Two Days in Yuma

I spent two days in Yuma this week. The County Farm Bureau had their policy development meetings and I was down there to assist them. It was fun and I enjoy going to Yuma.

We had our first meeting and then the vice president met me at my hotel to take me by his house and grab his oldest son and the boat and then we went out to the river. You would never know such a beautiful place was so close to Yuma. There was so much water! Yuma is beautiful anyways with all the fields but the river so reminded me of home, that I was a little homesick that night. John let me even drive his boat which was so much fun. We then headed back into town and met up with his wife (very nice woman). She couldn't make it to the river with us because of her signing classes she is taking. I am a little envious that she can sign, I had tried to take a class a few years ago and just didn't have the time. We had a great dinner and just a great conversation. They are such great people!

The next morning after doing some research for the next meeting, I toured around the town and looked at the real estate that is for sale. The board is looking to replace their building and I wanted to make sure that I understood their options and what the area was like. I also met up with John again, this time out in Wellton. We met at his company shop and then he took me around to a few fields and showed me several crops. I really learned about cotton and think that I finally understand how the plant grows and what the grower has to do to make it productive. John also showed me some artichokes growing for seed. They look just like mini sunflowers as they dry out prior to harvesting. I also walked into a black eyed pea field and learned the how they determine when to harvest them. We also talked a lot about the vegetable industry and different things the growers need to keep in mind. Overall, it was a very productive couple of hours and I learned more in those two hours than in six years of sitting in meetings about vegetables and cotton.

The one thing that I still need to learn is how to walk into the fields. John just walked in, no problem, I thought I was going to fall over trying to walk down the row!