Agri – Culture: To bee or not to bee

The honey-bee that wanders all day long,

The field, the woodland, and the garden o'er,

To gather in his fragrant winter store,

Humming in calm content his quiet song,

Seeks not alone the rose's glowing breast,

The lily's dainty cup, the violet's lips, --

But from all rank and noxious weeds he sips

The single drop of sweetness closely press'd

Within the poison chalice. Thus, if we

Seek only to draw forth the hidden sweet,

In all the varied human flowers we meet,

In the wide garden of humanity,

And like the bee, if home the spoil we bear,

Hived in our hearts it turns to nectar there.

by Anne Lynch Botta

With the warmth of spring just around the corner and the flowering of fruit trees looming, we will almost assuredly see some sort of media attention given to that tiny but significant insect, the honey bee.

What's all the buzz about? The pollination of crops by bees is responsible for more than a third of the U.S. food production. Unfortunately, our six-legged friends are in trouble and no one has answers.

The first case of CCD – Colony Collapse Disorder was reported in 2006. The disorder has beekeepers perplexed when they check their colonies in early spring. In some cases the entire colony has died and in other cases, the entire colony has disappeared.

A dead bee is one thing. Scientists suggest mites and other viruses as being deadly and contagious to apiaries. But, bees that have just disappeared?

There are many potential culprits to blame for CCD. Firstly, bees are an insect and are therefore affected by things like insecticides and other chemicals sprayed on crops. Bees are not immune to climatic conditions and things like drought will affect a plants ability to produce nectar (bee food). My personal favorite excuse is electromagnetic radiation from cell phones.

Maybe the most logical is a combination of all factors. Combine with a weakened immune system, the bees can’t resist diseases they once overcame. Bee immune systems may have become weakened through constant transport of hives. Hives are rented out to pollinate crops and will be transported from one side of the U.S. to the other. This is a crucial element of U.S. agriculture and annually adds much more to the economy than the production of honey.

The CCD problem is not limited to the U.S. but is being faced by beekeepers around the globe. CCD is not only devastating to beekeepers but has devastating potential consequences to the production of carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, squash, apples, blueberries, avocados, almonds, cherries and a host of other agricultural products.

Direction

I have been searching for some direction for my blog. With my Korean adventures, the writing topics came easily because everyday offered a new adventure that was noteworthy enough to share.

But, in Indiana day-to-day life doesn’t seem quite as extraordinary as it did when I was 6,000 miles away from home. So, I’ve decided to start a new regular series which I’ve deemed “Agri – Culture”. (I am open to suggestions for a better name if there is one).

My passions include supporting and learning about the agriculture industry as evidenced by my current choice of employment and the development of my own education. For this series, I hope explore some of the issues that define agriculture, i.e. history, politics and culture. My goal is to bring some clarity for myself and to my readers. I hope that it will be of interest.

If you have ideas for topics, please leave a comment.

I met Bill Nye!

I met Bill Nye on Friday! Bow tie and all. Well, I didn't really meet him, but I did see him in the flesh and I was very tempted to go get his autograph.

Business took us to Boston on Thursday and Friday for the National Science Teachers Association convention. We have been working on developing an agriscience ambassador program for the past several years with the help of DuPont and Lab-Aids.

Some states like California already offer science credit for agriculture science classes. I think it is a perfect complimentary relationship between the science courses and the agriculture courses. Unfortunately, some look at it as an invasion of turf.

Belated Happy Easter

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from last weekend.

Now I have lots of delicious hard boiled eggs to eat.

Lights Out!

To help raise awarenessof a worldwide energy conservation effort, on March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., millions of people around the world will be making a statement about climate change by turning off their lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Everyone throughout North America and around the world should turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.

Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change.

One hour, America. Earth Hour. Turn out for Earth Hour!

Cinderella

Accents

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have">What American accent do you have? http://www.gotoquiz.com/">Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

Mine didn't look quite this cool.

Saint Louis

Saint Louis...patron saint of high water?

Work took us to Saint Louis this week. I had driven and every river along the route was filled to the brim and more than one had breached its banks.

We had two beautiful days and yet every news story, reported the expected cresting of the flood stage. The Merrimack is of primary concern. Its watershed has been declared a disaster area by Pres. Bush.

Downtown St. Louis saw rivers nearly touching the bottoms of bridges. This 23 foot tall statue of William Clark was completely devoured by Friday and cresting was expected Saturday.
The weather really seemed contradictory. We enjoyed 70 degree temperatures and then as I drove north to Chicago for the Easter weekend, the temperature gage went progressively lower. By the time I hit the city limits, it was a mix of rain and snow. North of the city saw as much as 10 inches of snow which will not be very welcome down stream as the rivers are already above capacity.

Great start to spring.

Carbon Leaf - Life Less Ordinary - Live @ Easy Street

My new musical discovery. Thanks AB!

The Devil In Georgia

We were down in Nashville again for business, a trade and vendor show for TSC. We had a lot of good meetings and we were able to connect with quite a few of our contacts.

TSC hosted everyone for a night at the Wild Horse Saloon and a performance of the Charlie Daniels Band.

