consumers need to remember, these animals are being raised for "harvest", they are fed and treated well - but they are a crop, they are NOT a pet like your Fluffy or Spot. And that may be why consumers let themselves be swayed to vote in animal cruelty laws because we all love our pets and only want the best for them (my spoiled pooch included) but livestock animals and pets are in different categories.

As with many farmers and ranchers, the care of animals is learned early as young children, either with chores on the farm or being in 4H and FFA. Our nephew, Zach shows you what I am talking about. He and a couple of buddies grind their own feed for their animals and do all the chores that involve taking care of their animals. We hope that Zach will one day want to farm with his dad (Farmer Jay) and uncle Farmer Joe - but for now our young pig farmer is happy to share what he knows and is learning about the proper care of animals:

So as the official election season is upon us, there mostly likely will be petitions to get animal cruelty laws enacted. From what I have observed even if petitions or laws have vague language that appears to be targeted towards stopping cruelty to domestic animals, and unless expressly stated, it tends to also cover animal agriculture and then that is bad news for you and me.

A movement is well underway by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the uninformed consumer is being duped into helping them with their goal to make meat so expensive that people cannot afford to put it on their dinner table. This organization works behind the scenes to get the consumer to vote for legislation that negatively impacts agriculture. Can you imagine the Thanksgiving holiday without a turkey or Easter without a ham?

Many believe that HSUS is the parent organization for all humane societies, but that is not true. Here is a video based upon real facts and legislation that has been passed in many states. Idaho appears to be one of their next targets to enact legislation under the guise of "animal cruelty" laws and there was a direct quote from HSUS that said they would be funding a "multimillion dollar ballot initiative and hire paid staff to gather signatures". As I said before, whether it is crops or animals, they are a farmer's paycheck, so we make sure to take care of our paycheck as best we can. I believe I can truthfully say that 99.99% of farmers and ranchers treat their animals with care, respect and humanely. We do not like to see animal abuse anymore than anyone else does, but we concede there are a few bad apples out there as in any organization and we are aware that when an abuse surfaces, that it give Agriculture a black eye. We personally know many ranchers and they take pride in their operations and well being of their animals. For instance, cows will be taken to the mountains during the summer, because it is cooler for them and in the Fall they will be rounded up. Often times ranchers in this area will also move their cows to a lower elevation to winter them as the temperature is milder and easier on the cows.

So where does H$U$ get money from? Well watch the video and read on.....

HSUS Revealed

This is a direct quote from Humane Watch, "HSUS puts some serious money every year into pension plans for its executives. Since 2004 (when “Humane Wayne” Pacelle took over), the HSUS pension slush fund has grown by more than $8.5 million. Instead of helping dogs and cats in pet shelters, that money will be fattening the wallets of HSUS big shots after they retire." To read more check out, HumaneWatch, a website created to report on the abuses of HSUS.

What to do? If you donate to HSUS then STOP, give the money to your local humane society where the money will go directly to helping animals. Then think very carefully on what kinds of ballot measures you are signing, think even more carefully on the way you vote when it comes to animal cruelty laws or laws that talk about "animal rights" as those laws, once enacted, create financial difficulty for those farmers and ranchers who are involved in animal agriculture. If you have questions, please call the State or official organizations for the Beef, Pork, Poultry industry to ask about effects these laws have on their sector and if you still need more information, they could most likely get you in touch with a producer to get their insights and views. But I can almost guarantee that if you, the consumer call their organization and explain that you are a voter and want to know the real story about proposed legislation or ballots coming up, you will get their attention as our councils are very aware of what is being circulated out there.

In conclusion, if people vote without knowing how legislation will affect the Ag industry (and its impact on affordable food) then the results are a lot like my first sandwich making attempt... in that the intent was to do good, but by me lacking the knowledge needed, the end result was disastrous. So as the election season officially rolls around, be an informed voter and if you feel that protecting your dinner table choice is important, then tell others and better yet - send in a letter to your newspaper editor.

Want to read more about other farmers and ranchers? If so then I invite you to check out this site: Farmer Inc, The Real Story .

As we are talking about food and you, better check out the step by step recipe for Braided Spaghetti Bread on the Good Farm Eats page...

Bread and Spaghetti all rolled into one delicious taste treat

As always, a big thank you to reading this blog and so now I'll get off my soapbox as I need to get this dinner to my friend Cindy for their dinner. If you have questions then please email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment. All my best, Gayle

P.S. Farmers Joe & Jay are busy tending the crops and I'll write more about that soon.

The Flurry of Field Work

2012-05-16T11:28:00.001-07:00

The Anderson farm plaque

It's a flurry of activity here on the Palouse as the window of planting the Spring crops are drawing to a close and farmers all around our area are busy getting their crops in the ground. We had to wait on a few wet fields, but now we are now completely finished planting garbanzo beans and Spring wheat. At our Genesee farm, we planted about 400 acres of regular garbanzo beans and about 200 acres of "billy beans" which are smaller garbanzo beans used for hummus. So if you purchase the brand "Sabra" you may find comfort in knowing that the main ingredient probably came from this area as not only our farm but many other area farms grow the billy beans.

Thankfully the weather for this week is all sun, so with a collective sigh of relief, most of the farmers are finishing up. After last year with the non-stop rain, many farmers were unable to get their Spring crops planted, so we were all a bit nervous that this was going to be a repeat of last Spring.

I wanted to give you a quick tour of what our main Genesee farm looks like.

A view down our farm lane. Notice the other neighbor across the road
planting his spring crop

It takes a lot of big equipment to feed America....

This is where we store our combines until needed. Notice how big the combines
are compared to the semi truck parked at the left

Here is a video of Farmer Joe as he talks about spraying for weeds. This will help our winter wheat by eliminating competing weeds. As the Farmer says " America doesn't like weeds in its Wheaties cereal"....

(IF unable to view the videos, click here)

Because when we do this (keep our crops free from weeds) hopefully we get to do this (see the video below). Each season farmers all over the country plant their crops with great expectations and optimism that we will get to harvest what we planted. We hope we get timely rains, no hail or other weather hazards, and we are always watching the crops so we can keep on top of insects who also like to eat our crops too.

A picture of Spring wheat down at the Tammany farm

A pond behind the shop at the Genesee farm. This was a great place to play in the water for
Farmers Joe & Jay when they were little

A ride in our little all purpose tractor brings a big smile from Miss B getting to ride with Papa

Lastly, one of my new-found loves is Pintrest and I came across a Braided Spaghetti Bread... yumm a new found favorite for dinner. So check out my Pintrest page. I will be making this next week and promise to take a step by step picture process for the Good Farm Eats page.

As always, many thanks for stopping by and if you have questions feel free to email me at idahofarmwif@gmail.com or leave a comment. So for now, I'll sign off as I need to spend some "quality time" with my backpack sprayer as the weeds are never ending. =) All my best, Gayle

The Chapters of Ag, whether in Life or in a Cookbook

2012-05-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

The Face of Agriculture is constantly changing, a chapter in someone's farm life closes and new chapters for another begins.....
Farmers are an interesting group of people and since I didn’t grow up in a farming family, I still watch with a certain amount of objectivity and fascination on how they interact. Around here our farmers have an amazing network and all seem to know what one another is planting, they all know what kinds of equipment everyone owns, and it drives them crazy if one of them gets into the field before they do. No one wants to be the last one getting their crops planted or harvested. So as I watch with a good dose of amusement on how closely they keep tabs on each other, I mostly see that they are a close knit group that will come to the aid of one another in a heartbeat and we rely on each other.

