Me, Ray & the Bees ( An Agricultural Field Trip)

My fellow farm loving friends, meet Ray.

Well, actually, meet Ray when he was muuuuuch younger. Say, like 20 years ago. I failed to get a picture of Ray's face upon my visit with him, so this will have to do. It's quite an intriguing photo though, isn't it? You probably have a couple of questions running through your head about this photo of a photo.

First off--Yes, those are bees. Real bees. And no, Ray did not get stung. How is that possible? The reason is the technique. It's all about the mechanics of the beehive. To learn Ray's secret, keep reading.

Ray has been beekeeping for 30 years. He used to have over 30 hives, but at present has about six. A retired shop teacher, he built all of his hives by hand. He doesn't wear any special clothing to work with his bees.  He just carries his smoker with him. He told me that he thinks it helps calm them down. I asked him if he gets stung and he said that he usually doesn't. I, however, got stung right below my lower lip. I'm can't lie, it was a bit painful and I had a bit of a fat lip for a couple of days. I have no picture of my fat lip.

You probably already know this, but bees are pollinators. They carry the pollen of a male flower to a female flower so that a plant will produce fruit. This science is something you most likely learned in elementary school, but have you ever thought about how pertinent the work of the bee is to producing the food we eat? Bees play a huge roll in our food production. In fact, they play an essential roll. Without them, we would be fruitless (or vegetable-less)!

I asked Ray if he works with farmers. He said that he used to, but that it was a lot of work for very little pay. For $75 he had to move the hive at night into the farmer's field. They do it at night because it makes the bees less angry. Moving those hives is no easy feat. They are very heavy. In addition to moving the hives, the apiarist (that's the fancy name for a beekeeper) has to go and check on the hive 3-4 times during the growing season. Sounds like a lot of work for not a lot of dough. We should be thankful that someone loves bees enough to do it because like I mentioned above, those bees are a key element to harvesting crops.

The hive we are going to be checking on

On my visit to Ray's place, I was able to see a couple of hives before Ray closed them up for the season. I feel that I was pretty lucky because the day I visited, Ray was combining a hive that was not surviving with thriving hive. He had been carefully watching this hive after removing it from someone's house and had hoped that the bees would make a queen, but upon a final check the bees had no queen and yellow jackets were infiltrating and stealing honey. Without a queen the worker bees are lost souls and would not survive the winter.

Parts of the hive Ray was trying to save

Honey bees are amazing creatures. A hive is a busy community where every bee has a job to do and does that job in order to keep the hive alive. First off there is the queen bee. She is the queen because without her the hive cannot exist. Her job is to mate with a drone (male) bee to be fertilized and then to make babies. That's all. Her whole life, day in and day out the queen eats royal jelly and lays thousands upon thousands of eggs. These eggs are called brood. She has worker bees who feed her
this royal jelly so she can have the energy to create thousands of eggs. She has to lay so many eggs because it takes thousands of bees to keep a hive running and worker bees only have a lifespan of around two weeks. After two weeks of flying back and forth, thousands of miles, to collect nectar and pollen, the bees' wings actually become so tattered that they can no longer fly and they then die. So these bees work their wings off in order to make honey that they will never eat in order to sustain the future of the colony.

These self-sacrificing worker bees are all female. The only male bees in the colony are the drones and their only purpose it to fertilize the queen. There are only a few of them in a colony and when they aren't being used as a mate, they just sit around and eat. At the end of the harvesting season the drones are actually kicked out of the hive to die because they are really just a drain on the hives resources.

Honeybee brood in the hive among worker bees

I've seen plenty of bees in my lifetime, but before now, I had never taken the time to distinguish between a honeybee and any other type of bee. I have seen bees in my garden collecting pollen and nectar, but had never noticed or even wondered how these bees carry all their crop back to the hive. Honeybees store the nectar they collect in their stomachs. When they get back to the hive they pass it from bee to bee until the water content diminishes and it is the thick honey we find in the honeycomb. As for the pollen. Bees have these little buckets on their legs that they fill with pollen. Can you see it in the photo below? Notice fat yellow leg on that bee. That is the pollen!

Bee with pollen on its legs

I did a lot of research on bees before I visited Ray. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about so that I didn't appear to be an idiot. My father-in-law and one of my brother-in-laws started keeping bees a couple of years ago. We don't see them much, so I never have really had an occasion to visit their hives during their working season. I have, however, heard the tales of lost hives. When a colony abandons their present home to find another it is called swarming. Swarming usually happens when a colony feels threatens or loses a queen, but its been happening a lot more than usual recently. Scientists don't actually know why.

