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Stopping to enjoy area agriculture
- By Rosemary Dellinger
- Published 06/23/2009
- Commentary
- Unrated
Since moving to the Yakima Valley, I enjoy my short drive each day from Zillah to the newspaper office in Toppenish. Generally, I take the “back road” down Meyers Road to First Avenue. To me, it seems like a short cut and I avoid the freeway traffic along I-82. With the exception of the occasional bumper rider, I enjoy the drive each day.
Each morning, I can glance out my car window on the way to work and watch the crops in the fields grow.
When I first arrived, the corn in the field I passed each day was just more than a foot out of the ground. Within a few short weeks, the field of corn appears to have grown several feet.
My dad used to say, “Plant corn seed, give it a little water and lots of sunshine and you can literally watch it grow each day.” He was right.
Several times last week as I drove along with my window down, I caught the smell of fresh mint.
Now, I understand some folks may not appreciate or enjoy the smells that sometimes accompany agriculture. Besides being raised on a farm, I have lived in both the communities of Quincy and Othello. Each has more than one large food processing plant. Sometimes the smell from the plants was overwhelming to some.
When people asked me about the smell, I told them, “I smell green. I smell money,” because I had family members working at those plants. When the plant was running, it meant food for the table, money for the rent and gas for the car.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of many of our rural Eastern Washington communities – not only for the farmers, but also for the many folks and their families who depend on agriculture for their food, rent, gas and clothing.
I am not intending to have an open forum debate on the sights and smells of agriculture and how and if things should be regulated. I simply enjoy living in a rural farming community along with its sights and smells.
Although summer has just arrived, the harvest season is already underway here.
Having spent more than 20 years in the Columbia Basin, I am used to a later harvest. I am used to following trucks later in the fall carrying potatoes, onions, carrots and corn.
This past weekend, I was able to snare a bunch of fresh, locally grown Rainier cherries. Sooner than later pears will be ready, followed by peaches, apples and other fall crops.
This past week, officials from the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture and the State Commission on Pesticide Registration released a new book on commercially grown crops in the state. In 1995, the book noted 176 crops grown in the Evergreen state. By 2006, the number has increased to 296 crop and crop groupings. It is exciting to see our state’s farmers growing and expanding, especially through highly specialized seed crops and hybrids.
There are two crops grown in the Yakima area that are fairly new to me – hops and the wine grape industry.
Next week, I plan to attend the Red, White and Blues festival in Zillah to learn more about the ever popular, fast growing wine industry. In late August, I look forward to finding a hop farmer or two willing to give me a better working knowledge of hop harvest.
Until then, if you happen to be traveling behind me on the back roads or maybe even a side road or two, sorry in advance. I am just taking time to see, smell, and enjoy our area’s green and growing agriculture story. -RD
Each morning, I can glance out my car window on the way to work and watch the crops in the fields grow.
When I first arrived, the corn in the field I passed each day was just more than a foot out of the ground. Within a few short weeks, the field of corn appears to have grown several feet.
My dad used to say, “Plant corn seed, give it a little water and lots of sunshine and you can literally watch it grow each day.” He was right.
Several times last week as I drove along with my window down, I caught the smell of fresh mint.
Now, I understand some folks may not appreciate or enjoy the smells that sometimes accompany agriculture. Besides being raised on a farm, I have lived in both the communities of Quincy and Othello. Each has more than one large food processing plant. Sometimes the smell from the plants was overwhelming to some.
When people asked me about the smell, I told them, “I smell green. I smell money,” because I had family members working at those plants. When the plant was running, it meant food for the table, money for the rent and gas for the car.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of many of our rural Eastern Washington communities – not only for the farmers, but also for the many folks and their families who depend on agriculture for their food, rent, gas and clothing.
I am not intending to have an open forum debate on the sights and smells of agriculture and how and if things should be regulated. I simply enjoy living in a rural farming community along with its sights and smells.
Although summer has just arrived, the harvest season is already underway here.
Having spent more than 20 years in the Columbia Basin, I am used to a later harvest. I am used to following trucks later in the fall carrying potatoes, onions, carrots and corn.
This past weekend, I was able to snare a bunch of fresh, locally grown Rainier cherries. Sooner than later pears will be ready, followed by peaches, apples and other fall crops.
This past week, officials from the Washington State Dept. of Agriculture and the State Commission on Pesticide Registration released a new book on commercially grown crops in the state. In 1995, the book noted 176 crops grown in the Evergreen state. By 2006, the number has increased to 296 crop and crop groupings. It is exciting to see our state’s farmers growing and expanding, especially through highly specialized seed crops and hybrids.
There are two crops grown in the Yakima area that are fairly new to me – hops and the wine grape industry.
Next week, I plan to attend the Red, White and Blues festival in Zillah to learn more about the ever popular, fast growing wine industry. In late August, I look forward to finding a hop farmer or two willing to give me a better working knowledge of hop harvest.
Until then, if you happen to be traveling behind me on the back roads or maybe even a side road or two, sorry in advance. I am just taking time to see, smell, and enjoy our area’s green and growing agriculture story. -RD