And so I was saddened when I heard the news that yet another area farmer was retiring, as his children did not want to farm, and this was his last harvest. It meant there was one less farm family in Genesee. Looking back at our daughter’s classmates whose parents farmed, many have quit and today there are very few kids in school whose parents do farm for a living. The reasons to not farm are varied and for those of us who are still in the business of growing food, will vie for the chance to obtain more acres in order to expand our own operations. I guess it’s just another chapter in the book of agriculture and it simply means that the acres are the same, but there a few less of us growing America’s food. The nostalgic side of me mourns that our group is shrinking; the practical side of me understands that need for farms to get larger in order to survive and be successful. The consumer’s won’t see any difference on how the food gets to their table, but I see that an American icon has just been reduced by 1.

So maybe that is what inspired me to preserve a part of Americana and I bought this tattered and well-loved cookbook that looked like something that a farm-wife might have owned. I guess it’s my way of preserving a piece of American culture as it came from a small farming community about 70 miles from here. The cookbook gives a glimpse on the value of food and the proper ways to cook things, as you will see for youself....

The cookbook holds many insights to the woman who owned it

Can you imagine all those ladies putting in their "best recipes"

Instructions on the value of vegetables and tips

Interesting that no instructions are given

The next time you are out purchasing groceries for your family, remember to make your food choices based on facts not fear. If you have questions about how your food is grown, ask me or go to this site called Common Ground that already has many answers about food concerns, http://findourcommonground.com/the-kitchen-table/.

As always, a big thanks for stopping by. Farmers Joe & Jay have been rained out, so hopefully I'll have something more to report on our Spring work progress. Until then, feel free to email at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a comment. All my best, Gayle.

Spring Work, Weather & the Annoyed Farmwife

2012-04-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I was telling Farmer Joe that I was annoyed by a remark and attitude that a long time friend had made about farmers in general. Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but I don’t think so as this friend has a little bit of farming in his background (although it dates back to probably over 40 years ago) and he has been around our farming operation, so he should know better. But when he called to see how we were getting along with putting our Spring crops in, I said we were doing pretty good and just working around the weather.

A view of just how much tractors have changed over the past 50 years

What got my “tail-feathers” all in a bunch was the remark that “weather wasn’t an excuse, it was the farmer’s attitude about just getting in and getting the crop in that was delaying our Spring work progress". The implied impression was that we should just be out in the field regardless of weather and that optimum soil conditions were not a valid concern, it was just the farmer’s attitude of being lazy. Then it got me thinking if this is his opinion, what must the consumer who has no connections with farming think???? Heck, I usually learn something new about our farm production almost everyday from Farmer Joe, so I can only conclude what others who don't have a farmer to ask must think! There is a reason why we don’t plant in muddy fields, for one, we will get our tractor and expense equipment stuck, but more importantly it will compact the soil and produce a poor crop. I know this because I have gotten impatient and planted my small garden in unfavorable conditions. So I have to confess, I am a crappy gardener and when my meager attempts to raise some vegetables have not produced anything, then Farmer Joe will explain what I did wrong. (Like when I planted in too wet of soil and that it compacted the soil down too hard and then the soil would form a crust like top and that the new young plant didn’t have the energy to break through the soil crust). So given that I know firsthand about personal crop failure with my garden, it is a really good thing that America doesn’t depend on me feeding them. And it is fortunate for America that Farmer Joe and Farmer Jay as well as the other 210,000 full-time farmers out there who do know what they are doing and keep food on our table.

Seeding Spring wheat 2 days ago

It is a sea of green around our farm, still looks like a huge lawn

A view of the lane to the farm shop

This is Winter wheat planted last Fall and it looks like the grass in your yard right now in this stage

And so with that, let me share why Earth Day for a farmer is 365 days a year, because our livelihood and food on your table depends on how well we take care of our precious resources. This is a great article that I have copied and pasted in from Texas Ag Talks and Mike says it better than I ever could…. later on in the blog are more pictures and videos.... so hope you don't mind it being a long blog, but it is important to me that you know we do care about our land and producing safe abundant food for you and me, so I hope you will keep reading and watch the videos of what we do on our farm.

Earth Day is 365 days a year for farmers and ranchers

By Mike Barnett

Earth Day was celebrated with great fanfare yesterday.

This annual observance serves as a reminder of the fragility of the earth’s resources. Each of us must do our part to ensure we have a clean and healthy planet for generations to come. The problem I see is that the commitments many make for a better environment are a lot like New Year Resolutions. They last for a week or two and then tend to fall by the wayside.

Farmers don’t have that luxury. They must use earth-friendly practices every day of the year. Their ability to keep farming depends on it. And so does your ability to have a full plate of food.

Many activists like to pooh-pooh the idea that farmers are environmental stewards. These facts suggest otherwise:

• Farmers do more with less. Farm and ranch productivity has increased dramatically since 1950 while the use of labor, feed and fertilizer has declined markedly.

• Dramatic yield increases. Total U.S. crop yield has increased more than 360 percent since 1950.

• More efficient land use. U.S. land used for crops has declined by 70 million acres since 1982.

• Careful stewardship. There’s been nearly a 50 percent decline in erosion of cropland by wind and water since 1982. Conservation tillage—a way of farming that reduces soil erosion on cropland while using less energy–has grown from 17 percent of acreage in 1982 to 63 percent annually.

Are agricultural practices 100 percent perfect? No. But modern production tools such as global positioning satellites, biotechnology, conservation tillage and integrated pest management enhance farm and ranch productivity while reducing the environmental footprint.

Huge strides have been made over the history of agriculture to increase food production while conserving resources. Many marvels are yet to come.

It takes awareness, commitment and research. It also takes incentive.

Farmers and ranchers know that enhancing their land and water resources will allow them to grow a crop next year and will allow their great grandchildren to grow a crop 100 years from now.

Earth Day? It happens every day on the farm and ranch.~

As for what is happening on the Anderson Farm? Well today we are rained out, but I’ll share a few videos from planting garbanzo beans a few days ago. (Click here if unable to view the videos)

And at the end of the day, we know that we have done a good days work and tomorrow (weather permitted) =) we will be out there again until we have finished our field work.

Tractor at sundown

As always, I feel blessed that you have dropped by to read my blog or share a comment or email. And if you have questions about farming, just ask and I'll relay what Farmer Joe has to say, cuz I have to admit he is a walking wealth of knowledge. =) idahofarmwife@gmail.com Talk to you soon, all my best, Gayle.

Farmers, Rainbows and Earth Day

2012-04-18T15:57:00.002-07:00

Quite a sight, a rainbow ending in a farm field

A Farmer’s pot of gold lies in what has been planted in their field, so I thought it was a very fitting picture to snap on my drive home one rainy day last week. Not your traditional pot of gold, but for a farmer, we think of each of our fields as an individual pot of gold.

So as Earth Day nears, farmers all over America are either seeding their Spring crops into the field or are carefully tending their precious paycheck out there.

Farmer Joe does a great job explaining what we do on our farm to help our soil health to try to ensure our crops get the best possible start.

Seeding Garbanzo beans by day

and

Seeding Garbanzo beans at night

Clip here to if view the videos if they not showing up.

A video clip from the seat of the tractor, as Farmer Joe explains why we are seeding garbanzo beans into the wheat stubble from last year’s crop….

And yes, I do occasionally make other things things other than baked yummies. =) For those of you who know me well, understand that I don't like fussy time consuming foods, and here is a really easy soup. I use my crock pot, throw it together before work and at night when I walk through the door, it's ready and filling.

Lentil Garbanzo Veggie Soup

So if you want a really good for you soup that is easy, filling and a source of great fiber, see the Good Farm Eats page.

As always, many thanks for stopping by and by all means leave a comment or email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com . All my best, Gayle.

Farming: Getting to Use Big Equipment & Play in the Dirt

2012-04-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Winter wheat looks like a large lawn or golf course

Spring, it's in the air and the scent of the freshly tilled earth is like no other smell. It's one of my very favorite smells, even as a child I have loved the smell of dirt (so guess I really was destined to be a farmer's wife! =).

