This is what I'm talkin' 'bout

We are always stressing in Farm Bureau how important it is to bring your ag story to the general public.

Witness this really clever "music" video by Wil Gilmore, a dairy farmer from Alabama who is a positive and fun force for agriculture.



Now, I ask you, how much more fun could learning about manure and waste management possibly be?

And be sure to visit his website and blog at www.gilmerdairyfarm.com.

A case for eating meat

Besides the fact that there is nothing that would make me give up slow-cooked ribs, Kung Pao chicken and beef stroganoff, I now have another very good reason for using those canines in the manner for which they were intended.

I just read a blog from Advocates for Agriculture that says vegetarians over 50 -- I will have you know I'm not quite there yet, so don't be making any old people jokes at my expense -- tend to experience more dementia than their meat-eating brethren. I will add that the other cementing factor for me is that I'm far too forgetful already!

Here is the link to the Advocates for Ag blog: Dementia in vegetarians.

Happy meat munching!

Dawn

Still time to hug a farmer

Today is Hug a Farmer Day, according to some folks NDFB follows on Twitter.

I was going to get this written early, so you could all go out and hug a farmer, and here it is, late in the day (well, not late in the day for a farmer, but late in the day for us desk jockeys!). But there's still plenty of time in the day to get in a few hugs, I think!

But a word to the wise: You might want to explain to them first why you are coming at them with arms outstretched and a big smile on your face, because I think they tend to be -- and I'm sorry if this is an over-generalization -- not so "huggy."

At least I wouldn't categorize the farmers in my family as "huggers." My dad is the type of farmer who quitely goes about his business and doesn't make a lot of small talk. And my brother who is the farmer? Well, he's more of the punch-you-in-the-arm-and-tell-you-not-to-be-such-a-sissy-with-this-hugging-thing variety. But that just makes you appreciate them that much more.

You have to appreciate the folks who continue, year after year, to put faith in the weather, the prices, and the consuming public and do what they do to get food on our tables. They deserve nothing but the utmost respect and gratitude. Even if they tell you not to be a sissy!

Thank you farmers (and ranchers) today and every day!

Happy hugging!

Dawn

My fern peony plan

When I started getting volunteer cosmos in my flower bed in my front porch flower bed, I just let them grow. I love how delicate the leaves look, and I had mistakenly planted miniature cosmos when I really intended to plant the variety that gets tall. I really need tall in front of the porch.

I had toyed with the idea of putting a couple of fern peonies in the cosmos bed, but when I saw the price tag on those puppies was double the cost of regular peonies, I hatched a plan: Wait out the greenhouse and get them on sale later in the year.

Drat! My evil plan was thwarted. They never did go on sale.

I was at the greenhouse this past weekend and the fern peonies were still twice the cost of the regular ones, and they looked pretty darn tough.

So, I took the money burning a hole in my pocket (actually it was a gift card) and bought myself an inside plant instead, thinking that next spring I was just going to spend the money and get the fern peonies.

But now my plan is to plant regular cosmos in the front bed on one side of the steps, and plant the fern peonies in the bed on the other side of the steps. I figure it will give the whole front a "similar but different" look to it. I'll have to dig up some day lilies, but they've kind of overgrown their allotted space anyway.

I don't think I've ever had a spring planting plan hatched quite so early. Usually it takes me until about February.

Now, let's just hope the greenhouse gets a shipment next year!

Happy waiting for spring!

Dawn

It's the first day of fall

It's the first day of fall. That means I no longer have to feel guilty that my flowers are looking scraggly and unkempt. In fact, three out of four flowers in front porch pots are past the point of scraggly.

In fact, you might just call them.....dead.

I don't know what happened. I guess there were just too many days of late summer 90-degree heat. Coupled with less than adequate waterings and, well, you can see where this is going.

I get a little lazy with my watering come September. I figure that "Any day now" it's going to freeze, so I don't put my extra time into watering. Truth be told, I put the extra time into herding the kids into finishing their homework and getting supper on the table. And I deep water the trees, which doesn't really require much work on my part, but does require the hose and the water, so naturally, the flowers suffer a little. (Gosh, I'm good at rationalizing my flower neglect, aren't I?)

So for the first 21 days of September, I say to myself, "You gotta get out there an water those flowers. And now I can just tell myself, "You gotta get out there and start cutting down those flowers."

