Agriculture—Important to EVERYONE
It seems that people are classified by where they live—in the country or in the city. With this comes the assumption that if you live in the country, you’re a hillbilly that drives a tractor or if you live in the city, a snob that doesn’t know a thing about agriculture. However, no matter where you live or how you were raised, everyone is affected by agriculture. It’s important that everyone is aware of what goes on in the agriculture business. American farmers and ranchers have provided food to people in the United States and around the world since the late 1700s. How many people who weren’t raised on a farm or ranch know how this food is produced? Do people appreciate the hard work that it takes to put a steak on the grill? No, I don’t think so. People of all ages need to realize that agriculture does affect everyone, and that they don’t have to live on a farm out in the country to know what agriculture is all about.
There are many opportunities out there for kids to learn about agriculture and become involved, even if they live in the city. FFA and 4-H are two rewarding organizations that promote agriculture. FFA was founded in 1928, and today has over 495,046 members across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. According to the National FFA Organization’s website, their organization is “dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.” Another prospect for interested students is 4-H. According to a 4-H website (www.4husa.org), 4-H is the largest out of school youth program in the U.S. with over 7 million members and 500,000 teen and adult volunteers. “4-H is a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship and life skills,” said the National 4-H Council.
Agriculture awareness programs provide ways for “city kids” to learn about agriculture. Such programs are held across the U.S.; they are organized and presented by FFA members, 4-H members, and college and community groups. For example, here in Fargo there were two such programs that I volunteered at during the month of April. The first was held on NDSU’s campus at Shepperd Arena. The Saddle and Sirloin Club (S & S) held Kiddie Days, which is a petting zoo full of farm animals. Over 2,500 preschool children and adults are invited. The attendees are given a tour by an S & S member who gives a little information about the animals and gives everyone a chance to pet the animals. The other program was Living Ag Classroom which was held at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. Over 25 groups are there to present information about some aspect of agriculture. It is geared toward fourth graders. They have the opportunity to learn about farm machine safety, livestock, careers in agriculture and the dairy industry to name a few.
I was raised on a farm/ranch and was a member of 4-H for 11 years. I have chosen to further my education with an animal science degree and hope to find a career for the betterment of agriculture. I have seen first hand how “city kids” enjoy agriculture awareness programs, and I truly believe that knowledge and respect for the agriculture industry will only make them better people and truly appreciate the food on their table.
Posted by: Allison Gibbs on 5/11/2007 at 11:38 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Doing it Right at Doolittles
(Instead of a column about agriculture, I have written a restaurant review for this week.) Eating is a big part of our lives. We’re told to eat three square meals a day, plus some healthy snacks. So, when you go to spend money on food, it’s a big deal. At the grocery store you’re always wandering what brand to buy, how long will the food keep, and will the items be worth your money. It’s even worse when you want to go out to eat. There are over 160 restaurants listed in the "Smart Search Yellow Pages" located throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area. On Tuesday, a friend and I decided to give Doolittles a shot. It was a great experience. We arrived at Doolittles around 6 p.m. As we walked into the beautiful building, we were greeted by two cheerful hostesses and were immediately asked where we would like to be seated. We decided to seat outside on the patio. As we walked through the restaurant, it was beautifully decorated and had a fun, fancy but casual atmosphere. The patio was relaxing with comfortable chairs, huge tables, and umbrellas to provide some shade. Tall beers were on special, so we each ordered one. When the waiter brought our drinks, we placed our food orders. I ordered a half order of the Big Boss Ribs and my friend tried the Honey Glazed Salmon. While we waited for our food, the waiter brought us a breadbasket to snack on. We weren’t too impressed with the bread; it had some different seasonings on it. We had to wait about 20 minutes for our food, but it was well worth the wait. We girls dug in right away and were extremely impressed. The food looked great and was perfectly proportioned. The waiter checked on us a few times, but he didn’t get annoying. My ribs were seasoned with a spicy barbecue sauce with a side of seasoned French fries and coleslaw. It was kind of a messy meal buy very tasty. They provided a damp washcloth with the ribs, which was helpful for cleanup. My friend really enjoyed her salmon, mashed potatoes and asparagus. We both cleaned our plates and debated about dessert, but we were too full. It took the waiter awhile to bring us our tickets, which were a little high, but the food was worth it. Doolittles’ motto is "It’s about quality." Our experience was definitely high quality. The food was a 5, atmosphere was a 5, service was a 4.75, price was a 4, but overall experience was a 5. I highly recommend trying this excellent restaurant. Doolittles is located at 2112 25th Street South in Fargo.