In honor of Earth Day (April 22) and because soil is a farmer's most important resource, we like to think of themselves as the original environmentalists. Here is a YouTube video from a grad student that is so heartfelt and has good points of interest, that I wanted to share the video and the source that I got it from.

To read more about the article from "Texas Ag Talks" click here as it gives more background on this amazing young women.

As for what is Farmer Joe & Farmer Jay up to? Well the videos below show Farmer Jay moving his tractor up from our southern (Tammany) farm to begin seeding spring wheat at our Genesee farm.

Farmer Joe planted about 65 acres of garbanzo beans until the rain came late yesterday afternoon that rained both the farmers out of the field late Thursday, but sunny skies are here again for a couple days and we're back in field.

And I've posted more on our Easter fun on the At Home on the Farm page, so I invite you to check that out as well. As always, many thanks for stopping by and if you have questions, please feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a comment. All my best, Gayle

Easter Blessings From the Anderson Farm

2012-04-06T13:09:00.002-07:00

Easter is traditionally the unofficial start of Spring work around this area here on the "Palouse" which is where our main farm (Genesee Farm) is located. As we have two farms in different locations, we can usually start about 2 weeks ahead of the main farm as the southern farm (we refer to it as the Tammany farm) is South and a little warmer plus the soil is sandier and drier. Farmers Joe and Jay along with Cody have been able to get a day in here and there to begin the planting of the spring wheat, and while we would love to be able to start, get everything planted and them move on up to the Genesee farm... the weatherman has not been too co-operative. Spring weather has crazy patterns so we basically have to be ready to go and work like crazy to get the seed in the ground as the weather can radically change from one day to the next as you will see later on in this blog....... The videos shown below are from Farmer Joe and Cody as they are in the field planting a hard red spring wheat. The weather was gorgeous, 61 degrees and sunny.

Click here if unable to view the videos

Here is a video from the seat of the tractor.

THEN... the very next day, a cold system came in later that night and this is what what the same tractor in the same field looked like.....

Snow and tractors don't mix very well

As of today, it has been snowing on and off so we are out of the field again, but the weatherman says it is going to be sunny again just in time for Easter. And on that note, my little "bunny helper" and I have our farmhouse all decorated and ready for our family to gather to celebrate Easter. I'll have more on that on the At Home on the Farm later on next week.

Miss N looking very bunny-like

Many thanks for stopping by and as always, if you have questions, I'm just an email away at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment. Easter Blessings to all! All my best, Gayle

What Has Agriculture Done For You Today?

2012-04-03T08:34:00.006-07:00

What has Agriculture done for you today? Well I'm glad you asked! While our Spring work has been at a stand still due to lots and lots of rain, I thought I'd share some really cool videos on what the Ag industry is doing.

First, here is a picture of what many of the fields around our area looks like with lots of standing water on the fields. We have been out of the field now for over two weeks and are waiting for drier weather. =) So grab that cup of coffee and take a peek at the videos further down the blog. Also if you are in a baking mood, better check out the Coconut Lime cake too!

The snow has since left and we are pretty soggy around here

I saw this sign on a farmer's fence in rural Washington state and it said, "if you eat, you are part of agriculture" and it is so true, we are all in this together.
"Agriculture is one of the few remaining industries that still has emotion in it, These people don't just farm to make a living, they live to farm." A quote from an article from the Hand that Feeds Us.

click here if unable to view the videos

http://www.safnw.com/

The other exciting news is that the Idaho Legislature passed critical legislation that allows the Idaho Wheat Commission statute to be amended to increase the per bushel assessment on wheat. This increase will help continue to fuel the research and development that enables farmers to reap higher yields, more efficiencies and more sustainable production practices. So what does this mean to the consumer? It means the wheat farmers have been self-funding their research since 1959 to continually improve our farming methods in order to provide a better and safer food source for all of us.

Governor Otter is in the center at the signing ceremony. Farmer Joe is the
2nd from the end on the right. I think the farmer cleans up pretty good myself...
Of course, I could be a bit partial

So whether Farmer Joe is in Boise (among many others) helping the Ag industry or in the field.....

Farmer Joe climbing into the cab of his tractor

Wheat harvest from August 2011

he is working hard not only for us, but for for you as well. Anything that helps us in our industry, also ends up helping the customer, so can it get any better than that?

And I’ve been baking again (no real surprise here right?) So make sure and check out my latest yummy, Coconut Lime Cake, found on the Cake of the Month page. If I haven’t made you drool yet, then I’m seriously not doing my job. So go ahead, put on that apron and make one of these delightedly decadent, but easy cakes. Then let me know what you baked and your thoughts.

One bite & you will be hooked

As always, I am honored to have you stop by and read my farm blog and please feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a comment. All my best, Gayle.

Media, Food & the Mom

2012-03-20T15:14:00.009-07:00

Miss M enjoying fresh fruit

Miss N eating yogurt and an egg

Do the kinds of foods you buy define you as a good or bad mom?

If you only buy organic food, does that make you a better mom than the mom that does not?

Personally, it is a resounding NO from this farm-wife, but I do understand how media and famous Home-making Divas are influencers and that they want to shape YOUR buying habits. So who do you believe, the media/famous folks or the farm-wife? IF I didn’t live farming day-in and day-out I’d be confused as to what to buy for my family too because every mom I know wants the best for her family.

March is National Nutrition Month and it was fitting that I was slogging through the piles of cooking magazines (yup by the fire, sweats on, either a cup of coffee or glass of wine – depending on what time of the day it was…) I was reading about food. Perusing the articles, I kept seeing mentions in recipes to use “organic eggs” or use organic this and that. Then there were the other ads from companies saying our products are only made from “eggs of free range chickens” and on and on….

If can't view this video click here

So do I buy organic foods? No, not usually.

Am I afraid of what kinds of products are used on foods produced in foreign countries? Yes I am.

And that is one of the main reasons I try very hard to not buy fruits and veggies produced from foreign lands is because their standards are not as strict as those of the USA. I know what we use on our crops, I know that the products are highly regulated & tested, and I know that our farmers go through training in order to use these products properly. So organic food for this farm family is not the way we shop and eat. If fresh fruit and veggies are out of season, I will try to find those that are produced within the USA, if I can’t find what I’m looking for, then I will buy organic because I may happen to want grapes in January. It is a personal choice by each family and all I can tell you is that I trust our farm and the other American farmers who grow our food. Here is a website I highly encourage you to view, because it is a “conversation about food” and they sort through the myths. So go ahead, grab that cup of coffee or glass of wine and go to Commonground™, conversations about farming and food. I promise you will not be disappointed!

And when you return, I will hopefully have finished posting the recipes for these yummy taste treats.

The recent rain and snow have kept Farmers Joe and Jay out of the field until yesterday, so we are hoping to get some film footage and pic’s about seeding Spring wheat!

Yup this farmwife has been baking and experimenting again..... what can I say but yummm.

Lemon Glazed Pound Cake

or chocolate?

A heavenly yellow cake topped with a chocolate glaze

As always, thanks for stopping by and please drop me an email if you have questions at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave comment and I’ll respond. All my best, Gayle

A Glance into Farm Life, Part II. Helping Our Fellow Farm Family

2012-03-14T14:06:00.006-07:00

Community, friendship, helping your neighbor, Caring

The magic of living in a small rural farm community is hard to explain unless you have experienced it for yourself. For some, they were born and raised in that small town, and for others like me, we joined the community by marrying a hometown local. When I started writing this blog, my thoughts took me back to when our daughters were growing up and how they couldn't wait to leave our small hometown after high school graduation to see the bright lights of the big city. So off to college they went and what happened?? Well one came back right after college and the other one has a five year plan in place to get back around this area as well. Why? Well, it is a nice place to live, good place to raise a family and the bonds of a small community are strong.
And if rural life is your cup of tea, then you understand how quickly news will spread, that you wave at everyone whether or not you know them and if someone in your community needs help - well you pitch in and help. So let me share what Farmer Joe and I helped with last week-end. A relative of Farmer Joe & Farmer Jay was diagnosed with a brain tumor and then suffered a stroke after the surgery, so a few of us organized a fundraiser to help offset the huge medical costs that face this hard working farm & ranch family.