There are other issues that plague bees as well. One of the most challenging issues are mites. Microscopic bugs that feed off of the bees eventually causing the colony to collapse. Ray told me that they have mitocides that help protect the hives from mites, but they are tricky to work with and have to be rotated every few years so that the mites don't adapt to the poison.

These issues matter because of the roll bees play in our agricultural system. Not only do bees pollinate our plants, but everything they produce is useful to humans.

I did some further field-tripping at the Savannah Bee Companies' website. When I lived in Charleston, SC my husband and I took a trip down to Savannah and stumbled across their store there. I didn't know much about honey or beekeeping at the time, so it was my first experience with really good honey. But at Savannah Bee Company, its not just about the honey. Bees produce wax, royal jelly, and propolis (used by bees to seal honeycomb). Savannah Bee Co. makes products from all of these things because they have effective medicinal properties.

The owner and founder of Savannah Bee Co., Ted Dennard, has taken his love for bees and not only been successful at building a business, but also has a program to educate others about bees, as well as promote the well-being of bees. Over 1000 hives have been donated so far.

Now like I promised, Ray's secret? Like I said, "It's all about the mechanics of the beehive." Worker bees love their queen. If the queen is taken away, worker bees panic. They hustle to produce another queen, but that takes awhile, so if the queen is removed for about 24 hours, and then reintroduced to the colony, the worker bees are so thrilled to have their queen back that they are docile. In the picture, the queen bee is on Ray's throat. She had been taken away from her colony and it was at that moment she was reunited with them. Those bees were so happy, they could care less about stinging someone.

So there you have it, a little bit more about bees and their importance to you as a food consumer and agriculture lover.

 Works Cited

 Markley, Ray. Personal interview. 23 Oct. 2015.

"Savannah Bee Company." Savannah Bee Company. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. 

"Bee Display." Insectropolis Museaum. Personal Visit. Cape May, NJ. July 2015. 

All photographs were taken by Beth Bernards except the photo of Ray. 

Farm art & visual rhetoric

Xavier Viramontes, Boycott Grapes, Support the United Farm Workers Union, 1973, offset lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tomás Ybarra-Frausto © 1973, Xavier Viramontes

The history of the farmworker is rife with strike after strike endured to secure better wages and working conditions for himself and fellow laborer. A significant percentage of these labors have and continue to be Mexican. Xavier Viramontes visually portrays the call to war fought by Mexican farmworkers for fair wages in his poster for the United Farm Workers Union entitled, Boycott Grapes. The main image of an indigenous Central American wearing, what looks like, native war costume in muted primary colors, is staring straight into the eyes of the viewer. His brown brow is furrowed and face serious. His golden headdress fans out like a Native American image of the sun. In his clenched fist, decorated with native bracelets, are grapes being squeezed until the juice flows through his fingers and down through the words, "Boycott Grapes," written in large, yellow block letters. On either side of the word "grapes," is a simple block image in black of an eagle within a white circle.  Across the bottom of the poster the words "support the United Farmworkers Union" are in capital letters. 

The most striking part of this poster is the native Mexican with his penetrating eyes and seriously pursed lips. His image stirs feelings of national unity within the Mexican farming community, tying them together by their common bond of nationality. The shining headdress implies that it is the time of the Mexican people to shine forth. The grapes held within his clenched fists, are crushed to the point of oozing juice through his fingers, making it look like blood is flowing down. This grape "blood," flowing through his fingers and down through the word "boycott" suggest a call to war between the Mexicans and the farmers they work for because to boycott the grape harvest would mean waging a war for the Mexican farmworkers rights. The small black eagles being symbols of Mexico, are a simple nod to national pride. 

This poster, meant to draw Mexican farmworkers into the United Farmworker's Union's cause, does a striking job at portraying the anger and frustration felt within the Mexican community at the unfair wages and working conditions forced upon them. 

Esperanza Rising: still the story of the Hispanic farm hand

Novel: Esperanza Rising

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

Published: Scholastic, 2000

Esperanza lives a fairytale-like life in Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Her father, a wealthy landowner, spoils his thirteen-year old daughter until great tragedy falls upon the family when bandits kill him.  Circumstances surrounding his death force Esperanza and her mother to flee from their home to seek refuge in the United States.  They escape during the night with the assistance of their head farm hand and his family.  It is in the Unites States, working as a migrant laborer on a California farm during the Great Depression, that Esperanza begins to clearly see and understand the injustice and oppression forced upon farm workers both in the United States and in Mexico.  Esperanza’s experience takes the reader on a journey through the harsh conditions migrant farm workers face.  She helps one to understand what life was like and how little life has changed for many farm laborers.

