Confessions of a Grateful Farmer September 2016

1. I am over the moon to be serving our Golden Row Cider at our Event Space and Farm Stand. Come by for a free sample and pick up a growler to take home this weekend. Or let us know if you are interested in having a pony keg at your restaurant or brewery. 

2. We thankfully finished picking our winter pears this season.  It was a smaller crop than we are used too and we struggled to have enough people to help us harvest but in the 11th hour we had some bonus pickers show up and save the day. Thankful for answered prayers.

3. Our Farm Stand is OPEN 7 days a week and the apples are absolutely beautiful, tasty and huge this year for pick your own.  Did you know the keeper apples store all winter long(Fugi, Grannies, Pippens, Braebruns, Rome, Spitzenburgs). Grateful for our loyal customers that come out each week to buy farm direct and for those of you who are putting up the harvest in apple butter and sauce. Here is my recipe for Pear Butter.

4. We are honored to be partnering with a favorite non profit Gorge Grown this year for their annual fundraiser a farm to table Harvest Dinner on October 2nd from 4-7pm.  Tickets our selling out fast for this once a year event featuring Ben Stenn from Celilo Restauant and local farmers so pick yours tickets today. Excited they are serving our Golden Row Cider  and fresh fruit at this lovely dinner. 

5. We had a fantastic first year hosting weddings at our Wedding and Event Space right in the heart of our orchard and if you would like to learn more about having your special day here on our farm it would be our pleasure to host you. We also host other events as well so reach out and check on available dates.

6. We have bumper crop of Italian Prune plums and they are looking for good homes.  Please come by this weekend because they taste amazing fresh, dried, in jam or pie and are on SALE.

7. Speaking of Dried Fruit we have some of the best dried fruit in town according to our customersCome by today for a sample and get inspired to dry some of this years harvest for your household for colder months, or stock on the dried fruit we have lovely prepared for you. 

8.  Yes we have fresh pressed unpateurized Cider as well for the next 6 weeks. This weeks variety was made with Gravensteins, Jonagolds and Goldens. Its perfection! It freezes well too.

9. The best farmer on the farm (my dear mother) right smack dab in the middle of harvest had her gall bladder removed. We barely made it without her harvesting pears but we are grateful she made it out ok. 

10. We got some great news this past month from our 2015 pear crop. We thankfully had the numbers of bins and payout in a way that I got my first pay out check as a farmer.  This is the first pay check I have received from the packing house since I started in 2014(2 years later).  It was a loooong wait and I am so grateful for this surprise. Financial breakthrough keeps farmers going strong year after year and Ill take it. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my continued success.

11. Our All fruit CSA is in its last weeks and we have had a very successful season. So many people want to back up local small family farms they just don't have the time to come out each week to shop. Consider joining our 2017 All Fruit CSA and let me drop off a box each week in your neighborhood, friends.

12. Yes, we are having our Swiss Edelweiss day on October 22nd from Noon-4pm this year. Plan on joining us for this day of Swiss music, dancing and yodeling, Swiss Sausage, Apple Strudel and Hard Cider. Also Harvest Festival weekend is a fun weekend to join as well Oct 14-16th.  

13. Consider following along on our Facebook and instagram accounts for photos, recipes, weddings, cider and farm love. xox your grateful farmer, Trina McAlexander

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Photo of Ben Mitchell/Hood River News (Golden Row Cider made by your truly)

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Harvest season is my favorite. Photo by Ben Mitchell/Hood River News

Honor and gratitude

I come from a long line of farmers. I believe that becoming a farmer is a rare and sacred call that I surrendered too in 2014.  My great grandparents had a dairy and vineyard after they immigrated here from Switzerland and my grandparents and parents have been growing fruit here at the base of Mt. Hood for almost 100 years.  On my dad's side of the family my grandfather used to grow and peddle vegetables in Southern California and both sides made a living growing food for their communities.  The longevity and persistence of my ancestor's farming dreams honestly blows my mind these days.  I often look upwards at the sky and wonder how they made ends meet year after year and decade after decade.   For farming truly is a profession of hope and I have so much honor and respect for my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and auntie and uncles. There is a reverence we should show to all farmers but especially those in their twilight years. They are truly giants of faith and my heroes.

