Wheat Grows in the Winter?

     Well, kindofnotreally grows, but winter wheats such as soft white winter and hard red winter are planted in the fall and have the chance to sprout and grow 5-6 inches before winter hits.  Winter wheats are usually planted in September, after the harvest of the previous year's planting is over, and actually need a few weeks of cold weather in order to grow.

Winter wheat in the snow

     Winter wheats provide farmers with the ability to get a crop in the ground before taking a break for the winter, and relieves some of the pressure during spring planting time.  Since fields with winter wheat have already been planted and sprouted, the plants have already begun growing again by the time the farmer gets back in his field to plant spring crops.

     Although typically grown as a cash grain, winter wheat can also be planted as a cover crop for other cereal crops, as well as a grazing option prior to tilling and seeding with grass.  It’s less likely than barley or rye to become a weed and is easier to kill.  Winter wheat also provides good erosion control during the winter, protecting valuable topsoil from being washed away by fall, winter and spring rains and snowmelt.

     Winter wheats are planted with crops such as potatoes, to provide weed control in the spring.  Since the wheat is planted after the typical growing season, and grows quickly before becoming dormant for the winter, it is able to choke out weeds in the early spring.  Farmers will then spray the wheat to kill it before seeding their potatoes directly into the wheat residue.  This system reduces the amount of herbicides the farmer needs to use, helps prevent erosion, and the wheat residue enriches the soil when it is plowed at the end of the potato harvest. 

Hard Red Wheat

     Hard red winter (HRW) wheat has a higher protein content than other wheats, yielding a large amount of gluten, the component of dough that gives it elasticity and captures the carbon dioxide from yeast to allow the dough to rise.  HRW is used mostly as flour for yeast breads, or is blended with soft spring wheats to make all-purpose flour.  It gets its pretty red color from pigments in the bran layer of the wheat kernel.  Hard red winter wheat accounts for more than 40% of the U.S. wheat crop and half of U.S. wheat exports, and is grown on about 23 million acres across the United States.

Soft White Wheat

     Soft white winter and soft red winter wheats  are lower in
protein and gluten, and have more complex carbohydrates than hard red winter wheat. These wheats make the preferred flour for gravies, sauces, biscuits, cakes, pie crusts, cookies, and pastries. They are also wonderful as cooked whole grain or cooked combined with brown or white rice.  About 21.3 million acres if soft white winter and soft red winter wheat are grown in the USA.

     So, next time you use all-purpose flour, eat a slice of bread, or pie, you'll know what kind of wheat goes into it!  Pretty neat to know, isn't it?  I think so!

This would not be possible without WHEAT!

For more information on winter wheat, check out these links:
http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Managing-Cover-Crops-Profitably-3rd-Edition/Text-Version/Nonlegume-Cover-Crops/Winter-Wheat
http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0146.html
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/flours/learn-more.html

Harvest in the Palouse!

 
     It's harvest time all over the United States.  Harvest is an exciting time in every farming community.  It is the culmination of the farmer's entire year's work.  It is when he learns how well his or her plans and methods worked. It is when the farmer receives his paycheck, and hopefully he will have enough to pay his production expenses and be able to care for his family for the coming year.

A deer leaps across a ripened field of wheat.
Photo taken by Wade Lindquist at Bald Butte Ranch.

     Harvest is an intense time for farmers and their families.  There are long days of work.  There is not a minute for anything else - nothing else happens during harvest-time.  It's also a dangerous time for farmers; they're tired and stressed to the max.  They're frequently sleep deprived.  The weather may not cooperate; everything may be ruined by wind or rain coming at just the wrong time.  And, even though they may have maintained and repaired their machinery properly, they may still have equipment breakdowns, right in the middle of long harvest days.

Grain trucks ready to go.
Photo from Todd Strader, T & H Farms.

