So the last time I was in Maryland...

...about a month and a half ago...sorry blog. 

I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends, I didn't take too many pictures but here are a few snapshots. 

Mom fixing the price tag thing on the shelf at Target that one of us broke.

Erik at our final stop at Ritas.

This is actually kind of a funny story. Somehow one of us (Mom, Erik, and I) got the idea that it would be really great to have a snowcone. I can't remember exactly, but we spent at least an hour traveling to about 4 different snowball stands. All closed. After failure number 4 we saw Rita's across the street and decided it was good enough.

Steamed Blue Crabs! Obviously one of the highlights of that weekend!

Soapbox

*actually wrote this a couple weeks ago when more talk about this topic was going on, but I never remembered to actually post it, here it is...

I'm not normally one to talk a whole lot on opinions or observations about current events on this blog. Often, hot topics on Facebook, blogs, and other social media seem to become more about bashing the other side and screaming your opinion the loudest than having a true conversation. People online seem to speak towards each other in a hostile way that they probably would not use when speaking face to face with another person. Disclaimer done, lets get talking.

Have you seen the new Chipotle Scarecrow commercial?

I don't think it is on TV (a bit too long for that) but you can easily find the film online. In the last few weeks I have seen lots of links for this video and much praise. Admittedly, the short film is well done, but rather than making me want to support Chipotle, it makes me not want to eat there anymore.

My issue with this commercial is the portrayal of modern agriculture. Frankly, I find it offensive and belittling to the farmers and ranchers that work hard every day to ensure that there is food for the world.

Here are a couple blog responses that provide some good insight:

http://udderside.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-letter-from-cows-to-chipotle.html

http://homesteadhillfarm.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-confession-from-former-ag-snob.html?m=1

Videos like this Chipotle Ad make a lot of people start talking and thinking more about food systems. And that is great. But if we really want to get a conversation moving about modern agriculture lets try to take an honest look at everything that modern agriculture encompasses. Modern agriculture is small farms, large farms, local produce, the global marketplace, organic foods, distribution networks, processing, scientific research, grocery stores, farmers markets, and so much more.

All of these aspects of our food system have a lot of great things going and there is still room for new innovations and improvements. Within the last 5-6 years I have had the opportunity to tour small farms, large farms, work with grass fed sheep and cattle as well as corn fed pigs, I have toured animal processing facilities, and worked on agriculture research stations. I have yet to see or learn about any system that even closely resembles that of what Chipotle depicts in their short film.

The processing facility that I toured was absolutely bright, clean, and spotless, pretty much the opposite of the dark factory depicted in the commercial. There is one moment in the film where a chicken is being shot full of some unspecified substance and then grows large. First of all, have you ever tried to give a chicken a shot? The idea that poultry producers would be doing this is pretty laughable. Not to mention the fact that chickens are never given a synthetic hormone, it's not even an option.

Am I really boycotting Chipotle? Nah. I think they make a pretty tasty over sized burrito. (Mind you, this is something I only eat maybe a couple times a year anyway.) Am I disappointed in their advertising techniques? Without a doubt.

Perhaps you are wondering why I'm so frustrated with an animated short. But this truly matters. People are becoming more interested in learning about where their food comes from, though it seems that the public is only getting half the story. The public asks the government to bring about change, but I fear that people ask for changes to an agricultural system they do not understand. Often I hear the quote that we will have 9 billion people to feed by year 2050. To do that lets not bash one type agriculture, but work to find the best aspects in each system around the world. I plan on continuing to learn more and I hope you will too. And hey, thanks Chipotle. You caused me to think and reflect a little bit more about something very important to me.

My Saturday

It was another weekend of Florida fun.

Sometime last week David was asked by his friend if he would want to help out on his banana farm over the weekend. When I heard about this I decided I had to come too.

To begin:

Unfortunately you can't see at all in this picture, but our path across the railroad tracks was covered by huge webs made by gigantic banana spiders. It was slightly terrifying. 

Just to give you an idea...this is a picture I just googled of a banana spider. These things were everywhere. 

But on to more appealing things. We started off by planting a few new trees. 

By the time I planted tree #2 I was already dripping in sweat. It wasn't pretty.

Getting started on the digging

Planting the big tree!

The next job was pretty much pruning the trees. Bananas continuously put up new little trees, and you only want to keep the biggest one, and then the next tallest shoot. You want all the energy going toward the big shoot that will produce the fruit. The next tallest one is on deck to be the next part of the tree to produce fruit. 

We go to chop down excess shoots and leaves with machetes. Exciting stuff.

