Lida Farm

Cookouts and boating be damned! I’m working through another Labor Day, because, well, that’s just what I do.

In this respect my life isn’t that different from other small business operators. We just keep chugging along. We need to keep chugging along to make the business work. But, being that it is Labor Day and I come from a proud Union household, I’ll lay down my usual Labor Day message.

It’s quite fashionable in America today to credit the entrepreneur. Whether an independent farm operator or main street retailer or some high-flying Silicon Valley type, we love to put founders and owners up on pedestals. The lifeblood of the American economy and the source of American innovation and prosperity…all that stuff.

While I’m a free enterprise guy through and through and respect the efforts of all my fellow business operators, let’s remind us today that businesses don’t run without workers. In the world of farming, farm work is a job that gets zero respect. Often seen as the ultimate dead-end job that ranks right up there with fast food or food manufacturing, this work is difficult and must happen regardless of the conditions. 90-degree heat? Let’s go harvest. Smoke from wildfires? We gotta get out there and pound this out. Rain? Suck it up – let’s go.

Maybe I’m sensitive to the role because I come from a line of farm workers – nobody in my lineage owned a farm until me. My grandfather Adolph worked his whole life for others, operating machinery in the field and tending potatoes in one of those cold and dark warehouses that lined the streets of East Grand Forks. I don’t think he often got a pat on the back or thanks for his effort. But the farmers he worked for? Most certainly. They were the ‘Salt of the Earth.’ Respected members of the community – the people who made the local economy go round.

So, today, let’s share the spotlight just a bit. Let it shine on those who toil in the background. The immigrant up at 4 am to pick out fruit. The warehouse worker knocking out another overnight shift. My neighbors who pick turkey eggs at all hours or process meat at Jennie-O. And on behalf of Lida Farm, let me thank Sylvie, Emily, and Molly for their hours spent in the field this summer – it’s physical and dirty work, but I hope you find the joy in the practice as much as I do.

In the box:

• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon: Farmers Choice – maybe orange, red, or yellow
• Summer Turnip: Kind of ugly white root…simply peel, slice, and eat.
• Green Beans
• Carrots
• Eggplant
• Two Carmen Peppers: Red and Sweet.
• Two Anaheim Peppers: GREEN and HOT! I hope you read this and don’t mix up the two kinds
• Yellow Bell Pepper
• Cucumber
• Lots of Slicing Tomatoes
• Red Onion