More on Gardening

All right, so this has been one weird summer. First it's cool, then it's hot, then it's stormy, then hot, then wet, cool, hot, stormy, really hot, cool, wet, scorching hot, tornadic, sunny here, sunny there, rainy here, rainy there, well, you get the idea. I mention this because we were worried about the garden. Since the weather has been unpredictable and wet...very wet...we weren't sure how our first garden was going to turn out.

Well, here's how it looks thus far:

Lush and Green...

 

Thick, bushy carrots...We may have gotten carried away when planting and I don't have the heart to thin them. I tried and I cried. They are all so precious...how can I choose?

Mmm...corn...sweet, sweet corn

My Zinnias are coming right along.

So  pretty...

And we can't over look the mammoth cucumbers.

Tomato!!! I can't wait.

Love me some peppy peppers.

Look! My pumpkin had a baby...

Greeny Beanies...almost

The broccoli looks a little shabby...or is that cauliflower?

Peek-A-Boo...my first marigold bloom.

Well, how is your garden going?

The Forth is Fun

Happy 4th of July!!!

Image from dsc.discovery.com

 Thank you to all the men and women that have and continue to serve this country and protect our freedoms.



Image from speicherteam.com

Have a safe and happy 4th.

Antibiotics & Factory Farming--A bitter rant

Image from http://www.antibioticsandalcohol.org/

Antibiotics are a funny thing and recently I had an opportunity to get up-close and personal with them. You see, in the last few weeks my household has suffered from strep throat, a sinus infection, flu-like symptoms, and the good ol' common cold--this is summer right? Wait, let me check.....yep, 90 degrees and a thunderstorm brewing....it's summer......but I digress.

While each of us suffered in our own special way we met with our local family physician on more than one occasion. The funny part is how quick and easy antibiotics are prescribed and no one so much as bats an eye. We walked in, the doc took one look at my daughter's throat (the instigator of all this or was it my husband? Who cares! I feel like crap.) and said, "Oh yeah, I'll get you fixed up with some antibiotics for that throat. Be back in just a few minutes." That was that. A nurse swabbed my daughter's throat for verification and Presto! antibiotics in hand and we are out the door. Same scenario for each of us. We walk in feeling like we came out the back side of a bean burrito eating fool and we walk out with a hand full of antibiotics and no one seems to care.

Moral of the story is: 'Tis better to treat our symptoms to minimize suffering but let the sick little piggies die a miserable unnecessary death.

Does anyone else have a problem with this moral? Because I feel like I'm all alone in questioning this one.



Image from donlonpharmacy.com

 Why is it okay to treat ourselves with antibiotics when we are sick and suffering but it is a fowl misguided act to provide proper medical care to our livestock? I have seen so many fingers pointed at the pork industry because we use antibiotics on the pigs. Here is the kicker folks. We also raise ABF pigs--that is Antibiotic-Free pigs for all you laymen out there--and it is a sad, sad thing to see.

I remember this one group of pigs that came in and they were doing well until a few of them got sick. Nothing we could do so we segregated the sick ones to the sick pin and hoped for the best. But they are like kids in a daycare; when one gets sick, they all get sick. It was such a simple sickness, too. I believe they had nothing more than a cough but it has been some time and I have the memory of an Alzheimer's patient. It could have been easily cured, they could have been better in a matter of a few days. Instead, because they were ABF pigs our hands were tied.

We had to watch them slowly die of a curable illness. Let me tell you, nothing is more irritating, nauseating, and down right upsetting than watching a creature slowly and miserably die when you hold the cure in your hand but some group of people which have never farmed nor seen beyond city limits says it is more humane to refuse them antibiotics. Yeah, right!

Image from blogs.seattleweekly.com

To all the animal rights groups and their supporters my point is this, next time you are feeling sick and miserable, remember, it is more humane to go without antibiotics. Next time you are feeling like a puddle of sweaty flesh and want to slip into the A/C, remember, it is more humane to suffer in the heat. Next time you are feeling like Jack Frost literally nipped your nose blum off your face, remember, it is more humane to freeze to death than to have heating. Finally, remember, it is more humane to go without proper vaccinations so when your child dies of measles, you did the right thing by not treating them. After all, we must treat people and animals equally so it was better your little one died because that is what happens to our pigs when we are forced to raise them antibiotic-free.

**Insert bitter sarcasm here**

Thanks Mercy For Animals. Thanks Humane Society of the United States. Thanks People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Thanks all you misguided fools that support these groups and the like. You have really helped bring awareness to the abuse of livestock. We farmers and ranchers should know better than to give our livestock heating in the winter, cool air in the summer, and proper medical treatment. What were we thinking!? Thank you. You have all helped a heap. When animals have friends like you, who needs natural predators in the wild?

I've had a rough few weeks....does it show?

Technically MyCleanPC is a Technical Rip-Off

It has been another one of those weeks again!

I have been having a few computer issues just in case anyone was wondering. You see, my computer has been sporadically giving me the blue screen and "program not responding" crap so in a fit of rage I called the mycleanpc.com people. I paid my $39.98 to download their software, talked to a nice little gal on the phone, had a diagnostics ran on my computer and she tells me that I am infected to the hilt on this thing. She said that I had what looked to be a Trojan virus and several open ports; in fact, she wasn't sure how I was even able to still be using my computer because it had so many viruses. Scared the crap out of me! She then tells me that they could clean it and get it back to running like new for a mere $250--which included a one year personal techy to call anytime I needed assistance.

Well, I got a second opinion.