I am humbled and completed wrecked by the unwavering hope, faith and grit of my farming family.  In my first few months of paying the bills of the farm I was very overwhelmed daily and started to wonder if the dream of carrying on the farm would be doomed.  The reality that I could fail compelled me to walked around the orchard each night trying to come up with ways I could save my families farm.  The only cure for my 24-hour sense of urgency or anxiety was making a list every day for things I was grateful for.   My anxiety was crushing but the cure was filling my heart with gratitude and thanks.  I felt tremendous pressure to make ends meet and pay my employees and farming partners on time.  Each month the bills got bigger and there was zero income coming in.  In my old chapter in the city, I had a nice saving account or financial reserve made me feel peaceful and made me feel emotional balanced.  On the farm all my chips were in and I cashed in my retirement to be able to afford to buy the land.  I had no back up plan or nest egg any longer.  I was day by day and had no savings at all.   

I carry on the tradition of writing a list of what I am grateful for each day because it has been better than xanax. Here are a few I wrote down today...

1. I am grateful for the rain and the amazing microclimate we live in here in the Hood River Valley. Its absolutely perfect for growing fruit. 

2. I am grateful for my amazing parents that are working their hearts out for me on the farm to try to help our farm stay successful and thrive. I am so humbled by their great help that it brings to me tears. They won't let me pay them but they will allow me to take them to dinner every once and a while.

3. I am thankful for an intentional community that has chosen to partner with me in my farming journey and chooses to support my family year after year. Friends of the farm have helped to save my families farm.

4. I am grateful for all the people who are praying each and every day for our 2016 harvests. We have a great crop set out there and I am profoundly grateful.

5. I am thankful for my loyal friends and encouraging words and prayers that come my way on days I am doubting myself.

6. I am grateful that some of the dreams on the farm are taking off and our future is hopeful and bright.

7. I am thankful for my family the farmed before me that didn't give up and didn't quit when it was uncomfortable and hard. I never understood as a child how hard it was to be a farmer.

8. I am thankful for financial miracles that happen each month for me to pay my bills. There is never enough money but it somehow always shows up on time. Backed by heaven and this has been quelling my fears and easing my anxiety as well.

9. I am grateful for our health and the sweet and loyal families that work on our farm for the past many decades. Kinship

10. I am a grateful farmer who sometimes feels anxious but overall feels profoundly thankful for the opportunity to carry on my families farming legacy. xoxo Trina

Confessions of a Grateful Farmer

1. My mom is out on the farm working as many hours or more to help this farming transition be successful. I am so very humbled by her love, daily help and endless support. (She also helps the neighboring farms as well, this woman has a heart of gold and my sHERO!)

2. By some miracle of God, I am making all my farm payments, paying all my bills and I have ZERO credit card debt! (Unbelievably grateful and in awe!)

3. I am working 7 days a week right now to get all my jobs done but I am satisfied with my work and things are coming together making me feel like one day there will be more days of rest in the winter months. (Dreaming of a glorious vacation in November!)

4. We have such an abundant and delicious crop of peaches this year. Come pick peaches these next weeks with your friends and family. (All the thanksgiving!)

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5. Our Cidery where we will press Apple Cider for our fruit stand and house our NEW Hard Cider plans is going to be finished TOMORROW!!! (Ah yeah!)

6. My lil home is almost complete and my move in date is set for one week. (Thankful for my contractors, for completion and that I did not go "nutso" waiting for them to finish.)

7. Our All Fruit CSA has been a "Wild Success," and I am getting so many thank you notes from our CSA family that they are devouring their box each week and that Thursdays are their favorite day of the week this summer.

8. I am so honored to be collaborating with so many amazing businesses in our region and so farmer proud to partner with some of my favorite eateries and breweries in a sustainable way!

9. Friends of Mt. View Orchards keep showing up each week and make the conscious decision to buy their fruit directly from our small family farm.  I cannot express how this makes my heart smile to be so backed by people that care about local farms and want to help sustain our way of life for generations to come. Existing customers are our life blood!

10. I love Dahlias and they are are in bloom and so very colorful and happy.  Come u-pick these flowers and make a beautiful bouquet for our home this weekend!

11. Our core values are growing high quality delicious fruit, being affordable, sustainable, kind and generous. I have made the decision to donate a portion of all our fruit harvest to the local Food bank so everyone in our region can enjoy fresh local fruit!

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12.  I make mistakes every day and have to apologize often.

13. "In most cases, being a good Boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way." (Tina Fey)

14. I believe in supporting the next generation of female farmers in our region and I bought a pig from a young farmer last week.  Come meet Oreo, the pig on our farm. He loves it here and all the fresh fruit.

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14. Trying to be my bravest version of my self. Harvest season is a combination of thrilling and terrifying and I am praying all the prayers that I will be carried through. (xoxo your grateful farmer)