High Five Friday's

Aww young ones we meet again for our Friday social.

So i've been contemplating starting a petition to change the name of Friday to Firday. Why you ask? Well I have a couple reasons, the first is, I inevitably spell Friday as Firday (I just did it again...) every time I type the word out so this change would save me the hassle of using the backspace button and second because it just makes it sound so warm and cuddly like a soft place to warm after a long hard week. Genius, I know, now only if we can train it to start serving the margaritas at noon, I think I would be on to something....

My High 5's this week!!

1. This has been my gorgeous forecast all the week long! I love living in the dessert! 

2. I received Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman's new cookbook on Tuesday!! I was so excited because I pre-ordered it back in December so I didn't even have to think about it, the book just came to me. 

Yes I had it delivered to my office and yes I now own both books!
Groupie in it's highest form.

This cookbook is jam packed full of amazing recipes and I plan on trying a couple this weekend for our Shake Your Shamrocks party!! 

3.I discovered this excellent article about the correlation of red meat and a healthy diet and how the scientists who originally were "informing" the public that it was bad for your diet, didn't even use a relevant scientific study to determine this. It then shows you that red meat is NOT bad for you. Check it out here, you will be glad you did!

4. THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY won in the second round of the tournament last night!! On the road to the championship, GO BUCKS!! If you couldn't tell I am a lil hometown proud... Oh and Go KState Wildcats, I guess your my new hometown lol.

5. I found this and it's freakin hysterical. Your welcome.

Happy Firday my lovelies!!!

A little March Madness My Darlings

I hope each of you has filled out a bracket by now, if not I guess your one less in my way for the 5 million I plan to win from ESPN. Obv I picked THE Ohio State and Duke to go at it in the end but I'm not entirely positive about the rest of my picks besides Mizzu making it into the Final Four.

This was my rough draft, the real one is on ESPN's site.

I am in the pull at work, I told them all that I would be the money holder because I am going to win it all anyways... They didn't go for it.

I will proudly be sporting live scores on my desk top for the next two weeks. Let the madness begin!!!

Who did you pick?

Water Rights, Cattle Fights and Drought Sites! Oh My!

I am really looking forward to this weeks weather forecast not only because of the predicted warmth but because we also have a slim chance of rain!!

The most recent drought map

Moisture is needed terribly in our region (SW Kansas / Panhandle) because of the horrible drought we have been suffering through. Last year we only received a quarter of an inch of rain for an entire 12 month period at one of our feedyards just north of Liberal. It's dry. We have been in a state of emergency for near a year after the wild fire last spring.

Farmers are truly starting to fear this upcoming season for several reasons. First, many of them used so much of their water right's in the 2011 season that they actually started taking from their 2012 rights, already putting them behind on top of not getting any moisture this past winter.

 If you are not familiar with this terminology the legal definition of a water right is, a right to use in accordance with it's priority, a certain amount of water in  a specified time slot. Example: In SW Kansas the farmer that owns the water right is only allotted so many acres of water per year and if he goes over this allotment he will pay a fine and be deducted from the following year's allotment. However, last year when we were declared in a state of emergency, and it was instituted that no one will pay a fine it will just come out of the 2012 allotment because in order to get the crop to harvest or even the insurance cut offs, they had no choice.

The drought also effected the cattle production and market as well. Obviously when we have no moisture we have no grass therefore we have nothing to feed the cattle. I have never seen so much hay moving south in my life! It seem's almost every semi I pass is loaded down with hay out of the north heading to the panhandle and throughout western Oklahoma and Texas. There are many ranching operations out of the region that have gone to the extreme of moving their herds north in search of fruitful pastures. Those who could not find any, moved to late or flat couldn't afford it ended up culling (: to reduce or control the size of (as a herd) by removal of especially weaker animals) much more of their animals than they normally would in order to sustain the quality of the herd on what they could afford to feed them.

The situation doesn't look any brighter coming into this next warm season. Experts are already forecasting a hotter and drier summer than what we had last year, increasing concern for farmers and ranchers. Irrigation systems are already making their rounds of the field and cattleman are still trying to plan the future of their herd.

The purpose of this post is to bring awareness to anyone who does not understand, comprehend or doesn't know about the situation we are in, in the South West. We are the heart of the cattle industry and if something doesn't change quickly, we will have even more severe consequences in the future than what you think we are facing now.

So my request to the readers is: go pull out your tom-tom and start doing the rain dance!!