    

     For our farmers in the Palouse region of eastern Washington, harvest is one long event, beginning in late July and lasting through the middle of September.  They are just finishing harvesting their winter wheat which was planted last fall.  This includes soft white and hard red winter wheat.  They are harvesting their spring crops this week.  These includes the spring wheats - soft white, hard white and dark northern spring wheat.  Next to be harvested will be dry peas and dry lentils, finally followed by garbanzos.

Mark Richter combining wheat on St. John Farm.
The stalk and wheat head are pulled into the wide "header-bar" in the front of the combine.
Then the chaff (stalk and leaves) and wheat kernels are separated.
The chaff is spit out the back (that's the dust you see in the rear),
and the kernels are dumped into the big rectangular bin on top of the combine.

     Many farmers have just one combine, and harvest their own fields.  In other cases, they may share the work with other family members; their fathers, brothers, inlaws or their neighbors.  There may sometimes be more than one combine harvesting one field at a time.

Pumping the wheat kernels from the combine into the grain truck.
Note the two trucks behind, waiting to be filled.
 The wheat will be hauled to the grainery where it will
be sold for breads, pastries and noodles, all over the world!

     The schedule in most every case depends on the planting date and this season's weather.  In nearly every part of our country,  the rainfall is slightly different as one travels north to south.  Typically, the further north you go, the more precipitation you have. This is the case in the Palouse, so that means that the crop was planted earlier in the southern portion of the community, and so is harvested first.  Families and friends who are sharing the work of harvest work together to harvest the fields which "come off," or are ripened, first.

Three combines at work to bring in the harvest.
That's Todd Strader walking in his wheat field

Combines and tractors, all lined up for a
"Harvest is finally over" photo.
Taken on the Todd Strader Farm.
I think this is an especially beautiful picture, what with the sky and all.

    After a long, intense couple of months, the farmer has all his crops into the grainery.   Then he begins planning for next year!

EAT MORE WHEAT AND THANK A FARMER.

Barley There!

      Barley. That's what you use to make beer and whiskey, right?   Well, yes, but there's a lot more to barley than that!  It's the fourth largest grain crop in the world, and, along with wheat, was one of the first domesticated grains grown.  Since ancient times, barley has been used as an important source of food, in religious rituals, as a standard of measurement and even as currency.

A field of barley. The heads are more droopy than wheat,
and the "beards," the long spiky portions of the head, are very pronounced .

     Germany is the world's largest producer of barley (imagine that!), followed by France and Ukraine. The USA is the 10th largest producer, growing 3.4 million tons in 2011.  Half of the barley grown in the USA is used as livestock feed.  Barley is an adaptable crop, and can grow in temperate areas in the summer and tropical areas in the winter.  It is also relatively drought tolerant and can grow in more salty soils. 

Barley corns

     Barley was also used as a standard of measurement in England through the 1700's, with three barleycorns making an inch, and four or five poppy seeds to the barleycorn.  This barleycorn-inch is still used in shoe sizing in the UK and USA, even though the new standard inch replaced the barleycorn-inch in the 19th century.  A barleycorn-inch is about 1/3 the length of a new or modern-day inch.  Pretty interesting, right?  The shoes on your feet are measured in barleycorns!

Two-row and six-row barley

     Domesticated barley has been around since pretty much forever.  It was bred so that the spikelets which hold the kernels don't shatter and fall to the ground before being harvested.      Barley varieties today are classified as either two-row or six-row, meaning that there are either two rows of kernels or six rows of kernels.  Confusing, I know.

A barley whiskey

     However, it's important for brewing beer, since two-row barley has lower protein and won't cloud up the beer.  Two-row barley is usually used in making German beer.  The higher-protein, six-row barleys are used in food products and in animal feed, although some lager beers use higher-protein barleys.  Oh, and whiskey made in Scotland and Ireland is often from barley, although whiskey is also often made with wheat or rye.  And the Brits make barley wine, the Japanese make barley tea, and the Italians make barley coffee.  Yay for barley!