Posted by: Allison Gibbs on 4/27/2007 at 5:34 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
“Summertime” in Fargo
(Instead of a column about agriculture, I attended the Kenny Chesney concert last weekend and have written a concert review.)
It sure felt like summer last Saturday in the Fargo-Moorhead area—the sun was shining for the first time in days, everyone was outside doing something and Kenny Chesney’s tour was back in town. His Flip Flop Tour included performances by Pat Green and Sugarland. Chesney was in Fargo in 2005 with his Somewhere in the Sun show, which was attended by a record 17,000 fans. According to the Fargo Forum, the Fargodome didn’t release ticket sales for this concert, but it was estimated that the crowd size was close to those that attended Chesney’s first concert in Fargo.
Texas native Green started right at 7:30 p.m. with the title track from his 2006 CD, “Cannonball”. He’s one of those cute guys that you could take home to meet your mom and just stands up there and sings from his heart. After “Cannonball”, Green sang the romantic “Dixie Lullaby” and “Baby Doll”. He ended with one of his big hits from 2003, “Wave on Wave”, which brought the crowd to its feet.
Sugarland hit the stage with lots of energy. Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush know how to sing, perform, and get the crowd excited and on their feet. They started with their newest release “Settlin’”. Nettles didn’t stop bouncing around and always seemed to have a smile on her face. Bush did a fantastic job on guitar and background vocals. They sang a few slow, romantic songs from their new CD, “Enjoy the Ride”. The crowd went nuts when the duo sang “Down to Mississippi” and “Baby Girl”. Sugarland ended with “Something More”, a fast-paced song from their first CD, “Twice the Speed of Life”, released in 2004.
The best was saved for last—Kenny Chesney, two-time CMA (Country Music Association) entertainer of the year. The “KennyCam” was on and found Chesney in the back and followed him to the stage. When he opened his mouth to sing, everyone was on their feet, yelling, screaming and singing along. He started with his newest hit, “Beer in Mexico”, followed by 2006’s chart topper “Summertime”. Chesney sang songs from his “The Road and the Radio” and “Live: Live Those Songs Again” CDs for just over an hour. The crowd never stopped belting the words along with him, especially when he played “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”. He ended with a 2003 hit, “There Goes my Life”, a ballad about high school lovers who have some tough decisions to make. However, Chesney did not do an encore, which disappointed many fans.
The audience was filled with men and women, boys and girls of all ages. Lesli Stortz traveled from northeastern Montana and was not familiar with Kenny Chesney's music and just came to the concert for a good time. "So, I not only really enjoyed the concert, but I am now a Kenny Chesney fan and would go to another concert if it was in my area," said Stortz. Kelly Hansen, Rapid City, S.D., also thoroughly enjoyed the concert. "I'm glad I drove up for the concert, but I wish Kenny would have sung longer," said Hansen.
The Flip Flop Tour was a fantastic, high-energy concert and was definitely worth the money. If I ever have an opportunity to see these three artists in concert again, I won't hesitate to buy the tickets.
Posted by: Allison Gibbs on 4/19/2007 at 2:15 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
13-Lucky or Unlucky? Old Wives’ Tales & Superstitions-True or False?
In the spirit of Friday the 13th, I’m going to take a look at the history of this “scary” day and find out what tales and superstitions are actually true and which are not so much.
According to David Emery (www.about.com), paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th; people who have an irrational fear of this day and refuse to do anything-go to work, out to eat, schedule an important event, etc. It is unclear when people began suffering from this phobia, but in China and Egypt people considered the number 13 lucky. Here are some speculations on how paraskevidekatriaphobia started: the Hindus and ancient Vikings believed that when 13 people gathered at one time (for example a meal) that is was unlucky; there were also 13 people at the Last Supper; in the early days of western civilization the number 13 represented femininity. One speculation is found in The Da Vinci Code novel; a group of “warrior monks” called the Knights Templar, was formed during the Christian Crusades to fight Islam. According to Katherine Kurtz, author of Tales of the Knights Templar, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests on October 13, 1307. The Templars were charged with various obscenities and tortured for seven years; none of the charges were ever proven. However, there is no evidence out in the research world that people suffered from this phobia until after the late 1800s. In E. Cobham Brewer’s 1898 edition of the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, there is no information about “Friday, an Unlucky Day” and “Thirteen Unlucky”. But, there are entries about Friday the 13th in later editions of the book.