Armpits and Horny Toads

Well I had an action packed weekend all the way from Friday through Sunday! Do you know why?? I got to spend it with these guys

Doc and his Human

After work on Friday I met Cattleman at the truck stop and we took off like the modern day Bonnie and Clyde!  We were Oklahoma bound to see his nephew before he ships out for oversea's deployment, plus he has a 5 month old small human so obv a play date was in order. It's a two hour drive between here and their little corner of Okie so we had plenty of time to entertain ourselves whilst driving through towns such as Hooker and Tyrone a.k.a. the armpit of America according to the Cattleman, (please pardon his French if you Okies find that offensive, he happens to be a Panhandlonian as well...) he makes me giggle.

Never mind the terrible quality of the photo... 

Then we proceeded to play with this little fella which is never a dull moment. He farts a lot. *giggle*

C'mon girls say it together now d'awwwww, yep I got a keeper 

On our way home we of course had a dance party, where Cattleman definitely broke out in song to Spice Girls, LFO, OPP annnnnd Sugar Land. I love this man. :)

He also decided he wanted to see what it was like to be a dog.
While driving.
I was thrilled of course.

Off to Saturday, WE WENT ANTIQUING and it was fabulous! I found all sorts of neat things but only left with the least expensive / most sensible / useful treasures.

An old blue scale, 2 cook books, a quality rolling pin and a pyrex mixing bowl

Best of all, I got all my laundry done AND the house cleaned on Sunday which in my world is the most exciting part of the weekend. Yay for clean clothes in my closet!!

What did you do this weekend??

High Five For Friday!!

Hey y'all!
That was pretty forced. I'm not southern. I'll stop now.

Well it's fabulously Friday and I'm going to share with you my five favorite things I learned/liked from this past week. Seeing as how it's National AG Week they are all going to be AG related. Eeps! An entire WEEK and POST all about loving agriculture it's an agnerd paradise!

1. The Peanut Farmer. Check it out here. Hallelujah for Reese's and PB&J!!

For your enjoyment:

2. This Diagram say's it all, there's no such thing as a vegan!! Cattle make our world go 'round and support nearly every aspect of your life. Eat beef = support your community. 



3. Truth: Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family. Found here.

4. It takes a combine 9 seconds to harvest enough wheat to make 70 loaves of bread!

5.  I am Ag Proud because without agriculture where would I be? Not only does it affect my life in the way of food and other products but it affects me in my monthly income as well. I aspire to inform and educate the consumer and my community, hopefully through my light and silly personality, as to how relavent it is in their lives as well. 

Thank you to my parents for investing such strong values and appreciation in my life for the men and women who make my meals possible but also for giving me the education to pursue my dreams!

Why are you AG Proud this week?



Grammy's Got a Point You Know...

Do you remember, as a small human or even as a tweener, all those repetitive sayings that your grandmother, uncle or mom were famous for drumming into your skull? Thing's like, "No! You'll poke your eye out." Or, "I'm gonna smack the crap out of you if you don't quit!" Haha just kidding about the second one, Mom *wink, wink.*

"No Ralphy!! You'll shoot your eye out!"

I have three from younghood that stick out the most clearly, I mean out of the constructive life goal encouragement and educational type of sayings, not the I'm going to beat my child ones. Once again, kidding. Sorta.

Oh and if you haven't noticed yet I'm a list and numbers person hence the job in risk management...

On to more important things.

1.  Never write something down that you wouldn't want to see blown up on a court room wall.

Kudos for this one goes to my cousin Richard, he's a big snazzy lawyer that says important snazzy things like that.

But seriously everyone take this to heart. DO NOT EVER right down anything you don't want to see in court. That goes for every aspect of life these day's, you can have a case against you for ANYTHING these day's. Folks are just plum loony.

2. Do not finish sentences with "at." i.e. Where are you at?

My sudo grandmother was an English teacher in a her past life. She was an extremely intelligent woman with very wise and endearing things to tell you about but, for today this is the one that makes the list. It's just bad grammar.

I'm not sure where I picked up this dirty habit but I have been known to drop an at bomb once or twice then proceed to kick myself in the bum, hearing her repeat the mantra in my head.

This one is for 1. and 2. My wonderful family!!!

3. Push that wall of fatigue back. One more!!

Coach Frazee, if you ever read this, please know that this phrase has followed me around since the 10th grade. It is the single most motivational thing I acquired from my entire career in high school sports. I not only repeat this while running or during an intense work out when I feel like giving up but need to give it 10 more second, 10 extra feet or 10 more free throws but also during my life when I hit a tough moment in my career or with my family.

That's been seven years ago and I can still visualize the scene in my head, fall basketball conditioning, we were running down and backs finished with layups and I was coming to the brink when he shouted, "Push that wall of fatigue back. One more!"

Ha. We are the only two not looking at the camera for the
ONE and ONLY picture taken after winning districts...

Thank you, Coach Frazee for that moment of definition in my life.

My point in this post is to tell you that you never know when your giving someone a piece of advice or encouragement how it can effect the rest of their life. Even if they only repeat it in their head and never share it. Remember there is always someone looking up to you, please fill them with confidence, support and constructive criticism!!!

