My Goslings

I wake up each morning to some visitors in my backyard. Goslings now and ducklings very shortly.

Fogo de Chao

I've been ruined.

When we were up in Minneapolis this week one of my co-workers insisted that we go to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steak house. My first reaction was to question just how good of a place this was going to be. I'd never heard of it before.

We walked in the door and were quickly ushered to our table. Fortunately we had reservations. They quickly brought out our drinks and then led us to the ample salad bar. It was full of good traditional American salad bar stuff but then it had loads of Brazilian dishes as well like cured meats, palm hearts, fresh farm cheese, green salsa and much more.

Time for the main course. We were each given a flip card - green for go, red for stop. A flood of chefs/waiters, maybe as many as twenty, poured out of the kitchen doors and stormed the restaurant. Each with his own wand of skewered meat. If they saw your meat card green side up, they would race to fill your plate. Every cut of meat imaginable from lamb chops and sausages to rib eye and fillet. Each morsel was perfectly cooked with meat at the top end of the fire roasted skewer well done and at the bottom rare. Just say what you like.

The attempt is to try every cut of meat offered but you quickly feel like you've gorged yourself on a whole bison. Just a flip of the card to the red side and the waiters will avoid you like the plague while you catch your breath and take a break. Flip the card back to green and once again they trip over each other to serve you.

This first rate service says nothing of the deliciousness of the meal. The meat was perfectly marinated, some in a brine, some with a dry rub and so each piece melted in your mouth. While the salad bar could easily be a meal in itself, this is a place for carnivores! The meat was so good that I have been ruined from all other meats. Nothing I've had before quite compares.

The restaurant apparently has a long history, and I can only be thankful that we will shortly have one of our own in Indianapolis. The service, the meal (delicious and all-you-can-eat), the experience could easily demand $80 or more a plate. It's that good. But, it is more moderately priced at $44 a plate. None of us felt the slightest bit of remorse at the price, especially since the man picked up the check.

Dinner concluded with a decadent dessert called Tres Leches - Three Milks cake. It definitely satisfied my sweet tooth. If you come visit me in Indy, remind me about Fogo de Chao and we'll go have dinner there. I'm always up for good food and good company.

Trekking Morgan-Monroe

I decided to explore one of Indiana's state forests and so I geared up for an 11 mile hike through the woods. Morgan-Monroe State Forest is located approximately 45 minutes south of Indianapolis and offers a number of hiking trails.

People taking advantages of the public lands can go hiking, hunting, mushrooming, gold panning, camping and a variety of other activities. Along the trail I found some wild garlic which gave me foul breath for the rest of the day.
Signs of spring were everywhere however faint.About six miles into the hike my cell phone rang. It really startled me because I hadn't seen another person the whole time and I had forgotten that I was even carrying my phone. Amazing what kind of cell reception is possible when you are in a flat state like Indiana.

The person on the other end had some exciting news. One of my favorite FFA chapters had just won the state parliamentary procedure competition. I do miss teaching and the connection with students but at least I can live vicariously through others.

Shaking Things Up

I was awoken this morning thinking I had been transported to a very cheap hotel with a vibrating bed. Immediately, I new what was happening and judged it to be a quake not worthy of immediate action.

The epicenter registered 5.2 on the Richter scale but after traveling 170 miles through the ground the vibrations reached Indianapolis were noticeable and rather fun. Later that morning a four point something aftershock rocked then center and started a flurry of murmurings that rose above the cubicle walls.

Only last week I had the pleasure of sitting through an hour long briefing on the company emergency preparedness plan. Curiously, when the aftershock struck no action was taken. I guess that by the time the powers that be flipped through the sixteen page plan to find earthquake actions steps, the 12 second tremor was long since finished.

Papal Visit

D.C. was the place to visit this week. Business took me to our nation's capital on Wednesday, the same day on which Pope Benedict XVI arrived.
We were trying to get around downtown but they had completely closed off Pennsylvania Avenue along which the Popes motorcade was scheduled to ride. We walked forever trying to get across to our 11:30 appointment.

