FAIR TIME IS FUN TIME!!!

It is that time of the year when the smell of corndogs are in the air and the fair memories are flooded back faster than you can "ferris wheel". But sadly in California many of the fair memories will be just that after next year. Thanks to a governor and cutting the budgets 30 fairs are on the edge of  closing their doors forever. So many of the fairs depend on the funding from the state to help run the annual event. So many of us have grown up going to the fair with our parents or grandparents and have fond memories. Why shouldn't our children have the same memories?
Many people are forgetting the roots of the county fair, which is to share with the community the best of what they have, and to educate what is going on with in the county. The fair started for a way for farmers to show off their best animals and sell them to other farmers looking to improve their herds and for the children and wives to show off their prized recipes and artwork. The under tone of the fair is to educate your neighbor on what you are doing so that maybe they can take back the knowledge and make it work for them on their farm. So many of us have left the farm and no longer need to bring back the prize winning bull home but the concept is still there; learn what your neighbor is doing and hopefully bring back that knowledge back home with you.

So go out there to your local fair and learn something new from your neighbor  and take it home and apply it. While you are there make a new memory and support your local county fair.

Teach AG day March 24th!

Teach Ag day is right around the corner and its an exciting day! We can appreciate those who teach us about agriculture in the classroom and out. I know I love teaching people one thing new about agriculture. For so many of us agriculture is our passion and lively hood. I also love being a student of agriculture I love learning new things about the industry.

As a kid growing up I wasn't around the traditional farming, what I learned was from a small scale, a book or a field trip. My dad was a great teacher of agriculture to me and my brother cause he was the first one to teach me how to plant vegetables and care for the fruit trees. In high school I had a few ag teachers, Mr. Bruga and Mr. Appleby, they were great! They had a challenge of teaching us city kids all about agriculture and they did it. I'll never forget Mr. Appleby my sophomore year asking all of us to write on the board what we wanted to learn about agriculture, and I never saw a class of 35 kids so eager to get up and write on a board what we wanted to learn. That year was a great year, I don't think a kid skipped a class cause we all wanted to learn. So thank you to Mr. Appleby for taking all of our ideas and turning them into a year's worth of lessons and teaching us what we wanted to learn! I'm years out of high school and college and I still remember those ag classes and loved learning about agriculture.

I had the best teachers and professors of agriculture and I'm so glad that I can have a day to share my gratitude to them. I hope that I can be as memorable as a teacher as they were to me.

HAPPY NATIONAL AG DAY!

Happy National Ag day!

Today is a day we celebrate the farmer and the rancher that provides for us. But really this day should be celebrated everyday. So many of us are removed from the family farm we take for grant it some of the little things in life the farmers help provide. It is such a luxury to go to the grocery store and find all the fresh fruit, vegetables and meat just waiting there for us. Over time we have become more fortunate thanks to all the convenient foods available at the store as well. It wasn't so many generations ago that everyone was made from scratch and grown in our own backyards.
It doesn't matter your views on farming or ranching as long as we call can agree that it takes hard work and dedication to make the food on our table. So don't forget to thank the farmer or rancher that helped provide those meals you enjoy daily!

BOVINE ECONOMICS

Here is a little help for all those who need a little more help understanding economics.

SOCIALISM:
- you have 2 cows
- you give one to your neighbor

COMMUNISM
-you have 2 cows
- the state takes both and gives you milk

FACISIM
- you have 2 cows
- the state takes both cows and sells you some milk

NAZISM
- you have 2 cows
- the states takes both and shoots you

BUREAUCRATISM
-you have 2 cows
- the state takes both , shoots one, milks the other and throws the milk away

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
-you have 2 cows
- you sell one cow and buy a bull
- your herd multiples and the economy grows
- you sell them and retire on the income

SURREALISM
-you have 2 giraffes
- the government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
-you have 2 cows
-you sell one and force the other to produce the milk of 4 cows
- later you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow dropped dead