     While barley as a food grain is not quite as versatile as wheat, it is highly nutritious, with 1 cup of cooked barley delivering over 50% of a person's daily fiber needs, and over 10% of the daily protein needs.  We all should probably eat more of it.  As a food product, it's almost as versatile as wheat, and is typically eaten cooked in its whole-grain form.  It is wonderful in soups and stews, and is excellent as a side dish or in salads.  Barley can also be ground into a meal and made into porridge or baked into cakes and breads.  Barley has an excellent, nutty flavor, and a good, chewy consistency.  It's a hearty comfort food, and an excellent replacement for rice and pasta.  It does take a while to cook, but the result is worth it!

A barley and pea risotto. YUM!

     So, there you go.  Now you know a little more about barley.  Now, go get some and make the curried barley salad that we posted!  Yum!

More barley - note the long, spiky beards

Information for this article was taken from these websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_size
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley

Gar-BAN-zo!

Our farmers, as you will soon see, produce a lot of garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas. These tasty, fat, little round beans are super versatile, and chock-full of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They may seem a little more exotic than your everyday pinto bean, but believe-you-me, they will become one of your favorites if you give them a try!

Garbonzos in the pod. Cute!

Domesticated garbanzo beans are an ancient crop, being found in caves with other refuse dating back to 6790 BC. They probably originated somewhere in the Middle East (like pretty much everything else...), and were, and continue to be a staple food in that area and Eastern Asia.

The name "garbanzo" possibly stems from the Basques, a sub-autonomous culture in northeastern Spain. Their word for this bean is garbantzu. "Chickpea," on the other hand, stems from the French word for the bean, chiche, and slurred into "chickpea" in English. Neat-o. 

Garbanzo plants

Garbanzo beans are grown all over the world, with India being the largest producer of the crop. They thrive in sub-tropical climates, where they get a little more rain, but certain varieties do well in more temperate areas, such as the United States, Pakistan, and Australia. Garbanzo beans grown the US come mostly from California, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Idaho is the largest producer of small Desi beans, and Washington leads in the production of the larger Kabuli beans.

Interesting fact -The US actually imports garbanzos because we don't grow enough to meet our demand and the demand of countries who also buy from our farmers! Most of our beans come from Mexico and Canada (Canada??). US garbanzos are eaten by us, and also sent to Spain, Turkey, and India.

Why eat anything else??

There are two main types of garbanzo beans cultivated today. Desi-type beans are smaller, with rougher coats, and vary in color, from light tan to black. Kabuli-type beans are larger, rounder, and have light, smooth coats. You will most likely find Kabuli-type beans in cans at the grocery store.  Both types of beans carry the same nutritional power punch, and add great texture and taste to pretty much any dish.

Like I've said already, garbanzo beans are super versatile. They can be roasted, ground, mashed, blended, baked; thrown into salads, soups, pastas, rice, and eggs, or used to pump up meat dishes, since they have a good, hearty texture and taste.  They are even used in desserts! Their flavor is mild, and doesn't overpower the rest of the dish, while their high protein and fiber content fills you right up! What are you making for dinner tonight? Grab a can of garbanzo beans and throw them right in! Seriously! Do it!

Canned garbanzo beans make life easy, and I usually have a can or two on my shelf for those (very, very, very, very rare) days when I don't plan ahead. Dry garbanzo beans can be bought in the dry bean or bulk aisles, and are easy to prepare. Like other dry beans, soaking garbanzos in cold water overnight will make cooking faster, although they will still need to be cooked for at least an hour or two in order to be edible.  

Kabuli-type garbanzos

 If you've never used garbanzo beans in your cooking before, take a chance on these tasty little beans. You'll be supporting our hardworking farmers and be adding an interesting, nutritional new food to your menu! We love garbanzo beans, including TheWeeLaddie, who will eat them in soups, sides, and even curried!

What are your favorite ways to prepare garbanzo beans? 

Information for this article was taken from the following websites:
http://www.agmrc.org/commodities__products/vegetables/chickpea-profile/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickpea

The Farm Bill

     We hear the word "Farm Bill" in the news.  But what is it, and what does it mean?  We've heard the media say that it is "farmer welfare," and "farm supplements."  We've heard that American farmers are paid to not farm, that the government pays them for their crop.  What we don't hear is that over 2/3 of the farm bill doesn't deal with farming and conservation at all, but is for foodstamps.

