Want to know what life is like on a working conventional onion farm, and the day to day musings of a real life onion farmer? That's what you will read about, plus posts for music, weird news clips, and stories about my lobbying in behalf of agricultural public policy!
Back in 2000 or so our family was befriended by local photojournalist Nihal Mahawaduge. Nihal took dozens upon dozens of photos of us and did some stories in local media outlets that featured us in a 2 or 3 year period. One of the best pieces was the one you see below, featured in the March 2001 edition of Hudson Valley Magazine. What’s neat about it is that it takes a person chronologically through the growing season, explaining what we do step by step.
A neat article with some beautiful pictures by our friend Nihal!
Since I am in the midst of my Crwod Funder Show campaign to fund an editor for my memoir … that deals with stuff like this … I had to mention it!
Please support my Crowd Funder campaign for raising funds for a professional editor for my memoir. For every dollar you contribute you get a matching dollar for dollar gift card from places like Best Buy, Sears, Home Depot and Toys R Us, amongst others.
Can you support a small family farmer who does public policy work by getting his memoir ready to be published?
I’m going to periodically post older articles and media pieces Eve and I and the family have been featured in over the years. Many of these, like this one, are not available in electronic format online.
This article, from the 11/00 issue of Successful Farming Magazine was written by veteran reporter Mike Holmberg and is entitled “Nothing to Hide.” It dealt with how we dealt with the media. It really is a great piece that has a great photo of me speaking with then (and still now) reporter with the Times Herald-Record Chris McKenna!
Enjoy!
Oh … since I am in the midst of my Crowd Funder Show campaign to fund an editor for my memoir … that deals with stuff like this … I had to mention it!
Please support my Crowd Funder campaign for raising funds for a professional editor for my memoir. For every dollar you contribute you get a matching dollar for dollar gift card from places like Best Buy, Sears, Home Depot and Toys R Us, amongst others.
Can you support a small family farmer who does public policy work by getting his memoir ready to be published?
Yesterday my fantastic friend Blaise G. posted the following picture on Facebook:
Well … this was simply too good to be true! So, I had to try it of course! An added bonus … Eve’s wonderful mom Emily is visiting us from South Carolina … so she got to observe this experiment first hand!
Here it is … a photo-essay-experiement!
Going over the recipe!
Will my feet fit? Not both … can only do one at a time!
Assembling the ingredients!
Mixing it up!
Eve says this smells!
Me: “It’s not so bad.”
Jonah begs to differ.
The concoction is mixed … time to dip the foot and begin!
Eve’s mom Emily is closely observing … Jonah does what he does best … photo-bombs!
Dr. Mom is now monitoring the soaking process! Once complete she now starts he post soaking evaluation process.
Eve’s verdict … the dead skin is not peeling off.
As the first foot gets evaluated the 2nd foot begins soaking!
Ahh … the return of Pedi-Spin to work on foot #1!
Jonah says it smells!
Chloe says it smells too!
Final verdit … it didn’t work … except make my feet a little softer for Pedi-Spin and made them smell a little funnier than normal!
I called my dad on the phone in the barn and asked him: “Do you want that free Bloomin’ Onion gift certificate still?”
Dad: “What? Yes, I still want it. That’s where your mother and I are going next. By the way, we went to Olive Garden last night and our server may stop today … nice young girl, gave her the address. She’s from Honduras or somewhere. Wants to see the farm.”
Me: “Okay, great. But you still want the certificate? You won’t waste it, will you?”
Dad: “What are you talking about? I’m not going to waste anything.”
Me: Well, come to the house and get it.”
So, my dad came to the house and I formally presented the certificate to him!
As blog readers are aware on the night the Iowa Hawkeyes were announced to be one of the teams playing in the 2014 Outback Bowl, Sunday December 8th, I began a campaign … no, a quest to get a free Bloomin’ Onion!
My reason for requesting a free Bloomin’ Onion? Well, I’m a 4th generation onion farmer that also happens to be a very proud alum of the University of Iowa (M.A. 1990).
Soon after I initiated this blog and Twitter campaign to get a free Bloomin’ Onion Outback started to follow me on Twitter and gracefully obliged my request. In fact they did one better … they said they would send me 5 additional certificates to give away on my blog!
And today, December 23, 2013 … those certificates for free Bloomin’ Onions arrived in the mail!
So, in the coming days, when I’m not in a Percocet induced stupor … I have to come up with some sort of contest to award the free Bloomin’ Onion certificates.
Now, I may only have 4 to give away versus 5. The reason? Well, as my dad was driving to me to one of my recent doctor appointments this week I told him about my free Bloomin’ Onion quest. My dad is a huge fan of Texas Roudhouse but in the car he said to me:
“Well, I was thinking of taking your mother to Outback. One of those free certificates would be nice. That’s the best kind of onion to eat … free.”
Since my dad so graciously drove me to 3 different doctor appointments I am in no position to say no. So if he does still want one, he gets it. And then I will provide his review of his Outback dining experience. Brace yourself Outback, my dad is brutal when it comes to eating and dining experiences.
Look to this blog for an upcoming contest to award the other free certificates. Also I must once again acknowledge Outback Corporation for seeing the humor in my request and so graciously granting it.
