Samuel Jerome and Richnightder

Samuel Jerome and Richnightder
Our boys in Haiti

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Bessy's Best

When I was a little girl, we lived on a farm in Newberg, Oregon. We were 'weekend farmers' . By that I mean, my dad had a 'real' job in Portland everyday and on the weekends my dad and mom and sometimes my sisters and I worked our tails off to keep the farm producing. It was a small hobby farm but we raised Filberts, Hazelnuts to the rest of the world, cherries, marion berries, apples, pears and my most favorite, raspberries and blueberries.

My mom would can a lot of the produce, but we often had tons left on the trees, vines and bushes, so we opened it up to the public for u-pick produce. We had a scale and a coffee can on our back porch and people were free to come and pick what they wanted and to leave their payment in the coffee can. It was the honor system at its finest. And it worked.

Today I traveled about 30 miles east of our home to a family owned dairy that produces 'pure' milk products. They don't use any additives like hormones or antibiotics in their goods and although they are pasturized for purity, they taste completely different than regular milk. It tastes fantastic.

You can buy their products on local grocery store shelves or you can go directly to their dairy and buy it from their refrigerator. They too have a coffee can where, on the honor system you leave the payment for the products you have chosen. It brought me back to simpler times and reminded me of happy memories when the world was much more honorable and simple. A world where a coffee can is considered a bank and people trust one another and live by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

In many ways North Dakota has remained somewhat locked in a time warp, but this time warp of good natured, trust-worthy people epitomizes everything good and right with this little snippet of the world. Just a thought on my part at letting others know some of the good things that happen in North Dakota. Often this state gets a bad rap, but on this one, a flashback to happy, carefree days should be embraced by many.

Bessy's milk really is the best! YUMMMMMMMMMMM!~

2 comments:

Tifanni said...

You can go to Seeley and buy Chickens and eggs from the plumbing shop's fridge. Just put your money in the can :)

Sarah said...

Very, very cool. And I agree about fresh milk. Here in WI, you can buy it too, although it can be left unpasteurized, so it is difficult to find it fresh and pasteurized. Either way, man, does it taste better.

Someday you should post up photos of your childhood home. I'd love to see it :)