A Word About Hats

Since going to school on the west side of Oregon, I have noticed a very serious issue: many people don't know how to act around or with cowboy hats. Whether it's setting a hat down the wrong way, making smart alecky comments, or touching someone else's hat, I see hat faux pas all the time. I realize this is because many folks just aren't aware of hat etiquette, so this is my PSA about cowboy hat etiquette.

A cowboys hat is perhaps his most prized possession, right up there with his horse and his dog. It protects him from the rain, sun and wind, and looks good in the pickup on the way to town. It also tells it's wearer's story; the shape and style can tell you wear a cowboy is from, and what he does (e.g. bullrider, buckaroo, roper, etc.). Along with all this meaning and information conveyed by a hat comes a code.

1. Never, and I mean NEVER, touch a cowboys hat. This is as good a way to get a whooping as any. Seriously, the fastest way to take a happy cowboy and make him madder than a momma cow is to knock his hat off his head, try to wear it, or to touch it in general. Side note: if a woman is taking a cowboys hat off, it means inappropriate things. And, there's still a chance he will be irritated, though a real cowboy isn't going to fight a lady.
2. Always set your hat on it's crown, never on the brim. A cowboy hat generally has a curve to its brim, and setting it down flat will squash that curve right out, ruining the hat. If you see a hat resting "upside down" on its crown, don't touch (see rule #1); the cowboy intended to set it that way.
3. Handle a felt hat by grasping the edge of the brim and the inside of the crown. This prevents grease buildup on the brim. Felt hats are like sponges, and grease is extremely hard to get out.
4. Gentlemen, during the National Anthem, remove your hat and place it over your heart. Ladies, traditionally, you don't have to take off your hat, but you should still place your hand over your heart.
5. The hat comes off inside a private home, restaurant, church, etc. Basically, if you are indoors, the hat should come off. The exception is public buildings, or if there is no way to safely store your hat.
6. When a gentleman meets a lady, he removes his hat. Take it off with your left hand, and shake her hand with your right.
7. Finally, smart remarks like "Where's your horse?" "Ride 'em cowboy!" and just the plain 'ol "yeehaw!" are incredibly irritating, and mark you out from mile away as a tenderfoot. You won't see many cowboys pointing at your snapback hat and saying things "Hey dude, where's your skateboard?" so give them the courtesy not pokin fun at their hat. Compliments are fine, but don't be condescending.

These are the basics of wearing a cowboy hat, and how to act around someone who is wearing one. A cowboys hat means more to him than nearly anything else in the world. A little respect to this tradition goes a long way.

Hottest of Hot Topics

We live in a time of extraordinary change. What was deemed impossible fifty years ago is now commonplace. Every major industry in the world has had to undergo radical change in order to meet the demands of a dynamic, technology savvy, but often under-informed society, and agriculture is no exception. With world population predicted to reach eight billion by the year 2025, we have to find ways to feed more people than ever before, with less land than we have ever had. This means that in twelve years, nine million American farmers will have to come together to feed nearly two billion people all across the globe. That is an astounding number. Every single farmer in the US will have to be able to feed 177 people.
But how can we use less land, less fuel, and less manpower to feed more people? There are many proposed solutions out there, but perhaps the most controversial is genetic manipulation. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have polarized the world for nearly a half century. Champions of the anti-GMO movement claim the genetic modification is playing God, unreliable and dangerous. Those embracing GMOs respond by presenting short-term studies showing the safety of this technology and point out that traditional plants cannot produce enough to feed the world.
Who is right? Should we embrace GMOs as the solution to our upcoming food shortage? Or should we leave them by the wayside and pursue more laborious options? That is what we have to decide. Consumers must be informed, as must agriculturalists, about the pros and cons of gentic manipulation. In the next article, we will explore the anti-GMO side, it's points and conclusions, and see if maybe there is some truth in the accusations brought against GMO technology. Later, we will look at the history of GMOs, their benefits and how they may hold the the key to feeding a booming population. Finally, we will investigate abuses of power by companies using GMO technology and come to a conclusion on this hottest of hot topics.

Have a nice day!