     The Farm Bill should really be two different bills.  It should be the "Foodstamp Bill", and the "Farm Support and Land Conservation Bill.".  The provisions in our current Farm Bill are for wildly different purposes.

     On the pie chart at the right, you see that 69.40% of the 2008 Farm Bill provides for foodstamps.  This is the current Farm Bill which we are working under now.  The new 2013 Farm Bill is being negotiated by the Senate Agriculture Committee at this time.

     The official term for foodstamps is "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," or SNAP.  Between 2002 and 2012, the number of participants in SNAP increased from 19.1 million to 44.7 million people, and the total program cost went from 16.3 billion to 74.6 billion dollars.  (Capital Press, 5/17/2013)

    But that's not what this article is about.  We're here to talk about the other 30.6%.

     Many of the foods grown in the US can be grown in other countries.  Examples are wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, among many, many others.  These crops are called commodities, and they are traded globally, with the price set not locally or even nationally, but on the world market.

     In our country, We, the People, demand that our food be safely grown, and that our farm laborers be paid fairly and treated fairly.  This increases our American farmers' cost to produce food.  At the same time, much of the food we eat can be grown in other countries, and those countries may not have the same safety and humane standard as we have, so the cost of production there is quite a bit less.

     For this reason, in the Commodities segment of the Farm Bill, we supplement our farmers when the commodity price falls below a certain, established price.  For example, say it costs the American Farmer $4.50 to produce a bushel of wheat, and that same bushel might cost $3.00 to be grown in South America or Egypt.  What if, due to the world economy and global trading, the price of that bushel falls to $3.75?  Our farmer is losing quite a lot, and still must use the more expensive, but safe chemicals.  He must still provide his employees with Worker's Compensation insurance, pay a fair wage, and provide a safe work environment.  The Farm Bill then kicks in and compensates him for that extra cost to produce that bushel of wheat.

      The next category deals with loss of crops.  A farmer has a "base yield" on his farm.  He registers each year's yield with his local USDA agency, and a 5 year average  of his yields is kept by them.   If, due to weather, (fire, wind or hail) his crop lost or is less than that base, The Farm Bill agrees to reimburse him for that loss.  This is Crop Insurance.  It should be noted that Federal Crop Insurance is not just handed out - each year a farmer pays a premium for this insurance in order to have the option to participate in it.

     The next category is Conservation.  Our farmers and ranchers are the ones who manage almost all of the privately and much of the publicly held land in our country.  There are numerous programs to assist farmers and ranchers in improving their operations, to make them more environmentally sound. An example of this is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).  In this, the farmer agrees to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production, and plant species of plants and grasses that improve environmental health.  In exchange for this, the farmer is paid an annual rental payment for a 10-15 year period.

     Additional examples of conservation programs:
     -converting high-pressure sprinklers to low-pressure, using less water and power, and watering the crops more efficiently
    - planting trees and shrubs to form windbreaks which reduce erosion.  They also would provide habitat for birds and small animals
    - developing springs and water-ways to provide drinking water for livestock and wild animals and birds
    - protecting waterways from livestock
    - planting native grasses and plants in un-cultivated areas to provide habitat for animals

     The small category of Energy  deals with helping farmers and ranchers make their operations more energy efficient.  A few examples of the programs would be: updating irrigation systems, re-winding pumps so that they run more efficiently, upgrading equipment to be more fuel efficient, insulating shops and barns so that they use less electricity for lighting, heating and cooling.

     The category of Exports provides funding for international agriculture trade programs, and developing international access to American farm products.  One program is called Market Access Program (MAP) in which the USDA matches dollars for foreign market development.

     So now, you have a better understanding of the Farm Bill (or should I say the Foodstamp and Farm Support and Land Conservation Bill).   Also, hopefully you can better understand the media when you hear discussion about The Farm Bill.