I took my trusty, loyal, feels-like-family laptop to my local tech dude at Innovative Technology Services. Here's the kicker folks! Guess what he had to say....go on guess........

There is NOTHING wrong with my computer. He ran every viral, hardware, memory, malware, etc. test that he has and he found nothing. He told me that it looked to him like some downloaded software might have caused the hiccup but it was certainly not infected.

Can you say Rip-Off! Just an FYI: If you get suckered into this mycleanpc.com crap just say NO! My local tech dude charged me $55. to do every test he has available to him. I also called the good people at mycleanpc.com and demanded a refund....which I got.

Be back soon. My computer is being released today and coming home.

**sniffle, sniff, sniffle**

I've missed that flat, black, beautiful piece of technology.

Garden Giveaway Winner Announced!

 Congratulations to Denise! The winner of The Bacon Blogger's first ever giveaway. She will be receiving a copy of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and a glass hummingbird feeder for answering the question:

"What is your favorite garden veggie?"

Anonymous said...

Tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, asparagus, green peppers, and corn.

Everything is better home grown!

Denise

Another big Congrats to Denise and an even bigger  Thank You to everyone that participated.

World Pork Expo 2011--The Expo

We may be home but the WPX11 is still happening at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. As much as we would have loved to stay longer, alas, our schedule would not allow it. However, here is a taste of what the Expo is all about.

Team Bacon Blogger (minus the team captain because I am behind the camera) enters the Expo complete with these great matching t-shirts I had designed and was dying for a reason to wear them.Oh, yeah.....we look gooooood!

Rows and rows of white tents and the scent of smokey goodness can only mean one thing.........FREE pork!

Naturally, we had to stop by the PorkCheckoff's tent to grab some more free stuff, much needed drinks, and enjoy some shade. Not to mention, we entered to win this fantastic little sign.

In case you wanted to purchase one of these (I'm thinking about it) you can get them from Metalcraft.

Here is a little side note.......Quiznos has a new sandwich that the PorkCheckoff was featuring. The Southern BBQ pulled pork sandwich looks really good. I'll let you all know just how good it is once I try one. Unfortunately, I haven't had the privilege yet.

 After a full day of walking and walking and walking and walking and.....well, you get the idea......poor Kylee just couldn't take it anymore. Finally, she collapsed in a complaint induced coma.....will she ever wake and walk again? After moments of whining about how her feet hurt and how she was sooooo tired she finally sucked it up and continued the journey........but made little whiny noises while we taunted her with a high pitched "weenie" (not to be confused with Weiner because he has enough problems). Repetative eye rolling was her only response to the taunting.

Now, I must finish editing the expo video......coming to a BaconCam near you. 



World Pork Expo 2011--Iowa Machine Shed

Good times in Des Moines! I love this place for it's good food, good fun, and great people. Speaking of god food, last night--after the Social Media training session we enjoyed, hosted by the National Pork Board--we ate at our favorite restaurant in all of Iowa.......the Machine Shed.

Love the big pig and giant wooden ear of corn.

Pooboy standing in front of the wall of Deere. He looks so thrilled.

Inside of the Machine Shed is a huge selection of toys, cloths, crafts, lotions, cookbooks, kitchen goodies, and other farm related goodies....one of my favorites is the "Dang" Root Beer and SWINE--a wine with the perfect balance between sweet and tart and goes good with pork...duh. Yum.

Love, love, love this sign: "Farming is Everyone's Bread and Butter" Amen to that!

A quick snap shot of the kiddos with a John Deere "B" before we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Then it was rise and shine for another fun filled day and of course we had to eat breakfast at the Machine Shed. Just look at these Pecan Pancakes. So good.

This was my choice for breakfast.....Cinnamon French Toast. They just take one of their HUGE Cinnamon rolls, cut it into four slices, tip it into the french toast batter and voila! the most delicious, mouth watering, amazing french toast I have ever eaten in my life.

After breakfast it was off to the World Pork Expo 2011.

Expo pics and video coming soon.....To be continued.

Garden Trivia Revealed

Are you all ready for the big reveal from Confession of a Gardener? Well here goes............

1.

This one is easy..........Green Beans--bush not pole.

2.

Any guesses on this one? I'll give you a hint, we like it fried or pickled..........give up?

It's Okra.

3.

This one is such a cute little plant.

They're radishes.

4.

I gave the a hint on this one, it is not food but a common garden dweller. Guesses?

Zinnias.

5.

Again a cute little plant that looks nothing like this picture in adulthood.

Broccoli.......Yum

6.

This one I noted as Kylee's plant and that she will be selling them. Any clue to what they are?

Pumpkins, of course.

7.

Corn.....duh

8.

I just love all these little grassy sprouts.......they're carrots.

9.

This is one veggie that won't last long in my house.

Green Peppers.

10.

Coffee...........duh!

Just kidding, they're tomatoes or tomottoes, depending on how you say it.

Did you guess any right?

More Confessions of a Gardener

Here is a confession for you, as if you didn't already know. As you can see from the comments of my last Confessions post I didn't have much luck on the contest but I had a few people make mention to me about it so we are going to give it another go and extend the contest another week. I'm going to make it really simple too.
To win The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and a hummingbird feeder like the one shown here (a.k.a. one like mine) just answer one simple question:

What is your favorite garden veggie?

Same rules apply: All comments need to in by noon central standard time Friday, June 10 and by becoming a Follower you get an extra chance to win. All followers that comment automatically get an extra chance to win because I love ya lots.

Good luck!

Stay tuned for the veggie reveal......coming soon.