Zest ‘n Zing

Last week was Food Check Out Week. By this week, most Americans have earned enough money to pay for their food for the whole year. The American Farm Bureau thinks this is a pretty big deal – after all, the average American only spends about 10% of their annual income on food – and State Farm Bureaus sponsor celebrations and events all over the country.

This year, the American Farm Bureau came to Indianapolis and helped the Indiana Farm Bureau put on a huge event for the first time called Zest ‘n Zing: A Foodie Event for the At-Home Chef.

We all had a blast at this food party! There were food samples for everyone to taste, and lots of farmers hanging around for people to meet, talk to, and ask questions. We had a big food-oriented party for two hours before launching into the main event, an Iron Chef-style cook-off, featuring pork and cheese products.
The first team was Team Pork, starring Real Farmwife and pork farmer Heather Hill, Indiana’s weatherman Paul Poteet, and Chef Chip from Barto’s Banquets and Catering at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.


The second team was Team Moo, starring Real Farmwife and dairy farmer Liz Kelsay, Dave Smiley from Indianapolis’ Smiley Morning Show, and Chef Jason from Ivy Tech.

Remodel Mondays – Warm and Cozy

Roof? Check. Windows? Check. Insulation? Now we’ve got it!

One major thing we found when we tore the drywall off the inside of the old house was that there was no insulation. Up on top of a windy hill, no wonder the house was drafty! So we insulated. Did we ever!

We put blue board Styrofoam on the outside of the house, and insulated the heck out of the inside.

Here’s the eat-in section of the kitchen.

Ouch, my thyroid!

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it been brave enough to write it yet. It’s finally gotten to the point where this is taking up so much of my time and energy (and, frankly, just plain stealing my energy) that it’s time to write.

I have Graves’ disease. This is a type of hyperthyroidism, where my thyroid gland is overactive and produces way too much thyroid hormone.

Here’s how a normal thyroid gland is supposed to work. Your pituitary gland (in your brain) makes a hormone called thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). This hormone goes to your thyroid gland and tells your thyroid to make two hormones, T3 and T4. T3 and T4 are basically just two different forms the same hormone; one has 3 iodine molecules on it (T3) and the other has 4 iodine molecules (T4.) See, science isn’t that hard!

Remodel Mondays – I can see clearly now

Because we have windows! Whee!

Yes, all of our new windows are in, and I’m so excited! We went with 3 foot wide by 5 foot tall windows in most places, so there is a ton of natural light inside.
This is the eat-in part of the kitchen.The smaller window that you can see to the left is actually in the mudroom. There will be a door between the mudroom and the kitchen. I’m pretty excited to have a room dedicated to just mud. Hubby Doc can really make a mess when he puts his mind to it.

Now this farmwife has boots!

A while ago, I finally upgraded from a Nissan Altima to a Ford Expedition. Driving a truck finally made me feel like a farmwife. But something was still missing. It took me a little while, but I finally figured it out.

Boots!

Remodel Monday – Waterproof

It seems like it has taken forever, but we finally have a finished roof, shingles and all!


Last time we saw the roof, it was covered with the moisture barrier, but that was it. This was the second week in January.

Pineapple farmers

On our trip to Hawaii, we drove past a pineapple farm. Hubby Doc thought that was one of the coolest things. We also ate tons of Maui Gold pineapple.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Pineapple in Hawaii is not the same as pineapple in Indiana. Hawaii does not export any pineapple, except for what people like me bring back on the plane or personally order to be shipped to the mainland. None of the pineapple in the grocery stores comes from Hawaii. If you were looking for a reason to go to Hawaii, go to try the pineapple. You don’t need another reason.

Attack of the blackbirds

Every once in a while, we are completely overcome by blackbirds. They swoop in, hang out for a little while, make a lot of noise, and then swoop back out again.

They love to hang out with the cows. The cows don’t seem to mind.


All of a sudden, for no particular reason, they’ll all take to the sky, all at once. It’s pretty dramatic to be right in the middle.

Remodel Monday – Porches galore

One thing I have been wanting on this house since the beginning is a great front porch. We’re building that, and then some!

First, the front porch. This has been the easy part. You can see where the roof is notched out where the porch is going to sit. You can also see that you need to walk the plank just to get into the house.

Vacation in Maui

A bit of a heads up, this is a photo-heavy post. I took over 2500 pictures while we were in Hawaii, and I had a really hard time narrowing it down to get just a few to post here!

After the AFBF convention on Oahu, we flew over to Maui for a few days of just plain vacation. We drove to the north side of the island and saw some wonderful waves crashing in over the rocks.

There was even a cattle pasture with a beautiful ocean view. Hubby Doc says he is going to require this kind of a view from all his farm calls from now on. I think we’re going to see a decrease in our cattle clients…

What do you worry about?

I've heard lots of people recently worrying about food. They're concerned about where their food comes from, how the animals are handled, what kinds of chemicals are sprayed on the plants, and what happens after the food leaves the farm.

These are all valid concerns, and I have had some of them myself. I'm a large animal veterinarian, and I'm a cattle farmer, and I still don't know all there is to know. I've learned a lot in the last couple of years, and I know I have a lot more to go.

To help myself, and to help you, I've started another blog to deal with these kinds of worries. As of today, I will also be blogging at AgriCultured. AgriCultured will be focusing on food, farming, and food production.

I know there are tons of places to look up information about food on the internet, but this will be different. Instead of having to go to one place to find out about beef, somewhere else to learn about pork, and somewhere else to learn something about corn, it's going to all be in one place on AgriCultured.

I am not going to try to convince anyone that their food choices are "right" or "wrong." My goal is to present information about how food is made, and let you make your own decisions about which food you choose to (or not to) purchase. I am going to do my best to be objective.

Please be patient with me as I build that site. There will likely be a bunch of changes to the look and feel of the site over the next couple of months as I get in my groove. And the content library is going to be building all the time. I'm going to start off talking about beef (after all, I am a beef cattle farmer!), but I'll get into other topics soon. It is a blog - a place for me to post an article, and a place for you to leave comments and ask questions. Please ask questions! You'll help me know what you are wondering about, and that will help me to post helpful articles. You can also find AgriCultured on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. I would love to meet you and interact with you on those sites as well.

Happy eating!