Trip to the past

Entrance to the AWHC Wellsville. Ut.

 A few weeks ago, my wife and I took our three year old to the fall harvest days at the American West Heritage Center in Wellsville Ut.  This was a great experience to see many things that are now considered to be obsolete.  We experienced what it was like on the farm in the late 1800's early 1900's.  The machinery and tools, the homes and even the processes of food storage.  This was a great way to relate to our three year old what was different 100 years ago.  We saw the blacksmith shop, the wood-rite shop, the mercantile and the farmhouse.  All of which were educational and fun to see.  We also visited the native american tee pee and the mountain man trading post.  Some of the highlights for our daughter was the corn shelling in a piece of chicken wire and the handmade corn husk dolls. 

Making corn husk dolls, Jordan Bartholomew
Oct, 2015

Shelling corn cobs, Jordan Bartholomew
Oct 2015

My perspective of this experience had a new vision from my time in Farm and Literature. I imagined this not being a special experience but a daily occurrence.  The settlers and homesteaders would have to do these things on a daily basis to survive.  A self sufficient people living off the land.  This is something that as a society has strayed from.  We now rely on Walmart for all our stuff and assume everything is made in China.  What would we all do if we had no choice but to return to the land and make do without the luxuries of the 21st century.  Would we be able to do it?

   

Little more like the farmer

Riggott, Dean. "Farm Life." Dean Riggott Photography. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

        The way that the general public looks at farmers is quite different from how farmers really are.  The mainstream media likes to use the generalized term of red-neck or back-woods.  Out in the mid-west they call them Hoosiers.  Whatever the name is they all have a negative connotation.  Unsophisticated, unintelligent and uncivilized.   These are terrible generalizations tat need to be done away with.  The reality is that farmers are good down to earth people that contribute so much to society.  Hard work mixed with discipline, blood, sweat, and family values.   

        This photo taken by Dean Riggott shows a little more than a pitch fork and  a dirty pair of boots.  This instantly took me back to the times when I would help my friend muck out the barn.   The smell of manure and a weathered straw are singed into the memories.  This was not a onetime ordeal.  This was something that was done on a weekly and sometimes daily basis.  Not just in the summer  but fall, winter, spring as well.  Although this image may not be fancy or complex it tells the tale of the hard working farmer.   The pitch fork is used, worn, and dirty.  The boots look to be in the same shape.  The blurry background of straw suggest that the work is not done.   In fact the work will never be done for this farmer.  There will always be straw to pitch, hay to stack, tractors to fix , fields to harvest and the list goes on.

        Although farmers may get a little unruly in the movies, most of them in the real world don't have the time.  Sun up to sun down farmers are working.  Images like this help me to better appreciate what farmers do.  I say if we could all be a little more like that farmer we would be better off.  

Bill of rights, I mean Farms

            The Farm Bill as we know it is a piece of legislation that is re-visited every 5  or so years.  In this bill, there are many facets.  President Barack Obama called it a Swiss army knife.  Like the knife, the bill has a lot in it.  There is legislation about conservation, infrastructure, jobs, health and nutrition. In a document published by the White House, there is a list of 5 ways the Farm bill will help the economy.  The reasons are stated as follows.

whitehouse.gov

Although the farm bill comes under a title relating to agriculture there are many things that are not ion direct correlation with farms.  For example, over 70% of the nearly 480 billion dollar budget, is used for "nutrition" or welfare assistance.  That is a pretty big chunk of the pie. Very little actually ends up in the farmers hands.  The list of ways the farm bill strengthens our economy may be a little ambiguous but this farm bill really can have an impact on many people.  With nutrition and welfare aside there is another category that has a large reach. The subsidies to farmers to help offset the price of products in the market.  For example the subsidies for dairy farmers.  This Farm Bill will provide protection against the oversupply of milk in the market.  If there was a supply influx, it would force the farmers to sell at unreasonable losses.  With this protection, dairy farmers are covered by limiting their production to help protect prices.  This will be good for supply and demand.  Many of the farmers are in favor of this type of legislation but there is sum resistance in some farmers.   

"Here's How a Comprehensive Farm Bill Goes Way Beyond Our Farms:." The White House. The White House, 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

SUOZZO, ANDREA. "Long-fought Farm Bill Substitutes Dairy Subsidy Program with Insurance - VTDigger." VTDigger. 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Farming. The mystical and the real.

Balloon Farm,Walt Disney Home Video 1999 DVD.

            Based on the children's story book Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm written by Jerdine Nolen, this story is fun for the whole family.  With the opening scene including a fresh pie being made from nothing but a single pecan and a pie tin, it is easy to be captured by the magic in this show. This story takes the audience into a day and life of a farming community plagued by a long onset drought.  This film makes a visual representation of the struggles framers deal with in the real world.  When town spirits and water levels are at a low, a mysterious new farmer moves in  and hordes of strange things start happening.  The new farmer not only makes pecan pies but grows a whole field of assorted colored balloons.  Looking at this as some kind of  miracle, the town seems to find new hope.    