What About Wheat

Ancient Egyptian mural - wheat harvest

Wheat is an ancient, ancient grain.  Wheat is mentioned in the Bible, Quran, Torah, Greek and Roman mythology, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Wheat kernels have been found in ancient ruins around the world, and found its way into the bricks of the pyramids in Egypt.

To the best of our knowledge, it was the first grain ever cultivated for food. This member of the grass family originated somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean or Middle East as early as 9000 BC, and possibly long before that. It spread throughout the region, and reached Europe around 5000 BC. The first identifiable wheat with gluten enough for yeasted breads emerged around 1350 BC in Greece.

Wheat was first planted here in the United States in 1777, and is now the main grain used in grain products, such as bread, crackers, and pastas. Wheat is grown in 42 states, with farmers producing about 2.4 billion bushels of wheat on 63 million acres of farmland. One acre of farmland will produce an average of 40 bushels, which is generally 60 pounds of wheat. More fun facts: one bushel contains approximately 1 million kernels of wheat, and will yield 42 pounds of white flour or 60 pounds of whole wheat flour. That's a lot of wheat!!

As you can probably guess, the Mid-West holds some of the nation's largest producers of wheat, with Kansas in the #1 spot, with North Dakota comes in second. Kansas also produces the most milled wheat in the US.  Kansas produces enough wheat each year to bake 36 billion loaves of bread and enough to feed everyone in the world, over six billion people, for about 2 weeks. An acre of Kansas wheat produces enough bread to feed nearly 9,000 people for one day. Way to go, Kansas!


Geographical location of wheat growers and varieties in the USA

There are thousands of varieties of wheat grown in the USA and around the world, ranging from old heirloom varieties to modern wheats specially grown to fight off pests and thrive in arid climates. Each variety of wheat will fall under one of six classes: hard red winter (HRW), hard red spring (HRS), soft red winter (SRW), hard white (HW), soft white (SW) and durum.

Winter wheat is sown in the fall and emerges before the frost, where it winters under the snow, and grows in the spring and summer. It is harvested before spring wheats, which are planted in the spring. Winter wheats typically have higher yields than spring wheats.

Hard Red Winter wheats have harder kernels, and are brownish in color. They have high-protein content, and are used for bread, hard baked goods and in other flours to increase protein in pastry flour. HRW accounts for almost 40% of the US wheat crop. Hard Red Spring wheats have hard, brownish, high-protein kernels used for bread and hard baked goods. Bread Flour and high-gluten flours are commonly made from HRS. Soft Red Winter wheats have softer kernels, and are lower in protein. SRW wheat is used for cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, and muffins. Cake flour, pastry flour, and some self-rising flours are made from soft red winter wheat.

Taken from the U of I College of Agriculture's website

Hard White wheats have hard, light-colored, opaque, chalky kernels, and  medium-protein content. HW wheat is planted in dry, temperate areas, and used for noodles, yeast breads, and sometimes brewing.

Soft white wheat is a soft, light-color kernel with very low protein content. SW wheat is grown in temperate moist areas,  like the Northwest.   Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho are the largest producers of SWW in the US.  SWW is used for pie crusts and pastry flour, and much of what is grown in our region is shipped to the Pacific Rim for their specialty noodles.

Finally, Durum wheat  kernels are very hard, translucent, light-colored, and used to make semolina flour for pasta and bulghur. Durum is high in protein, specifically gluten protein.

Semolina is used in making pasta, cereals, puddings, and couscous. It is the coarsely-ground, purified wheat middlings, which are the starches separated from the wheat bran and germ. Semolina can be made from other grains as well. For example, corn semolina is more commonly called grits! Bulghur is a cereal made from the groats of wheat. Groats are the hulled grains of wheat which have been cut into fine, medium, or coarse textures. Basically, groats are the kernels just cut up to make using them a little easier. Bulghur is used in many dishes, such as pilafs, mainly in the Middle East and India.