Friends & family wore these T-shirts the night of the benefit

To help Cindy when she got out of the hospital a few renovations were needed on their house and many volunteered time, labor and materials to get the job done. Here are pictures of what was accomplished.

Adding a ramp for wheel chair access to Dan & Cindy's house

The room was packed full of people attending the benefit.

As I drifted around the room visiting with people that I knew, I kept hearing the same comment over and over. "This is what small towns are all about, we care about each other and will come to the aid of our friends".

Some of the prizes (66 or so in all ) for the silent auction

Mel, the auctioneer, donated his services for the live auction

A picture show of the event. (click here if unable to view)

Watching the live auction

3 of the 4 girls are related to Cindy's family and 2 are my grand-angels

And while Cindy and husband, Dan were not able to attend, their daughter, Stacy was all smiles at the event.

This is the fabric of rural America and many of the people attending were the farmers, ranchers and people involved in the Ag industry that care about their fellow friends and neighbors. It was a good night and a total of $60,000 was raised! All I can say is I am honored to have been a small part of this event.

As always, thank you for stopping by and please send me a note if you have questions or comments at idahofarmwife@gmail.com . So as I sign off, I hope this blog puts a smile on your face and warm glow in your heart. All my best, Gayle

Technology+Modern Farm Methods=Safe Food

2012-03-13T13:53:00.003-07:00

On our farm, we are a Food Alliance Certified Farm, which means we use today's technology and methods to produce the best and safest crops possible. It also means we take our commitment to protect our valuable land resources as well as our social and environmental responsibility very seriously. We are among thousands of farmers and ranchers who have become certified to assure you, the consumer, we care about how we produce the food that we all eat. But whether a farmer & rancher is certified or not, I believe we share the same practices and beliefs because it is our livelihood and heritage for our next generation.

Here is a video from the seat of the tractor as Farmer Joe is explaining that we are helping to control weeds in the newly seeded Spring Wheat field by putting down a pre-emergent herbicide with our GPS system. (click here if unable to view)

Many farmers utilize the concept and technology called "Precision Farming" and here is a definition of what that means: "Precision farming is generally defined as an information and technology based farm management system to identify, analyze and manage fields for optimum profitability, sustainability and protection of the land resource." OR in plain terms, this technology allows us to apply products where it is needed, in what quantity and guide our equipment so we don't overlap with the coverage. Products are costly and we don't want to put down any more than is necessary as it affects our bottom line.

With the invention of modern technology it helps us do a better job managing our crops and keeping our soil in top condition. We are aware there is a sentiment among the Food Eilitist/Anti-Ag Activists who do not farm for a living but think we should go back to the farming practices of the 1940s or 50s. So did you know that the average farmer back then produced enough food for 26 people and today's farmer feeds 155 people? So asking a farmer to go back to our parent's method of farming would be like asking the consumer to give up their cell phone and go back to the one phone in the house and have a multi-party phone line to share with 5 or 6 families. Ick, I'm with you, I couldn't imagine life without the smart phones, technology and access to the Internet. So I can assure you my friend, that technology and today's farming methods are good for you and me. =)

As always, so glad you stopped by and please feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have any questions (no question is dumb) or feel free to leave a comment. Also, if you haven't checked out the best & healthiest brownie recipe.... well it is on my OMG Dessert page. All my best, Gayle

P.S. after Farmer Joe shot this video we were rained/snowed out of the field so it will be a few days until the soil drys out to get back into the field and again report on what your farmer is up to. My next post will be "A Glance into Farm Life, Part II" so stayed tuned for an update on a rural farm family and our community.

Lunch Box Season! Also known as the Start of Spring Work

2012-03-08T08:52:00.002-08:00

It is National Agriculture Day and the start of "lunch box season" for this farm family. From March through November, Farmers Joe & Jay and Cody will all be working lots of long hours and packing a lunch as they work in the fields. On a farm, unless there is a break down, you don't go into town... so packing your lunch is a must.

If you are new to the blog, here are the cast of characters that I will be talking about from now through November, so come meet your farmers and our hired men.....

Farmer Joe, this farm-wife's hubby

Farmer Jay who is Farmer Joe's younger brother

Our hired men, Kneal (sitting on the left) who is still in H.S. & works only during harvest,
and Cody, our full time hired man

Yesterday Farmer Joe took the videos below (click here if unable to view) and as he explains what he is doing, here is a quick recap, dry fertilizer is being spread to enhance and help the winter wheat that was planted last October. Sort of like your lawn, it needs a pick me up after the long winter (or you could use the analogy of having your coffee & vitamins to jump start your day =) !

Having lots and lots of acres to get the dry fertilizer on, here is what we do.....

Last Fall we planted hard red winter wheat and soft white winter wheat.

Next we will be planting hard red spring and maybe another variety, but that is still being decided.

We are preparing our other fields for the Spring wheat to be planted and helping the soil by adding some fertilizer. As we buy big loads in bulk, here is a video of it being loaded into one of our semi-trucks that will go out into the fields.

As our crew is busy tending the wheat crops already seeded and preparing to seed more wheat, come on back to see what else "your farmers" are doing to feed America. Also, make sure and check out my recipe pages for lots of yummy goodness.

As always, glad you stopped by and if you have any questions, email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a comment. All my best, Gayle

Trust the Farmer but not the Ag Industry??

2012-03-06T08:50:00.013-08:00

What does a farm-wife & her family have in common with a famous concert pianist (Wayne McEvilly) or a fan (Janice Person) who wrote a blog post about making hummus from the garbanzo beans (also known as "chickpeas") that I sent her?

Well... we all met through Twitter and now "I am their personal connection to our farm, I am the face behind the food they eat, and I am "their farmer".

Farmer Joe and I traveled to Nashville last week to attend the Commodity Classic Ag Conference where 5,700 farmers and ranchers across the nation gathered to attend workshops, seminars, get the latest information on products & tools as well as just plain network with all these great people. While the farmer was attending committee meetings, I attended workshops on Ag advocacy and what I found out at this year's session made me stop dead in my tracks. Recent surveys show that while consumers love the farmer, they do not trust the Ag industry. The research charts are shown below.

And so when I learned that many consumers share this view, it left me saddened & somewhat puzzled. It wasn't until the presenter used the analogy that many people may trust their elected senator, they do not trust the Congress to best represent everyone's interests, and then I understood.

So let's chat, because in this age of "mega-information" there is a lot of mis-information, half-truths & mixed messages about what farmers do, why we do it and our role in what goes on your family's dinner table.
We in the Ag industry accept that for too long we assumed our customers knew that we were just going to work everyday and producing safe, abundant and inexpensive food. Obviously it never occurred to us to talk to you and answer your questions, and for that, I apologize. Statistics show the average consumer no longer has that rural farm connection and most Americans are about 3 generations removed from their rural agronomy roots. And now people want to understand how their food is grown and gain that "connection" with those who still farm for a living. We know we must tell our story, because there are many anti-Ag organizations and individuals who do not farm, but feel they know how we should produce the food we all eat. Rather curious don't you think? Would you take tax advice from your plumber? (I've linked prior blogs that talk about these groups and/or individuals and I invite you to read them).

The Ag Industry is made up of farmers, just like me & our farm and we want to give you that farm connection.

For more farm blogs on all kinds of farming, check out this site,
Farmer, Inc., The Real Story

This says it all

And when I got back home and started unpacking and pondering about what we learned, I noticed my cross and name tag.... and I knew I needed a blog series that that can begin the conversation and earn the consumer's trust.

