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The Week Ending August 27

Baby Boomers in Hot & Cold Wars 

  Baby Boom generation  
Day-to-day life in rural America during the decades of the 50s and 60s was, on the one hand, quiet and pastoral. Yet, under the surface, the baby boomers who grew up during this time experienced a gnawing fear and knowledge that – on any one of those days and with little warning – their bucolic life could end.

This was a period with that had hot wars at the beginning and the end with a cold war in the middle. The Korean War started in 1950. The Vietnam War reached a climax at the end of the 60s. And the Cold War struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union threatened to erupt into nuclear war in the years in between. Even the most isolated rural communities knew they were targets of ICBMs, inter-continental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads.

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Life on the farm during the early '50's
 

 
by Jo Gray


While we were probably lucky to live on a farm during the early '50's, my four brothers and I did not always see it that way. Our life on the Texas farm was divided roughly into three main activities - school, chores and self-motivated entertainment.

Chores probably took up more hours than anything else - except sleep. And it wasn't too far behind that.

When our dad wasn't away from home working on some construction project, the only income we had was from cash crops. That is largely what chores were about. It was important to produce not only enough food stuffs for ourselves but also enough to sell in order to buy other necessary items.

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Farming Belle Valley 1950's

 

This video shows it's authors Great Granparents Farm in the 1950's and he says:

" This is from my Great Grandpa and Grandpa's farm Located in Belle Valley, Millcreek Township PA. This was taken in the early / mid 50's. 

The farm, house and barn, was located at the corner of Gore Rd and Wattsburg Road where the current Schmidt Funeral Home is located.

The farm included the land where the Cider Mill Hi Rise is and the Belle Valley School along Henderson Rd. 

The farming ops show harvesting, planting and other stuffs.

I can identify a Case, Massey Harris, Ford 8N, Oliver HG Crawler, and Threashing machine. 

In the video is my Great Grandpa Pete, Grandpa George, Uncle George (crew cut kid,) Aunt Shirley in her dress farming, my mom Nancy (In the car about 2) my grandma Betty Lou and sevearl members of the Strohmeyer Family "

 

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Strictly Farming 1959

This Youtuber's grandmother shot and edited this film starting in 1959. She wrote on the film can, "Strictly Farming - starting in 1959." The film shows the family farm and the work being done in the fields and all around. I think she did a pretty amazing job. Hope you enjoy it too! -Mike Dust

Enjoy:

 

Rural revival: The next farm bill can reshape the heartland economy

Not long ago, towns all over rural America had vibrant economies based on farming and agriculture. There were independent grain mills and local dealers for seeds, fertilizers and other inputs, as well as a slaughter facility to process farmers' livestock. The income from agriculture sources then circulated throughout thecommunity, providing steady jobs and stable income for a large portion of the town's population. But things have changed. Now many rural downtowns lay silent, withempty buildings where locally owned business once were.

The rise of industrial agriculture has lead to the death oflocal agriculture and food production systems and the ruraleconomies that revolved around them. The changes in ruralcommunities are getting harder to ignore. The average ageof American farmer operators, now at 57 years old, hasbeen steadily increasing over the last 30 years, as feweryounger people are getting into farming. Farmers cannot

make a living anymore selling their farm products, andmore than half of all farms in the United States depend onnonfarm income to cover farm expenses.

The change from regional to national food networks wasn't simply the result of better logistical systems or the growth of interstate highways. The rise of agribusiness consolidation and corporate mergers led to the loss of vital local infrastructure. When networks of small-scale, independent livestock auctions, grain mills, slaughterhouses and food processing plants disappeared, they often took the economic fortunes of rural communities with them.

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Rural Revival: Farmers Markets Offer a Bright Future in Farming

Farmers Market Coalition Celebrates Farmers and Farmland During National Farmers Market Week

Despite otherwise disappointing financial news this summer, entrepreneurship is thriving in unexpected places.  With little fanfare, the nation’s several thousand farmers markets are growing jobs and strengthening rural communities.

This week, United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack proclaimed August 7-13, 2011 as National Farmers Market Week.  In one year, the number of farmers markets has grown 17%, from 6,132 markets in 2010 to 7,175 in 2011.  As more families seek relationships with the farmers that grow their food, farmers markets are helping preserve rural America and giving the next generation of farmers hope for a future in agriculture.

The growth in farmers markets is occurring alongside another positive trend: growth in the number of small farms.  Despite consolidation in the agricultural industry and many other sectors, the number of small farms in America actually increased by 18,467 between 2002 and 2007.  The United States Census of Agriculture also found that operators of farms with annual sales between $100,000 and $249,999 are younger than average and are more likely to be full time farmers.  According to a survey conducted by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, 25% of farmers market producers rely on farmers markets as their sole source of farm income

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Changes in U.S. Agriculture; From the 1950's to the 1990's

Note: To view document in WordPerfect 8, for printing or other purposes, use this link: agric50-90.wpd

We are often asked to describe how U.S. agriculture has changed over the years -- specifically, how does American agriculture compare today with the industry during the 1950's? Most of us have a general idea of how it has changed. But there is no one publication with data to describe this change. In response to your requests, we have searched through several publications and are offering a summary of available data for your use.

Often some type data is available for less than all years in the decade. Consequently, some data describes, in general, what took place during the decades in question. Other data, while specific to one year, can be used for the same purpose. 

Very interesting numbers to see and chart to view.

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The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl

The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life: How to Sew a Sampler Quilt & 49 Other Pioneer Projects for the Modern Girl
By Jennifer Worick

Frontier fun meets a home-spun touch in this heart-warming mixture of pioneer projects and wistful nostalgia. Jennifer Worick teaches readers how to sew a quilt, master the art of bread-and-butter pickles, speak old-time slang, and much much more. This is for the legions of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans who have dreamed of what a pioneer life out on the prairie would be like. Combining step-by-step how-to on crafts, with tongue-in-cheek instructions on prairie slang, winning a spelling bee, and singing a lullaby, The Prairie Girl's Guide to Life allows fans to finally act out their childhood dreams or to simply enjoy the vicarious thrill of reading about it one more time. This is a book that will pull at the heart strings of every childhood Laura and also teach us a few prairie-time crafts along the way.

This book is around $10 and can be PURCHASED HERE-->

 


 

  
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