The town is affectionately known as Nash-vegas...What happens here, stays here. We never did get too rowdy but we were all itchin' to hear one song. CDB does have a large fan base but for me, there is only one reason you'd ever go to his concert.

The Wild Horse Saloon is a three story bar with a large open area leading to the stage. It is actually a cool venue and exactly what you would expect to find in Nashville.

After a late last night tearing down the show we jumped in the car and made the 4.5 hour drive back to Indy. A nice relaxing weekend...Next week, St. Louis.

Isn't He Dead?

Last night we went to a performance of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. I really like big band music and so I was kind of excited to go. Upon receiving the invitation, I responded..."Glenn Miller...Isn't he dead?" Well, yes, he is dead but his band is alive and kicking.

The show was held at the Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre. They set up the buffet line and then roll the carts away before rolling out the stage and setting up the band. It was a lot of fun with some great old music.After the concert set, they rolled the stage out and opened up the dance floor. LW and I had to elbow out all of the old couples from the assisted living home and fight for room on the dance floor. I am ashamed to say some of those couples showed me up with their mad dance skills.

That is my new goal: to be 93 and still dancing.

Burma Meets Grits

I was shocked to get a call from a friend from a former life.

We had met in Korea at the IWE church and he has been living in New York since January taking classes. He called me up saying he would be coming to Indiana and wanted to know if we could meet.

He was visiting friends in Fort Wayne, IN and preaching a message at a local congregation of resident Burmese Christians. He said that it was a congregation of over one hundred people from Burma. Apparently there are over 7,000 Burmese living in Indiana. Who knew?

I drove the two hours to Fort Wayne and treated him to a classic American breakfast. He was pretty impressed with it and took photos of his meal. Unfamiliar food is always photo worthy.

Big Apple

Business took us to New York, New York.

Some of out meetings fell through so we lucked out and got the entire morning to sight see and explore the city.

We started out wandering Central Park.

We then made our way down 5th Avenue before catching the subway to Ground Zero and walking to Battery Park. Ground Zero is just as hauntingly incredible as you would imagine. The sight where those two buildings stood sends a chill down the spine and tears to the eyes.

It was a debate whether to take the ferry to Lady Liberty or make our way back to the Empire State Building. When I visited New York as a kid, we went into the lobby of the Empire State Building so I'm glad I had a chance to go up to the top.

We made it back to our hotel to change and head to our afternoon meeting.

That evening, we met some friends for dinner and then went to see Mama Mia. ABBA was definitely under rated. It was really good.

Standardized Testing

Not a fan. As a former teacher, I can understand the principle and thought process behind standardized tests. However, as a former teacher, I am adamantly opposed to standardized testing.

I recently had the opportunity to take the GRE test as part of the admissions process for grad school. I am really excited about starting my master's program and therefore I'm willing to jump through just about any hoop...but seriously.

First, I don't think there is any way to actually prepare for the GRE. If you actually wanted to try studying for the GRE here are my recommendations:

1. Buy a complete Oxford English Dictionary and gain a thorough understanding of all pages.

2. Make a little game of listing two to three antonyms of each word from the dictionary.

3. Be able to reason...(because this is an easily teachable skill).

4. Spend a little timing brushing up on the use of sin, cos and tan without pushing those buttons on your calculator.

5. Relearn advanced high school geometry (unless you already use it in everyday life like the majority of us do, yeah right).

6. Practice writing essays that people in the admissions office admit have absolutely no bearing on your actual acceptance into the program.

7. And finally, select your supreme being of choice and begin a regular prayer session.

You may just pass. Luckily, I did.

Mm, Mm, Good

We have been courting Campbell Soup Company for sponsorship. They seem really excited about getting involved with us but nothing is decided yet. They definitely don't want to be outdone by Kraft.

We are trying to get them to sign on to our PALS program but they are more interested in painting barns.

We have flown out to Camden, New Jersey (just outside of Philadelphia) twice now. It is really exciting to work with them. The synergies that could be created are very positive.

There is a small side benefit that is slightly personal and selfish. If they sign on with us, I will have overshot my target goal of new money by two or three times for the year. That won't look too bad on the year-end report for me.

It is an interesting process to create a mutually beneficial partnership with these companies. Typically, companies will donate for one of three reasons:

1. Philanthropic ideals - Corporate responsibility is becoming a very hot topic. However, most companies haven't figured out how to manage this and don't know how to budget for it.

2. Investing in future employees and educated consumers - FFA is obviously producing top notch potential employees and well educated products consumers. It takes an admirable amount of foresight to invest in something that is very beneficial in the long run but doesn't provided an immediate benefit. Kudos to visionary leaders in the management positions.

3. Marketing - Want to reach half a million members? Donate to FFA and we'll make sure those students, parents, teachers, and alumni are exposed to your logo and message. We walk a very fine line because we are not selling hard advertising. Rather, we are selling soft messaging. It is a way to avoid selling ones soul to the devil and plaster the logo everywhere and compromise the integrity of the FFA program. It creates a win-win.