It's always something, isn't it?

Happy falling!

Dawn

Schoolhouse ROCKS

Oh wow! Do you remember Schoolhouse Rock? Maybe you have to be of a certain age (old enough to remember elephant pants and HASH jeans) to appreciate the fun way the "Rock" folks got us to remember important stuff, like...

Predicates...


Conjunctions...


And even how a bill becomes a law...


I got the Mr. Morton entry from a regular PR blog I read, and then of course had to check out some of the others and I thought it would be fun to share them with you.

So, if you need to teach your kids or your class or even get a little refresher yourself, check them out. They're fun and by golly, you just might learn (or remember) something.

Happy rocking!

Dawn

Aaarrrgggggh!

Ahoy! Aaaaarrrre you ready me hearties? Tomorrow be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

'Tis true. There be website after website t' back up me claim:

Dave Baaaaarrrrry be countin' down to the festivities.

There also be the Wikipedia Talk Like a Pirate entry

And the official Talk Like a Pirate Day website, where yer hankerin' to learn what "Shiver me timbers" means will be sufficed.

There even be a pirate translator page.

As you can probably tell, I get a kick out of the talking like a pirate stuff. In fact, one of my favorite books to read to my daughter (before she could read on her own, blow me down) was Pirate Pete's Talk Like a Pirate.

“Ye gots to be stubborn and mighty cranky,
Ye gots to be dirty and awfully stanky!
Ye gots to load a cannon and know how to fire it,
But most of all, ye gots to talk
like a pirate!”

Read that out loud and you'll definietly feel all piratey! (My daughter always got the giggles at the "stanky" passage.)

If tho 'tis silly, 't can be fun fer th' whole family if'n ye don't be mindin' t' make fools of yeselves!

Happy piratin' mateys!

Scurvy Dawn Kidd

Memories on scraps of paper

Every once in a while, I find a scrap of paper here or there upon which I wrote something cute that one of my kids said because I didn't want to forget it. The pieces of paper get tucked away in a drawer and forgotten until I'm looking for something completely unrelated.

Yes, I could write all those cute things they said in a book, but you know what? When I find those little scraps of paper explaining an imaginary friend named Alfertain that holds my daughter's hand on the playground, or how my son once said something about Willy Slense with a messy face all rainbowed up, and none of us, including him, has a clue why he said it or what it means, it always makes me smile. It's kind of like opening a little present.

Like the scrap of paper that reads simply "Custom and take 'em away." (Instead of the more well-known "Cuff 'em and take 'em away.")

Or the other one that says "I got munch in my eyes," instead of "mulch."

Or just the simple, "I made you coffee" written in my son's handwriting on a tiny slip of paper that will never be thrown because it represents something that too often we tend to forget in our busy, run-from-one-function-to-the-next lives: Taking care of each other is what it's really all about.

Dawn

What type of person are you when the power goes out?

That thought crossed my mind as a power outage took out signals on one of the busiest streets in the city during lunch hour.

You get a better idea of what we're really made of when our usual "conveniences" are suddenly taken away. If today's display was any indication, I think we're in pretty good shape.

Even with traffic four to five cars across from every side and several deep going north, south, east and west, I was impressed with how courteous people were. Without guidance from those red, yellow and green lights, people did the next best thing. They stopped, waited patiently, and then moved forward cautiously when they figured it was their turn. No honking, no yelling. Just people being thoughtful and kind to each other when they could have just as easily been rude and uncaring.

But it didn't happen.

Maybe there is hope for us all yet, eh?

Happy thoughtful living!

Dawn

A man for the ages

Everyone is talking about the passing of Dr. Norman Borlaug, and even though I've shared links on our NDFB website and Facebook page, I still feel compelled to add my two cents about this amazing man.

I never had the opportunity to interview him like the Red River Farm Network's Don Wick did back in 2003 (mp3 audio).

Or do a feature story on him like America's Heartland did on him a few years ago (text and video link).

But so much of what he said in all the interviews I've read, or even the editorial he wrote for the Wall Street Journal just this past July made such darn good sense. You just wish everyone had Dr. Borlaug's sensibility.

It's hard to let extraordinary people like Dr. Borlaug go, and I hope that we don't. I hope we repeat his philosophy, quote him often, and share his story with our children, so they can share it with their children.

