People Can't Get Enough Of This Onion Farmer's TikToks
Shay Myers may be one of the best things to happen to TikTok and his 229,000 followers would agree (via TikTok). Myers is a self-described "3rd Generation Farmer, Pilot, lover of Spanish." While many people share videos about their lives or their work, Myers's work TikToks are a little different. The CEO of Owyhee Produce, this charismatic Oregon farmer teaches us how the supply chain works while awing us with farm footage that regular produce buyers usually don't get to see (via The Takeout).
Instead of baking hacks, dancing, or crazy stunts – Myers's most viral video is about onions. That's right, a video about onions.
So what is the appeal of these farm-themed shares? You'll want to tune in simply to see Myers walking through a sea of onions inside a giant storage shed alone. There are so many onions you almost want to swim in them. But this farmer doesn't stop there. Instead, he uses the moment to educate us about how food gets to our tables. Describing how onions travel from plant to table, he explains that the savory veggie is seasonal. You'll probably get fresh onions in October, but if you're craving onions to carmelize in the springtime they've probably been stored in an area like the one he's walking through as the United States doesn't have many year-round crops due to our climate.
But this famed farmer grows more than just onions.
Shawn Myers reveals farm to food lifecycles
Do you know how lettuce gets to your salad? Are you aware that asparagus can't be picked by hand but needs a tool? Did you know that sugar can be made from vegetables called a sugar beet? Myers answers all of these questions with authentic yet compelling visuals (via TikTok), helping us to understand how things are made and how food is grown. This highly knowledgeable farmer brings information and education to a new audience in a style that reminds us of the compelling factory visits we watched as kids from Mr. Rogers, helping to explain the extraordinary processes that make our ordinary everyday items (via Mister Rogers Neighborhood).
Going beyond the nostalgic appeal of this kind of explanation, Myers takes things a step further by answering viewer questions too. You can find him not just providing explanations but following up regularly with his viewers to clarify things, but also willing to learn. When discussing sugar beets a viewer let him know they taste wonderful, and his first response was, "Really? How do you cook it?" (via Instagram).
Farmer Shay gives new meaning to "farm to table" on a myriad of topics and we just can't get enough. If you want worthwhile you interesting and lighthearted viewing, this is the channel for you.