            Though the film emphasizes the mystical, the farming themes are very prevalent.  For example,  droughts and farming seem to go hand in hand.  It seems to be inevitable that eventually farmers will be faces with the lack of water.  Without water, the crops will not grow.  When there is no end in sight the farmers seem to lose hope.  Balloon Farm paints this picture as the towns' people are spotlighted in each of their lives.  They all know there is a drought and they all deal with it differently.  They all have their own secrets and struggles.   For some farmers, the solution is to sell what they can and move on before they are left with nothing.  For others, it is to rely on some unseen power to help them make it though the drought.  Call it faith or call it magic either way it seems to come on its own and is successful in sustaining hope.  So when balloons start growing from            un-watered soil, the people of Waterston start to believe in magic. 

Drought of 2012 Journal news. web

            Farmers of old as well as farmers today have sought different forms of help to bring water down from the skies.  The American Indian farmers of the south, would offer up dances in hopes it would bring rain. Some ancient farming cultures, believed in offering sacrifice of animals or people would bring rain.  Still today many farmers pray to God to send rain down to quench their crops.  Although these are all different examples, and all manifested in different ways, they all have the same result, hope that the rain will come.  Balloon farm brings this age old problem to life in a fun and silly way.  Facing the problem with a new tactic and medicine, magic.  Newcomer Potter, played by actor Rip Torn from Men In Black, seems to have come to Waterston to bring new hope. Town youngster and trouble maker Willow Johnson, played by Mara Wilson from Matilda, is the first to believe in this magic. The town antagonist and grumpy old man, Mr. Wheezle does not believe in such nonsense and would like Potter to leave town immediately.

           

             From a film critics perspective this film may lack in many ways including quality acting, special effects and even the main plot.  With many silly scenes and balloons that can understand verbal communication, this film may be too much for some people.  The movie tries to bring to life the original storybook magical feel as well as adding relatable struggles like the drought. Trying to keep it entertaining for all audiences would be its' greatest challenge.  With a young audience or for those who can suspend disbelief, this is a fun show with farming parallels one of which is the fact that droughts greatly affect real farmers all over.  In Cache Valley there have been droughts that have claimed thousands of acres of crops.  Looking past the silliness, the audience can gain a sense of what it would be like to have a multi generational farm facing foreclosure, and have to decide whether or not to try and keep it.  Through the lens of the camera, the audience sees a small farming community whose livelihood is dependent on the crops from the soil.  With the struggle of the drought this community tries to work together to pull through this difficult time. Neighbors band together to help one another keep their farms.   

            This made for TV film was presented by The wonderful world of Disney and directed by William Dear. It was aired on March 28, 1999 with a runtime of 92 minutes.  Later released on DVD.  IMBD gives this film a rating of 5.3 out of 10.   

       

 Balloon Farm. Dir. William Dear. Perf. Rip Torn, Mara Wilson, Laurie Metcalf. Walt Disney Home Video :, 1999. DVD.

Nolen, Jerdine, and Mark Buehner. Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1994. Print.

"CACHE COUNTY MAY BE 1ST TO SEEK DROUGHT STATUS." Deseret News 23 July 1988. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Now these are facts and not fiction.

        From a young age I remember my father telling me a story about a bear named Old Ephraim.  It was one of many bedtime stories that I remember from my childhood.   The greatest thing about this story is that it is said to be true and it takes place here in Cache Valley.  After doing a little bit of research I was able to track down the original story from the words of its' author.  The man in this tale was named Frank Clark, a sheepherder in Logan canyon.  His version of the story tells about his encounters with a grizzly bear named Old Ephraim.   As a sheepherder, he became familiar with Old Ephraim in 1912.  The bears were a problem for the sheepherders because they would eat the sheep.  Clark says that in one season, bears were responsible for the death of 154 adult sheep.  According to the legend, Old Ephraim was a different kind of hunter.  He would kill the sheep then take the sheep to eat at his leisure.   In August of 1923, Clark took down the bear  with six shots from his gun.  Old Ephraim was finally taken, all 9 feet 11 inches of him. 

        This piece of Cache Valley history paints a picture about the dangers and struggle of a rancher in the mountains that surround us.  To this day there are sheep and cattle grazing this same area up Logan canyon.  Although times have changed and bear population is not what it once was, ranchers and herders face the danger of wild animals.  I can only imagine the emotions that Clark faced in those final moments leading up to the death of Old Ephraim.  As one who is unfamiliar with ranching and range farming , I would guess that bears are the most dangerous part of the job.  This story helps people like me with little or no experience in ranching, relate to a scary situation that ranchers had to face.  This story also has been a great campfire story told to many boy scouts around the country.   Because of its' popularity it has brought many visitors .  Right hand fork is a popular place more many reasons including visiting the grave of this old legend.  At this grave there is a headstone monument that boy scouts place to remember this big grizzly bear.  Words at the bottom of the monument it read:  

Lucero, Eli. A poem by Nephi J. Bott. 2011. JPEG. 

