Breakfast Battle Celebrates National Food Check-Out Week

Some of you may know that last week, February 17-23, was National Food Check-Out Week.  National Food Check-Out Week represents the short time-frame that it takes for the average American family to pay for their groceries in a year.  I am the PR chair for my local Franklin County Farm Bureau and this year we recognized Food Check-Out Week by hosting the 2nd Annual Breakfast Battle at our local Fareway grocery store in Hampton, Iowa on February 27 (It was originally on February 22 but due to snow got postponed to this past Wednesday).

This event not only raised knowledge of National Food Check-Out Week, it also increased awareness of finding solutions to eating healthy on a stretched budget by having twelve teams race around the grocery store finding breakfast, dinner and supper for a family of four between $45 and $50.

Members of the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and
First National Bank teams racing in the dairy and frozen sections

The Breakfast Battle included two races; the first was a competition between nine businesses and the second was a battle between two Tall Corn FFA chapter teams and a Fareway team.  Teams consisted of three members each.  Team members drew menus for breakfast, dinner and supper Wednesday morning and then raced around the grocery store getting all their recipe ingredients, plus adding in optional food and drinks for a day’s worth of meals to get their cart total between $45 and $50.  Teams were timed from the moment they left the cart area till they reached the checkout lane.  Time bonuses were given to those that answered agriculture and Farm Bureau trivia questions correctly before the race and there was a time bonus for the team having the most votes on the Franklin County Farm Bureau’s Facebook “Fan Favorite” team poll.  Time penalties were given for every dollar over or under the $45 to $50 cart total range.  Following the race, twelve Franklin County families that utilize the Franklin County Food Pantry in Hampton and the Immanuel UCC Food Pantry in Latimer received the bags of groceries, which included both perishable and non-perishable items.  Donations were also collected for both food pantries.

“We feel like everyone was a winner!” said Brook Boehmler, Executive Director of the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, who had a team in the business race.  “All nine teams (in the business race) are Chamber members and the food collected in the battle went to families who need it.  All the teams had a good time, and we really look forward to being a part of it next year.”

Members and Supporters of the
1st Place Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce team

In the business battle, the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce came in first place with a final time of 2:55.  Second place went to CellTech with a final time of 3:32 and third place went to Franklin County Extension with a final time of 3:36.  Other business teams that competed were Latham Hi-Tech Seeds, First National Bank, ABCM/Rehabilitation Center of Hampton, Farm Bureau Al Menning Insurance, United Bank & Trust and Immanuel UCC.

I had so much fun being a part of this event.  Did you celebrate National Food Check-Out Week?  If so, what did you do in your community?

What I've Learned About the iPad Since Christmas

Did anyone get an iPad for Christmas this year?  Well, my family did, in a way.  One of the seed companies we bought corn from gave customers a new iPad 4 - 32 GB, as a thank you gift.  I say thank you loosely because in the end, we really paid for it, but it was a nice perk from buying from them this year!  Anyways, My Farmer and I have always been PC people and have stayed far away from any Apple/Mac products.  But we are happy with our new iPad and have enjoyed using it.

LP might just enjoy the iPad the most out of the whole family

I figured I'd share a few tricks to the iPad we've learned by "playing around" on it and by going to an iPad class offered through an area Verizon dealer store, Cell Tech in Hampton and the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, along with some of our family's favorite apps.

iPad Tips and Tricks:

• To move an app to a different location or different page, hold down on the app till it starts shaking, at this point you can move it to where you'd like.
• To make folders of apps, for example - we have all of my son's apps in one folder, make the apps shake, then drag apps you'd like grouped together on top of each other.  This will create a folder that you can then give a name.
• To multi-task, double-click the home button and it will bring up all your apps as a bottom scroll bar, you can then bring up another program while saving your spot on another app.

Favorite iPad apps:

• My Farmer's favorite apps:  
• AgPhDMain - farming programs and tools from the Hefty brothers
• AgPhD Fert. Removal - you select a crop such as corn and it tells you the fertilizer removal information for it
• Angry Birds - My Farmer use to have this game on his phone but deleted it because it was so addicting - he says it is even better on a bigger screne! (we might need to delete it in the future... and not just because of him, we all play it!)
• LP's favorite apps:  
• PBS Kids - if you're traveling this is great because it has full episodes of all the PBS Kids television programs - LP loves "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood"
• Farmyard - this is wear you build your own farm by adding animals, farmers, tractors, etc. - everytime you add something to your farm scene it says what it is and makes the sound
• I Hear Ewe - it has a variety of farm and jungle animals, as well as different forms of transportation on it and as you click on something it will say the name along with the sound it makes
• My favorite apps:  
• Evernote - if you're a note taker this is a great program that sinks your To Do list between your phone, iPad, computer, internet, etc.
• Bible - a nice tool to easily search for a bible verse, bible chapter, etc. or just to read the Bible from
• Ant Smasher - this is another addicting game that the whole family enjoys playing where you smash ants, but watch out for the bees!

Do you have any iPad tips or tricks that you can share?  What are your favorite iPad apps?

Toilet Paper Impact

Last night LP and I watched our County Fair Parade and after the Fire Engines, Fair Queen Candidates and local businesses, the Greater Franklin County Chamber had an entry that reminded everyone to Shop Local, Dine Local and Bank Local.  The main focus of their campaign is to Buy One Product Locally - Toilet Paper.

I have to admit, before our local chamber started this campaign I didn't buy my toilet paper locally.  I went out of the county to buy it at a large discount store.  Why not buy something so simple as toilet paper to support businesses in my county!  Here are the numbers:

How much toilet paper is used in Franklin County?

• Number of people in Greater Franklin County = 14, 987
• Average number of rolls used per person each year = 105
• Total number of rolls used by the people of Franklin County = 1,573,635
• Average cost per roll = $1.25
• Total dollars spent on toilet paper per year = $1,967,043.75

How much toilet paper is bought in Franklin County?

• Estimate total rolls purchased locally per year = 268,640
• Average cost per roll = $1.25
• Total dollars spent in Greater Franklin County on toilet paper = $335,800

How much is Franklin County loosing in local sales just because people are buying their toilet paper out of county?  $1,631,244

I'm not one that usually shouts to the hill tops about "Buying Local" but really, what could you do with $1.6 million dollars for your community?