Tag Archives: Franklin County Farm Bureau

Food & FamilyLatham Employees “Do Battle” to Support Local Food Pantries

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Julie, Laura, & Amy at the end of the "Breakfast Battle"

Just yesterday, Latham Hi-Tech Seeds participated in the 2nd Annual Franklin County Farm Bureau Breakfast Battle. This event, held in honor of National Food Check-Out Week, promotes the abundance and safety of our country’s food supply. One interesting fact shared during the event was that each year National Food Check-Out Week is celebrated at the time that most Americans have earned enough of their annual income to purchase all the food they will need in a year. How fortunate we are to have an abundance of safe and affordable food to be able to pay for it in two months’ time!

National Food Check-Out Week celebrates the time when most Americans have earned enough of their annual income to purchase enough food for one year.

Latham Seeds was one of 9 businesses participating in this event. Battle began early last week with a “Facebook Fan Favorite” poll on Facebook. Many of you may have seen our calls for help in voting, and we THANK YOU for the great response! Latham Hi-Tech Seeds was voted “fan favorite” of the event – an honor we’ve captured for the second year in a row. Team Latham edged out the number two team this year by almost 10 votes, receiving 10 seconds off our total time.

Yesterday at 8 AM teams met at Fareway in Hampton, Iowa, to compete in additional events including a challenging round of Ag Trivia. Each correctly answered question was worth 10 seconds off your grocery shopping time for the latter part of the competition. While the questions were tough, the Latham team brought down one correct answer for an additional 10 seconds off our total time.

The next step of the competition required each team to draw a menu from the stack. Our menu consisted of Chewy Granola bake for breakfast; lunch was a Creamy Egg Salad sandwich; and supper was Creamy Chicken and Vegetables. The challenge then was to race through the store selecting each of the required ingredients while spending between $45 and $50.

This year’s competition was even more intense than last year! While we didn’t come in first place, we did a great job of selecting items with a total of $46.66. Nine families will receive groceries and additional monetary donations collected through this event will go to neighboring food banks.

Having another battle under our belt, team Latham is feeling experienced and has already begun training to “do battle” again in 2014!

Go Ahead and Agvocate!

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Larry Sailer is constantly connected to ag news and market information via his smartphone, iPad, office laptop and piles of newspapers at home near Iowa Falls. Photo Courtesy of IFT Photo by Zoe Martin

“Musings of a Pig Farmer” by Larry Sailer

Back in the 1980s, I became an agvocate. The term “agvocate” had not yet been invented, and I really had no idea what I was getting into at the time. I joined the Franklin County Pork Producers and the Franklin County Farm Bureau.

It wasn’t long before the Farm Crisis of the 1980s hit, and I knew farmers like me needed to tell our story. Unfortunately, I had no clue how to go about it! My first media interview was with farm broadcaster Von Ketelsen, and in hindsight, it’s a good thing it was with someone who is so “farmer friendly.” Most of my answers were either “yes” or “no.”

Over the past 30+ years, I have attended as many media training sessions as time allows. I joined the Farm Bureau Speaker Corps and Operation Main Street, a speakers’ corps for the National Pork Board. During a Farm Bureau training session about four years ago, I was introduced to Social Media. Our trainer, Zach Bader, explained how Twitter and Facebook could expand the number of people we could reach with our message.

Then I discovered AgChat! AgChat is a virtual chat room. This is a place where you can “attend” a meeting – unlimited by chair space. It allows you to connect with people from virtually anywhere and discuss ag issues. You can ask questions and get everyone’s opinion. (Take notice: I used the word “opinion” instead of “answers”!) If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last 30 years it’s that there are a lot of opinions and not every question has a right or wrong answer. That’s why I firmly believe those of us in agriculture must be willing to listen, too.

The founding members of AgChat did what I think was an amazing thing. They started having seminars to help people like me learn how to use social media to have a conversation with the people, who either are no longer connected to the farm or never have been.