Because we must grow more crops on less land, we need healthy plants. Below are pictures I snapped from a vendor's booth that showed what diseased corn looks like due to insects that can inhibit the growth of a corn plant and ways to help keep plants healthy.

Unhealthy corn plants

Healthy corn plants

Today's farmers produce more food on less land and with less water and resources. Modern technology has been a great asset to allowing us to be more productive. Bill Gates had a great quote:

Bill Gates says it all

The Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack also spoke at the opening session and here is a video clip (click here if unable to view)

A quick peak at more of the conference.....

And lastly, getting to finally meet Janet, one of my followers at a Tweet up.

Janet (left) and getting to know other bloggers

What are we doing on the farm? Well just yesterday Farmers Joe & Jay, along with Cody (our hired man) started moving equipment down to our other farm which is an hour away from our main farm shop. It looks like SPRING has arrived and we will be getting ready to begin the process of planting our Spring Wheat crops and our Garbanzo Beans! I hope you will stop by often to get an up close and personal view of what "your farmer" is doing in the field. Also, if you like this blog, please be sure to tell friends, neighbors about it, perhaps a letter to the editor of your local paper, so more people can gain that connection as well. =)

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and if you have any questions, please email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment. Many thanks to my regular commenter's and readers. you are the best! All my best, Gayle

Field Trip to the Port of Lewiston

2012-02-21T15:27:00.001-08:00

How does the grain from our farm and many others on the "Palouse" end up reaching those far away lands across the ocean? Well, last Monday I was able to get a quick tour from Arvid Lyons, Manager of the Lewis Clark Terminal located in the Port of Lewiston.

The harvested wheat will end up at this facility and it will be sent down the river to Portland, Oregon on barges. From Portland it will be unloaded and reloaded into an ocean vessel to reach it's final destination.

A semi truck loaded with wheat is ready to unload the grain
at the terminal

Arvid kindly took the time out of his busy day to escort me around the facility. (if you have trouble viewing the videos, click here as I've found that the email blog sign-up doesn't allow the videos to come through on some browsers )

A quick recap of Arvid's narration was that one tug can push 4 barges down the river to Portland, Oregon and that the trip takes about 50 hours with a 4 man crew working 24 hours a day. The tug will burn about 8,000 gallons of fuel one way and it is the most efficient way to get grain to Portland.

Our first stop was the "flathouse" - this is where the grain goes when the semi-trucks unload.

A view of what the inside of the flathouse looks like

A video of the stored grain inside the flathouse. This is a huge building and from here the wheat will be sent (from drop holes in the floor) over to the barge.

Following Arvid to the river where the barge was being filled

The flathouse is on the left and the concrete silos are on the right.
The bridge looking extension is where the grain is sent over to the barge in an enclosed tube.

A barge being loaded with wheat. This process takes 6 hours to load as well as unload
once it reaches Portland

The front of the barge

The barge being filled

The vehicles give you a frame of reference on just how tall
the concrete silos are!

Well there you have it, my simplisic version of how grain gets sent overseas. A huge THANK YOU to Arvid and his staff who were kind enough to allow me to take pictures and ask questions.

As for Farmer Joe, well he is in our State's capitol working on helping get some legislation passed that will help our University of Idaho get more wheat research funding. I'll give more info on that later on and what it means to you, the consumer. After all, we have your best interests at heart.

As always, I am so appreciative when readers stop by and read the blog, as well as leave comments or email. (It may sound corny, but when I get emails or comments, it's the same thrill as when I was young & would get mail). Plus I want to make sure that people have a direct connection to the farmer (idahofarmwife@gmail.com) so ask away if you have questions or comments. =) All my best Gayle.

A Glance into Farm life, Part I

2012-02-14T12:52:00.001-08:00

Have you ever walked by someone’s house, perhaps glanced in the window and it made you wonder about what that person’s life was really like? I admit that I am fascinated how other people live, and that is why I started this blog, to give you a front-porch view of what life is like for this farm-wife on the Anderson Farm.

American Living, Small Town Style: Chapter One

When I married Farmer Joe, I unknowingly married a complete small rural community and my life would forever be intertwined in Genesee, our hometown. We don’t’ have any stoplights in town and I’m about 20 minutes away from the nearest Starbucks located in the college town of Moscow, Idaho. Even in the larger surrounding towns, the tallest buildings are not skyscrapers but are grain elevators and we don't have traffic jams.

Cody (left) our hired man & Lee (center) are volunteer fireman manning
the take-out station. Farmer Joe picking up the crab take-outs

While farming makes up a large part of our lives, it is only one part and I want to share on the front page of this blog about the other side of what this farm-wife does. While I do have the At Home on the Farm page, I occasionally like to tell you about rural life living on the front page because it is what makes us “us”. One part work + one part living = whole living. Even though our little farm community is ever-changing and growing, one thing remains constant, our connections to our fellow farmers and friends who live here. Today I want to show you scenes from an annual event that showcases a community coming together to support our local all volunteer fire department and next month I’ll talk about a grassroots fundraiser that many of the core residents are doing to help a fellow farm-wife as she battles the effects from a brain tumor and stroke.

For the first 17 years of our marriage Farmer Joe was a volunteer fireman and we gladly worked this event. Countless hours are spent preparing the food that usually will feed 600 inside and 700 take-outs.

Guests in the firehall enjoying their crab dinner

Farmer Joe's brother in law, Dave, Sister Lauren & Farm-wife Lisa
waiting for our crab dinner in Farmer Jay & Lisa's garage

Zack and guests were in charge of decorating cupcakes baked by his buddies

Farmer Joe stops to visit with friends before he picked up the crab dinners

In the next day or so, I’ll be posting my off the farm field trip, so please make sure to check back. As always, so glad you stopped by and feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments. All my best, Gayle

2012-02-04T06:35:00.001-08:00

The moon says Hello!

It is 4:07am and my cold & flu ridden body has announced that it’s time to get up because it feels better. Geez, I’m a morning person, but this is a tad extreme (I’m sure the dairy farmers are up long before this so I’ll quit whining) …. And so on this cold dark February morning let me catch you up on what has been going on at the Anderson Farm. 2 days after getting back from the Hawaiian field trip, Farmer Joe had wheat industry meetings to attend, both in Boise and then a few days later in our national’s capitol. This year he is the president of the Idaho Grain Producer’s Association (IGPA) and his volunteer duties include lots of winter meetings as the farm fields lie in wait for the warmth of spring to come.

Yup, the farmer cleans up pretty good! =)

This year's trip to Washington DC was uneventful and Farmer Joe along with his IGPA officers and staff met with some of our congressmen and the EPA on farm issues. The group began talking about the next Farm Bill ( of which I'll give some insights on that in a moment). When I say this year's trip to DC was uneventful, let me explain that last year's meeting as the national wheat industry farm leaders conference ended up in the same hotel as a "leather fetish" convention was being held. So if you can imagine conservative farmers, who talk about what kinds of seed we will plant this year - coming face with to face with slightly wilder versions of the "village people" running amok... well you can say, the farm boys knew they were a long way away from the farm!   This year the farmers chose a different week to conduct their meetings and I must say, the nightly phone calls from Farmer Joe weren't as "colorful" as last year. =)

Anyway, back to the Farm Facts, many people think the farm bill is designated only to aid farmers, but did you know that:
~ Only 11% of funding in the farm bill goes to farm policies.

~ More than 84% of farm bill-related spending goes to food and nutrition programs like food stamps, not to farmers.
~ Farm policy funding has fallen sharply in the last decade. It was slashed in the 2008 farm bill by $7.4 billion, and again in 2010 by $6 billion.

~ U.S. farm policy costs Americans just 2.3 cents per meal of 6.9 cents a day.

