Summer’s golden greens

The fields at Carver Farms used to be filled with people picking vegetables and fruits on a typical, cool summer morning.

But that was 30 years ago, and people like Deborah Mitchell and her mother Mary Claflin of Coeur d’Alene are part of a shrinking group of produce-pickers: canners.

“We are definitely a dying breed,” Mitchell said as she snapped green beans from their stems and put them in a five gallon bucket. “It’s not fast, but of course people want to do everything fast right now.”

There was nothing fast about the pace of vegetable pickers Thursday at Carver Farms, southeast of Newman Lake. Mostly older people meandered through rows of beans and corn, while a few border collies patrolled the grounds.

Rather than families who pick vegetables for canning, more people are coming to u-pick farms like Carver Farms as family trips to pick fresh vegetables for the evening meal. People are grabbing smaller portions, not intended for long-term storage.

“It’s become an outing,” said Marv Carver, who runs the farm and was sitting on a tractor Thursday morning.

The 100-acre farm has seen plenty of changes since it opened about 30 years ago. Homes are sprouting around the perimeter like weeds.

But even though Carver’s land would likely be worth more if he subdivided it and sold it, he and his family find enjoyment in running the farm.

“It’s so great to see mom and dad show the kids how to pick things,” he said. “It’s still important to know where your food comes from.”

Even though he only has three acres of heavily cultivated land in Green Bluff, Verne Fallstrom is finding more than enough business – even among canners – to keep his operation running.

“Every year I grow more and more and they take them home by the garbage bags full,” Fallstrom said. People love his green beans and squash, he said, and he can’t grow enough picnic cucumbers for people to pickle. Some people are picking zucchinis and cutting them up, then freezing them, he said.

“Right now my clientele keeps growing and growing,” Fallstrom said. “They don’t want me to quit; it’s hard to find people who are growing things all-natural.”

For Mitchell and Claflin, picking vegetables is less a matter of recreation and more an issue of putting food on the table.

Rather than buy a can of corn at the store, the mother/daughter team will pick their own from Carver Farms, then spend a day canning it.

“The way food costs, it’s unbelievable how much you save,” Mitchell said. The food also ends up tasting better she said. “The end result speaks for itself. The taste has no comparison.”

The beans they picked Thursday will soon be canned and the Mitchell’s children – who love the canned foods – will gobble them up this winter.

“There are a few of us who still believe that providing for our families means coming out here to do it with work,” Mitchell said. “It’s not a matter of not having enough money to buy from a store, it’s about getting better foods.”