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
-you have 2 cows
- you sell 3 of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associate general offer so that you get all 4 cows back with a tax exemption for 5 cows
- the milk rights of the 6 cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all 7 cows back to your listed company
-the annual report says the company owns 8 cows with an option on one more.
- you sell one cow to but a new president for the United States of America, leaving you with 9 cows
- no balance sheet provided with the release
- the public then buys the bull

THE ANDERSON MODEL
-you have 2 cows
- you shred them\

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
- you have 2 cows
- you redesign them so they are 1/10th the size of a regular cow and produce 20 times the milk
- you then create a clever cow cartoon image called "cowkimon" and market it to the world

GERMAN CORPORATION
- you have 2 cows
- you re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month and milk themselves

ITALIAN CORPORATION
-you have 2 cows, but you don't know where they are
- you decide to go to lunch

RUSSIAN CORPORATION
- you have 2 cows
- you county them and learn you have 5 cows
- you count them again and learn you have 42 cows
- you count them again and learn you have 2 cows
- you stop counting and open another bottle of vodka

SWISS CORPORATION
-you have 5000 cows, none of them belong to you
- you charge the owners a storage fee

CHINESE CORPORATION
- you have 2 cows
- you have 300 people milking them
- you claim that you have full employememnt and high bovine productivity
- you arrest the newsman who reported the real situation

INDIAN CORPORATION
-you have 2 cows
- you worship them

BRITISH CORPORATION
-you have 2 cows
-both are mad

IRAQI CORPORATION
- everyone thinks you have lots of cows
- you tell them you have none
- no one believes you , so they bomb the @$#% out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy.

NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
- you have 2 cows
- the one on the left looks very attractive

AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
- you have 2 cows
- business seems good
- you close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

I HEART BEEF MONTH

Well it's that time of year again when we celebrate one of the best food groups ever, BEEF!!! As you can tell I am a big fan of beef. Not only do I support the cattle ranchers but the butchers who do such a good job making the different cuts I love to cook or BBQ up.  The only bad part about February being "I Love Beef" month is that it is only 28 days long. That is way too short in my book.

So all month long I plan on posting recipes and random Beef facts for you! Please feel free to add your own, we always love to learn new recipes and of course new fun facts.

EAT & ENJOY BEEF!

I HEART POSTCARDS!

I was so inspired by a new project a fellow ag enthusiast is starting a AG fact postcard collection. He is trying to collect postcards with ag facts on them from around the country. It is so funny he is starting the collection cause about 3 years ago I made up postcards of different ag commodities on them for kids of all ages to color or mail out with ag facts on the back of them. (if you want to see them please email us at agademics@gmail.com) I love the idea so much I would love to have my own collection and even make up a little book of the postcards from around the country. So all you retired Barn Tour guides please send some postcards our way. we would love to see them and learn something new from you or your favorite Barn Tour fact.

If you are interested in the project that inspired me please check out the website: www.AgricultureProud.com

IS AGRICULTURE A BAD WORD?

In my slow season I sub at local schools, from elementary to high school and I run across the same thing. Most kids have no clue what 'AGRICULTURE" means. They use it every day and see it every day, it may not be in the traditional forms but it there. The kids still think of a farmer in overalls sitting on tractor. And has we all know not all of us wear overalls. The word "AGRICULTURE" to city kids doesn't have the warm fuzzy memories our parents have or even some I have. What most of of our inner city youth knows about agriculture comes from our media and it isn't all positive.

It boggles my mind how "Earth Science" is no longer apart of a agriculture classes but purely just a science class. I find it funny how we have all these school gardens but no one is teaching them "AGRICULTURE" its "GARDENING". I know I might be standing on a soap box but if no one teaches the kids they are truly learning about agriculture how can we except these kids to appreciate the industry.

We praise schools for having school gardens and science programs, but we are first to cut the Agriculture departments. I don't think every school needs a Agriculture department but if you are going to teach the kids about aspects of Agriculture make sure they walk away with an understanding of the word and the industry.