what in the heck i have been up to

Hello fellow blog followers, long time no read!  Unfortunately for me, I have been doing plenty of reading, writing, and thank goodness, much more exciting things.  I apologize for the lack in my blogging skills over the last month, but I have to be honest, I have been one busy woman!! I decided to add pictures of my accomplishments to this post so you too can see just how busy of a bee I have been.

One of the most important things I have been doing  over the past few weeks is finishing up writing my thesis.  I am currently at 144 PAGES of diagrams, materials and methods, literature review, and statistical analysis...yuck!!  These last few days have really been crunch time for me as I defend my research on the 21st.  On top of writing and preparing for my masters defense, I have also been practicing for the Reciprocal Meats Conference masters student poster competition as well as writing reports for the annual Nebraska Beef Report.  Now I know as exciting as all of these things sound, I thought I would spare myself as well as you the sight of all this jargon. 

Now on to more exciting things!  Chasen and I have planted a fairly successful garden; despite the lack of rain this summer.  We have planted green and red onions, peas, peppers, green beans (4 rows!!!), tomatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, romain lettuce, and of course watermelon!! I am so excited to have fresh produce this summer.  I love to eat out of the garden!  At one of my bridal showers I was given the gift of a pressure cooker, which I am extremely excited to use!  I also hope to make lots of homemade salsa, and pies/jam from our apple and pear trees! Yum!!

(Guess I should have taken a picture from the east side.  This photo doesn't exactly exemplify my hoe-ing abilities.) 

On the north side of the garden we also have a patch of sweet corn that has taken off. We strategically planted the corn so we have some ready right after the wedding and then again after state fair/wedding season has come to an end. Did I mention we have 7 weddings this summer.  It truly is a year of mass nuptials! 

In a few weeks, it looks like we are going to have to get our coon fence up. Roxie isn't the best guard dog.

I have utilized my green thumb further yet by planting lots and lots of hosta, mums, sedum, gladiolus and much more "farm flowers" as I like to call them.  I love love love the big pine trees we have around the house.  But I hate hate hate mowing underneath them/getting decapitated weekly.  Flowers are prettier anyway :)

Aside from school work, gardening, and other uses of my green thumb, I have found time to use my "wedding thumb".  In the last few weeks I had my hair and makeup trial, first dress fitting, met with the photographer and florist, and most importantly finished my brooch bouquet.  I would have liked to include a picture of my hair/dress but I want everyone to be surprised :)  The picture below of my bouquet does not do it justice!!  It is so beautiful! And heavy!!  I should have Holly start lifting weights ASAP.

On the wedding note, I also had my final two bridal showers in May.  I cannot begin to explain how fun each shower was and how much I enjoyed getting all the ladies together for brunch, especially the mimosas!  We are so blessed to have such caring women in our lives!

Moving to the farm side of things, in the last month we have finished planting crops, baled hay, vaccinated calves, and bred cows (didn't think you wanted to see a picture of this either).  The weather sure has been cooperative for a majority of the work done, but like the majority of the Midwest we keep praying for rain!  Needless to say we have been busy, busy, busy.  During this time Roxie has had many a four wheeler/ranger rides!  It cracks me up how cute she looks in this photo.

Most importantly over the past few weeks I have been living this wonderful life God has blessed me with.  I have spent lots of time with family and friends and will cherish the many memories that are here and yet to come for the summer of 2012.

Until next time....hopefully its less than a month :)

my 2 cents

At the moment, agriculture production, due to a recent media release and tv commercial, is in the public hot seat.  Through these media publications, agriculture appears a phony and menacing industry.  For those of you that grew up in production systems, we know this is not at all the case!  And for those of you that are unfamiliar with agriculture production, I can assure you the same!  


Sunday evening I was traveling back to Lincoln after a lovely weekend in Iowa.  For this reason I was not able to watch the Grammy Awards, or more importantly, their associated commercials.      Earlier this fall BEEF magazine posted an article relating to the Chipotle commercial that was aired Sunday evening.  After reading the post, I took time to watch the commercial, and was thoroughly disgusted with Chipotle's translation of agriculture production in the US.  I was also quite disturbed by the fact country music singer Willie Nelson participated in the production of the commercial; but then I realized the lack of credibility Willie Nelson has in today's generation and got over it :)  


Regardless, growing up on a farm and being educated in Animal Science, or as I prefer Animal Husbandry, Chipotle needs to get their facts straight.  After this counterfeit Chipotle commercial, consumers are left questioning producer management practices.  Animals are crammed into buildings, and later expended out like a vending machine.  They are then placed on a conveyor belt and "pumped" full of pills and a sludge-like substance.  They exit the other end of the building plump and are packaged into "meat cubes" or some type of compact shippable item.  The commercial continues to strongly create a corporate and industrial feel to the food eventually placed on the table.  How more wrong could they be!??  Consumers, rest assured this is not at all the case!!  


1.  Bacon still comes from pigs, and hamburger from cattle, not "meat cubes" or the latter.
2.  Regulations have been set in place by the USDA-FSIS to ensure no residues are left in our bacon or hamburger that will be consumed by humans or our pets.  
3.  Producers check their livestock everyday to ensure they are healthy and comfortable.  
4.  Healthy, comfortable pigs and cattle make healthy,delicious bacon and hamburger.


These last two statements bring me to my next point. Yesterday, McDonald's Corporation made a considerable announcement that it will require its US pork suppliers to outline plans to phase out the use of sow gestation stalls.  Unfortunately, this phase is supported by the Human Society of the United States.  The decision is based solely on improving the welfare of the animals.  With that being said, let's read #3 again..................(almost done reading).............(ok done).  Although gestation crates seem cruel and entrapping, they are our way of protecting the vulnerable sows and gilts during their pregnancy.  Pigs are highly aggressive and even cannibalistic animals.  In a large sized group, they will fight each other to determine their pecking order of each pen.  For weaker, less aggressive animals, not only does this mean they will have a higher level of stress, but they will also suffer from a lack of nutrition.  Fully resulting in a decrease in sow efficiency.


Pressure from conglomerate organizations such as McDonald's, Chipotle, and others, is pushing agriculture to go back to our roots of raising livestock cage/crate-free, with no antibiotics, or feed additives.  This presents a challenge to the industry because we are impaling the animal's health and production efficiency.  With decreased animal efficiency, there will be less product available for consumers.  Prices for animal products will escalate, and we will all be grumpy and hungry. I guess what I am trying to say is, we are setting ourselves up for only disaster.  As of today the world population is at 6.994 billion; ten years ago it was 6.2 billion.  With our population increasing exponentially, we are going to need to produce more food than ever before.  Currently world agriculture produces 17% more calories/person than we did 30 years ago.  Although this is quite an achievement, this will not be enough, especially if consumers demand us to change our efficient production methods. 


Alas, as an agriculturalist, I know this is not the first media burden we have been plagued with.    And as always, we hope to find some middle ground that allows us to produce a safe and wholesome product in an efficient way.  After all, we are producing a product that we serve to our families as well, and healthy animals makes healthy meat!