Readers: Today I visited one of my in-law’s farms that are
here locally in cache valley. This farm is well known to many people as “Little
Bear Bottoms.” In the summer, they run a waterslide and in the fall, they host
a corn maze. In fact the sign that says Little Bear Bottoms is a piece of
visual rhetoric. Rhetoric is defined as “The art of influencing the thought and
conduct of an audience.” [1] The sign is a display of rhetoric because it is
locally known. Many people I have talked to while at work are familiar with
this farm and their activities.
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I had the privilege
of riding around the farm with the owner, Paul Clark. I also enjoyed the time I
spent talking with his wife Shelayne. Although I had previously spent time at
their house I had not had the opportunity to go around the farm and learn more
about their operations. Talking with them was a very interesting experience
coming from an agricultural standpoint because I consider myself uneducated
with regards to agriculture. Where I grew up was an urban area and my parents
have little to no experience with farming.
My conversation with Paul was diverse. We talked about
different types of crops that were local and the differences between his farm,
and neighboring farms. What I found extremely interesting was the fact that it
was not a competitive setting. In the urban world that I grew up in, it often seemed
that the person with the nicest car, or the best boat was winning in life.
However, after my discussion with Paul it was apparent that this was not a
concern for him. It was about helping your neighbors and working together. The
comparisons he drew were not of personal gain but of a commutative effort. One
question that I brought up after he made a comment about GMO product was, “what
is GMO?” he responded by explaining to me that “allot of produce now is GMO or
Genetically Modified Organism. The reason for this is because they can modify
seeds and produce more crops per acre.” I then took a picture of the alfalfa
field that we talked about which was GMO. I also took photos a few other
locations that we visited during our conversation. It was nice talking to
someone that was not simply in charge of an event, but the person who is responsible
for producing and choosing which crops to grow.
When I talked with Shelayne we first talked about someone
that we both knew. She had met this person many years ago, when she worked at Pepperidge
farm. They had worked there together and I currently work with this person as
well (I am not naming this person because I have not asked for permission) Shelayne
worked at Pepperidge farm to help support and sustain her husband as he in the
beginning of starting this little farm operation. This was long before they had
the ideas to do a corn maze and a water slide. She described to me when they
first moved to Wellsville there was a feed lot that they decided to purchase. However,
the location for the slide was basically just a big garbage pit. As they were
cleaning the junk out of this gully they had the idea to put a water slide down
the side of this hill. Slowly they built a bigger and bigger slide and
eventually the LDS ward wanted to use it for a ward activity. As time passed it
eventually became a hot spot for many people. They have never done any advertising
but spend the whole summer completely booked.
This was a very interesting experience for me to understand
how a farm operation work, But not just a farm operation but a small business.
They have been very successful and I respect them allot. This was a good opportunity
for me to see how a farm can develop and grow.
