Agriculture+Community+New Friends+Great Times Is Harvest Tour 2011.

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I had the immense pleasure of taking part in the inaugural Harvest Tour over the weekend. The short of it is, fabulous!

Now the longer version…

The event took place in the town of Hampton, IA. When you think of a bucolic town, Hampton certainly epitomizes this. It is the county seat for Franklin county with 4,461 city residents. The downtown area was amazing with small shops along each side of the town square. And, oh the agriculture: it was indeed everywhere. What a sense of community!

Here is a list of the scheduled activities:

• Maynes Grove and Star Gazing
• I missed this event on Friday night . It just so happens that the Iowa Testing for my son was last week so he had to to attend school that day. We did get to view the beautiful autumn night as we were driving and it was magnificent!
• Shopping Downtown
• What a marvelous town square in Hampton. It was full of interesting stores. My family and I had just the best time visiting these stores. My daughter Kate purchased a new backpack while my son and his friend picked up some neat 3-D puzzles and figures. The shop owners were just the epitome of what you can expect from a small town. The shop owner at Cornerstone Cottage loaned me her Flip camera since I left mine back at the Bed and Breakfast. She didn’t know me, but knew Deb so “any friend of Deb’s was a friend of hers.” Now that is just awesome!

• Fashion Show (Car Show too!)
• This was a neat little event put on Orange Possum. Afterwards we all took photos with the local media. I managed to sneak out a bit early to check out the car show. And the memories of my childhood came flooding back with all the older automobiles. I spent the greater part of my teenage years restoring and building older vehicles.
• Combine Rides
• One of the local farmers hosted the group with lunch in the field (fried chicken, yum!). This family farm operation then answered questions from the group with topics that ranged from proper tiling to conservation efforts. As usual, the local farmer was a wealth of information!

My Son Alex Getting Ready To Harvest!

• Tour of Latham High-Tec Seeds
• John and Shannon Latham, along with their son, hosted our group and talked about the neat things they were doing and then showed the group around their facility. I really enjoyed meeting both Shannon and John. Their operation is impressive and very much rooted in community. My hats off to the Latham group on their success and support of the Hampton community!

• Sukup Demonstration
• Sukup provides grain handling, storage, and drying equipment. They have a product that allows for effective drying of grain ensuring even test weight and higher quality of grain.

Photo Courtesy of @UncommonQuest

• 1917 Movies – “A Night Like It Used To Be.”
• This was a really fun event where folks dressed up in the clothing of 1917. There was a plethora of hors d'œuvres and local win
• Brunch with Bloggers and Family
• This event was a perfect time for the bloggers and their families to sit down at brunch and talk about agriculture, community, and, of course social media! Naturally discussions about social media were a constant among the group.
• Fall Festival
• I missed this event . My children were ready to go back home so we had to head back to Illinois. But everyone should stop by and visit Harriman-Nielsen Farm

My family and I had a wonderful weekend in Iowa. My thanks to Deb Brown for all her efforts, organization, and thoughtful planning. I think the event was a smashing success.

Bloggers To Connect With:

Claire Celsi: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
Jon Swanson: Twitter, Blog
Sara Broers: Blog,
Heather Lilienthal: Twitter, Blog
Jocelyn Wallace: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
Laura Gaulke: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+
Deb Brown: Twitter, Blog, Facebook, G+

I will be posting more photos and videos from the weekend on Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, G+, Tumblr, and Twitter. So, whatever platform you use, I’ll be there!

You will notice the title of this post mentioned agriculture, community, and new friends. Please check back soon as I will be posting about each of these topics in separate posts.

Thanks again for reading.

Regards,
NJT

The Unsung Heroes

This is a guest post from a friend of mine who has an interest in agriculture. Here is my preamble, followed by Woody’s guest post.

It is sometimes difficult to find information on just how much the American agriculturalists provide not only our nation, but others as well.  Our farmers, ranchers, and dairy men and women provide a vital service to the world. After all, agriculture, in the broadest sense, is the backbone of thriving societies.

The development of agriculture in 8000 BC changed the hunter-gatherer approach and resulted in more food for more people. And this resulted in the building of thriving societies and ultimately, cities. Thus, sophisticated social systems had there start. It is in agriculture that we began to build where we are today.

One last comment about this guest post: I am humbled by the remarks and thank Woody very much for his kind words. So, without further adieu, here is Woody’s post.

“It’s clear that those involved with agriculture are a passionate bunch. Followers of Nate’s postings can see how much he enjoys his occupation. However, the everyday conveniences provided by agribusiness and people like Nate are often times overlooked.

I’ve found that getting your hands dirty and starting some small scale farming helps me appreciate agriculture and agribusiness. My apartment in Santa Barbara is now hosting a small garden with tomatoes and avocados alike!

Unfortunately, tending a small garden may not translate to all people. In this case, using references or guides can offer insight to the practices and sheer size of domestic agriculture. This specific reference from FindTheBest is actually pretty interesting. You can compare different commodities and filter results based on several variables (state, county, practice, yield, etc)

Agribusiness oils the wheels of commerce in America and offers a crucial service present in daily life. I intend this post to be a well deserved ‘thank you’ to Nate and all those involved with agriculture, and shed light on a service and product that should not be forgotten in our everyday routines.”

Thanks again to Woody for the post and his support of American Agriculture. You can find him on Twitter @Find_The_Best and on Facebook FindTheBest.com