‘I’m Proud of What I Do’- Gibson County Farmers Hosting Community Dinner to Connect With Consumer
On Saturday in Fort Branch, a community between Evansville and Vincennes, he and other farmers and processors in the community are hosting a “Farm to Family Harvest Dinner”, a free event for the community to come eat locally donated food and ask questions of the farmers that produced it. Rexing says that connection to the consumer is vitally important.
“I’m proud of what I do, and I don’t want to be on the defense of what I do. It seems like sometimes nowadays that we have to defend what we do and how we take care of our animals. We know we take care of our animals in a good way. We know we farm in a good way. We know we’re great stewards of the land, but sometimes were not depicted that way. I just want to be able to tell the people how we actually farm and how safe the food is and how proud we are to do it… nothing makes us happier than when people enjoy the things that we produce.”
Rexing says that’s one aspect of the event. Donations will be accepted, and all proceeds will go toward paying down (hopefully eliminating) the school lunch debt in the South Gibson school district.
“Kids are the ones going to get to benefit from it, and who better to strive and work hard for than our youth? So, if we can all come together, and have a good community gathering, and get a chance to talk to people, and then the outcome is the kids get the reward from it… I don’t know, if there’s any such thing as a ‘win-win’, I think this one nailed it on the head.”
Rexing says the process of putting this event together has been anything but easy, but with the help of sponsors, family, and friends, it’s been well worth it. He hopes that farmers and farm organizations from other communities jump on board and try to do something similar to connect with consumers.
“It’s just been awesome… the local band is going to play and they’re coming play for nothing. It’s just cool what people are willing to do. You know, all you have to do is ask them. Typically, you’ve got to ask somebody that’s busy if you want to get something done. It’s just pretty cool how people can schedule in to help and pitch in.”
Senator Mike Braun and Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch are scheduled to make an appearance at the event. You can find the details at hoosieragtoday.com, and we wish Brian and all others involved much success.