Shouldn't we have parades? It's National Agriculture Day

We have parades in this town at the drop of a hat.  The small street down by the river gets blocked off at least once a month for a line of crate paper adorned floats.  But March 19th will be conspicuously quiet down along the river road.  No floats, no motorcycle groups, no marching bands.  Yet, here in town, we will all eat at least three meals that day, wear clothes and drive our cars.

March 19th is National Agriculture Day.  Not only should we recognize the day, we should have a BIG parade to celebrate those who produce the food we eat, the fiber we wear and the fuel we burn.  San Angelo is an agriculture town.  In fact, at one point in time, we were the wool and mohair capital of the world.  Just get out an old encyclopida and there we are, our one claim to fame.  Shouldn't we block off the river road for trailers full of sheep and goats?  Shouldn't we invite all the farmers to drive their tractors through the middle of downtown while we line the streets to cheer for them?

Sadly, the day may go past with most Americans failing to even know it's National Agriculture Day as they go about their lives eating three meals of safe affordable food, wearing comfortable cotton clothes and driving cars fueled in part by grain derived ethanol.

On March 19th, I plan to thank the Farmer I Kiss and all the other farmers I know for their part in making America such a great place to live.  I hope you do the same!

The Farmer I Kissed

Kissing was not an approved activity as I grew up in the office of my Dad's cotton gin.  I was especially NOT supposed to kiss a farmer!  But what girl ever listens to her Dad?  So, I Kissed A Farmer, and I liked it.  That lead me here, to San Angelo, Texas and the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, with the farmer I kissed.  We grow dryland cotton.  I never realized that most of the world doesn't know what "dryland" really means.  We use no irrigation.  The only water our cotton gets is from the sky.  And being out in West Central Texas, just miles from the largest desert in North America, you can only guess that we get very little water from the sky.

Daniel, the farmer I kissed.

So "Why do it?" is the question I keep hearing. Why fight the desert to try and grow cotton out here where it can go for months with out raining and months over 100 degrees?  When the real answer appears, you will be the first to know.  In the meantime, just know that I have learned by starting this Social Media Journey that what we do out here is extraordinary.  We actually grow the fibers for the fabric of your lives out here on 10 to 12 inches of rain during a normal growing season, about 24 inches for the average year.  That's not much.

The shirt I stole my name from...Kissed A Farmer

 
In this first ever post of Kissed A Farmer, I just want to invite everyone along as you and I watch the farmer I kissed during a year of this extraordinary thing he does called dryland cotton farming.  Mother Nature will have to be along for the ride, or it could turn out like 2011, when there was no dryland cotton grown.  That happens when our water source takes the year off due to La Nina.  That could be interesting too, but right now, the prospects look good, La Nina seems to be put back to bed and we have just had 3 inches of water from the sky.  Planting will start within a couple of weeks!  You can also join the adventure on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KissedAFarmer