Artichokes Anyone...

Last year we had quite a bit of artichokes but this year is CRAZY.  I am already tired of artichokes and I am sure that might weight shows for it but we can't let them go to waste they are so expensive in the grocery stores! I have no idea how to cook them besides boil and eat off the leaves but I am sure there are so many different things one can do but I would rather spend my time hangin' with Baby Girl or reading :) 

Anyone have any ideas on other ways to eat artichokes?

Until next time...

Memories of the 1st Ag Day in San Francisco

Although I have heard the story on several occasions it still puts a smile on my face to hear my Dad or Mom reminisce about the 1^st organized Farm Day in San Francisco.  The year was 1986 and I was almost 5 years old.   I can remember my Mom getting me up early that day so that we could get an early breakfast, get dressed and hurry down to the dairy barn to help my Dad get the necessary tack, feed and straw into the livestock trailer. We were going to take a trip to San Francisco with one of my Brother’s FFA cows and calf to a school in San Francisco for Farm Day. 

My Dad and I at the 1st Farm Day

 

Many farmers and ranchers in area had made the commitment to travel to San Francisco and show case their specific farm.  There were dairy cows and calves, beef cows and calves, chickens, a sow and her piglets, goats, a horse and a lama.  The area farmers and ranchers were to rendezvous with their livestock trailers at the Marin County Civic Center and we would caravan into the City together.  It was exciting for such a young girl to be a part of such a wonderful event and I couldn’t wait to get on the road! 

Selected schools all over San Francisco were to receive a live farm that day at their school.  Once we reached our selected school I helped my parents unload the cow and her calf and get all the necessary feed and tack out for the day.  I also brought out the calf bottle so that the school kids could feed the calf if they wanted to. Once the children were let out to see all the animals I think they were amazed by the real live farm animals in their school yard were they would usually play.

It was a wonderful day helping my Dad and Mom teach the school children how to feed the baby calf, answer their questions and teach them about California Agriculture.  The San Francisco Chronicle was at our school to do a piece about the 1^st Farm Day in San Francisco. While walking through the “school yard farm” to see the sow and her piglets one of the students asked one of the farm day volunteers, “How do pigs lay bacon?”  Well that was the question of the day, according to my parents.  It was also the headline of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper the next day.  This question shows how much these children could learn from the event and hopefully they did.

At the time I had no idea what an impact Farm Day would have on agriculture in California.  My parents felt it was very important to educate our urban neighbors on where our food and fiber came from and this would just be the beginning of their passion to educate.  They as well as I continued to participate in Farm Day for many years and I hope we were able to educate and inspire many children about agriculture in California.

It’s 2011 I’m grown and I intend to share this memory with my daughter Hannah on how I traveled across the Golden Gate Bridge so many years ago to share with the students in San Francisco about farm animals and the importance and significance of agriculture in our everyday lives. I hope that this memory will inspire her to follow in her grandparent’s foot steps to educate others on the story of Ag in California.  I also hope that the memories of my experience so many years ago will inspire you to volunteer for the 25^th Anniversary of Farm Day in San Francisco to be held on October 20^th!

Full Swing

Harvest is in full swing right now. D has been working till 7am to 11pm if not later on some nights. Sometimes days go by that D doesn't even see H because he is working so much and I feel like a single Mom.  Let me say that it is tough so hats off to you single Moms...you ROCK!!!
Now back to harvest...Shaking is one of the first steps of harvest.  The shaker drives up to the tree grabs the stump with large rubber pillows and shakes the tree until all the nuts fall to the ground.  The force of a shaker is unreal, any near by houses know when a shaker is at work because it shakes with so much force that it rattles the windows and can sometimes even rattle the house! Below is a picture of D shaking a tree, he is not a fan of photos so I took this one without him knowing (hehe) so that is why it is a little far away.

D and his bro bought this shaker a couple years ago and not only do their own shaking but they also do custom shaking for other almond farmers to generate more revenue. I am sure other people would get a lot more in depth about this process but hey I am a also a mother and I can't spend all day in front of the computer...even though secretly I would love to.

Until next time...

It's Harvest Time!!!

Well its that time of year again...Almond Harvest!! I both love and hate this time of year. I love it because its the time of year that all the hard work my husband does all year is rewarded (even if it is in the form of a lot more work for now) and I hate it because I rarely get to see him.  This year I hope that I can help out more than I did last year because our little one is older.  I have already committed to running to get parts when they need them so that means I might be making a lot of trips here and there for necessary items to keep harvest rolling.  


There are several processes when harvesting almonds.  There is the shaking, the raking, the picking up and the hulling we at least these are all the steps that we do ourselves and then the nuts are off to the local receiving station.  All of our nuts are sold in-shell to Blue Diamond Growers and we are so happy to be apart of such a great company! Look for upcoming posts on how each step is done with pics included.  Well that's it for now there is lots to do!!!


Until Next Time...

My first Blog...

I have decided to start blogging. You may ask me why blog? Doesn't everyone do that and aren't you a little late to jump on the bandwagon? Well, I have a couple reasons the first one being that I have wanted to start blogging ever since our daughter was born and was fortunate enough to stay at home with her.  Mainly blogging about our family and what we are up to so our family members across the country can watch Hannah grow.
The second happened about a month ago when a college friend of mine posted on her blog the process of a custom on farm beef slaughter.  Well, this post caused quite a stir in the beef industry for a week or so and it got me thinking that we as producers need to get our story out there.  Consumers need to know where there beef, produce or whatever ag commodity they may produce comes from. I feel the more the consumer knows the better!

So here is our journey as a family in the Ag industry having a great time while hopefully educating others along the way about how we live our life...The Ag life!!!