Thankful Tuesday: Peanut Farmers

Well here we are again my little dumplings, it's Tuesday and that means we are 2/5's our way through the work week. 2 day's closer to Saturday. 3 day's away from coffee on the patio (weather permitting.) And 288 hours away from hogging my cattleman selfishly to myself for a precious little while. It will be our second weekend in a row with little to NO schedule *insert happy dance*!! Please tell me your as excited as I am?!!


Anywhoooo, it's time to get thankful and remember to find life's little glasses of lemonade. This week I am thankful for the peanut farmer. I'm sure your saying to yourself, that's random, but I'm Aly and I am random. My inspiration for agvocating the peanut farmer came to me last evening while I was happily munching away on a dozen couple peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies. They were delicious, obviously, and if you don't believe me just ask me. 


So here are a few facts about peanuts and there effect on your daily adventure.


Peanut Facts: Found at the National Peanut Board website located here


Farming:

• There are four types of peanuts grown in the USA — Runner, Virginia, Spanish and Valencia.
• Peanuts are planted after the last frost in April or early May and heaviest harvesting months are September and October.
• The peanut growth cycle from planting to harvest is 120 to 160 days or about five months.
• The peanut plant originated in South America.
• The peanut plant produces a small yellow flower.
• Peanuts flower above ground and then migrate underground to reach maturity.
• A mature peanut plant produces about 40 pods that then grow into peanuts.
• Most USA peanut farms are family-owned and -operated.
• The average peanut farm is 100 acres.

**Funny side note, I never knew peanuts were a root plant or honestly how they grew at all until a year ago. One of the guys I work with grew up on a peanut farm and explained this phenomenon to me. See even though I am in ag doesn't mean I can't learn new things too.

Peanut Plant Diagram

Nutrition:

• The peanut is not a nut, but a legume related to beans and lentils.
• Peanuts have more protein, niacin, folate and phytosterols than any nut.
• Peanuts have a higher antioxidant capacity over grapes, Concord grape juice, green tea, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots and many more. 
• Peanuts and peanut butter contain over 30 essential nutrients and phytonutrients.
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free.

And just for kicks

Holiday's:

January 24 – National Peanut Butter Day 
March – National Peanut Month
March 1 – National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day
March 8 – National Peanut Cluster Day
April 2 – National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day 
May 18 – I love Reese’s Day 
June 12 – National Peanut Butter Cookie Day
September 13 – National Peanut Day 
November – National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month
November 20 – National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

If you ever wonder how life would be without the peanut, just ask someone that is alergic to them. They can't do anything fun...


Did you know that there are over 108 different products made with peanuts. They range from foods, to houshold products, beverages, medicines, cosmetics, dyes, paints, stains and other general products.


Products made from Peanuts found here


If you want to learn how relevant of a commodity this is challenge yourself to go for 2 day's without a single peanut influenced product. 


So thank you peanut farmers for Reese's, Snickers, Coke and most importantly peanut butter cookies! 

**Also, we have had two peanut farmer presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter. So they are obv oober important.

Life's Sweet Lemonade

Ok, I know I'm a few months late, literally, but I thought I would give you a post on my 1 and only New's Year's resolution which I actually did come up with wayyy back on 12/31/11.

Again, I am aware my timing is
a smidge off....

Cheers my friend!

I have resolved to find life's sweet little glasses of lemonade. If your not sure what I mean by that it is my twisted interpretation of the old adage: When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

I am sick of people only telling me negative things friends, family, news, workplace... your all guilty. Yes you. We live in such a negative culture it's almost shocking. It's like everyday is doomsday round hur. So to keep my sanity I will consistently be looking for the glass half full part of any situation. I've nearly always had this quality in my personality, yes I am one of those people that awesome, but I have never made it a point of practice.

One way I have come up with to keep me accountable is by posting regular Thankful Tuesday and High Five For Friday posts. It will be two set times a week I need to reflect and enjoy the great things I have been given along with another day to live, another breath to take and another key to strike.

So I guess what I'm saying is, get up Negative Nancy and go to something productive for your community and world. Plus you know if you keep making that face sooner or later it's gonna get stuck that way... seriously.

Let's get this Lemonade Stand crankin!

Kansas Ag Week: Teaching the Younger generations

Were you aware that there were 8 MILLION members enrolled in 329 thousand 4-H clubs and 4-H sanctioned programs? That 33% were in grades K-3, 39% grades 4-6, 16 % grades 7-9 and 9% in grades 10-12. I attribute the dwindling percentages in the older kids to joining FFA (Future Farmers of America) when they are of high school age.