We followed the route for more than a half an hour and ended up missing seeing the Pope by only ten minutes. I'm not sure which I would have been more excited to see, the Pope of the Popemobile.
The crowd was enormous. I believe Catholicism is alive and well in the Spanish speaking world. The Latino community was out in full force to welcome his Holiness. They were singing and dancing up a storm.

We were late to our meeting but we did make it eventually. All of our meetings went well and it was a really nice day to be walking around D.C.

Aggies are everywhere!

I just landed in New Hampshire and who did I sit next on the plane? None other than Dennis Quaid. Either that or an incredible look-a-like. And what did he happen to be reading? The latest issue of Dairy Herd.

Gandalf And Frodo Using Yahoo! Mail

Human Footprint

This will be interesting. Just how large is the Human Footprint?

'Revolutionary' CO2 maps zoom in on greenhouse gas sources

Agri ‘Culture’ – CRP

Plow up the front lawn, it’s time to plant wheat.

With the high current price of commodities (wheat, corn and soybeans), farmers are looking for a way of cashing in. Global shortages of these cereal grains have been caused by a combination of factors including poor weather conditions, increased demand, and fewer acres being planted.

This decrease supply and increased demand has driven the price skyward prompting farmers to plant more acres. Crops with which they can cash in won’t be harvested until August and September but farmers are already salivating at the promise of a pay day.

Many producers are now taking lands out of CRP. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) was started in 1985 pulling nearly 45 million acres out of production due to a surplus if food production. The current cap on the program is 39 million acres having been renewed with the 1996 and the 2002 Farm Bills.

Though the key reason it was enacted was economical (food prices were too low), CRP was sold on environmental reasoning. With the land not being plowed up on an annual basis, vegetation returned to a somewhat natural state and provided excellent habitat for upland game birds, deer, and a variety of rodents, birds, predators and prey.

All this brings up several items for question.

1. What happens to that habitat and what will be the result of displacing those animals?
Hunters and other outdoorsmen will be affected and government management of hunting programs will have to be adjusted. This brings groups like Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited into the mix, not to mention the state departments of fish, wildlife and parks.

2. If even a portion of that CRP is put back into production, won’t another surplus of food result?
Most land gets put into multiple year contracts but any contracts that are coming up due will unlikely be renewed. Unless distribution of the surplus grain is well managed and put into export markets as well as domestic markets, we could see a surplus of grain.

3. If there is a surplus of grain, then will prices be driven down again?
With current demand the way it is and the world needing to support an every increasing population, a major food surplus driving prices down would be unlikely. However, top economists often have problems predicting the temperamental supply and demand curve.

4. Is it the best policy to restrict how many acres can be planted through a program such as CRP?
At the onset of the program in the mid-1980s, food prices moderated but a negative impact was felt with implement dealers. Farmers didn’t have as much land to plant and harvest so they stopped buying tractors. Implement dealers went out of business and entire communities felt the economic loss. Some small communities lost a sustaining population and actually became ghost towns. The program has since had numerous positive benefits that seem to out weigh any negative impact.

5. How else can we bring stability to the supply and demand curves that affect commodities?
Producers should be getting fair prices for their crops. It seems they tighten their belts for years and years before receiving a windfall. Meeting the world food demand is by no means easy. With uncontrollable factors like weather, it would be nice to manage the food supply in other ways. Any suggestions?

Discipline

One of my students who is studying to become a teacher recently asked for some guidance on classroom discipline. At first, I was stumped. After a lot of thought on the matter I tried to give him some advice from my experiences.

I thought I'd share my response to him with you:

Dear SS,

Funny that you should ask me about discipline in the classroom. I always thought that was one area of teaching that I was not good at. We had a couple of major issues over the years in Sheridan, but in several of those instances, it was out of my control. For those times students still did stupid stuff I tried to handle it the best way I knew how.