Photo courtesy kingsacademy.com

The first thing Esperanza notes about her new life is the poor living conditions farm hands endured.  Not only did farm workers labor in extreme weather conditions, but often times they did not have a place to escape weather when not working.  Esperanza is disgusted that their living conditions are comparable to that of animals. Their provided homes were often times nothing more than thin walls and a door; sometimes even just a tent with a dirt floor.  Many of the basic activities of daily living, such as laundry and cooking, was a communal effort.  Today, farm laborers still endure extreme weather and though farms do not directly provide housing for laborers, there are labor camps that offer seasonal housing.  These labor camps are an improvement from the Great Depression era yet they are hardly what most American’s would deem livable.1

Being raised in an affluent family, Esperanza was accustomed to a very comfortable lifestyle and never exposed to hard physical labor.  Life as a migrant farm worker was difficult and dangerous.  A short while after beginning work, Esperanza’s mother contracted Valley Fever and almost died.  Valley Fever is still a viable threat to today’s migrant farm laborers.  In fact, 22,401 new cases were reported in 2011.2  Migrant farm workers also have a higher mortality and morbidity rate than the rest of the American population.  Many become ill due to heat stroke and exposure to pesticides.  They also develop musculoskeletal strains from long hours of intense physical labor.  The good news is that migrant workers now have better access to affordable healthcare under the Affordable Care Act.3

San Joaquin Valley image courtesy of www.wunderground.com

Providing healthcare for migrant workers is a step in the right direction for improving working conditions, however, low wages are still a major problem.  Esperanza’s main goal was to earn enough money to bring her grandmother to the United States.  Her childhood friend Miguel, desired to find work as a mechanic in hopes of being exposed to opportunities not available to him in Mexico.  Esperanza and Miguel’s ambitions are not unlike many of today’s migrant workers.  Most farm laborers are young adult males who come to the United States seeking the opportunity for a better life.  Some work to earn money to take back or send back to their families and some work to bring their families to the United States.3 In both cases, the hope is for a more prosperous future.  The sad truth is that though their conditions may be improved from that in Mexico, life is still hard, it is still difficult to get ahead, and many remain poor.  A young girl in Esperanza Rising asks her mother “Are we going to starve?”  Her mother replies, “No, mija.  How could anyone starve here with so much food around us?” Today, many immigrants may well be asking the same question.  In San Joaquin Valley, the heart of California’s agriculture, the Cap-K Foodbank in Bakersfield feeds more than 30,000 people per month.  Surrounded by so much food, yet it is one of the “poorest and hungriest” regions in the country.1

Image courtesy of www.laprogressive.com

Challenges that both migrant farm laborers today and during Esperanza’s time face are the threat of deportation and low wages.   Though Esperanza was working in the United States legally and had proper documentation, many Hispanic workers in the 1930’s did not have proper documentation and were working illegally in hopes of eventually gaining citizenship.  This has not changed.  In 2009 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that just under 50% of the hired crop farmworkers were unauthorized to work in the United States.4  The threat of exposure and deportation keeps migrant farm hand wages low.  Esperanza was constantly under pressure from her peer, Marta, to join with other laborers to strike for higher wages.  Today’s illegal immigrants have no protection from unfair wages and poor working conditions.  If they try to unite and strike, like Marta, Esperanza’s friend, they are simply deported from the country.

Although there were significant negative aspects of life as a farm laborer, the one benefit that made a huge difference for the posterity of the migrant farm worker was the opportunity to obtain a public education.  Esperanza, who came from an affluent Mexican family, was educated.  However, most Mexicans, like Isabel with whom she shared a room, did not receive an education and were therefore confined to a lower social class.  By coming to the United States and enduring poverty, one’s children could receive an education creating hope for future generations.  Today, the rural agricultural areas of Mexico do not have adequate education and are failing the Mexican children.5  The opportunity to receive an education in the United States is a major enticement.