More facts can be found on the link supplied above or again, click here.

Have you ever noticed that major events and holidays are always associated with food? Super Bowl is tomorrow and one of the biggest days on record for our consumption of pizza, beer and other traditional football fare.   And so, on behalf of the barley, wheat, dairy and animal agriculture farmers,  we are glad you like what we produce. =) And with that my friends, I hope you will click on the link and read about the farm facts, because as the political season kicks off I'm sure there will be lots of talk about cutting agriculture support along with many other funding issues, so at least you can go to a site to get the straight facts on funds spent on behalf of agriculture.

As always, thanks for stopping by. I am still trying to get my other farm field trips lined up (didn't realize it would take so long for approval to go on their sites).  For more on Life on the Farm, click here and hope your week-end is a good one. Just like the Lowe's store slogan, you have questions.... we have answers, so please email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com and ask away! All my best, Gayle

Field Trip to Hawaiian Farms

2012-01-13T09:26:00.001-08:00

I have so much to tell you about my Hawaiian field-trip to see what other "Paradises" look like.....

Our journey began on December 30 flying over to Honolulu for a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. One of many firsts for Farmer Joe and myself, so combining a little business and lots of pleasure, we dug out our summer clothes & headed out to see firsthand the kinds of crops the tropical farmers raise over there. Our Hawaiian Field-trip included an innovative coffee farm, a cacao farm, and a pineapple plantation.

Coffee Farm

We took a tour of a coffee farm called "Kona Joe". This particular farm has started training their coffee trees to grow on trellises like the wineries do for their grapes.

Farmer Joe by the coffee roasting machine

A view of the coffee trees

The beans are hand-picked when ripe, sorted and then roasted.

The beans being sorted into different categories

Freshly roasted beans.... the smell was heavenly

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One new thing I learned was that dark roasted beans have less caffeine than a lighter roast. Below is a video of the beans being bagged once the process is complete and ready for sale.

Cacao Farm

Next stop was a tour of a local Cacao Farm.... Coffee and chocolate, does it get any better than that!? Plus they had samples too.

The only chocolate grown and processed all in Hawaii

The chocolate farmer explaining his crop

Cacao pods that grow on trees and are harvested by hand every 2 weeks

A pod cut open

A view of the bean when it has been cut out from the pod and the extraneous
(white part) removed from the bean

The beans are placed in a special box to allow the extraneous matter around the bean to naturally dissolve

Next the beans are placed in the open air drying rack to help them cure. The
nice warm weather and sun helps this process. The beans are then roasted
and it looks much like the coffee roasting bin.

THEN the final product.... yum chocolate as seen below.

It looked like an overgrown fondue pot and made our
mouth's water

Once the chocolate is ready to be poured into forms for their chocolate bars, it will be refrigerated until it's set up. Of course seeing the liquid chocolate helped the sales at the end of the tour. =)

Dole Plantation:

A few days later we went to the Dole Plantation took a tour of the pineapple farm all from the comfort of a little open air train through the grounds. All of the pineapple grown on this plantation are now for tourists to purchase and ship home. Dole now raises pineapple overseas where it is also canned there as well due to high labor costs in the USA.

Farmer Joe & I in front of the plantation, they had "Dole" spelled out with plants

A picture of the in the gift shop of the original roadside stand

The sign says the cycle has 3 fruit harvests, the 1st pineapple is ready to pick in
18 months, second is at 32 months and 3rd is 45 months

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The train as it winds its way through the plantation grounds

The plantation had many other plants, such as banana trees, other exotic fruit trees, sugarcane fields and many other kinds of flowers & plants.

This is what a field of pineapple looks like.

A pineapple in the growing stages.

A picture from the showroom of what an actual harvest looks like

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Info on the varieties

The beautiful grounds on the plantation has many kinds of trees as well and I just wish I could grow one of these in my yard....

I loved the "gum trees" they did not look real,
but they were. The bark is so unusual.

Close up of the gum tree. It looks like a painted tree

A banana tree

Sugar cane fields

Well there you have it, a snapshot of how coffee, pineapple and cacao are grown (some of my favorite foods & drink). Everyone has their idea of paradise, and for this farm-wife and her farmer, ours' is rural Idaho, but it is fun to see what else is out there. I hope you enjoyed this tropical crop tour. The next field-trip will be closer to home and I am in the process of obtaining permission to film it (so make sure and come back soon). More pictures of the trip can be found on the At Home on the Farm page. I hope 2012 finds you healthy and happy and I am looking forward to a new year of adventures. As always, please feel free to email me if you have any questions at idahofarmwife@gmail.com and I love the comments. All my best, Gayle

Christmas Blessings from an American Farm Family

2011-12-22T14:36:00.001-08:00

A very merry and blessed Christmas to you

Thanks to a great blogger buddy(thanks Judi Graff), I have a new media gadget to show off, so I have updated the blog to showcase our farm family highlights of 2011!

Does anything say Merry Christmas like a little red tractor with a green wreath on it?

As we gather for this blessed holiday, I as well as the rest of my farm family, hope the holidays are a time of love and togetherness for you. I'd love to know what your special traditions are, so please feel free to email me and share what makes your holiday special. As for us, this year we needed to shake things up a bit and my family seems to let me be the crazy event planner (sometimes they wonder what I'm getting them into -but generally they co-operate). And what are we planning this year? Well being German descendants, we usually open gifts on Christmas Eve day, so we are doing a "progressive Christmas Eve Dinner" with my side of the family (along with a couple of college kids who couldn't make it home for the holidays) and we will open gifts at each of the homes we visit. This way we get to see each other's houses all decorated up and spend the day together laughing, eating and enjoying each other and more eating. We all will gather and start out at 8am for coffee & pastries/fruit at my baby brother's house, then about 10:30am we will arrive at my other brother's house for hors d' oeuvres (thankfully this brother is no longer single as a few years back we came to his house for hors d' oeuvres and he set out a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower still complete in the bunch with a bowl of dip..... =) and my youngest daughter said "you are such a bachelor", poor guy), then around 1pm it's off to my oldest daughter's house for salad, there the little ones will go down for a nap, then around 4:30pm we will head to my house for the main part of the dinner (turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing & gravy). Shortly before 7pm, we'll head to church, then about 8:20pmish we'll end up at my mom's house for dessert and finish off the day.

Christmas morning finds Farmer Joe & me having breakfast at our oldest daughter's house where we can see what Santa brought the little girls. Then later on that day we will gather for a dinner with Farmer's Joe & Jay's side of the family as his sister Laurie & family will be here from Seattle. Lots of eating seems to be the main theme here. Just thinking about it makes me feel like I'd gained 5 lbs. =)

As always, here is a taste tempting treat..... Pumpkin Truffles. If you know me well, you will find out I don't like complicated recipes with lots of steps, so I modified the recipe for ease - so make sure and read the tip on dusting the truffles with cocoa powder. The recipe is on the OMG Dessert page. I hope you get to make it and enjoy it. It goes really well with a good glass of red wine!

Pumpkin Truffles

It just isn't Christmas until you see the local Christmas play at church. Of course, the cutest little kids were the "cows" (yes I'm a bit partial) and make sure and watch the video where one of the cows was mis-behaving during one of the songs, more on that at the At Home page.

Last minute instructions before the play

As always, many thanks for stopping in and I hope you share your special holiday traditions with me (idahofarmwife@gmail.com). Who knows, maybe we will copy what you do as we are always looking to do something new for the holidays. I will be taking some time off and won't be posting until mid-January. I am looking forward to 2012 and hope the new year finds you happy and healthy. All my best, Gayle.

