Like My Facebook Page!

Yesterday was LP's 2nd Birthday and both My Farmer and I were commenting that we weren't sure if it wore out him or us more.  Needless to say I haven't done too much today but clean-up post-party, play with new birthday gifts and I started a Facebook page for my blog.  Please go and "Like" my blog's page!  Also be sure to keep checking my blog for a birthday party post and a post from the AgChat Foundation Regional Conference I attended this past weekend.

Travel Midwest Part II

Last month I talked about the Fly In To Fly Over Country initiative in my first Travel Midwest blog post about my "Girl's Weekend" in Dubuque.  Today, I'm going to share about an Iowa Farm Bureau Young Farmer day trip that My Farmer and I took to Marquette and McGregor, Iowa last weekend.

Our friends Mike and Kaylee with me and My Farmer along the Mississippi River

Last Saturday around 50 Young Farmers from Northeast Iowa (and a few from North Central Iowa!) traveled to the Mississippi River for a day in Marquette and McGregor, Iowa.  These towns are both along the river and are a couple miles from each other.

The day started by going on a tour and eating at Old Man River Brewery in McGregor.  This was a great place to meet up and visit with everyone, as well as try some beer!  My favorite beer was their Gold Coin Helles.  There top selling beer is their Slingshot Dunkel.  They are selling so much beer that they are brewing daily!

After the brewery, we all went on a two-hour river boat cruise where we learned about agriculture and shipping on the Mississippi River.  It was a lot of fun to be on the river and to see barge traffic in action.

The last tour of the day was at Eagles Landing Winery in Marquette.  It was a lot of fun to get a tour of the winery from one of the owners.  You could really sense his love and passion for agriculture, viticulture, his winery and Iowa.  My favorite wine probably was their Campfire Hootch, which also happens to be their top seller.  The neat thing about this wine is that they created it by chance by combining the bottom of their wine tanks.  No two batches of this wine will ever be the same.

My Farmer and I had a great time during our trip to the Mississippi River.  Remember to join the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page.  Also, check out the groups's Pinterest page too.  This campaign was started in May when National Geographic's Aric Queen announced he would be traveling the United States on a "Classic American Roadtrip."  The only downfall of this roadtrip was that it started on the East Coast, went down South and then over to Los Angeles - completing bi-passing the Midwest!

What are some agri-tourism trips you have went on?

I'm Farming and I Grow It

I'm sure by now you have all seen the You Tube video I'm Farming and I Grow It.  This video was done by some brothers from Kansas and the video in less than two days has went viral!  Yesterday morning I found out about it and at that time there were 2,000 some odd views, as I write this blog post now there are over 250,000 views!  What a fun video and a great message to the world about agriculture.  Today I noticed the family farm, Peterson Farm Bros, have started a facebook page and are planning on doing more videos.  I can't wait to see what they have in store for the future!  Good luck guys!

Warning the tune is very catchy and you'll be singing it all day!

Gotta Feed Everybody, Gotta Feed Everybody, Gotta Feed Everybody

I - Work - Outside!

Travel Midwest

I promised in my "Purple, Girls, Healthy and More" post last week that I'd explain about Girls and Healthy at a later time, well today I'm going to explain Girls, as well as talk about the Fly In To Fly Over Country initiative going on right now.

At the beginning of the month I had my annual "Girl's Weekend" with my Mom and sisters.  We do it every year as my Mom's Mother's Day gift.  The criteria for the Girl's Weekend is that it must include massages, lots of good food and drinks, be an overnight, involve at least a little shopping and be a lot of fun!  We have traveled several places in Iowa for our girl's weekend and this year was no different, we celebrated our Girl's Weekend in Dubuque!

My Mom, Sisters and I at Stone Cliff Winery in Dubuque

We started out our Girl's Weekend by slowly traveling over to Dubuque.  You see my sister Amanda and I live about 100 miles away from each other and my Mom and sister Rachel live in between, so in order to get everyone in one car it takes a little time and usually means we don't take a direct path to where we are going.  So I figured on our way east to Dubuque we should visit my county's town seat, Hampton.  We started our Girl's Weekend by doing plenty of shopping in Hampton.  This town offers a wide variety of specialty shops.  Great shops to check out in Hampton include (but are not limited to) Freckled Dandelion (baby and kids clothing, books and toys boutique), Orange Possum (teen and young female adult clothing and accessories), Wood Cellar (home decor and gifts), Cornerstone Cottage (home decor, books, gifts, bath & body shop) and Cornerstone Cottage Kids (kids books, games and room decor).

After our shopping in Hampton we traveled the rest of the way to Dubuque and got settled in at the historic Hotel Julien.  After checking-in to the hotel we checked out the downtown area including Cable Car Square, went out to eat at Crust, and then drank wine and listened to live music at Stone Cliff Winery and Star Brewery.

Star Brewery and Stone Cliff Winery, Dubuque

My favorite wines at Stone Cliff were their Riesling and Red Fox.  I recommend going to Stone Cliff Winery because besides being a fun atmosphere and good wine, it is right along the Mississippi River and the River Walk.

Mississippi River Walk, Dubuque

On the second day of our Girl's Weekend the big thing we did was get massages at Potosa Spa.  The massages were great and we all loved to spa amenities and atmosphere.