Reflecting back on it, I would say the keys to effective discipline in the classroom, shop, on field trips would be:

1. Lay the ground rules and make sure everyone understands them. I had a lot of unwritten rules in the classroom which were more-or-less just my expectations of how everyone should act and be treated. Laying ground rules is incredibly important especially on field trips and anywhere that is different than then normal classroom setting. I usually tried to sequester students on the bus when we arrived at a destination for two reasons - let then know what the plan/schedule was and establish the rules of behavior. Only after they'd heard the spiel and verbally agreed to act accordingly were they allowed to disembark.

2. Respect. I'd like to think that because I respected the students as young adults, respected their differences in learning requirements, etc. they respected me. If students respect you as a teacher, there is less chance of misbehavior. I'm not sure if this actually happened but I'd like to think it did. I liked having conversations with you as a friend but I never allowed that relationship to get too friendly. I was still the one responsible and I wanted you to know I was still in charge.

3. Create a moral environment. Little things like making students write thank you notes, participating in a food drive, or school beautification projects help foster a good moral attitude in the classroom. If there is a good moral basis, then I believe misbehavior is less likely to occur.

4. Constant vigilance. As an ag teacher it is really hard because you might send students to four completely separate areas of building (or multiple buildings) and expect a productive class period. I used the roaming tactic. I made sure to check up on every student multiple times throughout the class period. If I didn't physically walk to them, I tried to make sure they were within eyesight. I also made it a real priority to know where every student was at all times. I just about died every time I left a substitute because I never trusted them to watch the class like I did. It is when students aren't supervised that they misbehave.

5. Follow through on consequences - even if you are just making an example. If you say you are going to punish misbehavior is a certain way then you'd better do it that way. So, be sure the consequences fit the action before you threaten. For example, you remember one of my pet peeves was not wanting to students to sweep dirt into the sump. I always gave everyone one warning. After his first warning SB swept some sawdust in as we were cleaning up one day. I wasn't mad and I could have honestly cared less because it was such a small amount of dirt, but I had to follow through. I had him come in after school that afternoon and clean the entire sump out. Hopefully, he went back and told everyone what a mean teacher I was and that no one else should sweep stuff in there or else you'll have to clean it out. I was using him as an example and that if broken, the rules would hold up and have consequences.

6. Engagement and constructive activity. I am a firm believer that an idol mind is a mischievous mind. Active minds and active hands can do great things. I worked really hard to have students active in my class from first bell to last bell. Maybe taking notes, maybe welding, maybe cleaning. Point is, if students are active and engaged then they won't have time to cause trouble. Take for example paper collection for the recycling project. I sent students around the school without supervision. I felt comfortable with that because they had a task to collect paper from every classroom and it was somewhat of a race to get around the entire school before the class period was over. Planting in the greenhouse was the same. I never had anyone cause problems in the greenhouse because they were always active. If I saw someone standing around, I always found something for them to do no matter how minuscule or mundane. Usually, about five minutes before the last bell, everyone was so happy to be done they just sat quietly waiting for the bell to ring.

This is probably a lot more than you wanted but it is the first time I've really thought about it. Obviously, these recommendations don't work perfectly in every instance and I had plenty of challenges over the years. I hope it helps. Good luck with your paper and let me know if I can do anything else for you.

WF

Agri – Culture: The Price We Pay

More than six billion people on the globe have placed a fair demand on the food supply. The demand for cereal grains has driven corn, wheat and soybean prices to an all time high. Farmers are actually getting paid respectfully for their crops!

However, the price conscious shopper cringes at the idea of paying 25 percent more for eggs and 17 percent more for milk. Is the high price of corn, wheat and soybeans really driving up the price other food commodities?

The simple answer is yes-partially, but it would be fool hardy to just stop there and blame the farmer. Of the total price of a box of Cornflakes cereal, approximately 4 cents of corn goes into that box. The recent increase of commodity prices has drastically (sarcasm) raised the price of corn in that box to 5 cents. Other products include a slightly greater increase in the price of grain that went into the final product but not so drastic to account for the added dollars that we are paying at the cash register.

Food prices around the globe are on the increase potentially leading to more hunger and food shortages in areas that can’t afford the cost.

