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wallowa.com
March 1, 2017
Wallowa County Chieftain
A DIFFERENT KIND OF FARMER
By Sean Ellis
Capital Press
Wallowa County
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Area in
detail
95
ADAMS
VALLEY
55
WASHINGTON
95
Eagle,
Idaho
84
PAYETTE
GEM
BOISE
21
Boise
Nampa
ke
ADA
Riv
95
OWYHEE
N
er
Teaching about ag
Visitors can see most of
southwestern Idaho’s Trea-
sure Valley from the highest
spot on Twin Oaks Farms.
Smith also believes he
has a responsibility to use his
farm to teach urban residents
of the valley about agriculture
and the value of hard work.
Originally from Ohio,
Smith, who lives on the farm
with his wife, Toni, came to
Idaho when he was 19 and has
been involved in farming his
entire life. He grew up know-
ing the value of hard work and
how important farming is to
society but fears most Ameri-
cans have now lost touch with
those concepts.
He tries to reach people at
an early age and employs a
couple dozen youngsters on
his farm each year.
He starts by teaching them
how to plant pumpkins in a
straight line with no machin-
ery, so they appreciate mod-
ern farm equipment.
The oldest kid drills a hole
with a stick, the next one
drops the seed into the hole
and “the next one, usually the
(youngest) because he’s clos-
est to the ground, pats the seed
into the ground.”
He said that whether or not
they go into farming, “if noth-
ing else, (they’ll) appreciate
production agriculture.”
The kids get paid depend-
ing on how much they pro-
duce.
“The problem in America
is that we’re teaching our kids
a
‘D-Day’ on the farm
One unlikely event takes
place each summer on the
farm. Every June, to com-
memorate the D-Day landing
during World War II, Smith
uses a large mound of earth
on his farm to re-enact the day
American and allied troops
invaded
German-occupied
France.
The re-enactment involves
hundreds of paint ball guns.
Anyone 50 and over is a “Ger-
man” and stationed at the top
Submitted photo
Competitors in the Tater Dash Mud Run at Twin Oaks Farms in Eagle, Idaho, dig into a world
record serving of french fries in 2014. The record involved 1,003 pounds of french fries made
from 1,256 pounds of raw potatoes cooked in 110 gallons of cooking oil.
Sn
EAGLE, Idaho — Jeff
Smith’s Twin Oaks Farms are
about so much more than just
making money.
It’s also about benefi ting
wildlife, youth development,
educating the public about ag-
riculture and, often, sheer fun.
Smith grows crops such as
pumpkins, sweet corn, clover
hay, corn for silage, sunfl ow-
ers and Idaho’s famous pota-
toes. He also raises livestock
on his 200 acres.
But this is not your aver-
age farm.
For Smith, providing hab-
itat for wild-
life
comes
fi rst, followed
by teaching
Treasure Val-
ley residents
about agricul-
ture.
It’s also
Smith
about youth
development
— and setting world records.
Making a living and hav-
ing a blast in the process are
all part of life on the Eagle,
Idaho, farm.
of the hill while any partici-
pant under 50 is an “Ameri-
can” and has to try to take the
hill.
When an American is hit,
he goes back to the bottom of
the hill and starts over. When
a German is hit, he’s out.
The action doesn’t stop un-
til the hill is taken, no matter
how long it takes.
For the battle, Smith, 55,
ordered a custom-built, fully
automatic World War II-era
German replica paint ball ma-
chine gun. It can shoot 300
rounds a minute.
The battle rages for hours,
and about 60,000 paint balls
are fi red before the hill is tak-
en, said Smith, whose father
fought on Utah Beach during
the historic assault.
“They have to take the fl ag.
There’s no backing down,” he
said. “The war will not end
until the battle’s over.”
That experience gives par-
ticipants a small appreciation
for what American troops en-
dured during the D-Day land-
ings, he said.
“We will never again expe-
rience ... the horror and terror
that those great men experi-
enced, what kind of courage
it took to keep running into
those bullets,” he said. “After
getting shot for four hours by
a paint ball gun, you’re going
to survive but, holy smokes,
do you have an appreciation
for (what those men went
through).”
