Family Farms: Feeding America One Crop at a Time

Hi, All in the Family!

Got a farm story for us...

Dear John... oops...

John Deere...

After today's counseling session in E. Islip, I went to my Tuesday Afternoon 7-Eleven for a cup and the guy (Paul) filling up across from me at the coffee bar was wearing a John Deere cap. So, I strike up a conversation with him by saying "Man, how long has that company been in business?"

He laughed and retorted, "Nothing runs like a Deere!"

I then told him that our extended family * includes one that grew up on a farm - one that's still operating.

* Kathryn: Wishin' you a belated Happy Birthday! May the 4th be with you!

Paul then tells me that that's where he's headed now...to his farm in Bethel, NY.

Yup! That Bethel (FYI - in Hebrew it means: "House of G-d")

Woodstock - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (04:22)

---penned by Joni Mitchell

--Mitchell based the song on Nash's description of what it was like to be at Woodstock and later said, "I don't know if I would have written the song if I had gone. I was the fan that couldn't go, not the performing animal. So, it afforded me a different perspective."

Crosby agreed, saying she nailed the event's vibe. "She captured the feeling and importance of the Woodstock festival better than anyone who had actually been there." (Source: MSN)

10 Best Crosby, Stills and Nash Songs to ‘Teach Your Children’ (Jan. 20, 2023) - Family Minded

--deserves a post of its own...

Paul has an excavation business and his property is right next to Max Yasgar's Farm. He goes there almost every week. All his equipment is John Deere.

I told him that when our son John was young, a neighbor had a construction business and John loved to watch him navigate the Bobcat payloader machine.

John Deere Funnies!! - Pinterest

Tractor Traffic Jammin'...

Shortenin' Bread - The Tractors (03:53)

"Shortnin' Bread" is an African-American folk song dating back at least to the 1890s. James Whitcomb Riley published it as a poem in 1900, building on older lyrics. A "collected" version of the song was published by E. C. Perrow in 1915. It is song number 4209 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Shortening bread refers to a bread made of corn meal and/or flour and lard shortening. Wikipedia

Next two images are from this fun song.

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm? - First planting...

...Or, how big boys & their toys come from little boys & their toys...

Tractors for kids muddy tractors, tractor trailer, children tractors, tractor songs - Nicki Miles (07:03)

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm? - Second planting...

Let's ask Judy...after all, she's from farm country...

How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm? - Judy Garland (01:38)

Thera Farms - Brentwood, NY

--Thera Farms (Facebook page) is located on the same Sisters of St. Joseph campus where I participate in a monthly Men2Men council gathering. Second Saturday of every month. Info's included in several of my blog posts.

"Look at that Okra!" - 2022 Thera Farms Tour - Long Island NY (05:58)

Here's a post I did when I visited the Farm for the first time in the Summer of 2022.

Watermelon T-Man THERA FARMS: FOOD & MUSIC THERApea

2017 Season Thera Farm @ Sisters of St Joseph, Brentwood, NY by Karen Burke (08:18)

--the following are stills from this video taken by Sr. Karen Burke, CSJ.

--NOTE: These amazing women were my elementary school teachers. They deserve a post of their own. In the meantime,

Please check out their website and see all the ways they are helping people and planet - including: education, spirituality, ecology & justice.

Pure Raw Brands Honey - How sweet it is!!!

Another part of my foraging adventures at Thera Farms was getting introduced to a line of honey products from Pure Raw Brands. These included:

Cacao Infused Honey
Raw honey in the comb

Check out their website. I just received my first online order. AMAZING!!!

20 Best Songs About Honey (includes links) - I picked the 1 below:

Honey Bee - Blake Shelton (03:30)

The Secret Life Of Bees Trailer [HD] (02:29)

--Eileen and I just watched this. Learned some things about bees and a lot about racism...

Is Farming DEAD?

Let It Grow (Philadelphia 7/7/89) - Grateful Dead (12:38)

Farm Aid Music Monday, Starring the Grateful Dead - Farm Aid

--article includes links to 3 videos with 5 songs

Weather Report Suite Part II: Let it Grow

Lyrics By: John Barlow

Music By: Bob Weir

Morning comes, she follows the path to the river shore Lightly sung, her song is the latch on the morning's door (note 1) See the sun sparkle in the reeds; silver beads pass into the sea She comes from a town where they call her the woodcutter's daughter She's brown as the bank where she kneels down to gather her water And she bears it away with a love that the river has taught her Let it flow, greatly flow, wide and clear Round and round, the cut of the plow in the furrowed field Seasons round, the bushels of corn and the barley meal (note 2) Broken ground, open and beckoning to the spring; black dirt live again The plowman is broad as the back of the land he is sowing As he dances the circular track of the plow ever knowing That the work of his day measures more than the planting and growing Let it grow, let it grow, greatly yield (note 3) What shall we say, shall we call it by a name As well to count the angels dancing on a pin Water bright as the sky from which it came And the name is on the earth that takes it in We will not speak but stand inside the rain And listen to the thunder shout I am, I am, I am, I am So it goes, we make what we made since the world began Nothing more, the love of the women, work of men Seasons round, creatures great and small, up and down, as we rise and fall

Source: Dead.net

The Annotated "Weather Report Suite: Part II (Let It Grow)"