30 Days Of Randomness With A Pig Nutrition Grad Student

When I read this post talking about taking a 30 day challenge in November that requires blogging each day with an agricultural theme, I was intrigued. And curious to see if I could actually do it. 

Now I just started blogging a couple of weeks ago. But as I was ruminating over what my 30 day theme would be I found myself wondering how on Earth I thought I was qualified to join the ranks of the amazing community of Ag bloggers out there. 

I don’t have a farm of my own right now. I don’t even have a very exciting life because it is completely ruled by my unpredictable grad school experience. 

But it was exactly those thoughts that made me realize that every story is different and that is why I started blogging. Am I an expert on anything? Definitely not. Do I love Ag and am I striving to ensure a bright future? Definitely yes. 

I may not have any of the things that make a traditional Ag blogger but I do have passion and a genuine desire to learn as much as possible about as much as possible. And I cannot even describe the number of things I have already learned in the short time I have been blogging. So if my blog never reaches beyond my long-suffering family and friends, it won’t matter. Because I, alone, am learning so much that it makes the experience worthwhile. 

Once I overcame my concerns, finding a topic was an interesting journey. It’s no secret that November is my favorite month of the year. I will admit it is largely because it’s my birthday month, but November is also just a beautiful crisp, sometimes snowy month that manages to showcase the best of Fall and Winter all rolled together. Plus the end of the month has always held Thanksgiving…and my birthday :) So of course what else makes for a better month? My topic was going to have to be something I would be challenged to do, something that was familiar enough to make me sound like less of an idiot but not so familiar as to be boring for me and my audience. 

The entire month of November I will be running 2 separate studies to round out my Master’s research. It’s gonna be a crazy time, that’s for sure. So the theme for my 30 days of blogging is simply going to be “30 Days of Randomness With A Pig Nutrition Grad Student”. This may seem no different than the usual but I will be sure and throw some information in on what’s going on with my projects, random Ag Facts (including piggies of course), and whatever else comes my way. 

So join me tomorrow, on the first day of November, and we will see what kind of trouble we can get into ;)

Check out the other awesome bloggers on Holly Spangler's My Generation Page!!

30 Days of Randomness With A Pig Nutrition Grad Student

Day 1: My Purpose 
Day 2: Time To Soak In The World
Day 3: A Different Perspective
Day 4: Is It A Swirf?
Day 5: Saying Goodbye
Day 6: Stories Make Everything Better
Day 7: We Are The Lucky Ones
Day 8: Hawaii Looks Nice!
Day 9: Saturday Thankfulness
Day 10: Harvest...As Translated From My Farmer To Me
Day 11: The West Virginia Warriors and Veterans To Agriculture Project
Day 12: Getting Loopy
Day 13: Farm Of The Future
Day 14: A Ghost Tour...In November
Day 15: I Am Not The Usual
Day 16: A Vision Of The Future
Day 17: Poor Marketing-How Do We Make It Stop?
Day 18: A Cause For Concern
Day 19: You're in Grad School For What?!
Day 20: Wordless Wednesday
Day 21: For Mom
Day 22: Pointing Fingers Never Pays
Day 23: Humor Needed, Sanity Optional
Day 24: Romance Is Overrated
Day 25-27: Does Anything Ever Go As Planned?
Day 28 & 29: Farewell My Favorite Month

Goodbye Homecooked Meals, Hello Astronaut Food

As far as I can tell, some of the strangest things come on the radio early on Sunday mornings. I was driving into Lexington to spend the day doing schoolwork and waiting for more sows to arrive from the farm, when I heard that we were going to be talking about making food security more of a possibility for people.

Of course this caught my ear and I was so intrigued I had to keep listening. What followed was a discussion with the Head of Efoods Direct. And what I heard surprised me.

Efoods Direct is a company that makes packaged food that can be stored for up to 25 years. The idea behind families buying these bulk supplies is that they will make themselves more food secure and not be left to worry how they are going to buy groceries if they get laid off, a storm system comes through, and as far as I can tell in case of a nuclear (or some sort of destructive) holocaust.

Efoods Direct stems from the fact that food prices seem to be steadily increasing which can be due to a large number of concerns such as supply and demand, specialty items, regulations, inflation (I think you get the idea).

Now I think it's a great idea to store some food if you are concerned about food security or some sort of disaster happening. In the case of a zombie apocalypse, I'm not sure this astronaut food will help you survive though.

The longer I listened the more concerned I became about the bulk food storage idea. All you need to do to make these quick, family meals is add water! But it's not astronaut food.

Ummm, sounds like astronaut food to me?? Oh, it's more flavorful huh? Well it's dehydrated, so isn't it pretty much astronaut food? Not to mention ALL of the food is vegetarian. Yep, vegetarian. Don't worry they have a couple of meals that contain TVP (textured vegetable protein) that they label as chicken, beef, and ham in order to "represent a flavor profile" because meat can't be dehydrated. And you can always enjoy a nice refreshing glass of (dry mix + hot water + chilled overnight) whey milk!! Yum, that will be delicious during a nuclear disaster when all of our fridges are gone and we are running through the woods away from the zombies.

OK, so maybe I am bashing this too much. I will stress again that it really may be a great idea if you don't want to cook a big meal or you are a senior who wants to remain independent (this seems to be a popular concept to that age group because they don't have to actually cook meals but can receive proper nutrition and remain independent).

But what are we teaching our children by eating astronaut food? Will people who use this food even know how to make a real meal (one that doesn't involve adding water)?? Will their children even know what a fresh vegetable, delicious glass of milk, fresh cheese curds, or a juicy steak is?

From ND AG in the Classroom

What happens if there is actually a major disaster and everybody has to go back to farming to survive?? (Granted that we survive whatever this disaster may be). We are already seeing an overwhelming ignorance in where food comes from. People think milk and other food comes from the back of the grocery store! The general public is already 3 generations removed from farming. So if we see an increase in dehydrated food popularity (which wouldn't actually surprise me), haven't we irrevocably damaged our children's education?

Will they even realize that food doesn't come in a powder and all you have to do is mix water?

What I thought was going to be a good lecture on how to improve food security ended up terrifying me. Food security is a real issue in the US and all over the world. But allowing people to enjoy more convenience and forget what actual food looks like may not be the best solution.

I think I will stick to my real meat...it is after all Porktober!

Visit www.porkbeinspired.com for recipes