RoundUp Ready

Ok, ok, I know: I'm horrible about posting on a regular basis. But I try. Anyway, I thought I would just begin a discussion on Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs. Specifically, RoundUp Ready crops, produced by Monsanto. There is a huge debate raging right now over the supposed safety, or lack thereof, of RoundUP Ready technology. One day a study comes out saying you will die of cancer at 30 from eating GM food, and then the next, one comes out saying that GM foods are actually more nutritious than non-GM foods. Who do you believe? Over the next few posts, I will explore some of these claims on both sides, and give my (less than expert) analysis on the data with my interpretation of the whole issue. Stay tuned and enjoy the blog!
And of course, have a nice day!

Porcine furnaces make many meals of food waste

By BOB SHAW, St. Paul Pioneer Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Welcome to hog heaven. The pampered pigs served by Barthold Recycling get to savor the leftovers of $30 entrees from fine restaurants. They come running as the day-old steaks and sauteed asparagus cascade into their pens. They always get a hot meal -- thanks to a unique system that cooks their food right in the truck. They eat and sleep in a spacious outdoor pen. "For them, it's like a bed and breakfast," said Luke Barthold, 24, as he dumped the recycled food waste into the pen.
Every year, about 23,000 tons of food scraps are fed to 5,000 hogs in Anoka County. It is collected by Barthold Recycling, owned by Pete Barthold, Luke's father. He uses the scraps to feed his own hogs and hogs on three other farms owned by Luke and two cousins.
It has advantages over other forms of recycling, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (http://bit.ly/Y3nVPz). It removes food scraps that would have ended up in landfills, producing methane. It's the only method of food-scrap recycling that produces food, instead of compost. And it's done without a dime of government subsidies -- a point of pride for Barthold.
Saving the environment was not on the agenda for Barthold's grandfather Leroy when he started the business in 1927. "They gave him a pig, and he had to get something to feed it, so he stopped at a restaurant," said Barthold. Leroy Barthold's farm was in Fridley, where Totino-Grace High School is today. The business gradually grew, and Pete Barthold became the owner in 1988.
Only lately has it become trendy -- thanks to a growing appreciation of its environmental benefits. Barthold now collects food from about 400 businesses in the metro area, including nearly all of the St. Paul public schools. The business has tripled in size since he took over.
Lenny Russo, chef and owner of Heartland Restaurant in St. Paul, said the program saves him money because he can reduce his trash collections. He pays Barthold $4 per 60-gallon container. In September, having food scraps hauled away in 40 containers cost him $160 -- cheaper than trash removal. But just as important are the benefits to the planet, Russo said. "We do this because we think it's the right thing to do," he said. "It's not a marketing tool. You won't see this in an ad -- 'Come to Heartland because we do this.' "
It's the only way he has to recycle food. "We would love to be able to compost," Russo said. But there is no citywide composting program for St. Paul businesses. A program proposed for 2013 would provide curbside pickup of food scraps for the city's homes but not its businesses.
Zack Hansen appreciates what Barthold is doing. But Hansen, Ramsey County's environmental health director, said the food-to-hogs program can't replace composting because the hog feed must be 100 percent food -- no paper. That means paper napkins, receipts and food packaging must be sorted out. Composting can handle any kind of paper.
A typical journey from plate to pigsty shows how Barthold runs his squeals-on-wheels program. On a recent Wednesday night, a Heartland Restaurant patron ordered a $36 Limousin strip steak with "green cabbage, banana peppers, pumpkin and cranberry compote." When workers cleared the table, they scraped the leftovers into a sealed bin in the kitchen.
At 11 a.m. the next day, driver Erick Krotzer pulled the Barthold truck to the restaurant. He loaded six bins of scraps onto the lift and dumped the contents into the truck. Krotzer completed his route, then drove to the farm in St. Francis. He parked and attached a 2-inch steam hose to the truck. Barthold stood by, listening. The steam gurgled inside like a bubbling pot on a stove. "You can hear it working," he said.
Barthold and his relatives developed the truck. He ran loops of metal tubes around the bed of a dump truck. The steam runs through the tubes, heating the contents and turning the truck into a kettle on wheels. The food reaches 200 degrees to kill germs. It is usually cooled for several hours before the hogs get it -- Barthold doesn't want any pigs with burned lips.
The contents are then dumped in a feed bin. The slop was tan-colored, with a list of ingredients that the day before were edible to people -- melons, eggplant, bread, apples, peppers and bunches of broccoli. Somewhere in the mix were leftovers of the $36 steak.
Barthold's son Luke -- who operates a hog farm of his own -- wheeled a back-end loader around to scoop it up. The penful of squealing hogs came running. Then the pen went silent, except for the splash of hooves in the muck and contented snorts.
As Barthold watched them, it was clear that he likes pigs. Barthold's hogs have free rein in their outdoor pens. "They get sunlight. They run around. They get rained on," he said. One hog came up to him like a family dog, putting his snout on a fence and gazing up.
Barthold likes to watch them eat. When one grabbed an apple away from another hog, Barthold played announcer: "I am leaving with this treat right now!" He pointed to another: "See that one? Ooooh, I got a carrot!"
He has dropped his cellphone into the mess before -- which is not recommended. The phone bears a scar -- cracks inflicted when a hog pounced on it and bit it before spitting it out. Barthold drove back to his house, still chuckling about the antics of the hogs. "My living is off my hogs," he said.
** Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

