The other day I was at our local farmers market and I overheard a conversation between the leaders of our buy local foods groups talking about the recent March Against Monsanto. Now after about 15 seconds of hearing what she was saying, lets just say my blood was boiling. But before I go on, let me clarify, I have no beef with people who choose to raise or consume organic, grass feed, antibiotic free, etc etc. types of food products, we need selection and choices for all types of consumers, but what I do have a problem with is people who choose to attack and create criticism off of false claims that hinder others from making educated decisions. My ultimate wish in life is that we would have a culture full of educated consumers who had the freedom to dictate their buying habits off of educated research, but because of ridiculous activist formations like "March Against Monsanto" I don't think that is happening anytime soon.
On Saturday May 25, thousands of people across the globe organized a March Against Monsanto. The group claims that GMO foods are not sustainable
and cause harm through causing cancer tumors, infertility, and
birth defects. The group believes that chemicals produced by Monsanto are poisoning our environment and they strongly dislike government and FDA support and approval of
GMO foods.
This group also says they want to unveil the truth about GMOs,
boycott Monsanto, and increase research on the harm caused by consuming
GMO foods.
So after reading all their claims and missions, I still ask "So you're mad about what again?"
All of the things they are yelling and chanting about, science has conclusively refuted consistently over the past several decades that companies like Monsanto have been submitting these products for approval by the USDA and FDA. So even though these foods have been proven safe and healthy time and time again, people still find a reason to stand up and make a scene.
Since this group is so steaming mad about...well I'm still not sure what exactly, let me walk you through alittle thing I like to call "Farmer Logic".
My dad is a farmer, my uncles are farmers, my brothers are farmers, my friends are farmers, all of these people plant seeds that are GMOs. The leader of March Against Monsanto claims she was inspired to start the movement to protect her two daughters. She was quoted saying "I feel Monsanto threatens their generations health, fertility and longevity."
So "Ms. I'm Steaming Mad And I Don't Know Why", your daughters and myself consume the same GMO foods that my dad is raising and you are saying that he is causing me to be unhealthy, infertile, and live a short life? Well lets think about this, I'm pretty sure my dad loves me just as you do your daughters, so do you really think that he would raise crops that are going to kill me? You are not the only ones who consume these products that farmers are raising. Farmers and their families eat from the same table you do so do you honestly believe that farmers would produce foods that are unsafe for their own family? No, they would not, it's simple "Farmer Logic".
So I have linked up with this gang of Nebraska bloggers and this is my first attempt at joining the weekly blog theme party. This week everyone is sharing why and how you picked your name for your blog.
Well, when I started my blog I decided I wanted a theme or purpose for my blog. And of course that was a simple decision, AGVOCACY. I mean, agriculture is my life, so what else am I going to ramble about on this thing. So now that I had my purpose, I needed a name. I tossed around names involving Farmers Daughter, Country Kid, Dirt Road Diaries, Agriculture Impressions, etc etc. But it just wasn't clicking for me.
Then I was watching one of my all time favorite shows, The Office, and Micheal Scott spouted off the famous one-liner, "that's what she said", and BAM! name found.
If you ask anyone who knows me at all, they will probably tell you I am a straight up jokster and a touch of smart ass, well, maybe more than a "touch" ;-). I love to bop around and make others laugh and sarcasm is a language I speak rather fluently. So having the title That's What She Said was a perfect fit. Plain and simple.
Well the "boys 'round here" have been spending their sun ups to sun downs, Mondays thru Sundays, in the fields trying to "get the seed in the ground, fore the rain come down", "to get paiiddd, to get the girrllss"......well, maybe not that last part, you'd have to ask them about that department. But anyway, #plant13 is fully underway and as of Saturday all the boys corn was in the ground and bean planting had started, which is mighty impressive I think because the weather has been nuts around here lately so getting all several thousand aces of corn in that fast is quite impressive, but I guess the "boys 'round here" are "backwoods legit, don't take no $#!%".
Brother bear let me tag along one day and turn his evening of planting into a photo shoot.
Many people out there think that farmers just sit in the tractors and twiddle their thumbs. Are you for real people?! With all those screens to check and numbers to be punching and still making sure the tractor is driving straight and watching the planter to make sure its running correctly and not dragging any branches or trash and then turning around at the end of the field with a huge 60 foot planter on the back....ummm ya, twiddling thumbs is not an option.
"Well the boys 'round here" may be out kicking it in the dirt, but the farm mom 'round here makes sure they get a meal everyday while they are stuck in a tractor from sun up to sun down. The farm mom 'round here also gets the laundry done, the book work in order, the house cleaned, the lawn mowed, the cattle checked, the pumpkins picked, the greenhouse watered, the boys picked up and dropped off at a new field, and the list goes on and on. I may be a day late but, Happy Mothers Day mom! Thanks for being the backbone to this farm family!
So for the past 5 years I have been blessed to have a pretty wicked awesome lady as a friend. But after 5 years of fun, I am sad to report that she is leaving good ole Nebraska for Utah. (Insert awkward jam by Five For Fighting)
(I highly suggest letting this play as you read, it just makes it that much more deep and moving)
So you might be asking yourself, "Utah? What's in Utah?", well folks, I have no dang clue either.
