“Eat chocolate” was the reported advice given by physicians in the 1800s to patients needing a remedy for anxiety and “broken hearts.”1 The lore of the “doctor’s order” combined with the centuries old tradition of Americans exchanging heart shaped cards and candy...
For those of us who grew up with “dirt under our fingernails” or are currently engaged in raising cattle or crops from almonds to corn, it can be easy to say, “sustainable agriculture has always been at the core of our existence.” However, sustainable farming...
An overwhelming 86% of Americans report that they’ll share a gift of chocolate and candy this Valentine’s Day according to the National Confectioners Association recent study.1 For some, a special occasion is not required to enjoy chocolate, but during the week of...
Traveling 1,100 miles over 16 hours and six states in one day provides plenty of opportunities to view the landscape along the I-64 and I-70 westward route to Colorado from the passenger side window. For once, I did just that on a recent road trip. The temptation of...
Food is at the core of our existence and our conflicts. “Wars (figuratively and literally) have been fought over food and continue to be fought today in developed and underdeveloped countries," is a statement I wrote in a recently published article on nutrition and...
An article by Marianne Smith Edge was published by The Dairy Alliance on April 20 as part of its Earth Day celebration. Marianne writes that every day is Earth Day for farmers, who steward the land and are essential for our survival. “Farmers, like salt, are vital to...
When the food chain is disrupted by a global pandemic and the system starts to unravel beyond our control, reality sets in and we wonder what if this is our new “normal.”
We are living in a new reality. Shopping carts overflowing with food have left grocery store shelves bare with signs of “limit of 2 on toilet paper” or “no milk or eggs until Saturday.” And this is not the usual “Southern clearing of shelves” before a predicted...
Trust is a tricky thing. One day you say you trust someone, a brand or a service and then in a blink of an eye, your view changes. A headline, a quote or a picture shoots an arrow through the heart of that belief. Your trust level has been challenged. And feelings of...
Crisp colored leaves, pumpkins on the doorstep, apple orchards blazed in shades of red, vegetable soup on the stove…all signs of our idealistic fall scenario enjoyed with little thought of the challenges endured by farmers to produce these fall harvest delights....