Agra-Diva 101, Perceptions and Choices

2011-12-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

A New Day is Beginning (from harvest 2011)

Okay, I lied, this blog will not be about family like I said in last week's penning (although you can read about that on the At Home Page), as a recent event got my “tinsel all in a wad” …… First let me start out saying that I consider myself as a goodwill ambassador for our farm; farming is our passion and way of life. And my job is to explain what we do, why we do it and how we live it. Because we do our job, it allows other people to do something else. Not so long ago, our ancestors had a daily mission - to go out and find food so they could eat that day. My mom tells me of the times while growing up in rural Montana during the depression how her mom would go out in the early morning hours to fish so they would have some kind of protein to eat for that day. Today, we are fortunate as we do not have to focus on foraging the woods to put food on the table, we as Americans, enjoy the luxury of going to the well stocked grocery stores and purchasing high quality food and not using 50% of our income to sustain ourselves.

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So let me tell you what just happened, as it has been an interesting week for this farm-wife. If you read last week’s blog you will know about the low spot of me losing a loved one and so a bright spot was being asked to write for a food publication newsletter about food, farming and being a farm-wife. The purpose was to connect the consumer with the farmer. The editor and I had spoken a few times and I was to start contributing to her newsletter in January. Although it was not a large publication, she did mention that one of her writers had recently gotten a book deal, so I could see some possibilities here and was excited to start down this new path. When getting down to the nut and bolts of what she wanted from me, content, etc, she mentioned in a P.S. sort of way, about what did I think of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and did our farm use Monsanto® products? Because if we did, it was a deal breaker (her words) as she had a friend who told her all about the evils of this company. Well… I pondered my response, and as the editor has had cookbooks published, I used the following analogy to put this on a personal level for her. Here is what I told her, “imagine you created the most perfect recipe after years of trial & error, copyrighted it, marketed it by selling franchises, so that the franchisees were in a contract with you and enjoying the success from the recipe you created, then one of them decides they no longer want to pay you for the use of your recipe, but still wants to use it in their line of business to make money – well that would be a breach of contract and you would use legal actions to stop them. It is no different than with farmers using Monsanto products as they developed seed and products to help the farmer, and when we use their certified seed, we enter into a contract with them. Plain and simple, you honor the contract rules.” So I told the truth that yes we do use some Monsanto products on our farm, we do not use GMOs, but not because we don’t value the technology to help feed the world, but because it isn’t available in the crops we raise. I further tried to convey that this company spends an untold amount developing a better seed to help farmers feed the world and asked her to please try to see them in a different light. And what was the editor’s thoughts, was she open minded? I was promptly “uninvited” to write for her publication. This is unfortunate as I fear the editor was listening to the half-truths and opinions from the Food, Inc movie and that she was completely fixated on what her friend told her. In fact, if you go to Monsanto’s website, it summarizes what I was trying to say and they did it perfectly, “if there were one word to explain about Monsanto, it would be about farmers. We create the seeds, traits, and crop protection chemicals that help farmers produce more food with less resources.” No I am not a paid Monsanto employee, we are a customer of theirs and are one farm family out of the other 259,000 of us who are charged with task of feeding the next 2 billion people that are predicted to be our neighbors by 2050.

Am I a little disappointed? Yes, but I know there will be other opportunities to write for other publications, and I will continue my blogging and farm advocacy work just as I am doing and “telling the farmer’s side of the story”. This recent setback just reinforces the need for farmers all over the country to be ”real and to be open about what we do” and most of all, be approachable. So with great anticipation for next year and because I am the “boss of me” I choose to persist, be positive, to innovate and be a significant factor for American Agriculture and to tell its story.

Thank you again for stopping by, I read every comment & love ‘em and above all, please email at idahofarmwife@gmail.com if you have any questions. I’ll sign off for now as a farm-wife, a mom and agra-diva. All my best, Gayle.

Tis the Season, A Celebration of Life

2011-12-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

Greetings my friends! All is quiet on the farm front and since I last posted my Thanksgiving blog I've had happy and sad events that have shaped my little world. I was privileged to have been invited to share my farm advocacy story at the 1st Executive Women in Agriculture conference in Chicago last week and met awe inspiring & amazing women from all over the country. It was a great experience and one I will always treasure. But just before I boarded my plane, I received word that my beloved step-dad had passed away from his courageous 6 year battle with bone cancer. So this past Monday, we buried him and were thankful that he was no longer in pain and know that he will be missed by all who knew him. My step-dad loved the holiday season and was so much a part of our lives that even though he is no longer here to celebrate with us, I am finding my family is banding closer to each other more than usual, and it is like a comforting, warm blanket of love. Despite having a hole in our hearts, we recognize the need to get up, brush the dust off of ourselves and live our lives. We are all aware we need to continue making those precious memories, as when the end is near, all you have is family & memories. With that thought in mind, the next few blogs will be focused more on this farm-wife's family as December is a quiet time on the farm. But next month I'll start taking you on "field trips".... and I have some interesting things planned.

And as the air is getting crisper, we have had our first snowfall, and the holiday decorations are going up all over our town, it's getting me into the holiday spirit, Tis the Season! Here are a few pictures of how our farm house is decorated for the holiday season.

I've found many of my treasures from yard sales, estate sales and shopping at thrift stores. The stains on the vintage table cloths would tell me the tale of laughter, drinks and good food during a gathering, so I embrace the stains and holes as well as dents, chipped paint or whatever from my other treasures, as just knowing that perhaps these items were lovingly used by previous owners make it all the more special to me.

Snacks in mason jars that are in an old milk bottle basket

I love old enamel ware

The table that greets you when you walk through the front door

The sign on the bear says "1 day of coal
364 days of fun, I'll take my chances"

For some reason, my one of my daughters said that sign was "so me"..... I think that is a compliment. =)

I had candy canes on the bottom shelf, but
our dog kept eating them, so had to move the goodies
up to another shelf

These are acutal toys that my grand-angels play with when they come over

And yes, I've been baking.... this little goody is a White Chocolate cake. I am undecided on what flavors mean "Christmas", so I've been driving my husband crazy by baking so many different kinds of cakes. I made a Gingerbread bundt that was okay and a few others that looked good on paper, but the results were disappointing. This one was good and it is blog worthy for my reader friends.

White Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Cream cheese frosting
(look for the recipe on the Cake of the Month page - for December )

As for Farmer Joe, well he has been busy attending Ag related meetings in his role as president for the Idaho Grain Producers Association and working in the farm shop.

So for now, I'll sign off, but as always I am SO GLAD you stopped by and feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a comment. All my best, Gayle

Happy Thanksgiving From the Anderson Farm to You

2011-11-22T12:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving

As we gather to celebrate a bountiful Thanksgiving with family and friends, this farm-wife would like to give you a insight on who the Anderson Farm family is, so as you sit down for your dinner, you might feel a connection to those of us who grew the wheat for your rolls, breads and baked goods. Plus you might be interested to know that if you are serving hummus for an appetizer, there is a very good chance it came from this area & maybe even our farm, and lastly, if you are spreading mustard on anything, it could have come from our farm too. We are 1 farm family out of roughly 259,000 more full-time farm families who, just like us, grow the food we all eat. And as you are saying your prayers, and if you think of it, please include a special blessing for all of these hard working farm families. =)

Me, Farmer Joe & Josie - the spoiled dog

Farming has come a long way from the days of Farmer Joe's grandpa and dad as shown below

to being able to provide more food with less ground and less of a carbon footprint

Below is a short Flickr photo sideshow of our farm family. Although our girls chose different careers and no longer work on the farm as they once did, none-the-less they are proud to have been raised with an Agriculture background. So far, the 2 oldest grand-angels have told their grandpa that they want to drive the tractors and combines. Zack, our nephew and son of Farmer Jay and Lisa is a great worker when he goes out to work on the farm and he likes to hang out with his dad and uncle Farmer Joe. So who knows, we may have Zack, Brinley and Natalie running the farm in a few years.