What is causing food prices to increase? The average American is spending an addition 4.5% of their annual income on food. (Of course, the U.S. still has one of the cheapest and safest food supplies on the planet.) The largest factor to consider is the increased cost of fuel. With crude oil at more than $100 a barrel, the price of Cornflakes is bound to increase. The transportation costs of that box are phenomenal, and then figure in the energy consumed to package it, market it, distribute it, etc.

Progression of thought asks, is it possible to decrease costs and supplement our consumption of crude oil with other energy sources like biodiesel? Opponents say that that would only increase the problem by taking food away from mouths to burn in engines. Not so. According to the National Corn Growers Association, between 2002 and 2007 the bushels of corn used for ethanol increased from 1,093 Mbu to 3,010 Mbu It would stand to reason that if the amount of corn going to ethanol has increased by that much then food consumers are suffering for lack of corn. But, in that same time the amount of corn produced increased from 10,573 Mbu to 14,393 Mbu. That means that despite an increase in the amount of corn being diverted to ethanol production there has been a drastic increase in the amount of corn available for human consumption.

It is a complicated issue with no one entity to lay blame. I’m not suggesting that we should just lie down and submit to high food and fuel prices. Nor am I saying that biodiesel or ethanol will be our saving graces. At least with a little bit of awareness about the subject, we can be more educated consumers.

Weekend Warrior

This past weekend found me driving around Indianapolis looking for an adventure. One the northeast side of the city I found a little haven of solitude in Fort Harrison State Park.
Since 1903 Fort Harrison has played an important role in Indiana history. It stored munitions for the city and at one point housed POWs from WWII.
Although the Fort was slated for closure in 1991, reuse of the land will continue to serve the citizens of Indiana. In 1995 the U.S. Department of the Interior approved the State of Indiana's request to convert 1,700 acres of the 2,500 acre post into a state park and nature preserve. Fort Harrison State Park includes one of the largest tracts unbroken hardwood forest in Central Indiana, several small lakes, three and one-half miles of Fall Creek and its tributaries, trails and picnic areas.
I hiked two trails for a total of nearly five miles. The river was high and had previously spilled from its banks. The entire trail was a little muddy but made it interesting dodging puddles.
The park was nearly deserted because the weather was questionable. I had the entire place to myself.

RUN_DMZ PLANET B-BOY

No way in heck those are real North Koreans but a good clip nonetheless.

A Fool’s Grammar

With the deadline for the renewal of the Farm Bill looming, senators and representatives are scrambling to finish deliberations before April 18.

One of the good ole girls, Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas while referring to the debates was recently quoted with saying “We are definitely getting down to the licklog here.”

Imagine my excitement when I realized that my review of agriculture policy and the Farm Bill was to yield a lesson in vocabulary! Because I had no idea what a licklog was let alone what was meant in getting down to it.

With a little research I discovered that a licklog was a felled tree in which troughs are cut and filled with salt for cattle. The term evolved to include any place where saltlicks were left for cattle or deer.

The phrase "down to the licklog" relates to the second to last thing cattle did before they died. It was an old rancher trick to take them to the salt lick and then to water to increase the weight before slaughter.

Apparently, many old lawyers (and politicians) use this term in referring to having exhausted all settlement efforts, discovery and other "things" lawyers do before they are ready for trial, leaving only trial/settlement/dismissal/some other 'final' resolution/end to the case. Everything has been done that could/should be done to resolve the matter, now it is time to resolve it. You need to either "spit or swaller", a tabacky term for when your mouth is full.

It was a day full of new words as later on in a staff meeting, when my boss was describing an unfortunate situation that the company is dealing with. He described a shyster who was creating a boondoggle. I was familiar with the term shyster but curiosity got the better of me and I had to look up the correct spelling. It isn’t a word I spell often in reports or include in official correspondences.

That ruddy shyster created one heck of a boondoggle for me wasting time and money in looking up what a boondoggle was.

Happy April Fool’s Day to you! For a laugh, enjoy some stories of past April Fool’s Hoaxes. Click here.