I attended the first agvocacy training session in Chicago in 2010 and was overwhelmed. Speakers were so passionate about sharing the great message of what we have attained on the farm. On Aug. 23-24, I attended the third AgChat training session in Kansas City. It’s amazing how far social media has come! This time I attended sessions on blogging, making videos (and even met the Petersen brothers) and using Pinterest. There is really no limit to spreading your message. Go ahead and give it a try… our livelihood needs more agvocates!

Celebrate Beef Month with Cream Cheese Burgers: Vote by May 7

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Val and Ian Plagge with their son Klayton.

Farmers are known for wearing many caps, and Val Plagge is no exception. She’s a farmer, a farm wife, mother, as well as an independent leadership development and event planner.

Val met her husband, Ian, when they were students in the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. Upon graduating from ISU, they got married and moved near Ian’s home farm in Latimer, Iowa. They began farming in 2005; today they raise corn, soybeans and finish hogs.

Active in their community, both Val and Ian serve on the Franklin County Farm Bureau board and are members of the Farm Bureau Young Member Committee. Ian is a member of the Franklin County Extension Council, and Val is the Franklin County 4-H Communications Project leader. Val is also a volunteer and vice chairman of the North Iowa Make a Wish Foundation. Together Val and Ian serve as youth sponsors for the Senior High youth group at their church, as well. Plus, Val teaches high school Sunday School.

When she has free time, Val enjoys experimenting with new recipes. It’s no wonder that her most recent charity project combines many of her interests. She developed a recipe for Cy’s Cook Off. Here’s how Val describes the contest in her Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids blog spot:

I produced my “Cardinal & Gold Cream Cheese Burgers” by modifying and coupling other burger recipes together. I created the burger for a Pinterest contest for Iowa State Athletics. There contest is called Cy’s Cook Off, and whoever receives the most repins and likes wins a $100 gift card to Cy’s Locker Room and an autographed Coach Rhoades mini helmet. I’m planning on giving the helmet to Make A Wish North Iowa for the Wish Upon A Par auction on June 27, and I’m planning on decking out the family in new ISU gear for football if I win.

Val does a fantastic job of showing each of the burger-making process in her blog post. The color photography makes me wish I could sink my teeth right into one of those burgers right now! From reading her post, I learned to place a thumbprint in the center of each patty to help them cook evenly. Who knew? You can bet I’ll give it a try now!

You can try your hand at making Cardinal & Gold Cream Cheese Burgers, too. In honor of May Beef Month, today we’re featuring Val’s recipe on TheFieldPosition.com. Remember to also either “like” or “repin” this recipe by May 7 on Iowa State Athletics Pinterest page.

Cardinal & Gold Cream Cheese Burgers

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds ground hamburger
  • 1 packet (1 ounce) onion soup mix
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 T seasoning salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper
  • 1/2 red bell pepper
  • 1 red chili pepper
  • 8 oz Neufchatel cheese (substitute: 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
  • 1/4 medium onion, grated
  • 2 large cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 t seasoning salt
  • 1/2 t cumin
  • 6 slices cheddar cheese
  • 6 buns

Directions:

  • Mix hamburger, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, 1 T seasoning salt and 1 egg in large bowl. Form into 6 round patties; make thumb print in middle of each patty so cooks evenly. Place on pre-heated grill. Grill each side 3 to 4 minutes.
  • When place burgers on grill, also put cleaned (pith and seeds taken out) yellow, red and chili peppers. Once peppers are cooked, after a few minutes, take peppers off grill to dice.
  • To diced grilled peppers, add 8 oz cream cheese, onion, garlic, 1 t seasoning salt and cumin. Mix with spoon in medium bowl till evenly combined.
  • Once hamburgers are almost done (couple minutes remaining) place large spoonful of cream cheese mixture on top of each burger. Add slice of cheddar cheese on top of cream cheese mixture.
  • Serve on hamburger buns when done being cooked and cheese is melted.

Click Here, to see the recipe done step-by-step with pictures.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Val Plagge on her WIN for ISU’s “Cy’s Cook Off Challenge”