Clark, Frank. "The Killing of Old Ephraim by Frank Clark." The Killing of Old Ephraim by Frank Clark. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

Golden Sweetness

This summer I had some of the most exquisite corn I have ever eaten.   The corn they call Ambrosia is my new favorite.  It is the perfect color of yellow and dotted with white kernels.  It is a sweet corn but not too sweet and had an incredible amount of flavor.  This home grown corn was among two varieties that my father had planed earlier this year.  When I sat down with him to talk about why he planted this particular variety he said because the guy that sells him his seeds, said that it is great corn with long ears.   Although the ears did not seem to be much larger than the other varieties they tasted like candy.    After doing a little research I have come to know that the variety is hybrid sugar-enhanced sweet corn.  The history of sweet corns goes way back to native days many centuries ago.  Although the sweet corn has been around a long time, the sugar-enhanced corns are less than a century old.  According to Debra Larson of the University of Illinois, sometime in the 1960's a man by the name Rhodes discovered the "sugary enhancer" trait.  The corn was a cross between Illinois sweet corn and a corn from Bolivia. "This trait modified normal sugary sweet corn, resulting in about twice as much sugar content and extremely tender kernels."  Corn is really a neat thing to garden since it cross pollinates from the surrounding corn.  When one variety is grown next to another it can result in a new variety.  This is how there are so many different kinds.  Another nice trait of sweet corn is that it grows well anywhere there is enough sunlight.  From my experience with watching and helping with my fathers' garden, I have learned that the spacing is a critical part of a healthy corn harvest.  When the seeds are planted 6 inches apart and the rows are 18 inches apart, the ears of corn seem to be larger and fuller.  Resulting in delicious corn.  This is one of my most favorite summer treats.  Take some corn right out of the garden with some butter, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper, wrap it up in some foil and throw it on the grill or in the camp fire.  I don't know if there is anything better!  Oh my goodness!!  

Larson, Debra. "Inside Illinois." News Bureau. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 7 Aug. 2003. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.

My Farming Roots

Luckily I don't have to dig very deep to get in touch with my family farming roots.  Fact I don't have to look before my own generation.   My maternal grandfather came from a steady line of farmers.  My grandfather Henry Doyle Lewis grew up in the Oxford Idaho area and was a farm boy threw and threw.  When he was older he had his own farm raising hay, corn, sugar beets and cattle.  In 1983 my parents and grandparents decided to be co-owners of a dairy farm in Petersboro Ut.   After struggling to find financing for the dairy and the cows, the only option was ridiculously high interest loans.  Taking the gamble they borrowed the money and went to work to build the dairy.  Because  of the high interest rates and the and economic challenges, the payments were getting hard to make.  My dad, a cabinet maker and my grandpa a postman, both were working full time plus the dairy on the side.  This was becoming more and more taxing.   They  decided to have someone step in and run the dairy for a while.  When that didn't work out my grandpa  returned to the dairy to find out the cows had mastitis and were not producing milk.  This is not very good for a dairy farm.  Another struggle came when they bought a new herd of cows only to find out that they too had mastitis.  By 1989 the bank was tired of the empty promises and reclaimed the dairy along with taking our home and my grandparents home to recoup their investment.  This was a very trying time for our family.  

In looking at the timeline ( http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1980.htm ), the economic factors played a big part of the struggles of the farm.   The interest rates on the loans in the 1980's were really high.  For starting or small scale farmers, this was a big hurdle to get over.   Many farms like my family's, never really recovered.  The droughts may have played a part in the costs of feed for the cows.  I don't think our area was really effected by the drought but it may have been.   When I was born in 1986, the farm values had reached the bottom of the economic slump.   I wish this was a success story about how the small farmer made it through rough times but it is not.  The reality is that farming is a gamble.  Some years you win and some you lose.  We had just lost to many in a row.  

The changing of the leaves.

  With the summer nights cooling down and the color of the leaves starting to change I can't help but turn my thoughts to the harvest.  The corn ready to be striped from the stock and the squash tender on the vine.  Even the smell of the air brings with it the farmers doing the fall burning to prepare for winter.  Living in Cache Valley is delight in the fall.  The aroma of the fields, the cooler air and the beautiful colors of the mountain sides.  This valley truly has been blessed with fertile soil.  For many generations, the residents here have enjoyed the gifts of this rich dirt.  I can imagine the early settlers digging, tilling and harrowing this wonderful valley floor. Oh the heritage of this great place!  This blog will be a tribute to the forefathers of this Cache Valley and an invitation to just dig it.