David decided to fan me like a princess with the leaf. It was fun until he hit me in the face. 

Hey look! Bananas!

I got blisters on my hands from chopping with the machete so much. It made me feel tough.

Lunch break! I tried frog legs for the first time. Not bad, watch out for little bones.

After getting back to work after lunch, Nick chopped down a few bunches.

Me with Nick, the banana farmer himself!

Destruction!

A look back at the area we covered. There were 3 rows and we each took a row and covered about half the farm for the day.

You wouldn't believe how heavy this was!

Banana farming...great day!

August Goals Wrap Up

1. Complaining- Well this one kind of failed. The first two weeks went pretty well, but after that I don't know if I stopped trying or if I just prefaced every complaint with, "I know I'm not supposed to complain but..." For a more abstract goal like this one it would be helpful to have either a more narrowed goal like, don't complain about x, y, or z, or to have lots and lots of helpful reminders around. A post-it with a positive message can work wonders. (Not scientifically proven).

2. Spending- Good job me! I didn't do much spending excluding the use of some giftcards (but I classified that as okay). Like I mentioned in a post before, I'm not really a big spender so this wasn't much of a challenge, but it did make me think about the things that I wanted to buy throughout the month and gave me a chance to evaluate what I really needed. Example: Early in August I did a lot of cleaning out and de-cluttering and I wanted to buy some organizing file folders for important documents (exciting, I know) and maybe some containers that would be good for storing craft supplies. The file folders would still be helpful, but during my clean out time I found some other boxes that work just as well as a box that was specifically designed to store crafty materials. All this to say, the month taught me that having a wait time before buying something is useful and practical.

3. Exercise- I am pleased to say that this was another very successful goal. Most weeks I did some form of exercise on Mon-Fri with one make up session on a weekend. These were by no means long and strenuous workouts but I did get moving. The fact that I did not have over night work travel this month really helped me keep up with the goal.

You know you're in Florida when...

You see iguanas walking down the sidewalk on your drive home from work.

The weather forecast is exactly the same every day for 6 months.

You can't remember the last time you wore a sweatshirt.

Lizards drop by your apartment to say hello.

The indoor plants class you took during undergrad would now better describe the outdoor landscaping.

You have tasted and learned about more tropical fruit than you ever knew existed.

Lovebugs have destroyed your car windshield on multiple occasions.

You find yourself thinking about a land of four seasons with nostalgia.

During summer your mantra is, "Winter will be amazing."

Beach Night

One of the advantages to living in Florida is that you are never far from the beach. So long as there is not a crazy storm (which is about 50% of the time) its always a fun option of something to do.

Just having dinner and an evening on the beach was definitely my style. There wasn't the long commitment of a whole day on the beach, the need to put on sunscreen, etc. Also, if you just go for a Friday evening, the beach isn't too crowded. Perfect date night.

I did a bit of experimenting with food and made a naan bread pocket filled with bbq chicken and cheese.

Here is the filling (I melted the cheese with the chicken first)

And the finished pocket, kind of has a taco look

I wanna say David was trying to imitate a pirate.

Proof that we were on the Ft. Lauderdale Beach

As we walked around we came across a lot of sea turtle nests. They are marked off so no one disturbs them. I would really love to come and observe the baby sea turtles swimming into the ocean. If the turtles would give me a call when they schedule that I'd appreciate it. 

We can't see the see the sun set over the ocean form this side of Florida, but they sky was still nice to look at

New Favorite Pizza

One of my very favorite things to make is pizza. I'll always experiment with a new crust and the latest one I tried was the Pioneer Woman's pizza dough. It was a success, which isn't too surprising, because all of her recipes are the best. Tip for the dough, you can just mix it up and stick it in the fridge for up to 4 days. The first crust I made was a little difficult to work with because I used it at room temperature just after the rising, but the cold batch from the fridge I made a couple days later was easy to roll out. 

We did go for the rectangular shaped pizza here, but once I get my new pizza stone and pizza pan (bridal shower gifts!) down from Maryland, I'll go for the traditional round pizza. 

This particular pizza was one of my favorite combinations I've tried. I topped it with sauted onions (YUM), bacon, mozzarella, a little Parmesan, Italian seasoning, and chopped fresh basil (also put a little pepperoni on half the pizza for David). Usually I like the ease of making pizza and just putting pepperoni or a raw onion on top, but if you have the time to fry up some bacon and saute onion these ingredients really take it over the top. 

My next trick will be canning my own pizza sauce, but I may have to wait a bit to get some good canning tomatoes, but be on the lookout.