Dr. Norman Borlaug truly is The Man Who Fed the World, as Leon Hesser's biography says, and we are all better for it. Let us not forget that important fact.

Dawn

This guy has a good point

Trent Loos has a point. And it's a good one.

I was catching up on some of my reading this afternoon and opened my September 8 Feedstuffs FoodLink e-letter.

It was an education.

Apparently, not all of the eggs in Australia that are supposedly labeled free-range eggs could possibly be free-range.

A new study by Texas A&M University's Agriculture & Food Policy Center shows that neither dairy nor cattle operations would benefit from carbon credit trading.

And, "Real progress takes place in agriculture."

Naturally, I had to click on that link.

I wasn't disappointed.

I have to share a couple of paragraphs from Loos' commentary:

"Today, I see those who are throwing stones at the advancements in efficient food production, and they are the product of affluence.

"The elite of this country are not thinking about the average American citizen who is trying to make ends meet day in and day out.

"You would think that at some point, the American citizens going hungry would get fed up with this rhetoric and revolt. Oh, wait! They are too busy trying to get from one day to the next, simply finding a way to survive."

If you want to read the whole thing, click here.

And what's more, the average American only spends 10 percent of disposable income on food each year. In China, it's 32 percent. In Pakistan, a whopping 50 percent.

Dare I say our standard of living is better than the aforementioned countries? So why would we want to do stuff that causes our food to become more expensive thereby taking up a larger part of our disposable income?

Food for thought!

Dawn

Has your garden been too good to you?

Radishes going to seed. Bitter lettuce. One flower on the pumpkin plant. A total of 11 corn stalks.

No. My garden has NOT been good to me. But then, it usually is not. I might be lucky with flowers, but veggies are a different story entirely. I'm not sure why. (Probably the fact that the veggie garden is tucked in the trees, and you know the saying "Out of sight, out of mind?" 'Nuff said.)

This year, we didn't get the garden planted until very late, and about a day after we planted, we got a gully-washer. Carrots started coming up in the lettuce row, and nearly a whole row of corn just didn't materialize.

I'm still holding out for at least a meal of corn and carrots. But if you have more than you know what to do with, consider donating it to your local food pantry.

This is not my idea. I got a news release today from the N.D. Department of Agriculture, urging those who have fresh produce from their gardens to consider donating it to local food pantries. What a good idea!

“If you have fresh potatoes, corn, carrots, cucumbers, apples or other vegetables and fruits that you cannot use or sell, please consider donating them to your food pantry,” said Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. “The pantries will distribute this food, free of charge, to needy people.”

In fact, Goehring said several food pantries have contacted the Department of Agriculture about garden contributions.

“One of the food pantries told us that people come running when fresh produce is available,” he said. “Almost every kind of produce is welcome, but since there has been the usual bumper crop of zucchini, it seems to be unwanted at some places,” he says.

Oh, and another thing, food pantries cannot accept home-canned fruits and vegetables, so just bring them the fresh stuff.

If you want more information about food contributions to food pantries, contact the North Dakota Health Department’s division of food and lodging at (701) 328-1291.

Happy food donating!

Dawn

Tough, wily, scrappy old birds

I have had some kind of malady -- which is in no way to be confused with the more genteel m'lady -- with my digestive tract for more than a week.

It started a week ago Sunday, with extremely sharp pains in my stomach that went all the way up my back. Sort of like labor pains, only with no happy outcome after the pain.

I stayed home from work the following Monday and pretty much slept all day. And all evening.

Just over a week later, I feel less worn out, funky and nauseated, but without warning, I will get worn out, funky and nauseated. Yesterday, I literally wanted to crawl under my desk and take a nap when one of the WOFAN moments hit. I cleaned my office a few weeks ago because the carpet cleaners were coming and I still have not re-cluttered the space under my desk -- although I have spilled coffee on my clean carpet -- so I actually could curl up under there, right next to my wastebasket, if need be. But thankfully, we haven't had to go there. And, I do feel much better as I write this.

I always thought I was a tough old bird, but the randomness of this illness has me thinking that maybe I'm just an old bird. And that's kind of a bummer, because you have to admire tough old birds. Or even wily or scrappy old birds. But just old bird without an adjective in front of "old?" Not so much.

Oh well. Tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll be tough again.

Happy illness-free days!