            Much about Esperanza’s experience during the Great Depression is comparable to migrant farm labor today.  The labor is still hard and the work conditions less than favorable, yet Hispanics continue to flock to the United States to obtain work in hopes of escaping the poverty they experience in their own countries.  United States agriculture provides many, just like Esperanza, with the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

---

1 Paulsen, Barbara. "In Migrant Camp and Beyond, California Drought Brings a Familiar Desperation." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

2 Geoghegan, Tom. "Valley Fever: An Incurable Illness in the Dust." BBC. BBC News Services, 16 July 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

3 "The Migrant/Seasonal Farmworker." Migrant Clinicians Network. 2014. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

4 "Farm Labor." USDA. 20 Oct. 2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

5 Agren, David. "Education System Holding Mexico Back, Critics Say." USA Today. 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

Farm to school: It's in the bill

  

                                        Image courtesy of www.seedstock.com

Have you ever heard of the Farm to School Act of 2015? The Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act of 2010? How about the Farm Bill? All of these legislative acts were new news to me. And maybe they are to you as well, but if you have school age children, the first two acts may be affecting your family. And you may not have known it, but the Farm Bill affects all of us here in the United States. 

So what is the Farm to School Act? Well, it began as part of the Healthy, Hungry Kids Act of 2010 which is actually a large chunk of funding that comes from the Farm Bill. The Farm to School Act is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a government program that assists schools with not only bringing local foods into their meal programs, but also fosters nutrition education. The purpose of the Farm to School Act is to “[build] on the positive momentum of farm fresh food in school meals, school gardens and farm to school education across the curriculum, such as cooking classes, taste tests, hands-on science classes and farm field trips" (Sustainable Agriculture).  It has been so successful that the aim for the 2015 act is to expand its reach.

When the initial Farm to School initiative was passed in 2010 there was five times more interest than there was funding. The 2015 bill seeks for three times the additional funding in order to support more local farmers and schools. Many of the farmers this program assists are either new or struggling farmers. So not only does the act help improve the lives of the rising generation, but also assists the local economy of farmers. 

                                                 Image courtesy of USDA

You may be wondering how many US children this act affects? Well, the numbers are quite daunting actually. During the 2012-13 school year there were 30.7 million kids that ate meals on a regular basis provided by their school. Twenty-one and a half million of these students either got their meals free or at a reduced rate (FRAC). That means that the most nutritious and maybe the only meal those 21.5 million kids are getting is coming from the government. It’s not just important to be getting these kids healthy meals, but it is essential to their future well-being. 

I knew that our schools were providing meals for low-income students and I also knew that there have been vast changes in the nutritional value of these meals, however, I had no idea that there had, and continue to be efforts made to connect local farmers to local schools. I applaud this effort and hope it continues to be successful in improving our kids nutrition as well as sustaining our local farming communities. 

  "RELEASE: FARM TO SCHOOL ACT OF 2015, CONNECTING STUDENTS TO LOCAL FOOD AND FARMS, INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS." Sustainable Agriculture. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

  "National School Lunch Program." FRAC. Food Research and Action Center, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

Amish Folklore & Farming

Photo courtesy of http://www.chathamberryfarm.com

Before moving to South Jersey, I had no idea the large presence Amish had here. Our part of Jersey is quite close to Philadelphia where the well known Reading Terminal Market can be found in the center of downtown, full of Amish owned and run restaurants, including the most amazing donuts. But sadly, this post is not about donuts. It's about folklore. And since my part of the country has a high population of Amish farmers, I thought it only proper to look into some of their folklore.

The Amish are best known for some of their peculiar ways like driving horse and buggy for transportation and not using electricity in their homes. As I got thinking about their separation from the modern world and how it related to farming, it struck me that because of their belief against the use of modern technology, Amish farmers must farm much like those first pioneers who crossed the plains. This lead me to delve a little deeper. For simplicity's sake, I'll focus here mainly on the Amish of Lancaster, PA. They are the largest group of Amish closest to where I live.

The Amish use Romans 12:2 from the Bible as their basis for not "conforming to the world." For this reason they use very limited modern technology in order to separate themselves from non-believers and keep their communities tight knit. Many Amish families still plow their fields by horse and they use manure to fertilize their fields instead of modern chemicals.  This conformity to their traditional belief system limits the amount of acreage a family can farm. The maximum is usually about 40 acres per family. 

