As many of you know, I grew up on a farm. However, my job over the last year has taught me that there is a lot more to agriculture than one person can experience. I mean pitching hay bales in the summer heat and feeding calves taught me A LOT about work ethic and responsibility (and lifting with your legs–not back 😉 )– yet that didn’t teach me a lot about growing corn–
Trust me on this. My garden can vouch for it 😉
It has been amazing for me to find out how many men and women in Indiana apply those hard-working principles I am familiar with to everything from milking cows to processing tomatoes to raising pigs to spending hours in a combine.
Over the last year I have had the incredible opportunity to get out and meet farmers and their farms and see agribusiness up close. I have walked through barns and production facilities and each time I have walked away with a sense of pride and a warm heart to have the opportunity to be a part of a group of people who really care about what they do.
One of my first trips out was to Maple Leaf Farms. I had no idea that Indiana is the leading producer of duck in this country. Truth be told–before that day I had never even tasted duck. And, dude I was missing out!
The people there were so nice…really–I passed out in the lab learning about duck food about 30 minutes after getting there. I was MORTIFIED. They were very nice to me. Got me juice, candy and everything. (Darn sugar was low.)
Anyhoo–I remember getting in the car and coming home from our trip that day and all I could keep thinking is how cool it was to have such an awesome company in this state. They all conducted themselves with such excellence. It was inspiring.
I felt the same way after visiting Randy Curless’ hog operation. It was so interesting to learn about how our food is raised straight from the folks that do it everyday.
I felt similarly when I visited Red Gold this summer. I have always LOVED Red Gold tomatoes–wayyy before I knew they were an Indiana company. One of my highlights this year was going to Red Gold and actually eating a Red Gold tomato straight out of the field!
I could tell story after story. As Hoosiers, we really do have a lot to be proud of…
That is why I am so excited about the fact that Indiana is now a part of a national website that features farmers, their families and farms. It is SO cool that some of our fellow Hoosiers are going to be represented on that site.
I am looking forward to the rest of the world getting to see and experience what I did this summer from the barns and fields of our hard working neighbors.
You can check them out at: https://www.farmersfeedus.org/in/
But, since these folks are one of us, I wanted to take a minute and introduce them to you in case you may know some of them.
Leave a Reply