The Idea Hour / May Series
FiveFarms
May 3: Planting
Meet five American families who live and work on farms: the Griffieon family of Iowa; the Pecusas of Arizona; the Mains of California; the Wise family of North Carolina; and the Hagers of Massachusetts. Follows them in their orchards, fields, and barns, and find out what keeps them working the land.
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May 10: Growing
Explore the daily work of farming through the parents and children in each farm family. Discover the distinctive challenges and joys of raising a family -- and growing up -- in farm country.
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May 17: Stewardship
What are the fundamentals of farming? Find out during visits to a Massachusetts milking barn, an Iowa soybean field, an apricot orchard in California, a hog farm in North Carolina, and a desert corn field in Arizona. Five families describe and demonstrate what sustainability means on their farms.
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May 24: Harvest
Follows the five families to the grain elevator, the farmers markets, and the State Fair. It's harvest time -- the time to decide whether the gamble of early spring planting season has paid off.
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May 31: Family Farm
For each of the five families, the question looms large: Who will take over the farm? Meet the next generation. Some return from college with new ideas and new energy; others leave farming for good. Also learn more about the community connections -- from church to social activism -- that are part of rural life.
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