So, it all began way back during freshman year of college. I was "lucky" enough to have a wicken for a roommate who attempted to cast spells on me in my sleep, so I moved to third floor of good ole Burr Hall. Burr 3 was split in two, on one side was the cool people, which included those like "The Crazy People Who Live Next Door" and people who would strip down and sprint down the hall for some pizza, while the other side of the floor was a mystical place similar to that of Narnia. And if you were brave enough to venture past the water fountain and maneuver yourself around the bathroom, you would find yourself visiting this rarely spoken of place, where if you were lucky, you would run into the one and only Samantha.
Now let me tell you a little bit about this "Sam". She may seem like a high heel wearing, whiskey drinking, dance club shakin', home cookin, tool box spottin, bundle of fun, but she is oh so much more!
So in honor of her packing up and moving off to "The Beehive State" I would just like to share some of the greatest moments I/We have had with SamBam and also why I am probably gonna miss her just a little itty bitty bit.
So Sam, here are my list of "50 THINGS SAM", since I know how much you love all eyes on you... Your welcome :)
1. I just want you to first know that even though you will now be over the mountains and threw the Mormons... I will still continually text bomb you with rotten ecards and "Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam. Samantha. Sam. Sam. Sam. Sam. Samantha. Sam. Sam. SAMMMMMMMMMM" texts.
2. I will also continually post inappropriate things on your Facebook wall, like this blog for example.
3. What happens when I run out of play-doh at my desk at work? Are you going to ship me more?
4. "If I knew that was the decision you were going to make after you left my house last night, I probably would not have let you leave."
5. That time Molly tried to take you and I downtown and instead we ended up trying to get mugged in a creepy back alley.
6. "Where do you find these boys? You gotta stop fishing with corn dogs!"
7. That time you saved Jenny on the dance floor because her dance moves were attracting unwanted attention.
8. That time I bonded with your future brother in-law in the bathroom for a copious amount of time, and don't really remember it.
9. "Whoops, I think somebody dropped a Toolbox outside of Brothers!"
10. HO-LITE!
11. I'm sorry for that time I whacked you with a bottle and chipped your tooth.
12. I'm gonna miss your intense skills at the billiards table.
13. Since you are gone, I feel like a lot of my "that's what she said" jokes are gonna be left hanging...
14. Even though you're moving, don't worry I have collision alert, so I'll be okay.
15.That time Jenny and I picked you and Molly up from downtown and you were going on and on about Marines.... um, we still have that on video. And your welcome. :-)
16. No mater what boy I attempt, your first question has always been, "He's a tool isn't he?"
17. Your hatred toward Unlce Rons.
18. All your pretty shoes.
19. Thanks for helping me get my ears double pierced... even though they got infected and swelled shut.
20. Now that you're leaving, who is going to drink whiskey with me? :-(
21. Your giant bouncy ball/aerobics ball/Ashley's play toy.... can I have that?
22. "You ordering food? Well what do you want?"
23. FYI, I still never got to come take part in branding. WTH dude?
24. That time we drove to Bennet just to get bottles of water and Laffy Taffy.
25. Thanks for keeping all those awkward secrets for me. Lets still keep them because I don't feel like dying just yet. haha
26. Your skills at hiding from the camera.
27. Since you're gone, we are all probably going to lose our minds again, just like this past summer. See, we all make bad decisions when you leave!
28. All the Pappa Johns and Jimmy Johns we have ate over the years in the middle of the night.
29. "What? no way! These are Shirley Temples I swear!"
30. Who will be here to constantly correct my grammar, since YOUR leaving?
31. Your mother hen-ness.
32. That time you saved 'Taco" from potentially being arrested.
33. Who is going to stop me when I get crazy feelings like that I should go get a bunch of glow sticks, and
break them and dump all the glowy stuff all over me and run up and down
the streets of Lincoln.
34. Since you're leaving who is going to translate for us when we try and order at a Mexican restaurant? "Umm, I'll have that thing right there (as we point to the menu)"
35. "Whenever I go downtown, I always feel like I'm wearing to many clothes"
36. Now that you are gone, when we go out who am I going to awkwardly and inappropriately poke?
37. The
mornings when I call with the story that begins with "So... guess what I
did last night" and it ends with you saying "ya know, I sometimes
question your decision making skills"
38. Who will be here to hate on my UGG boots and my fancy cowboy boots? O wait, Laura and Jenny still have that one covered.
39. Someday, we WILL find out what ACTUALLY happened in Costa Rica!
40. Your hair looks nice.
41. That time we ventured out on a snow day and you slid a complete 360.
42. Thanks for being my wing woman, even when you didn't like the tool box I was digging thru.
43. Don't worry if you become a Sister Wife out there in Utah, I will totally accept your fellow sister wives as friends, and I will probably even DVR your TLC show.
44. TACO TIME!
45. Don't worry someday Molly and I will find a lumberjack that you approve of.
46. Because of you difficulty with names and lisps, you know who will forever be known as Krepki.
47. #WEAKSAUCE
48. "Do Mormons wear those funny little hats?"
49. "I have a feeling we should kiss" "Well... sometimes I have the feeling I can do crystal meth, but then I think, mmm... better not"
50. Remember that time we tricked you and you thought "nobody loves me I'm moving away and everybody's gone and they don't even care blah blah blah wah wah wah"...but actually we were just planning your surprise gathering :-) See, we actually do love you.
So Sam, let me close by saying, I am totally pumped for your new journey in life and I know that the real world has no clue as to what's about to hit it. So let me leave you with the song from two of the greatest movies ever made... you know what they are :-)
