NPR : Heirloom Produce, Saving an Heirloom Farm

Sometimes I tell people I grew up on a farm. The truth is much more complicated than that. The truth is that I grew up my younger years in the city and my pre-teen through teen years near my grandparent's farm. But that is a mouthful and people's eyes glaze over when you give too much detail. So, I'm not a farmer but I once played one ....during the summers sometimes. Actually, I enjoyed some of the farm work. The down side of farming is the long hours and low wages. Also, it takes a certain types of talents I just did not have. Even so, through the years, I have enjoyed reading books on agriculture. One that was particularly interesting relates to mercy missions and agriculture is Two Ears Of Corn. Even if you are not a missionary or a farmer there some good thoughts about people, risk, technology, and making decisions. One of the most memorable parts of the book talk about how in communities that are subsistence farmers, crop failure is not business failure, it can mean sickness or even death. So sometimes people are risk adverse and for good reason. The authors talk about ways to introduce new crops and methods without incurring undue risk. Some other books I have read on agriculture come from the local library. Usually they carry some of the books put out by the USDA. Our agriculture sector has gone through a lot of changes the past few years. Some of it is sad, like factory farms. Some of it is good, we have enough food. When I heard the linked below story I thought that this is a part of the good trends going on right now. People who are growing high quality produce and getting paid for it. Isn't this a great country.


NPR : Heirloom Produce, Saving an Heirloom Farm: "The growing trend of restaurants using specialty produce has helped some family farms turn their fortunes around. "


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