Wheat is a very versatile crop, and different varieties can be grown in wetter environments, as well as in arid climates. The biggest producer of wheat worldwide is the European Union, followed by Russia, the US, China and India. Rising demand for wheat in Asia has led to increased production and export by these countries, and the opening of new regions for wheat production, specifically the countries located around the Black Sea.




Wheat Harvest in the Palouse

Better seed storage and germination ability is a 20th century technological innovation. In Medieval England, farmers saved one-quarter of their wheat harvest as seed for the next crop, leaving only three-quarters for food and feed consumption. By 1999, the global average seed use of wheat was about 6% of output. Wheat kernels travel well, and in the right environment can remain intact for years, millenia, even! Wheat can be prepared a myriad of ways for human consumption, and is also often used as animal feed. Whole wheat's high protein and fiber contents, along with good amounts of other important vitamins and minerals, make this grain a very, very important part of the diet of people across the world.

Information for this article was taken from these sites:
http://www.wheatworld.org/
http://wheatfoods.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semolina

Mint to Be

One of my favorite times of year here in the Treasure Valley is when all the mint farmers in the area harvest their crops. Talk about a breath of fresh air!

Mint Field

Idaho is one of the top three producers of mint in the United States, with about 13,000 acres of mint still grown by 100 farmers across the state. Mint has been grown here in Idaho since the early 1960's, and continues to be a valuable agricultural product for the state. Like alfalfa, mint is a perennial plant, and can be harvested multiple times before needing to be plown into the soil and reseeded.


Peppermint is the main mint plant grown in Idaho, and is harvested in late July and early August. After being cut, it dries in the field for a few days before being chopped up and shipped off to a distillery to extract the mint oils from the plant. Steam is pumped into the distilling barrels to vaporize the oil, and the resulting water and oil mixture is then sent into a separator where the pure mint oil is separated out. The water is then recycled back to create steam for the next batch of mint.

How Sweet It (Corn) Is!

I don't know about you all, but sweet corn reminds me of summer barbeques at my parent's house, with friends, in the mountains, and on the lake.  A fresh ear of sweet corn is the perfect companion to a homemade burger and potato salad. YUM!

 

We're lucky to even have sweet corn around to enjoy! The high sugar content that makes these varieties of corn so delicious is the result of a recessive mutation in the corn's genes. Sweet corn was grown by Native American tribes before white settlers came to this continent. The Iroquois people first shared their sweet corn with settlers in 1779, after which it became a widely popular crop.

Field of Beans

Beans are kind of awesome when you think about it! Want to know why? Of course you do! Read on for more information about one of the world's most versatile, nutritious foods!

Pretty beans!

Beans, despite their bad rap for causing certain, ahem, digestive issues, are really, really good for you. Beans provide an excellent source of vegetable protein and minerals such as iron, magnesium and zinc. They are rich in folic acid, associated with the reduction of such birth defects as Spina Bifida and also protect against heart disease. Beans are also a good source of calcium, and are rich in fiber which helps to bring down cholesterol levels and regulates the digestive system. Beans, particularly black ones, are also a good source of antioxidants and may provide health benefits similar to some common fruits, including grapes, apples and cranberries (http://www.usdrybeans.com).

Alfalfa Can Be Exciting

No, not the boy from that TV show Little Rascals a looooong time ago. Alfalfa hay, the kind that Farmer John Sturtevant and millions of others, produce! I've dug up some really interesting facts about this crop that you can use to impress your guests at your next party!

Pretty flowers - and they smell good, too!

Alfalfa hay is the most cultivated forage crop in the world. It provides high amounts of protein and fiber, and can be harvested multiple times in a season, making it a very efficient crop. Additionally, alfalfa regrows each spring for years in a row, meaning that once a field is planted, it will continue to produce hay for a few years before needing re-seeding (http://www.acxpacific.com). Because if its high nutritional value, its primary use is as feed for dairy cows, followed by use as feed for beef cattle, horses, sheep, and goats.