I’m just kicking myself, as I said in one of my blog entries, that I set my sights so low, for a free Bloomin’ Onion. As I stated in one of my blog posts:
Now I wonder … do you want to send a deeply in debt onion farmer, his wife and two kids to see the game with complimentary tickets, airfare and lodging? You can also feel free to support my Crowd Funding campaign:
Maybe next time Iowa plays in the Outback Bowl Outback Corporation will feel compelled to send a struggling 4th generation small family onion farmer who is an Iowa alum and his wife and two sons who are diehard Iowa Hawkeye fans on an all expense paid trip to the game to watch Iowa play in a Bowl game (an experience non of our family has ever experienced)!
Also any support by Outback of my Crowd Funding campaign to pay for an editor for my unpublished memoir about life on the farm and Capitol Hill will be extremely appreciated!
So today I went to see my Doctor, Dr. Juliano, for a post operation follow-up visit and the for the removal of my stitches.
The stitches were removed and … OUCH … that hurt!
After the stitches were removed Dr. Juliano came in and told us that things were looking pretty good. He was pleased when I told him that I was doing various exercises 3 times a day and in fact confirmed what I was doing was good for my post surgery care, despite what Eve thought. He also gave me an additional non-motion stretching exercise I should start doing in a couple of weeks, once I stop limping around basically.
I asked him for pictures of the surgery and he laughed and said he would get them to me prior to my next follow-up visit in a month. He stressed again that I need to take it easy with the knee and not engage in any of the heavier farm work that I typically do during the season for a month or longer.
Once I get those operation photos I will immediately post them!
In the meantime … I have to do this … please check out my Crowd Funder TV Show campaign which currently has 13 backers! Actually, we have been stuck at 13 backers for a few days now!
The segment will be coming shortly I will promptly post it once it is available! This campaign is not “all-or-nothing” and supporters get dollar for dollar matching gift cards from places like Best Buy, Home Depot, Starbucks and Sears. Talk about win-win … if you plan on doing any shopping at any of those locations it’s like supporting me for free! If you backed me on Kickstarter I hope you consider backing me on The Crowd Funder TV Show campaign! And I hope you can spread the word!
Please also check out my new Facebook page devoted to my memoir “Muckville: Farm Policy, Media and the Strange Oddities of Semi-Rural Life.”
And finally the website for my new farming public policy organization that will focus on specialty crops, Farmroot, is up and active. I think it is fantastic … check it out:
Bill is a fantastic writer and wrote a really nice bog article about my memoir and some of my past activities, including my $150K for a 50lb bag of onions on eBay ad:
I hope people can take a sec and read Bill’s blog entry. And then check out my new Crowd Funder Tv Show campaign. Unlike Kickstarter it is not “all or nothing” and the rewards are dollar for dollar gift certificates for places like Sears, Best Buy, Home Depot and Toys R Us. So, if you plan on doing any shopping at any of these locations you can essentially support my project for free!
If you support me you are helping a farmer that has done volunteer public policy work in behalf of his community for the past 17 years. You are doing more than just helping one person, you are helping a community and an industry!
Any and all help is very much appreciated! It means a great deal to me knowing there are so many avid supporters of farmers out there! Thank you!!!!!
Oh, Outback tweeted me a couple of days ago … the free Bloomin’ Onion gift certificates are in the mail!
Just got a Twitter message from Outback. They are putting in the mail today my free Bloomin’ Onion certificates! Look to this blog for a giveaway for the other 5 free Bloomin’ Onion certificates!
My “The Crowd Funder TV Show” campaign now has 11 backers with a total of $500! A fantastic start! Help me keep the momentum moving forward … please back if you can and spread the word! When you back me you are supporting a worthwhile campaign and for every dollar you contribute you get a matching gift card from places like Best Buy, Sears, Toys R Us or Home Depot … essentially if you are planning on shopping at any of these locations in the near future it is like supporting me at no cost to you!
Farmroot will be a codified organization that will better help me help out the farming community, especially specialty crop farmers, in terms of the promotion of good public policy initiatives!
Finally, after much angst, pain and trepidation I visited my ENT Specialist’s office this morning and learned I have some sort of fungus in my ear, quite possibly black mold, a mold I actually sometimes get on my onions!
Here are a series of pics (out of order a bit) of my wonderful wife working on my wound post surgery …. ensuring it stays dry while I take my first shower in days and making sure it stays dry post shower.
What would I do without her?
In the meantime … I have to do this … please check out my Crowd Funder TV Show campaign which currently has 10 backers!
The segment will be coming shortly I will promptly post it once it is available! This campaign is not “all-or-nothing” and supporters get dollar for dollar matching gift cards from places like Best Buy, Home Depot, Starbucks and Sears. Talk about win-win … if you plan on doing any shopping at any of those locations it’s like supporting me for free! If you backed me on Kickstarter I hope you consider backing me on The Crowd Funder TV Show campaign! And I hope you can spread the word!
Please also check out my new Facebook page devoted to my memoir “Muckville: Farm Policy, Media and the Strange Oddities of Semi-Rural Life.”
And finally the website for my new farming public policy organization that will focus on specialty crops, Farmroot, is up and active. I think it is fantastic … check it out:
Mucking it up in Muckville 