sherm363: January 7, 2015

Near Martinez Lake. First day for about a week that it got back up to 70 degrees

Susan, Joe, Katie and Jim. They are going for a hike near the Imperial Wildlife refuge. I turned around and rode home.

North gate to the US Army Proving Grounds. If you like the Harley, it's for sale :-)

Roger and Gloria spent the Holidays up in Utah. This was the welcome they had when they returned to the park

Gloria checking out a trailer that's for sale in the park LOL

Dale and Linda, Dinner at Blaisdell. Our Waitress friend Amber works here now.

Prime Rib, Green chilis, Onions, and Provolone. With seasoned fries. A good dinner

Pat had the sour dough bread bowl filled with Beef stew

The large room reminds me of a road house in Texas

Marlys had the bread bowl too

Wednesday morning, we gathered at 7:30 AM to take part in the "Field to Feast" tour. It was excellent!

A few acres owned and maintained by the University of Arizona, with the help of some of the local farmers. A sampling of almost all the produce that's grown in Yuma and Bard, California

Susan and Joe. We had to wear the same protective clothes that the field workers are required to wear. Not to protect us, but they don't want ANY stray hair or skin on the vegetables.

We picked a variety of things for a future lunch to be prepared by the Arizona Western College Culinary department. The items used for our lunch today, was picked from here last Monday (this is Wednesday)

From November through March, Yuma and Imperial Counties provide 95% of the WORLDS green leafy produce.

We learned a lot, and had a lot of fun today. Not sure they should have trusted Zmean1 with that knife! But, it turned out all right.

Sherm getting ready to whack a very large head of Napa Cabbage.

Pat doing some harvesting. Each couple could pick 4 different kinds of vegetables to take home. We took several beets, and a nice head of cauliflower. And, 2 heads of cabbage to give to Kenny and Thelma for sauerkraut.

We did eat some fresh carrots. They are very sweet and tender

The crops are rotated. As soon as the fields are harvested, within a day or two, the ground is prepared, and a different kind of crop is planted. Everything is planned in advance, depending on the buyers want, and what harvesting equipment will be available. As little is left to chance as possible.

Peggy Alameda (I think) is a retired teacher and she and her husband, Steve, have farmed in Yuma and Bard for the last 28 years. Their sons are 4th generation farmers. We learned so much interesting facts today, we may have to take another tour in order to remember is all. Good information to pass on to visitors that may be interested in the agriculture business.

Nice bus! We thought about Stonewall. He should leave Canada and get a job down here driving one of these babies!

A lady filming for 2 local TV channels accompanied us for most of the day. It was on the news tonight, but we forgot and missed it.

Our "on board" hostess from the Yuma Visitor Center, who organizes these tours. There are many other interesting tours going on during the Winter here.

Gloves, beard and hair covers. We all had to put them on.

The fields are laser leveled. And, the rows are guided by GPS. The tractors are mostly on auto-pilot

George, our driver, did and excellent job of getting this big rig around on some of the very narrow roads we visited.

These two heads of cabbage weight 10 pounds of our bathroom scale.

A very "high tech" break trailer for the workers. They have breaks morning and afternoon, as well as lunch. Heated, cooled, and places to warm up lunches.

When the produce is harvested with this machine, it's washed, trimmed, boxed and ready to load on a truck.

This is a band saw, used for harvesting spinach and other small leave veggies.

A mature Date orchard, in with the produce fields. Yuma produces more Majoule Dates than any other place in the World. They export 98% of the crop. A lot goes to the Middle East.

These 6 trees were the first ones to come to this area. In the early 1940's because of some kind of tree disease, some trees were imported up near the Las Vegas area, from Morocco. Shortly after that, some were moved down near Indio, CA. In about 1946, these 6 trees were planted here in the Bard valley. ALL the trees in the Bard and Yuma area from off shoots of these 6 trees. They are still producing.

Lettuce harvest starts in very early November, and finishes up in late March.

Farmer can't get Caucasians to work in the fields. They have to rely on Mexicans. They pay $12 to $15 an hour. They provide some health care benefits too. Many of them live in Mexico, others have work permits and live here.

The people in the fields are hard workers, but seem to always be happy. This is difficult work, not what you would call unskilled labor for the most part.

Some of the crops are only harvested once,depends on what it is. Some require 2 or 3 cuttings.

The machines move relatively quick, they have to get the produce harvested as soon as it's at it's peak

It's fun watching them.

Most of the machines are similar, but they have to be crop specific, and some are a little different than others.

At Arizona Western College. Waiting for lunch.

Nice table settings, and the food was served Buffet style.

Peggy stopped at a grocery store so she could answer a question about Leeks. The ones in the field are still about the size of green onions, so she wanted explain what they look like when mature. A nice touch! I doubt if her family buys much produce in the local grocery stores. :-)

Salads, and a rice, and bacon, and vegetable dish, wonderfully thick and tasty soup, and perfect bread. No one left hungry.

Steve Alameda. Not normally a public speaker, he did a perfect job of narrating the tour. He was asked a lot of questions, and always had the correct answer. He's been farming approximately 3000 acres for 28 years.

She's still taking pictures

OK. Why?

Cool shirt. One was given away at the end of the tour. A name was drawn for the door prize. Of course, you can buy them at the visitor center.

Peggy, the farmers wife, asked Joe and Susan why they came to Arizona instead of staying in Florida or the Winter. I didn't hear their answer, but I can think of a lot of reasons, LOL