TT: Family Farming on 30,000 Acres

To continue on from yesterday's post, the first stop on the Know a California Farmer Farm Fresh Tour began at a family farm that produces lettuce as its main crop.

Tanimura and Antle Farm in the town of Spreckles, close to Salinas, farms produce on 30,000 acres in California and in Arizona.  This family farm provides 20% of the nation's lettuce supply.  Some of their products include artisan lettuce and artisan red onions, iceberg, beets, bok choy, celery, and broccoli just to name a few.

The Tanimura family, as first generation Japanese-Americans, built a successful iceberg lettuce business in the 1920's.  During WWII, they lost everything and spent three years in Japanese internment camps.  In 1947 the Tanimuras began farming again.

Lester Antle began as a lettuce packer in 1930.  Lester and his son, Bud, opened their own lettuce operation in 1942.  The two families worked side by side and in 1982 formed Tanimura and Antle.

I had never visited a family farm of this size before but have driven by many going through California's Central Valley and was very excited about getting an up close look at the hands-on farming I witnessed at Tanimura and Antle.  I found the farm's employee statistics and benefits interesting as well.  Here are some of them:

• They employ 2,500 people, 133 of them are proud members of what they celebrate as their "20 Plus Years Club". Employees for 20 years or longer.
• Employees are given full benefits
• Vision and life insurance
• 401 {k} with  match and profit sharing
• Free bus transportation
• Free on sight day care for children up to five years old
• pay can range up to $16.00 per hour

Even with all the benefits at Tanimura and Antle and the high unemployment rate in California, Americans don't seem to want these jobs. Brian Antle told us that after publicizing a hiring of 450 field jobs, not one American applied.

This is Tanimura and Antle's artisan lettuce, planted in rows with five varieties.  Harvested at the same time, it is packed in boxes or clam shells right in the field and sent off to restaurants and stores.  From farm to truck within hours of harvesting.

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Taking Online Relationships Offline

One of the bonuses of blogging online are the relationships that are created.  When I first began my blog, I came across other blogs that interested me which I then began reading on a regular basis....not realizing at the time that some of these people would become my friends.

Monday I attended a workshop for Know a California Farmer being held in Yuba City.  Katie Pinke, who works for Ad Farm and helps to put on these workshops, is someone I consider a good friend.  She and I have been following each other's blogs for about a year.

It's a funny thing, these online relationships.  Katie knows all about my family and our life.  She knows that Bryce attends a one room school house and that Paige is more of animal person between she and Bryce.

I also know many things about Katie and her family.  I know she lives 100 miles away from a Walmart and 67 miles away from a Starbucks.....can you even imagine living that far away from a Starbucks?!! And I know that she lives in North Dakota on the prairie with her family.  

Katie and I met in person for the first time this past weekend.  What I didn't know about Katie is that she's 6 feet tall.......in flats.

It was great making this 'in person' connection with Katie and am looking forward to hanging out with Katie at the next event.......which happens to be next week!

Here are a couple of shots of the workshop......

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Who's Your Farmer?

Do you know your farmer? Do you know your dairy farmer? Farmers feed our nation and the world but every farmer is local to somewhere. It’s important to know where your food comes from and how it gets from the farm to your dinner table.

Why is it important you might ask? It’s important to know how your food is being produced. To know that the American farmer produces the safest food in the world.

This is one of the reasons I feel so passionate about this little blog that I write. I want you to know that we, as dairy farmers {Dominic is a 4th generation Dairyman}, care. We care for our cows. We respect our cows. Farming is in our blood. We respect and sustain the land that we farm on. For our family. For you. For the future generations that will hopefully be able to continue this important legacy of farming.

Dominic moving a newborn calf to the calf barn "nursery".

If it weren’t for farming, my dad may not have decided to come to America from the tiny Azores island of Sao Jorge where he was born and raised. He came to this country 54 years ago and after a short two month stint at a sheep farm, he found work as a Milker at the Peters Dairy in Sebastopol , CA. A farmer gave him his first American job. I know he was grateful back then and I am grateful because come to think of it, I could have grown up into a little Portuguese mama living on that tiny island 900 miles away from the mainland instead of the California girl I am. Phew! {not that there’s anything wrong with being a little Portuguese mama}

Farming is important. For the farmer, for the farm worker, for the world. We love what we do and we love that we help feed the world.

If you're from California {or even if you're not}, you might want to check out this website "Know A California Farmer".  This is a new interactive website that launched September 1st which contains blogs, pictures, and videos posted by farmers and ranchers about themselves and what they do - from wine growers to dairy farmers.  My friend, Katie, from North Dakota had a hand in putting it together and I think it will be a great asset to CA residents.

Happy Tuesday!

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