My Mom, Sisters and I love traveling Iowa, and I love exploring Iowa with my family too!  And that is why I encourage all of you to join the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page.  This campaign was started last month when National Geographic's Aric Queen announced he would be traveling the United States on a "Classic American Roadtrip."  The only downfall of this roadtrip was that it started on the East Coast, went down South and then over to Los Angeles - completing bi-passing the Midwest!  As a child many of my favorite family vacations were in the Midwest including the Badlands, Deadwood and the Corn Palace in South Dakota, Hannibal, St. Louis and Kansas City in Missouri, and Springfield in Illinois.

If the Fly In To Fly Over Country: Travel Midwest facebook page gets 300 likes by next week National Geographic has agreed to talk with Deb Brown from Iowa about traveling to the Midwest.  So please help this effort to showcase why the Midwest is so great by joining the facebook page and spreading the word to your friends.  Also, check out the groups's Pinterest page too.

What do you think makes the Midwest special?  Where have been some of your favorite Midwest vacation spots?

Speak-up and Support Agriculture Today!

This weekend there are two events happening where you can get involved to show your support for agriculture - Food Revolution Day and Ag Pizza Party.

Food Revolution Day.  Jamie Oliver, host of the TV show "Food Revolution" and catalyst of the "pink slime" situation, has named today, Saturday, May 19th, as "Food Revolution Day."  If you go to the event's website you'll notice that the motto behind the day is "Stand Up For Real Food."  Real food.  This simple word make me want to get involved and I hope it does you too!  If you look more on the website it looks like they define real food as locally sourced, fresh food.  They also make a bold statement that everyone needs to "get back to basics and start thinking about where our food comes from."

I believe one of the best parts of living in America is that we have choices.  We have the privilege of having lots of healthy choices when it comes to our food.  I know that my family and other farm families across the nation do their best job to raise affordable, healthy and quality food for me and everyone.

So why stand up today.  Well, I think farmers should talk about what we do on our farms everyday, but especially today, I challenge everyone to share their story of how we all play an important role in raising the safest food supply in the World.  I'm doing this by writing this blog, as well as tweeting and facebooking about all the good work farmers are doing to create those food choices that I talked about before.  If you tweet, please use the hashtag #FoodRevolution in your tweets about the good work farmers do to feed people. You can also follow the @FoodRev Twitter handle to monitor messaging and even chime in.  On Facebook, you can visit the Food Revolution Community page and post your feedback and information there. You can also use your own personal pages to share information and insight. 


To get you started, I thought I'd share a couple tweets I have scheduled for today:

• Today's American #farmer produces enough food in a year to feed 155 people, compared to just 46 in 1960. #FoodRevolution
• In 2012, 97% of US #farms are family owned and operated. #Food Revolution
• In less than a generation, world’s population will need 100% more food than grown today. #FoodRevolution
• Livestock get antibiotics, med  treatment 2 prevent, treat disease, just like u & ur family. #FoodRevolution
• When the weather cooperates, #Iowa #farmers can plant over 1 million acres of #corn in 1 day. #FoodRevolution
• I’m an #IA #farmer & proudly eat the meat I raise on my farm. Mmm #Pork. #FoodRevolution
• I'm an #IA #farmer & am proud to raise #corn, #soybeans, #pigs and #kids. #FoodRevolution

Ag Pizza Party.  The second event that you can get involved in is happening all weekend, it is the Ag Pizza Party.  About a month ago, Domino's Pizza shareholders rejected a request to study ending the use of pork from suppliers who use gestation creates.  Other fast-food companies like Burger Kind, Wendy's and McDonald's have pledged to phase out the use of pork from such suppliers, but Domino's said hold on, lets talk to experts in animal care and behavior to see where we should be getting our food from.

My Farmer and I just finish hogs, so we are not apart of the phase of growth that involves gestation crates, but I was raised on a farrow to finish hog farm that did use gestation crates.  Gestation stalls are a benefit to both the mother sow and baby piglets.  The major benefit is that it creates a safe environment for both the sows and piglets.

So how can you get involved?  Go to your local Domino's Pizza (which I am going to have to travel 33 miles to get to mine) and order a pizza for you and your family this weekend, May 18th-20th.  When you pick-up your pizza, hand them a thank you note.  If you are a farmer use this thank you note and if you are an ag supporter use this thank you note.

So enjoy some great pizza and say thank you to a company that supports agriculture and farm families!

A Full Social Media Plate

Within the last two months I feel like I have filled my "social media plate."  My social media timeline would go like this:

• 2004 - Facebook.  I started a facebook account when it came to Iowa State University when I was a sophomore in school, back in the day that it was only at colleges.  I have seen facebook go through many changes, but through it all I would say I am very comfortable with facebook.
• 2009 - LinkedIn.  I started a LinkedIn account after I found out about the social media by being involved with a leadership group.  I joined because this leadership group created a LinkedIn group on it.  I get a lot of ideas for the independent contract projects I do from the groups I am a member of; I love being able to ask questions to other professional and network with people I have worked with.
• 2012 - Blog.  I started this blog on January 1st after a long time of thinking about doing it.  I am really enjoying blogging and would now consider myself a blogger.
• 2012 - Twitter.  I started a Twitter account on January 24th after My Farmer convinced me that following people, such as ag marketing services, was benefit enough to begin an account.  I was always a twitter holdout but now that I'm learning the ropes of tweeting I can see the advantages to using this social media.
• 2012 - Pinterest.  I started Pinterest at the beginning of February after being asked to give a presentation to a group of farm women on how I use social media and why to get involved.  I wanted to tell the women about Pinterest so I figured I'd better join.  Now that I'm on it - I love it!  It is great to store ideas in one place.

So as you can see, my social media plate is now pretty full!