Cultivating A Community

In the fall of each year as the temperatures drop and the leaves on the hills begin to show their bright colors the Grace community has their annual potato harvest.  With the advancement of agriculture technology for many rural areas the days of large community harvests are a thing of the past.  That is not the case for the citizens of Grace and its surrounding area.  Not only do several adults go to work driving trucks and tractors for the farmers but the local school district takes a two week break to allow students to get jobs for those farms.

This two week break which typically occurs in the later part of September has a unique effect on the student athletes from Grace Jr. and Sr. high schools.  Several of the athletes will get jobs working in the potatoes.  Those jobs can consist of work days that can be anywhere from ten to fourteen hours long.  This creates a problem for coaches to be able to get practices in during the middle of the fall sports seasons.  The solution to that problem comes in 6 a.m. practices.  Coach Kimball from the football team spoke on the change in practice times saying, “It gets you out of your routine.  We are used to school, practice then all of the sudden you are out of that routine.”   Many of the student athletes have two hours of practice before they work a twelve hour shift giving them just enough time to clean off the potato dirt and go to bed before starting the whole process over again.  Case Williams who plays football said, “At 8 o’clock you get done with practice then you go straight to work and you work until 8 o’clock or maybe 5 o’clock if you have a game that day.”  Case went on to talk about the change in practice times from his perspective, “I think that for practice in the morning you’re less mentally tired but you're more physically tired.  Verses a normal school day where you’re more mentally tired but ready physically for practice.”  Kallie Stoddard who runs cross country noted, “It's a completely different climate and you have less time because everyone has to be to work.  So we do our aerobic workouts instead of our long runs.”  Volleyball player Paisley Barthlome added, “I feel like it's just harder to have a meaningful practice.”  Several of the coaches are aware of the challenges that face their teams during the harvest break.  Sarah Jensen, coach for the Jr. high volleyball team commented, “We try to switch things up to make practice a little more fun during potato harvest.”  At the same time Coach Jensen has seen the kids rise to the challenges they face during the early mornings.  “They work harder because when they are tired they have to dig inside and find something else.”  Head football coach James Newby echoed that sentiment and said, “It makes them more tough.  Their mental toughness is definitely up there.”

In addition to practices the teams continue to have games during this period that can bring additional challenges.  Coach Newby spoke to that saying, “The kids have been up all day working their tails off for the farmers so when they get to the game they are already tired.  So it's an extra challenge for us coaches to cycle more kids in and out of the game to try to stay fresh.”  Parker Yost is a player for Coach Newby and had played a game the night before this interview stated, “At last night's game I felt a lot weaker because we were here lifting potato sacks all day but I also think it helped with cramping because you are constantly moving all day.” 

As has been mentioned the games and practices are just one part of potato harvest.  Nick and Laura Johnson along with Nick’s parents Norm and Nina own and operate Varley Farms in Grace.  Like many of the farmers in the area they employ several junior high and high school athletes.  Laura commented, “I think it's amazing what they do.  They get up so early and they work hard all day.  I’m always astounded by it.”  Nick and Laura themselves have raised four kids on this type of schedule with their youngest being a junior at Grace High School this year.  Laura went on to say, “My own kids frequently say I can do anything because I did potato harvest.  So I think it teaches them that they can do really hard things.”  For the students themselves it's not all bad.  Paisley Barthlome who helps sell potatoes to customers that come from all over said, “It's cool to meet all the new people and see their different perspectives about Idaho.”  Kallie Stoddard added “It's nice to be outside where at school you are always in the classroom.  You can enjoy the sunshine.”

In the end potato harvest is an opportunity for the community to come together and work towards a common goal while being able to teach a lot of life lessons to the youth.  Perhaps Laura Johnson put it best when she said, “It just brings unity to the community.”