Lettuce make you smile!

Another really great day!  We enjoyed the lettuce festival a lot. They had a beautiful spot close to the Colorado River  set up for this event.  At the door we were given a lot of really interesting information about Yuma and the agriculture in the area. We also signed up for the farm tour.

As well as a lot of produce they had booths for the different suppliers, like Dole and Tanimura and Antle.  Dole gave us a goodie bag with pineapple juice, fruit cups and little fruit snacks.  There were different vendors selling all types of items but I was mostly interested in the food (there's a shocker).  We bought 5 packages of dip mixes from a lady, who basically takes all the ingredients and dehydrates them.  You mix them up with sour cream and mayo.  We got spinach, loaded baked potato, blue cheese and 2 of the artichoke.

 

This never ceases to amaze me.

Fresh squeezed grapefruit and orange juice for only 2.00.  In this particular area they mainly grow lemons, lots and lots of lemons - many of them organic. They used to grow more citrus but as the trees get old they find they can make more money by growing produce.

They even had these cute little 5 week old goats.  Too bad Kylie wasn't with us, she would have loved these little cuties.

The asparagus was only 2 for 5.00  and so fresh and beautiful.

They even had a few different spots where you could watch the live entertainment.  These kids were adorable.

These 2 young ladies were right in the spirit of the day.  When I looked at the picture and saw the Broccoli Blvd sign it was a bonus.
There were all kinds of events like cooking demonstrations and cooking contests.  Also much information on healthy eating and preventing disease through proper diet. 

Look at my cool lunch.  You paid 2.00 and got a big bowl of lettuce and then they scooped what ever you like on top and then added an amazing grapefruit vinaigrette which I will be making.  Very easy, mix olive oil, honey and fresh squeezed ruby grapefruit juice. The lettuce and veggies on top of it were so fresh, I could not believe how much better it tasted.  Not only that they gave me the little 4 pack of lettuce as well.  This is why they grow the lettuce in the pretty rows that I had in my last blog.  The workers will pick one of each to put in these little plastic containers.  They harvest the lettuce and basically pack it ready for distribution right in the fields.
We went on a farm tour and found out many interesting facts about agriculture in this area.

 They grow 30 other types of vegetables as well as all the kinds of lettuce.

These people are really moving to get the lettuce heads cut, peel off any brown outer leaves and onto the conveyor belt.  They are then packed into boxes ( a specific number and size of heads) and trucked off to the distribution plant.  Some of the lettuce leaves are cut by machine and either bagged or put in boxes. Some produce like cilantro or spinach bunches are cut by hand and tied with a twist tie and put right into the box. 
The owner of the farm and one of their top guys were right on the tour so we could ask any questions we wanted. Of course the first one I asked was about those pretty rows of lettuce.  The grower doesn't necessarily even own the land.  This particular company rents the land, part of it from the reservation and part is crown land.  Their regular staff consists mostly of people who live in Yuma.  The seasonal and harvesting crews are provided to them by a company that hires a lot of Mexican workers.  They are brought in on big white buses and sometimes are put up in local hotels until harvest is over (depending on time of year and what it is they are harvesting.)  The minimum that they make is 10.00 per hour and the ones that work by piece work harvesting the cilantro and spinach can make 20.00 to 22.00 per hour.
They plant the crops so they run north to south.  The fellow that did the tour said he did an experiment planting a small bit east to west and it was a pretty bit fail.  If they keep it north to south it all gets about the same sun so is all ready at the same time.
The farm uses computers to track all the seeds, watering, etc required to run these efficiently.  The tractors have GPS in them so they keep the rows very straight.

They watch carefully for disease and also are very careful about food safety.  They keep out coyotes and other wild animals (except for birds) by using fences.  They would not let us walk around the fields either as they do not to take any chances with contamination.  They also use the land very efficiently when planting.  This one has been planted with cotton.  There were a lot of wheat crops as well and another  crop that they grow and export to Japan for animal feed. 
They are constantly looking for new ways to increase their efficiency as they have a lot of competition from farms in Mexico.
If you eat a salad in the winter it is likely that the lettuce came from the Yuma area. I really could have stayed at the lettuce festival all day  - I totally think I am going to be a farmer when I grow up!
Then we went and looked at motorhomes.  I have no idea why we go and look at motorhomes, because  A - we already have one   and B - it just makes me want a nicer/newer one  and C - there is nothing wrong with the one we have, works great
That being said look at this beauty

 Don's favorite part - would you look at the size of that TV?

mmmmm  dishwasher

 This is on the way into our spot. I love bougainvilleas.

This is what I see when I open my door.  Awesome! 
Tomorrow is a stay at home, do the laundry, make a date cake, clean the motorhome and maybe pool day.
Monday we are off to Parker which is half way to Lake Havasu.  Then we will stay in a state park so there may not be any blogs for a couple of days.