Friday, October 06, 2017

So Much Lost for So Little Gained



Caption: August 1939. "Western Washington subsistence farm, whittled out of the stumps." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. Source

1 comment:

TEC said...

Washington State still has a share of low income stump farms. But OTOH, it has some of the highest producing areas of land in the US. Washington apple growers bordering Columbia River produce 60% of apples eaten in the US. Whitman County's dry land farming of the Washington Palouse region often produces more barley, wheat, dry peas, and lentils than any other county in the United States. Washington's extensive Palouse region is the Country's leading producer of lentils. Washington is among the top three producers of many crops, for example: dried peas, potatoes, hops and onions.

See WA State Dept of Ag figures: https://agr.wa.gov/AgInWA/.
Whitman County Economy (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitman_County,_Washington

Ice age mega-floods 15,000 years ago and Cordilleran glaciation stripped farming paleosols from vast areas of the State, yet the remaining soil, along with climate, provide excellent farming and cattle ranching conditions.

Happy looking kids in subsistence farm picture, above. Needs a family dog :-D. -- TEC