“At the same time, we have
a frickin’ blast,” he added.
Ore.
Idaho
Cultivating
knowledge about
ag and history
produces bumper
crop of fun
78
Capital Press graphic
how to be collectors, and that
doesn’t work,” he said. “You
always have to be a producer.
Once they fi gure out that they
get paid more based on how
much they produce, they are
on their way to being produc-
ers and it will never end from
there.”
He also introduces the
youngsters to some of the
many advanced career oppor-
tunities involved with farm-
ing and reminds them, “(J.R.)
Simplot was our fi rst billion-
aire in the state and he was all
agriculture.”
Races and festivals
Smith holds annual events
such as the Tater Dash Mud
Run, which takes participants
on a zig-zag course around
the entire farm, and Hallow-
een Land, a corn maze and
harvest festival to attract as
many people as he can to his
farm and give them a taste of
agriculture.
“My goal is to get every
kid and mom and dad on the
farm. At least to touch it,
smell and taste it,” Smith said.
“That means they’re not sit-
ting in front of a television or
texting. They’re out being real
humans.”
The Halloween Land event
includes a “bunny hill” that
involves a large mound of dirt
covered with straw and 50
bunnies being chased by doz-
ens of excited youngsters.
Wendell Livengood, 74, a
retired farmer, lives in a trail-
er on Smith’s property and
takes care of a lot of Twin
Oaks’ farming-related tasks in
the same 1946 tractor that he
bought when he was 12 years
old.
He said it’s the best retire-
ment he could ever dream of,
and he appreciates Smith’s
emphasis on teaching peo-
ple about agriculture and
old-fashioned hard work.
“Everything we do out
here I feel is part of the Unit-
ed States growing up,” he
said. “We need to bring back
some of the old into the new
generation.”
Setting records
Several years ago, while
organizing the annual Tater
Dash footrace, Smith learned
from one of his employees
that the Guinness world re-
cords for the largest serving
of french fries, mashed pota-
toes and baked potatoes were
all held by groups in other
countries.
Idaho is the potato state
and those records belong
here, he told his employees,
and they set about researching
how they could bring the re-
cords to Idaho.
They used the Tater Dash,
which attracts about 1,300
people, as the setting for at-
tempting the world records.
In 2014 they set the french
fry world record and just
missed setting the mashed po-
tato record in 2015.
A plaque from Guinness
recognizing the french fry
record hangs in his offi ce.
The record was 1,003 pounds
of french fries made from
1,256 pounds of raw pota-
toes cooked in 110 gallons of
cooking oil.
“We’re going to train hard-
er and try (for the mashed po-
tato record) again next year,”
Smith said. “The following
year, we’ll go after baked po-
tatoes.”
“That’s great,” Idaho Po-
tato Commission member
Randy Hardy said of Smith’s
potato world record efforts.
“Idaho is the potato king
around the world and it’s only
right that we should have
those records.”
The commission donates
potato sack bags, potato pins
and potato recipe handouts
for the event and hands out
Tater Dash promotion materi-
al during the IPC’s annual Fa-
mous Idaho Potato Marathon.
Wildlife fi rst
For all his focus on teach-
ing about farming, Smith said
wildlife come fi rst on his farm
and every inch of it is de-
signed to benefi t them.
For example, he’ll mow
only one strip of hay at a time
so the remaining crop pro-
vides cover for ground-dwell-
ing birds during nesting sea-
son.
He also created “Logh-
enge,” a play on the famous
English Stonehenge land-
mark, by placing ancient,
dead trees in the same layout.
Each tree also provides dens
for wildlife.
He has also planted thou-
sands of trees as habitat for
wildlife.
As a result of his efforts to
make his farm wildlife friend-
ly, it is a home to mule deer,
elk, coyotes, foxes, weasels,
badgers, skunks, water fowl
and other birds.
“The entire agricultural
portion of (the farm) is de-
signed for wildlife habitat,”
Smith said. “The two can ab-
solutely be done together.”
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