On the Horizon: Flour Made the Local Way

It has been a rough year for wheat farmers…again. It seems like we’ve been saying that a lot the past few years. Some fear there is no end in sight.

Several producers in the tiny town of Hydro, Okla. may have found the light at the end of the tunnel. Whole wheat producers are running their wheat through PBar Farms’ Stone Stack Mill for a premium price. Loren Liebscher is PBar Farms’ owner and is an advocate of production agriculture and education.

Liebscher is passionate about teaching kids where their food comes from and how to eat healthy. He uses the mill and his corn maze to teach kids about the importance of agriculture.

As a lifelong agriculturalist, I have devoted much of my time to educating the public about agriculture. Whether I was in FFA or shopping in the grocery store I have always found people who do not know about the food they eat. Producing the food is not enough. We have to be advocates and educate people about what we do so there will be a future for the industry we love. In this week’s video blog, see how local wheat producers are adding value to their product.

~Andy Barth

 

On the Horizon: Flour Made the Local Way from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

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My Little Victory Garden: Sweet Safari!

Fallow deer, heading toward the feeding trough on Honey Hill Farm.

You know those stories that begin with one segment, then lead to another? And another. And…another? This is one of those stories.  Here’s how it started:

One of my first Victory Garden entries included a trip to my neighbor down the road, Crestview Farms.  I picked up some fresh eggs, some Honey Hill Farm local honey, and spoke with the owner about when her French Tarragon might be in.  I got home, unloaded my treasures, and noticed that the Honey Hill Farm label read: Edmond, OK.  How about that?  The beekeepers were ALSO neighbors.  I stashed that little nugget of information into the back of my brain and thought, “Okay, I’ll get there soon.” I wrote that post March 20th.

On June 20th, exactly 90 days later, Jerry Logan took a few hours out of his early morning schedule to show me just how it is that his bees do what they do.  And his deer run like they run, and his Scimitar oryx grow horns as beautiful and long as they grow them.  I appreciate Jerry’s willingness to let me ride along in his farm truck, in his camouflage utility vehicle and walk by his side as I learned all about how one thing led to another, and then another, until it became what it is today. Continue reading My Little Victory Garden: Sweet Safari!

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Silent Sunday: Little Bird

Friday night, Mick was turning the sprinkler on in the front yard when he noticed a tiny bump on the lawn. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was a small baby bird. He called me to the area and we watched it for a while...it was shaking, rocking back and forth, and was constantly holding its head up as if to get food from its parents. We waited for a while, but didn't see the parents. Pretty soon, ants began to crawl all over the baby bird. Occasionally it would open its mouth but the call was so weak we became concerned. So, we went inside and began to research "how to take care of a baby bird who has fallen from its nest."

Continue reading Silent Sunday: Little Bird

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What Would You Do? Musing Over the National Debt Ceiling, Delta Airlines and Personal Hunger.

The question had been reverberating around in my head for the past few days, and tonight, it was put to the test. What would you do?

What would you do for a Klondike Bar? It’s a famous jingle, and you likely can recall some of the TV commercials of people doing outlandish things for these frozen delicacies.

What would you do if…?

What would you do for…?

A topic of frequent conversation at the non-profit management symposium I’ve participated in this week has been “the Federal Government and the infighting over the national debt ceiling.”

What if they can’t agree? What if the leadership prime directive, much like the medical practitioner’s Hypocratic Oath of “First, Do No Harm,” breaks down? What if this high stakes game of federal budget chicken results in a full-speed head-on collision like the one in Minnesota? Who gets hurt? What might the collateral damage be? How long might it last?

So many questions, so little true leadership. Pardon the digression diatribe.

A small group of us got down to brass tacks last night discussing what such an event would cause in the macro economy. Certainly, like in times past, the national government would shut down, but this would go much further than the temporary closing of Yellowstone Park and the like.

The U.S. Treasury would be out of money. They would default on bond payments. They would not be able to pay Social Security benefits. They would not be able to fund federally issued college student loans. Yikes! What if it happened this week, and they could not pay air traffic controllers and all commerce and travel were to stop? How would I get home? 1,500+ miles away from Edmond, America, how would I get back to the Little Frau and our Kinder? It made me recall those classic John Candy moments in the back of the polka band truck as “Kevin’s mom” hitchhiked back to her son in “Home Alone 1”.

Well, we finished our conversation, and I actually forgot all about the what if’s and headed to the airport this afternoon for the trip home to Edmond, America and the folks I love.

Then, it happened. Continue reading What Would You Do? Musing Over the National Debt Ceiling, Delta Airlines and Personal Hunger.

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Barber Shop Theology – The Big & Small of it

The Big and Little of the Gospel

 I’ve heard it said that the gospel is simple enough for a child to understand and still so complex that theologians can discuss it at great length. This makes the gospel all the more beautiful.

Just how wonderful is the gospel? Even angels long to look into these things. I Peter 1:12

Precisely what is this gospel? It is ‘good news’. But what is the content of this good news?  Well, for this Barber Shop Theological foray, let’s see the big and the small of the Gospel.

My dad, Oscar, first stepped behind the barber’s chair of his shop in Apache, Oklahoma in January of 1963. I was in the first grade. There is no telling how many thousands of haircuts he has given over the past 48 years.

My dad tried to retire once and sold his shop in town, but a stream of guys from around town found their way to the house and the chair he had put into the garage, and soon he was only semi-retired.  To this day, he still greets customers by their first names as they show up a mile north of town to get a haircut. On my recent visit home Continue reading Barber Shop Theology – The Big & Small of it

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.