Dawn

The perfect meat cube

Do you ever get the feeling that we're spoiled rotten? I mean, we have so darn many FULFILLED expectations in life. We expect the lights to come on when we flip a switch. They do. We expect water to come out of the faucet when we turn it on. It does. We expect the grocery shelves to have what we want when we want it. They do.

In fact, I read something this morning that made me think that perhaps we've come to expect too much.

"Customers expect artfully formed meat cubes for purposes of presentation."

Say what? Do we really? If that's true, all I can say is we've become a nation of pampered fuss-budgets. I mean, yeah, I like a good meat cube, same as the next person, but "for the purposes of presentation?"

Not this cat.

Maybe I'm downright Neanderthal, but I like pre-cubed meat because I'm too lazy to cut the meat up myself, not because of the uniformity of the cubes. In fact, I never even paid attention to how uniform or not uniform they actually are. I do check for mold, and if it's mold-free, I'm a happy camper.

But now I have an incredible urge to go out and buy some meat cubes just so I can measure them.

By the way, anyone want to come to a dinner at my house? I'll be serving....you guessed it: Meat cubes, Neanderthal style!

Dawn

Turns out cows AREN'T green house gassing it

Turns out fermented silage is a much bigger methane culprit than belching or poofing cows, according to a University of California-Davis study that refutes a 2006 United Nations report on livestock operations and climate change.

The study will be published Oct. 1 in a peer-reviewed journal, but for those of you who can't wait, here are some details, according to American Farm Bureau Federation:

1. U.S. beef and dairy cattle production is responsible for a much lower percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions than asserted in the U.N. report.

2. “Clearing the Air: Livestock’s Contribution to Climate Change” draws on Environmental Protection Agency data showing that agriculture is responsible for about 5.8 percent of the nation’s GHG emissions, according to researchers.

3. Researchers discovered the greatest source of the GHG methane on dairy farms is one of the most common feeds — fermented silage. Contrary to popular belief, storage lagoons for manure proved to be the smallest sources of GHGs on dairies, according to researchers.

Read the Capital Press article by clicking here.

Doesn't all that "Cow Pollution" blather just seem THAT much more ridiculous right now?

Happy grazing!

Dawn

It's Chicken Month

Did you know that September is Chicken Month? I didn't, until I read a "tweet" about it. So, of course I had to check on it myself, and sure enough, "September is National Chicken Month."

It's amazing what you learn on Twitter!

I like chicken. A lot.

In fact, you take me to a fancy restaurant that specializes in seafood, and I'll order the chicken. Take me to a restaurant that specializes in ribs, and I'll order the chicken. I'll even usually get the chicken Alfredo or some other chicken dish at an Italian restaurant.

Did I mention I like chicken?

So, naturally, I feel compelled to help out poultry producers just a little more this month and up my family's chicken-eating quota a little. The Eat Chicken website has quite a few video recipes as well as regular ones and some cute chicken videos as well, so if you want to celebrate Chicken Month, start at EatChicken.com.

Happy Chicken Month!

Dawn

One teen's success story

I don't normally just post a link to a story, but with a number of teens successfully completing North Dakota Farm Bureau's Route 1000 program, I think it's nice to point out the positive that can occur when we pay attention and work with our kids to achieve goals.

In August, a number of Route 1000 "graduation" ceremonies were held around the state to award $1,000 savings bonds to those teens who remained accident and violation-free for 1,000 days. Here's one teen's success story.

Happy safe driving!

Dawn

Thoughts on agriculture from a Missouri farmer

Did you ever hear the one about turkeys drowning in the rain? If you thought it was just an "old wives' tale," Blake Hurst can tell you about the neighbor who lost 4,000 turkeys, and his farm, because turkeys will, in fact, stand outside "in a downpour with beaks open and eyes skyward until they drown."

What's the point? Actually a very good one. Blake Hurst is a Missouri farmer, and penned an article for The American magazine that anyone who ever questions the motives of farmers and ranchers should read.

An outstanding point comes in his second paragraph and pretty much sets the stage: "I'm so tired of people who wouldn't visit a doctor who used a stethoscope instead of an MRI demanding that farmers like me use 1930s technology to raise food. Farming has always been messy and painful and bloody and dirty. It still is."

It's a long read, but hopefully, it will provide you with an angle to the whole "factory farming" debate that you haven't heard before.

Read the whole article by clicking here.

Happy reading!

Dawn