The Amish are actually not completely void of the use of technology. In fact, they use quite a lot more than I anticipated. How extensively they use technology depends on the counsel given them by their community leaders. In Lancaster, the Amish use tractors to do work in their barns "to power feed grinders, hydraulic systems, ventilating fans; to blow silage to the top of silos; to pump liquid manure; and, a host of other similar functions." The reason behind the limited use of the tractor is mostly because of it's similarity to the automobile, but there are also other reasons. The community leaders fear dependence on the tractor as well as the debt large farm equipment incurs. Large debt could possibly lead to larger farm size in order to pay off the debt, which would take away from their traditional way of life. The leaders also fear loss of jobs taken by the tractor. They are insistent upon keeping jobs within their communities to avoid corruption by working in the outside world. 

Photo courtesy of http://science.howstuffworks.com

Along with limited use of the tractor, the Amish have accepted the use of hay balers as long as they are pulled by horses. They also use a wide variety of other machinery that is horse driven. Their limited use of self-propelled farm equipment has forced them to keep their farms smaller, but even though they don't produce the huge amount that commercial farms do, their small farms produce not only a very substantial quantity in relation to the amount of energy that is used.

Photo courtesy of http://kk.org/thetechnium/amish-hackers-a

Amish folklore continues to influence the decisions they make regarding how they farm. They are continually reaching to find a balance between their traditional beliefs and the modern world.  


Works Cited
Technology and the Amish Farm. Welcome to Lancaster County (2007). Retrieved October 11, 2015.

For the love of chocolate

Image courtesy of www.preachersinstitute.com

I am pretty sure that everyday for at least the past decade, I have consumed chocolate in at least one form or another.

I have no regrets about this. I make no apologies.

Chocolate is a food group in my mind and I'm okay with that.

Since I live and breath chocolate, it seemed only appropriate that I search out the origin of my very favorite chocolate bars.

This love affair began this past spring while on a road trip through Vermont. One thing you must know about me, is that I love food. I don't just love food, I love really good food. Forget fast food and highly processed, boxed food, those don't really qualify as food. I love food made with fresh produce and unique flavors. This leads me to seek out good food, especially chocolate, wherever I travel.

Before our trip I had researched all the local attractions to visit and a quaint chocolate factory on the shores of Lake Champlain popped up in TripAdvisor. As you can imagine, I have never been one to pass up any opportunity to sample chocolate and so after walking along the lake, we stopped by.

Lake Champlain Chocolates has a small factory with a small store attached. The store has a wall of windows that allows visitors to view the process of their chocolate art. We watched as a woman hand painted chocolate into Christmas molds, while two other women placed cherries into what looked like would eventually be cherry cordials. It felt like something that would be going on in your grandma's kitchen. I perused the little store and scoffed at the price of their chocolates. I thought to myself that surely no chocolate could be worth this price. I was wrong, my friends. I. Was. Wrong. I bit into a sample of their dark chocolate bar and my life has not been the same since.

Though deeply smitten, my wallet couldn't handle purchasing a whole lot of this nectar from the gods, but after we had returned home both I and my husband were regretting not taking out a small loan to buy more. Out of desperation, I scoured their website and found that our local Whole Foods sold a limited variety of their chocolate bars.  I couldn't get there fast enough and now have a handful of bars in my pantry.

It's clear I have my priorities straight.

You may be wondering what makes this chocolate so special. I had the same question too and so I dug a little deeper to find out why exactly Lake Champlain Chocolate (LCC) is so very good.

It all starts with the cacao bean. These grow as the seed of the cacao pod. They are a bright yellow/orange color when they are ripe. The trees love the heat and grow in countries close to the equator in both South America and Africa, but in order to become the treat we are used to consuming, the cacao beans must go through an extensive process.

Image courtesy of www.ediblehi.com

First the beans, the size of an olive and white color,  must be removed from the fruit by hand and exposed to light. This changes their color to a purplish color. They are then fermented by either being put in piles or boxes and then covered by banana leaves. They are left to sit for 2-9 days and this begins to develop the chocolate flavor we all know.

The fermented beans then need to be dried. The beans are laid out on boards or mats in the sun and rake continually for even drying. One the beans are dry, they are graded and packaged to sell on the international market.

Image courtesy of www.theepochtimes.com

To make chocolate out of those dried beans is quite an extensive procedure. The beans are washed and then the meat of the bean, the nib, is removed from the shell in a process called winnowing. After the beans are winnowed, they are ground into cocoa mass, also called cocoa liquor. This is solid at room temperature and when high pressure is applied separates in cocoa butter (the fat) and cocoa powder. 