So, what do you think? Does Friday the 13th scare the crap of out of you? Do you completely change your plans and lock yourself in the house for the day? Personally, I think Friday the 13th is what you make it; you can control what happens during the day. Also some people have better luck than others. According to www.oldsuperstitions.com , some common good luck omens are: picking up pennies, four-leaf clovers, fingers crossed and saying ‘God Bless You’ when someone sneezes. Some bad luck things are: spilling salt, black cats, walking under a ladder and stepping on cracks in the sidewalk.
Old wives’ tales are part of our oral tradition. They are comforting little tidbits of information that are fun to believe but not necessarily true. But, www.kidshealth.com has done a little research and found out which tales are true and which are false. Extra weight out front means a girl; weight around the hips and bottom indicates a boy—this is false. It depends on how the length of the woman’s torso and which direction the baby is laying. If a woman's carrying low, it's a boy; if a woman's carrying high, it's a girl—this is false. The strength of her stomach muscles and number of times she has been pregnant will affect where she will carry the baby. If you go outside with wet hair, you'll catch a cold—false. Colds are caused by viruses. Dry air, whether it’s inside or outside, can decrease a person’s resistance to infection. Cracking knuckles causes arthritis—false. But, frequent knuckle cracking can likely cause hand swelling, decreased grip strength and could possibly result in functional hand impairment.
There are some old wives’ tales that are true, but many are just a tale. Think about growing up or when you knew someone that was pregnant-how many times did you hear an old wives’ tale? Probably more than you think. Even though you know the truth, old wives’ tales are a big part of our language and are so much fun to say.
So, may your luck be good and keep the tradition of tales and superstitions alive but reasonable.
Posted by: Allison Gibbs on 4/15/2007 at 5:41 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Calving—A Change in Seasons
Oh, the joys of spring—green grass, flowers, warm weather and the best part of all—new baby animals running around. But, for the last ten years or so, many farmers and ranchers have been trying a new thing, calving during the fall months instead of the spring. Fall calving has some producers puzzled, and they’re wandering if they should change their calving season.
Before making a drastic change, like deciding what time of the year is best for their cows to calve, livestock producers need to consider some things. They need to look at the weather in their region, work load at the ranch, available help and feed supply. If they decide to move to a fall calving season, the ranchers should only breed a small percentage of their herd to calve in the fall.
In the late 1990s, the Streeter Research Station conducted a study to gather data to help determine the economies of fall calving in North Dakota. Some advantages the team of researchers found are: ideal calving weather; selling calves at non-traditional times of the year offers economic and management flexibility; reduce bull costs because you’ll be able to use the same bulls for both seasons; spread out the farm/ranch’s yearly work load; and spread out cash flow during the year. However, they did find some disadvantages: cows require higher levels of nutrition during the fall, so feed costs could be higher; fall calving runs into harvest, so labor may be scarce; appropriate facilities to protect newborn calves.
My family farms and ranches in southeastern Montana where fall calving is not a common practice. My family has traditionally calved our cows in the spring since my parents started farming and ranching in the early 1980s. However, several cow-calf operations in North Dakota are giving fall calving a chance. Kristi Dockter, of Denhoff, ND, says her family has had a fall calving program for the past four years, and it has worked out really well for them. “We don’t like to get rid of our open [not bred/pregnant] cows in the spring, so this gives us a chance to breed the cows during the winter months, and they’ll calve in the fall,” said Dockter. “It is also less work for my dad to do when he’s home by himself, and it spreads out the cash flow since we can sell calves in the spring.”
Personally, I’m not too sure how I feel about this idea. Weather can just as bad in the fall, and fall calving will run into harvesting. However, it would be nice to spread out the cash flow even more. It would definitely be something to try down the road.
Fall calving is not for every cow-calf operation out there. The producers need to do a careful evaluation of their ranch and available help. Who knows—maybe in 20 years all calves will be born in the fall and all the harvesting will be done in the spring.
Posted by: Allison Gibbs on 3/30/2007 at 10:55 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Blog Archive: Next »