And lastly, as the Thanksgiving holiday is a focus on food, I wanted to know what consumers thought and what questions they would ask a farmer.... so last Sunday afternoon, Farmer Joe and I went out and posed that question to random folks. We went to several different grocery stores from national chain stores to the local organic food co-op to ask the question, "if you could ask a farmer a question, what would you ask?"..... and here is what I found out.

Here are the answers to the questions asked:
• 97% of U.S. farms are run by families, farmer partnerships or co-ops, per Farm Facts. If a family farm is incorporated (i.e. Corporate Farm) it simply refers to the organizational tax structure of that farm operation.

• The crops grown by the farmers are based on what can be grown in their particular area as well as what is profitable to grow. For instance, we grow garbanzo beans vs peas as the market price is much better for garbanzos than dried peas.

• The use of herbicides or pesticide on crops is only used when needed and the products we use are highly regulated and tested by the Food & Drug Administration. The rules that govern what can be used are far more stringent in the U.S. than in foreign countries. When we use products on our crops, it could be compared to when a person gets sick and goes to the doctor for medicine to help them get healthy; it’s the same for plants- we are trying to keep the plants healthy for optimum yield results. We eat the same foods we produce as the consumer eats and as a practice, I try to only buy products grown in the U.S.A.

• We have not noticed an increase in conventional farmers converting to organic methods, but a few farms may do small organic sections as a speciality. We feel the consumer should have a choice of conventional vs organic. Typically organic is more expensive, for example one grocery store had a dozen eggs for $1.39 produced in a conventional way vs the $4.59 for organic, free range eggs. It simply depends on what the consumer wants to pay for their food. Americans spend just 9.5% of their income on food- less than any other country, plus it is the safest as well, per Farm Facts.

• As for the question about baby animals from dairies, it depends on the sex of the animal and the operation of that dairy. As we have friends in the dairy business, the females may be kept and added to the herd for milk production, and as for the males, they may stay for breeding or get sold.
• And lastly the women who talks about Ireland’s practice of telling you who raised that product… well it goes back to what I am trying to do, connect the consumer to the farmer. Let them see the regular American Farm Family who raises the food that they eat.

And I can't let you go until I share my latest cake find located on the Cake of the Month page...

Pumpkin Poundcake

Are you drooling yet?

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Please make sure to check the At Home on the Farm as I'll be posting more on what a farm engagement party looks like. We have invited our family and farm friends to meet Kaitlyn's financee, Andrew on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so quality time in the kitchen is definately in store for me. As always, thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any quesitons by either posting a comment or emailing me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com. All my best, Gayle

When Nature Gives You A Break, You've Gotta Take It

2011-11-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

Today is Veteran's Day and we give our eternal and heartfelt thanks to all who have served to make our country safe.

In our part of the country, any nice day after October 20 is a bonus as the weather can turn cold, rainy or snowy and we can count on being out of the field until Spring. After last week's light dusting of snow, Mother Nature has granted us a few more spectacular warm Fall days here on the "Palouse". Farmer Joe and Farmer Jay took the opportunity to get a few more things done on the farm as the weather forecast is calling for rain and snow this afternoon as well as the rest of the week.

Here is a video from the seat of the tractor cab to give you a peek at what it looks like driving down our country back-roads.

Next are two videos Farmer Joe shot of us planting some grasses and plants along the ditch as part of our on-going wildlife conservation efforts. Farmers take our environmental conservation efforts seriously as well as do our part in promoting wildlife habitat. The first video shows the tractor planting the grasses and the second video shows you what it looks like from the seat of the tractor.

And of course, I wanted to share my newest and perfect Fall yummy, "Apple Butterscotch Squares" on the OMG Dessert page.

Tomorrow this farmwife will be heading 100 miles away to see the newly engaged daughter try on wedding dresses and where her older sister, Jen will also be trying on bridesmaids dresses. So my part, as well as my mom's, will be doing the appropriate "ooohs and aaawwes" as the girls try on all sorts of dresses. =) More on that will be on the At Home on the Farm page.

As always, many thanks for stopping by, I hope you will try some of my favorite recipes and settle in for cozy moment with a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy your baking efforts. Please feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave comments, as I love to read them and appreciate the time that you have put aside to read the blog. All my best, Gayle

2011-11-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

The wheat has been seeded all comfy in their beds, with visions of harvest still in our heads…. okay so maybe I won’t quit my day job to write off-beat versions of that favorite Christmas poem, but I am a serious holiday junkie and now that harvest is over and our "fall working season" is on the down-hill slide we are rolling into a quiet time on the farm and straight into the holiday season! I love this time of year and am seriously thinking of starting my holiday movie watching tradition a bit early as we just had our first dusting of snow….. But first, here on the farm, Farmer Joe kindly taped a short video to show you what we are doing on the farm before it goes to sleep for the winter.

As for life on the farm..... well we have some big news, and invite you to read about it on the At Home on the Farm page

And if you love desserts, check out the Pumpkin Chocolate cake with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and a chocolate ganache glaze ...... yummmmm on the Cake of the Month page.

As the quiet winter season on the farm is settling upon us, I will be taking you on "field trips" such as getting to see barges being loaded with wheat that will make their way down the river system to get shipped overseas and whatever else I can think of. Plus if YOU have any requests, let me know and I'll see what I can do to make it happen. As always, thanks for stopping by. Well my friends, take care and feel free to email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave me a post. All my best, Gayle

An American Farm Family Telling Our Story

2011-10-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hooray! With great pleasure I have added the video from our 3rd annual “Dinner on the Farm” that Farmer Joe and I host during two week-ends in September. This is a free event and our way of connecting the farmer to the consumer. My friend and former co-worker, Camille Rigby taped & edited this magnificent footage from one of our dinners held last month. The images she captured show the true quintessence of what I try to say in every blog: that we love farming, we are an American farm family who makes our living providing food for the consumer, and we want to tell you our story as well as answer your questions and concerns about American agriculture.

I’ve been blogging about our farm for the last 2 or so years and this blog has taken on a life of its own. It shapes the way I think and view things around the farm. Farmer Joe and our hired-man, Cody have joined with me in giving you a “hands on insight” of what we do, day in and day out.

One of my goals with this blog is to be able to have a broader audience and give the consumer that connection to where their food is grown and who grows it. I also hope to someday garner the interest from one of the major women’s magazines and have a regular column that answers questions from the consumer about where their food comes from. So far Better Homes & Gardens, Country Living and a few others have repeatedly turned me down or just ignored my suggestion and offer to write for them. So I will keep doing what I am doing and am thankful for each and everyone one my blog readers. =)

In December, I will be in Chicago to be on a forum for Top Producer’s Executive Women in Agriculture to talk about being an “Advocate for Ag”, and if you have something you would like me to share about what you like most from this blog, please post a comment or email me at idahofarmwife@gmail.com . Thanks and as always, appreciate you stopping by. All my best, Gayle

Seeding Wheat the "No Till" Way, Fall Work 2011

2011-10-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

On our farm, we are no till farmers, which basically means we seed our crops directly into the soil with minimal disruption of the ground. This is a soil saving process as well as a cost saving one for us and we feel, a better carbon footprint for the environment. It takes special equipment (which is expensive) and, while we, and many other farmers in the area utilize this practice, not all farmers buy into the "no till" way of doing things. It basically comes down to what is best for your own farm.

Here is a short video of Cody (our hired man) in the tractor pulling a shredder that breaks up the wheat stubble into little pieces. It is sort of like composting and it helps the crops and the soil by helping keep weeds down, keeping moisture in the ground, preventing erosion of the soil and making it a better condition for the tiny wheat seed to grow.

Hot off the press from Farmer Joe..... a look at seeding wheat.

Thanks for stopping by, email me if you have quesitons at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or feel free to post a comment. All my best, Gayle