A Date in Infamy

December 7, 1941 dawned like any other average American Sunday: people got up, dressed, went to church, ate breakfast and read the morning paper. The military in Hawaii ran through their usual routine of reveille, raising the Flag and attending morning services. Suddenly airplanes filled the sky and bombs rained down from above. As the sailors looked on, the Japanese pressed home their surprise attack and to great advantage. When the smoke cleared, the Japanese had sunk eight US battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, a minelayer and an anti-aircraft training vessel, destroyed 188 aircraft, killed 2,402 men and wounded 1282 more. All for the cost of a paltry 29 Japanese aircraft and five midget submarines destroyed and 65 servicemen killed. And yet, despite being surrounded by disaster and despair, our soldiers kept their heads and acted with remarkable bravery. Medics went about their duties, saving lives, gunners remained at their posts, and a few very brave American pilots mounted their steel horses and took the fight to the Japanese. Despite overwhelming opposition, these amazing men fought with everything they had and made a small, but important, difference. As we face an age where terrorism and surprise attacks are so common as to become unimportant, let us remember the "date which will live in infamy" and those real life heroes who gave their lives in that treacherous attack. Thank you to all American soldiers, past and present. And to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice I say this: it was not in vain. We are forever grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! As we celebrate this day, let us take a moment to consider why we are thankful. For me I am thankful, first and foremost, to be alive on God's green earth, surrounded by friends and family, with plenty to eat, money in the bank and cows in the pasture. I live in the greatest nation on earth, founded by men of great courage with a government unlike any other, protected by young men and women of equal courage who cannot celebrate with us today. To them I say thank you with all my heart; your sacrifice is appreciated and honored. Please take a moment today and count your blessings. Thank a soldier, a farmer and the Almighty: we owe them our freedom, our lives and our existence.
Have a nice day!

Trends in National Beef Quality Audit

The 2011 National Beef Quality Audit revealed several trends in the modern beef industry. According to Dr. Jeff Savell of Texas A&M AgriLife Reasearch, cattle with predominantly black hides increased from 45.1% to 61.1% since the 2000 audit. There has also been a continued expansion of branded beef programs (such as Certified Angus Beef) and a significant reduction in manure on hides, due to the industry's focus on cleanliness in order to reduce the threat of contaminants entering slaughter plants. Slaughter plants now average 6.4 branded beef programs each with increased sorting for age, source, specific harvest times and other brand-specific requirements.
We are also seeing an increase in carcass size, although yield grades are remaining about the same, with average carcass weights at 852.7 pounds for steers and 776 pounds for heifers. In addition,  slaughter plants are seeing 20% individual electronic identification, compared to 3.5% in 2005.
Animal welfare is another big concern for major restaurant chains and the entire beef industry. Many cattle handling operations have been evaluated and several have made changes to such things as chute gates and other potential causes of bruising. Dr. Savell said we have seen a 77% decline in bruised carcasses in 2011 showing a heightened awareness of, and attention to, cattle handling.
There are exciting changes happening in the beef industry today and most of them are positive. We can now produce more meat with less input and more attention to animal welfare. Consumers are becoming better informed of where and how their food is produced and they are more satisfied with how cattle are treated and raised. This all boils down to a much better bottom line for beef producers.