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(Baird, Texas)
We Work For Food!
[ Member listing ]
New Farmers Market!
Clyde, Texas
Clyde Inc. is starting a new Farmers Market this year under the beautiful pecan trees on North 1st Street, in downtown Clyde.
Market opening is set for Saturdays June 2, and will run thru Sept. 1st!
8:30 - 12:00
Vendors who would like to participate can contact us, we would love to talk with you!
Keep America Growing - Support Local Agriculture!
Posted by Mathew
@ 10:24 AM CST
We are getting excited down here in the Lone Star State, with the weather hovering in the low 80's we are chomping at the bit to start planting. Although we know better, we all know about our annual Easter snow stom. So untill then we are going through our seed catalogs, and prepping our fields in anticipation of spring. May God bless your families and your fields!
Posted by Mathew
@ 06:02 PM CST
Farmers Markets are slowly taking hold in most area’s of our country. This, due to the influx of Americans that are looking for a healthier lifestyle. They know that if they truly want fresh produce, this is the place to find it.
The next time you’re in the produce section at your local supermarket, take a look at the sticker located on the side of the particular piece of produce. This sticker will tell you what country this vegetable was grown in. You’ll see Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, USA, and so on. I hope most of us are buying the USA products, but I too realilize that if I want tomatoes in February, that our country can’t supply enough “Green House” tomatoes to fill that order. But, have you ever contemplated just what it takes to get that produce to your store? How far away is Venezuela? Where in the USA, was this grown? Or, even how much fuel was used to transport this product?
I have over 19 years experience in the transportation industry, and currently drive a new 2012 tractor-trailer. These trucks get, at best 8 mpg, and when you factor in the amount of miles it takes to transport this food, the amount of fuel it takes is staggering. For instance, if we pickup a load of apples in Yakima Washington, and we deliver them to Abilene Texas, this load will require driving 1770 miles, and if we average 7mpg, we will burn about 253 gallons of diesel. This is just for one truck load of produce hauled. Now the apples are sorted at the distribution center, and then sent out to the different stores. This process takes well over a week, and sometimes up to 2 weeks, before you ever see the produce on your store shelves.
There are only a few ways that they are able to do this. It’s all in slowing the ripening process. Besides lowering of the temperature, the next way is to not let the produce mature on the vine. This gives the shippers extra time to move the produce across the country without it spoiling. They also remove the oxygen from around the fruit, for long term storage. This basically stops the ripening process in its tracks. This is how we can get apples in middle of March. It’s no wonder, the produce at the Supermarkets are lacking in flavor, and the flavor comes from letting the produce ripen on the vine. Now just think, if this produce is coming from another country, what kind of processes is required ship it to your local store. The color of banana’s that come off the ship at Galveston Bay, looks nothing like what you see on the store shelf.
This is where your local farmers market comes into play. When we sell our produce at our local farmers market in Abilene, our produce is harvested the day before the sale. This means, that you will truly taste, what that vegetable is supposed to taste like. Buying “Local”, stands for exactly that, local. Our produce doesn’t have to cross state lines, or ever see the inside of a food warehouse. It travels only 15 miles to the market. The only people touching your food are,….well….. Us, your Farmers! I don’t know about you, but just that statement alone would make me want to get on the internet, and find me my own Local Farmer!
Yes, buying your food from a local farmers market may mean that your not going to find your tomatoes in February, but just think, if we would start to eat the foods that are available, while they are “In Season”, we would be helping our local communities thrive, and get back to the way, I believe, God intended us to eat, seasonally. Personally, I do enjoy having my apples available to me all season, but that’s what canning and freezing is all about. In the so called, “Old Days”, the family would get together and “can” their harvest for the winter months. Wow, families would actually spend time together, doing activities and communicating with one another! Well, that’s a topic for another time. A great place to find a “Local Farmer” is at www.LocalHarvest.org.
Since all of us have to eat, why don’t we all find ourselves a “Local Farmer” in our neighborhood, and let’s turn our Farmers Market’s into the new Supermarkets!
Mathew Valdez - Cross Roads Ranch
Support Local Agriculture - Keep America Growing
Posted by Mathew
@ 10:27 AM CST
As many of you know we lost one of our Welsh Ponies around August of 2010 to Toxic Weed Poisoning. This is a very slow and painful death that we all need to watch out for with our animals. It all started about May 2010 when we put all four horses into our back 3 acre pasture. We had previously used this pasture for our steers in the past without any problems, but what we didn't know was that horses are more susceptible to this poisoning than bovines. We let the horses graze the pasture until the first of July, when we took them off of it and rotated them back to their main pasture. All of the horses looked and acted normal, until two days later when I noticed "Talk" just standing at the water tank by himself. This was a little strange for him, because He and his brother "Fuji" were constantly playing and fussing with each other. The next day was their Ferrier appointment, and we went down to the barn to catch them up. This is when we knew something was majorly wrong. All the horses met us at the gate like normal, except for Talk. He was all the way in the back of the field by himself, and Fuji was running around and making all sorts of racket. Talk would not let us catch him, he just ran away from us. After about 30 minutes we finally caught him and brought him to the barn, or I should say dragged him to the barn. His sides were sucked up like he was colicing. We immediately put him in the trailer and drove the 2 miles to our vet. This would be the start of a learning lesson that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
From here I'll give the "Reader's Digest" version. He was given mineral oil to try and past the blockage in his gut, along with fluids by I.V. Just when we thought he was getting better, then he would take a turn. Laura and I told each other that we would keep up fighting for him as long as he was still trying. The blood work came back and showed that his liver was having problems. We were able to fight this with a prescription paste. It worked very well, and started to reverse the problem with the liver. Next he started to founder, first on one, but eventually on three feet. Our Vet drained the feet and we provided him with boots that were placed over his hooves to place proper pressure on the coffin bone. Then came the Photosensitivity. He basically became allergic to sunlight, and this made him loose all of his hair. We had to duct tape a sheet around him when he would go out of the barn. Apparently this is a common reaction to white colored horses with this poisoning. After about the 6th week his attitude was good and he was starting to grow his hair back. Laura soaked his feet and repacked them every day to help draw out the infection in his hooves. Then on week 7 you could see his attitude change. He was tired, and his body finally had enough, he went off his feed.
We hand fed him, and gave him more fluids via I.V drip for a couple more days. This was when we had to make that hard decision to put him down. We loaded him in the trailer, so he wouldn't have to walk, and took him to the top of the knoll of our pasture, where the vet was waiting for us. This is the part of owning these wonderful creatures that everyone hates. Our Vet is very respectful about this procedure. It was administered in three steps. This first step was a dose of pain medication, then when we could see him relax he gave him a shot to put him to sleep, as if his was going to perform surgery on him, and he laid down on the ground. This is when the lethal dose was completed. I only write about this part because there are people that don't know the process of putting an animal down. This is a procedure that is done with a heavy heart by everyone, including the Vet.
What we have learned from this tragedy is that everyone needs to be careful and knowledgeable about what is growing in their pastures, and just because it's "Green" doesn't mean that it is eatable. We now have a spray regime to try and kill off as may weeds as possible. So much for "Organic" pastures, for us it's just not worth it!
(Graceland's Talk About It)
Posted by Mathew
@ 06:27 PM CDT
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Posted by Mathew
@ 06:07 PM CDT
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