Thanksgiving Safety 101

The holidays are upon us! The next six weeks are full of food, celebrations, family and fun. However, speaking from experience, food poisoning and several hours spent in misery are NOT the way you want to spend family time. Here is a great infographic from www.fightbac.org that preaches food safety as you shop, prepare and serve your Thanksgiving and holiday meals!



Food safety during the holidays for shopping, preparing, storing and serving your goodies. Click to enlarge - source

Wherever you are and however you choose to celebrate, be mindful of those who raised, harvested and prepared the food you are sharing with your family and friends.

And, while you're thanking people keep in mind those members of society who will be working on the Thanksgiving holiday:

• law enforcement
• firemen and women
• shop clerks
• restaurant servers
• turnpike operators
• 911 operators
• medical professionals

I'm sure there are many more but it's pertinent to remember that farmers aren't the only ones working hard to make the world go round and it sure would be bleak without them.

This year, and every day, I'm thankful for a supportive husband and family, a heaping passel of friends, my health, my amazing job [and fantastic colleagues] and a burning passion for agriculture.

Blessings to you and yours.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Decorating with Meat

Well, maybe not literally.

But it's no secret that the Ninja and I love meat and livestock. So much that we decorate a lot of surfaces and rooms of our house with those themes in mind. Here are just a few examples of what we're rocking right now but it change every few months because I get bored:



A Tribute to the Stockman - a gift from one of Hyatt's sisters

 



This little piggy was a gift from our pastors in Australia

 



I gave the Ninja this print as a Christmas gift in 2011 to remember our time in Australia. It's called Shearing of the Rams by Tom Roberts (1890) and he loves it so much that it's the only thing that stays up year-round. Also, the photo is not crooked, the frame hanging on the wall is and I didn't notice it until now. Don't judge.

We have the livestock decor taken care of but my weird completely normal facscination with meat has led me to pursue meat decor for the whole home, not just the kitchen. Waaay back in June or July, I created a Pinterest board titled "Beef, Pork and Meat Home Decor" and I've been meaning to blog about it ever since that time. Today is that time.

It only has about 10 pins but I am constantly searching for more. I cannot choose just one favorite but this one is in my top three:

Meat. Yes It's Meat. Dictionary Page from Whisker Prints on Etsy

I am hoping to keep finding awesome pieces of art like the porterhouse print and add them to our collection of meat and livestock stuff. Here is that pinterest board if you'd like to take a look - Beef, Pork and Meat Home Decor. Also, if you find any great stuff, let me know! I'm always open to new ideas!

Do you combine agriculture and decorating? How so - link up below and share your thoughts!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

 

Why I Rarely, If Ever, Defriend People on Facebook

The number of ‘friends’ I have on Facebook is no longer border-line ridiculous. It's full-on crazy. I crossed that line many moons ago when people whom I’ve never met started requesting to be my friend because they read one of my columns in an ag mag somewhere. Seriously, who in their right mind has ~2,200 ‘friends’ and actually talks to more than 50? 100? Not me. Sorry, outsider 2,100 but we just really aren’t connecting as well as we used to in the days of old.

However, I refuse to defriend 2,100 people based on the fact that we no longer talk (did we ever start?). Why? Well, in my line of work, issues and reputation management, the things I share on my Facebook wall have the potential to impact my non-ag, urban peers in a way that can give them insight into the agriculture industry.

For example, this appeared in my timeline yesterday. Holly is a girl who came to some of our house parties during undergrad at K-State. I think she might have been related to my roommate also, but I can’t recall. I haven’t talked to Holly in at least six years, possibly more. But when I saw this, I knew I had to say something. Jamie Oliver has smeared the name of lean, finely textured beef perhaps more than Jim Avila, ABC and Diane Sawyer did in their crusade. So, I politely gave Holly more info on lean, finely textured beef and its production process via a link from a foodinsight.org, a public information website about food.

Holly may or may not reply and she may or may not look at that link. But Holly’s 700 friends are now ALL able to see that link and hopefully one or two or 12 of them will click and learn about how safe lean, finely textured beef is for consumers. It’s 100% beef!

Urban consumers aren’t the only ones that my posts target. You’d be surprised at how many people from Anderson County, Kansas (my home base which is EXTREMELY agriculturally oriented) grew up in ag families and showed livestock but say things like “I don’t want to buy beef that has been given hormones.” That happened to me at lunch, in that small ag community in southeast Kansas, and my jaw literally dropped – I wasn’t expecting that reaction from that individual. Le-sigh.

So, while my newsfeed is constantly filled with baby pictures of children whose parents I long ago stopped talking to, rad status updates from friends of ex-boyfriends and, probably the most confusing, wedding pictures of young women who’ve married and changed their names leaving me with no idea who they are, I will forge on with my ag promoting, sarcasm-touting Facebook practices because you never know who might be reading or who you might reach with the right info.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

False Alarm for Horse Slaughter

Horses of the Frobuzz ranch

Horse slaughter was to resume this week. "Was" being the keyword.

Last Friday, a U.S. District Court Judge dismissed a lawsuit and subsequent injunction against three plants that are itching to open their doors to America's horses that are past their prime. The Humane Society of the US, Front Range Equine Rescue and a handful of other animal rights extremists filed the case on the basis that "the government did not adequately study the issue of horse slaughter before granting permits to two companies."

The three plants that would have started slaughter this week are Valley Meats in New Mexico, Rains Natural Meats in Missouri and Responsible Transportation in Iowa. The meat from these plants can be shipped to Europe and Asia, which are big horse meat consuming countries. Reinstating horse slaughter in the U.S. prevents horses from being trucked across U.S. borders to Canada and Mexico.

However, since HSUS is a bunch of jerkwads, another injunction has been filed in appeals court and has to be reviewed. I've got money on this one being thrown out as well. Give up, folks. Common sense will prevail eventually.

More info on the horse slaughter front is available here, here, here, and here.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

The thoughts and opinions of this blog post strictly represent that of Brandi Buzzard Frobose and are NOT representative of any other entity or organization.