I feel blessed to work among the good folks of agriculture everyday. Tomorrow is the holiday I find most closely related to land ownership in America and being raised in Iowa, one of the nations most heavily farmed states its easy to take some of this for granted if a guy doesn’t stop to think about it. I’ve met and worked with some of the biggest producers to the smallest operations, family farms to corporate farms. Tomorrow as the sun rises on a day of rest and thanks for the plenty we have in America I’ll be conscious of two different people. The first are those that produce America’s food, and those that are not getting enough of it. If you have read my stuff very long you know I’ve tried to spotlight and help as many hunger programs as I can. Locally where I live the Food Bank For The Heartland has been tasked with responding to an ever increasing need for additional revenue and food to feed hungry children. I wanted to mention them quick while I was writing in hopes that maybe just one person might visit their site and in gesture of their thankfulness for their own blessings be inclined to make a donation.
I can’t even begin to recount all of the blessings in my life in a blog post. I’ve spent time thinking about it today and as Nicole and I drove home from Omaha today we talked about the meaning of Thanksgiving. We even looked it up on Wikipedia to be sure we fully understood the history of the Thanksgiving Holiday. Food has always been something that was important to us not just to sustain life but Nicole and I have always been gardeners as well and enjoy the ability to produce some of our own food. Since having children food is always a front and center issue for us, obviously we want our children to eat healthy food, we are tasked with the responsibility to putting their lives on the right course, teaching them healthy habits and helping them understand how food not only affects their health but even their daily lives. We hope that when we’ve raised our children they’ll have the same respect for food and food producers we do.
Tomorrow take a moment to think of those that produce your food. Think of the cattleman than can rarely
get away from the farm because of the constant care and watch his herd needs, think of those folks that wake up every morning well before the sun tells them to to head out into whatever weather conditions Mother Nature offers. While it may not be appetizing consider the sweat, literally the sweat and hard work that went into untwisting rusty bolts, throwing bales, scooping manure, building fences and the risk of being a farmer. Most people go to a job with a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the week. Farmers and Ranchers often only get paid a few times to even once a year and to get that paycheck they either had to borrow from the bank or put up their own cash to pay for the crop they are growing. There is considerable risk and reward in agriculture, when a crop fails the money you put into it is gone, the money you borrowed has to be paid back. There are thousands that face that risk to grow the worlds food supply every year and we think its a noble profession. Agriculture isn’t the safest occupation either, many have given their lives in support of the worlds food supply, every year producers face many risks and some of them give their lives for it.
Take a moment tomorrow to question the items on your table, I bet most people, at least where I come from have a producer or two around the table. If you do ask questions about where the food comes from, its actually very interesting conversation and its great information for the children that may be able to tune into the conversation. From the centerpiece turkey to the spuds and sweet corn, cranberry sauce and ham, the milk, green beans, fruit salad everything is the result of some agricultural operation big or small somewhere if you didn’t grow it all right at home. I can’t see any better day to learn something about your food than on Thanksgiving.
Finally let me touch on it one last time. Please include the hungry in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow, please mention them as you say Grace with your family and if you can do something beyond that please do.
Happy Thanksgiving from us here at DreamDirt, if only the Hawkeye V. Husker game was tomorrow it would be perfect, but I still look forward to seeing my Green Bay Packers show the Lions who is boss! Safe travels to all!