Were you also aware that there are 33 MILLION school age children in the United States? That puts 4-H enrollment at only 24% of kids, which means that only 2.4 out of every 10 kids has ever had any influence of agriculture in their lives. Granted, there are some "farm kids" that are never in 4-H but that is more the exception than the rule.

Wyatt shaking up his ice cream for one
activity during their meeting.

Friends, we have a lot of work to do to touch the lives of these children and teach them the actualities of the agriculture world. There are several groups out there, not naming any names *cough, cough* PETA, set out to convince them that we are wrong and inhumane, if we don't show them otherwise then who is left to blame the kids for believing them? We are. We can no longer just assume that they are being taught correctly about our industry, because that is simply not true. Most are even 2 to 3 generations removed from agriculture which means in some cases their parents and grandparents aren't even educated on what we do for a living. Like I've said before it's time to take a stand, pull our boots up and get to getting, after all that's what we are good at anyway's , isn't it?

A good place to start is by encouraging  the younger generations that are already interested, to pursue a life goal in AG by showing them what a diverse culture we are as an industry, that they actually have options, you don't just have to be a farmer or a rancher. Dream big and go for the gold!

 Wyatt Gigot, the son of Marc and Jackie Gigot (Circle Heifer Development,) invited TJ McClure of Circle Heifer Development, LLC in Garden City, Kansas  to represent him for career day in his 4-H club, The Happy Hustlers.

 TJ set out to inform them of the different options they would have in the heifer development industry. He also, explained to them what actually goes on at his facility.

TJ McClure speaking to the Happy Hustlers
4-H Club

At Circle Heifer, they receive female Holsteins at the age of 6 months. They raise these heifers on a silage/roughage diet, expertly care for them with the help of a veterinarian, breed them and when the time comes send them happily back to the dairy and herd to which they belong. Each heifer has an individual i.d. that can trace their entire record while in the care of TJ and his crew to be sure that she has the attention she needs. Their goal is to provide high quality care, full service development and expertly chosen genetics for breeding to encourage a returning customer.

Examples of careers at his company are:

• General Manager - usually requiring a Bachelors of Animal Science background
• Large Animal Veterinarian 
• Animal Nutritionists
• Commodity Re-seller
• Artificial Insemination Specialist
• Office and Computer help
• Human Resources
• Cowboys
• Feed truck Drivers
• Mill Operators

Heifer calves being trained in stanchions at
Circle Heifer Development

One of my favorite questions from a member to TJ was, "What is your favorite part of your job?" He answered with, "The fact that our organization impacts the entire circle of life in the dairy industry.  Raising the calves from 6 months of age through breeding, we will hopefully see many generations of the same herd through our facility." 

A large point that he really wanted to drive home was that there are many many options for a career field in agriculture. A lot of the time kids are only acquainted with area their parents work in and don't realize how much our industry really has to offer.

TJ is a great leader in agvocacy and truly cares to teach others about his field. What are you doing to teach the consumer about your part?

I of course have to add this picture of Wyatt's little sister, she's too darn cute!

Lauren wanted to take a "silly" picture :)

Until  next time...

High Five For Friday's

I know what your thinking, TGIF right? ME TOO!! I'm so ready for Saturday morning, even though I never get to sleep in it just seems so much more relaxed than any other day of the week. I'm gonna break out my comfy jeans and a fleece pullover then head outside to plan my veggie garden. Oh, and build garden boxes so you can be expecting pictures later through the weekend. NEWS FLASH: Planters did not happen this weekend... Im sad to say the least, but don't worry they will be springing up (like my pun? lol) in the near future!!

This is my second decision this week for a blog post series (Thankful Tuesdays being the first) on my adventure to find the lemonade you can read about here. I first saw the series over at From My Grey Desk (super cute blog you should scope it out.) It's called High Five For Friday's, basically I am going to pick my 5 favorite things from the week and share them with you. Part of my New Years resolution was to find the lemonade in life rather than the lemons, and this is a great way to reinforce that mind set.

So here it goes, my first H54F:

1. I made my first chocolate pie complete with marange mixed in my fancy new KitchenAid mixer (thanks to my Cattleman.) Confession: No I didn't make the crust it was a frozen one, I'm not extremely enthusiastic about rolling pins. We have a love hate relationship. But my firends gobbeled it up anyway!

2. This picture only seems appropriate given the current post. Found on Pinterest.

Pinned Here

3. I found this picture on Pinterest also, and plan to make it this weekend in between garden planning and building... I'm not sure where I will hang/set it, but the saying made me giggle so its obv that I need it ;)

Pinned Here

4. I came up with 52 dates for under $25.00, I know I'm awesome your allowed to say it. You can check them out two tabs to the right! 

5. And for the last, it's DR. SEUSS' BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy birthday to the author that animated my childhood!

Thank's for stopping by and I hope you also have a fabulous weekend!!