{"id":328,"date":"2025-07-16T05:21:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T10:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/?p=328"},"modified":"2025-08-10T10:04:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T15:04:35","slug":"the-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/the-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"The Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/farming_long.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/farming_long.jpg 600w, https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/farming_long-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/farming_long-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The most popular book in our house right now is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Go-Tractors-Step-into-Reading\/dp\/198485254X\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FSU2SIZ3TAFR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zLEDAe0izephIMDaQ346iED-XNJ3y5KNBdzxD8X93zFGQxQRG9ESOfOVqNlCo2uPjCt597P1IBtbx4h5ocPjq0yiUqINGBlZ3WD1v4BRVz7AJ5Kk_JpY5jb33UWXKHe1HyC8Vo96SbaBU-mqyi3p2PIyXXnhij2rcQcWW2zT6PGb_-XDT2XbWMWZ7kwEmfMLklCWe9s8IphZvBa_3N1XJa5IovWPclim7zsp3abQuqCdKazz9d-OI3FstPb9F0G1BE9gXSWYBPxSONcicGArUrjFcHAzAHBcrtQiKG_Ptbo.b4uBFDZIzual6Z5yp80kvvEI1jsCity22FdEWMKE6DQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=go+go+tractors&amp;qid=1752688162&amp;sprefix=go+go+tract%2Caps%2C442&amp;sr=8-1\">Go, Go, Tractors!<\/a>&#8220;. In fact, every other book is tied for number two. We are using &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Go-Tractors-Step-into-Reading\/dp\/198485254X\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3FSU2SIZ3TAFR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zLEDAe0izephIMDaQ346iED-XNJ3y5KNBdzxD8X93zFGQxQRG9ESOfOVqNlCo2uPjCt597P1IBtbx4h5ocPjq0yiUqINGBlZ3WD1v4BRVz7AJ5Kk_JpY5jb33UWXKHe1HyC8Vo96SbaBU-mqyi3p2PIyXXnhij2rcQcWW2zT6PGb_-XDT2XbWMWZ7kwEmfMLklCWe9s8IphZvBa_3N1XJa5IovWPclim7zsp3abQuqCdKazz9d-OI3FstPb9F0G1BE9gXSWYBPxSONcicGArUrjFcHAzAHBcrtQiKG_Ptbo.b4uBFDZIzual6Z5yp80kvvEI1jsCity22FdEWMKE6DQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=go+go+tractors&amp;qid=1752688162&amp;sprefix=go+go+tract%2Caps%2C442&amp;sr=8-1\">Go, Go, Tractors!<\/a>&#8221; to try and teach someone to talk. We point to the pictures and repeat words like &#8220;cow&#8221; and &#8220;silo&#8221; over and over again. I am looking forward to the day when our family is out driving down Dairy Road, and my little pupil points at this scene &#8211;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"328\" src=\"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/silos-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/silos-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/silos-1-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>and shouts &#8220;silo!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my biggest fears is that those silos will be gone before I ever get to hear that shout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There seems to be some confusion regarding my position on agricultural land around Fairhope, so let me be clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>I don&#8217;t want Baldwin County to lose another square foot of farmland to development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Farmers struggle with bad weather, market volatility, high taxes, children who grow up and leave, and a million other heartaches that would break most other people. We should support them any way we can. Go to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fairhopeal.gov\/community\/fairhope-farmers-market#ad-image-1\">Farmer&#8217;s Market<\/a>, buy <a href=\"https:\/\/mckenziefarmmarket.com\/\">local<\/a>, and learn about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alabamalandcan.org\/Mobile-Tombigbee\/Farm-Resources\/\">groups<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federation.coop\/\">that<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farmland.org\/\">are trying<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/nffc.net\/\">to help<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is not much farmland within the city limits of Fairhope, so the Council does not have a whole lot of control over this issue. But we are not without power and influence. I will gladly be a voice and a vote for protecting the rural character of this corner of the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the way, in the Napa Valley, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.countyofnapa.org\/DocumentCenter\/View\/3331\/Agricultural-Preservation-and-Land-Use-Element-PDF\">the minimum parcel size to build one house on agricultural land is 40 acres<\/a>. That&#8217;s some serious preservation. I&#8217;m not sure how well that would go over here, but I&#8217;m willing to push hard for a debate and see what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It may or may not be true that these views are extreme. I guess we&#8217;ll find out on Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(UPDATE) How could I forget <a href=\"https:\/\/pecangifts.com\/\">B&amp;B Pecans<\/a>? Another Fairhope institution that deserves our business. My apologies. Their pecans make a great <a href=\"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/our-mayor-is-alright\/\">icebreaker<\/a> if you ever have to meet with the Mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more Comments-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most popular book in our house right now is &#8220;Go, Go, Tractors!&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howellgibbens.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}