The alfalfa is swathed and put into windrows to dry
 in the sun before baling

Humans also eat alfalfa, in the form of sprouts, or dehydrated in teas, powders and tablets. Alfalfa sprouts do contain multiple vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber (www.nlm.nih.gov).  In China, it has been used as a medicinal herb for over 1,500 years to treat disorders of the digestive system and kidneys (http://en.wikipedia.org).

It is also an ancient crop, with a chapter dedicated to it in a Roman book on agriculture, published in the 4th century AD (http://en.wikipedia.org). Alfalfa was first brought to this continent by Spanish explorers during the 16th century. It was first produced in the United States in Georgia in 1763, but did not really take off as an important crop until it was begun to be grown in the more favorable climate of California (http://www.agweb.com).

Alfalfa is a big export crop for the United States. Over 21 million acres of alfalfa are in production in the US, producing approximately 84 million tons of alfalfa. Japan is by far the largest importer of alfalfa, buying 75% of all exported US alfalfa hay. Other US alfalfa importing countries include Saudi Arabia, China, the United Arab Emirates. The majority of hay grown for export is grown right in Idaho, Washington, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah, with the most (25%) coming from the Columbia River Basin of Oregon and Washington (http://www.agweb.com)

Silage tube.  Now you know.

Alfalfa is harvested just before it begins to bud, and is cut, spread out to dry in the sun, then gathered and formed into bales, some weighing up to 1 ton! Alfalfa is also often processed into silage for feeding dairy cattle. To make silage, the fresh (not dried) alfalfa is chopped and fermented in silos or in those long, white plastic tubes you might see laying in fields. The  fermentation of alfalfa allows it to retain high nutrient levels, and is  more palatable to dairy cattle than dry hay (http://en.wikipedia.org).

Young, dumb bee

Alfalfa seed production is also a big part of alfalfa growing. No seed, no alfalfa, right? Alfalfa seed production requires the presence of pollinators when the fields of alfalfa are in bloom. Getting your seed field pollinated is kind of a problem, however, since the pollen-carrying part of the alfalfa flower trips and bops pollinating bees on the head, which helps transfer the pollen to the bee. Apparently Western honey bees, the most common kind of bee, do not like being bopped in the head repeatedly and learn to defeat this action by getting the nectar from the side of the flower.  Smart bees. Because older, smarter bees do not pollinate alfalfa well, most pollination is accomplished by getting the young, dumb bees to get bopped on the head. When Western honey bees are used to pollinate alfalfa, the beekeeper has to put a bunch of hives in the field to maximize the number of young, dumb bees (http://en.wikipedia.org). Ha!

So there you have it, folks. Alfalfa! For more information, and believe me, there is lots more, see the following links:

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/19.html
http://www.acxpacific.com/products/alfalfa.php
http://www.agweb.com/article/alfalfa_exports_surge/

Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to

 While potatoes are a staple food item for millions of people around the world, and have been for centuries, in the past decade they have been alternately vilified as bad for your health, then glorified as an important part of a balanced diet. While potatoes haven’t been causing controversy in the headlines for a while now, there is still quite a bit of confusion regarding whether or not they are good for you.

We’re going to clear that up for you: yes. Yes potatoes are good for you. And we’re not saying that just because we’re from Idaho and also grow potatoes in Washington. Potatoes pack a big nutritional punch in a tasty package.

Recipes from a Farmer's Table

Here are a couple recipes from Liz Schneider, of Schneider Farms-Pasco, using products that they grow right on their farm. Liz is an OUT of this WORLD cook, so we know these recipes are bound to be delicous! Enjoy!

Fresh Corn Salad

6 ears fresh picked corn, cooked and the kernels cut off or about five cups frozen corn thawed.

One each orange and red pepper diced fine
1 cup Diced red onion
1 1/2 cup Diced tomatoes

Mix all but tomatoes, and dress with dressing. Let marinade a couple of hours in the fridge. Just before serving add tomatoes.

Dressing

1/2 c. Olive oil
3 T sherry vinegar, or red wine vinegar
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 c. Chopped cilantro

Mix well and pour over salad.