Image courtesy of www.medicinehunter.com

If simply making chocolate is your desire, skip the high pressure process and simply combine the cocoa liquor with more cocoa butter and sugar for dark chocolate or cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder for milk chocolate.  White chocolate uses only the cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder.

Next the chocolate goes through a process called conching. This is a process of rolling, kneading, heating and aeration. This step is vital to the final texture and taste of the chocolate.

Image courtesy of www.pairswellwithfood.com

Finally, the chocolate is tempered before it is send away to the chocolatier to be made into delicious desserts. During the tempering process, the chocolate is slowing brought to a certain temperature and reaches its stable form. It gives the chocolate its shine and snap.

LCC is both a chocolatier and a direct source chocolate maker, meaning they buy chocolate that has already gone through the process listed above, as well as, produce chocolate themselves. Ninety-five percent of the chocolate LCC sells is fair-trade. The cacao used in their Blue Bandana line of chocolate is directly sourced from Guatemala and Madagascar. The chocolate is then made in their facilities.

Image courtesy of www.lakechamplainchocolates.com

In addition to the quality chocolate LCC uses in their processes, they also source their additional ingredients locally. Fresh Vermont cream, butter, honey and maple syrup help make their chocolates so unique.

Before tasting LCC chocolates I had never really thought about the source of the chocolate I eat to feed my addiction. Their chocolate is a source of proof, however, that fresh, quality ingredients make for a better product. I have since noted that most of my favorite food products are made with similar standards. I like to look for locally sourced products if I can afford them. I not only enjoy their superior quality, but also enjoy supporting smaller companies.

If you so desire, I highly recommend trying out some chocolates from LCC, but beware, once you start you may not be able to stop and this addiction isn't cheap. I have already sent loved ones my chocolate wish list.

"All About Chocolate." Lake Champlain Chocolates. 2103. Web. 24 September 2015.

Tracing my agricultural roots

I grew up living just 15 minutes from my maternal grandparents. Our Sunday afternoons were spent dining around their table sharing pot roast and mashed potatoes. They would often have us over to help with housework or to earn money mowing their lawn. I thought I knew a lot about my grandparents, but as I have gotten older, I’ve learned more and more details that I wish I would have been able to question them about when they were living. I was in my teens when I learned that my grandfather had herded livestock from Brigham City out to the family pasture land in Promontory Point, but by the time I realized the significance his past had in my own life, he had passed away.

As much time as I spent with my grandpa, I can only recall vague memories of the stories he would tell us of his childhood. I had always known that he grew up in Brigham City, Utah where his family had owned the main town mercantile. I knew that his father had been a prominent leader within the Latter-Day Saint community, but until I dug a little deeper into researching his past, I had no idea what role they played.

I came across a website written by my mother’s cousin, who actually happens to have been named after my grandpa. How had I never known that my grandfather had a namesake?  After contacting Raymon B. Horsley II, I learned a great deal about my family’s connection to agriculture and in fact, learned that they played a very significant role in the distribution of the agriculture of northern Utah during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Brigham City is very close to Promontory Point, where in 1869 the Golden Spike linked the east and the west by joining the railroad.  This connection of transportation opened the gates for the sharing of goods from one side of the country to the other. My great grandfather, William Clements Horsley, was there when it happened and took advantage of the new opportunities it presented. Clem, as they called him, along with his sons, opened a mercantile in 1886 calling it, Horsley and Sons. Using his previous experience as manager of mercantile for the Latter-day Saints Co-op Store, Clem and his sons successfully established a thriving business and with the joining of the railroads, the agricultural harvest of the area could now be shipped across the United States. Horsley and Sons soon grew into one of the largest shippers of agricultural goods west of the Mississippi. This store remained open until 1955 when my grandfather decided that retail was not his passion, and the store was closed.

William Clements "Clem" Horsley as a younger man

Horsley and Sons 2005 and in it's early days, exact date unknown

I had always known about the store and have driven by it countless times. I knew the family owned land in Perry and out at Promontory, but now knowing more of the story, I wish I could go back and see it through different eyes. I would love to be able to see things as they were in their prime, knowing that my family played a huge role in supplying a large part of the country with the agricultural products of Utah. I wish now that I could sit down with my deceased grandpa and hear his account of his life in Brigham City.

Citations

Horsley, Ray. "William C. Horsley Family". www.wchorsley.org/home.html. Images.

Horsley, Raymond B. II "Re: Horlsey Family History." Message to the author. 10 Sept. 2015. E-mail.