Happy Friday! Time for my weekly Follow the Field update. It’s hot here in Central Illinois – hope everyone has cool plans for the weekend! It’s Stanford Good Old Days in my hometown (our annual summer festival), so fish fry this evening, parade Saturday followed by activities at the park and the usual fire department pork chop dinner fundraiser, then fireworks! And because I’m still involved with my old 4-H club, we’ll also be cleaning up after those fireworks on Sunday morning…
Follow the Field Update #3 – Soybean Flowers & Corn GDDs
July 12, 2019It’s Follow the Field Friday! Not much to update other than the hot weather has been great for the crops – they need as much sunshine as they can get after the slow start this spring. Ironically, we wouldn’t be upset over a nice rain or two, either. This was a busy week here in Stanford. The 4-H club I help lead runs a food pantry in town. We discovered on Tuesday that one of the two refrigerators we have…
Episode 034 – Family Reunions
July 10, 2019We’re back! And we brought our cousin Evan on for this episode to discuss family reunions, which are pretty much a summer tradition here in the Midwest. Here are a few questions we ponder during this episode: Why is it there is ALWAYS fried chicken at family reunions? Why haven’t we figured out how to breed a chicken with more legs? Legs are the best piece! Fruit in desserts: Yay or nay? We’re in the throes of new cities, new…
Follow the Field Update #2: And Now We Wait
July 5, 2019Not much to report this week other than the corn has been growing like a weed! (Which is a good thing right now. 😉 ) We’re pretty much at the “hurry up and wait” stage of the crop growth progress. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we can just forget about the crop and let it do its thing for the rest of the summer – there are still some pest pressures we have to watch out for and other things…
No doubt about it, it’s been a challenging spring for farmers across the Midwest. Soggy field conditions kept us from planting for week after week after week throughout April, May, and into June. Some farmers still haven’t had the chance to get into the field to plant and likely won’t at this point given how late it is in the season. Fortunately, we were able to finally plant. It was late, for sure, but the crop still has a chance…
The Dirty Dozen
March 21, 2019It’s that time of year again. Spring has sprung and the Environmental Working Group released their annual “Dirty Dozen” list. I watched an interesting news segment about this list on CBS This Morning today. Their guest expert was a registered dietitian, who started off by emphasizing the necessity of washing your produce as well as incorporating lots of fruits and vegetables into your diet. Think about the dirt and germs that could be picked up as it moves from the…
Episode 033 – Romaine Calm
November 21, 2018Thanksgiving is nearly here and we have a lot to be grateful for this year, even if Claire and I are both a little nervous to bring our boyfriends home to spend our first major holidays with our families this weekend. We cover tips for introducing significant others to the family this holiday season, whether Christmas comes too early, and remembering what is important this holiday season. In light of several recent food recalls, we also remind ourselves that we…
Episode 032 – Let’s Get Political
November 7, 2018It’s election week! In this episode, Claire and Gracie file several election-related complaints and discussing how America may hold future elections. And while you may or may not be happy with how things turned out, let’s remember that we’re all Americans and we have the privilege of having the chance to voice our opinion. And if you didn’t vote…well…redeem yourself by voting in our Twitter poll. If you are one of the few people disappointed that the elections are over,…
031 – It’s Called Supper, Not Dinner
October 24, 2018Have you ever noticed that you use different terminology or pronounce words differently than your neighbors? In this episode, Claire and Gracie dive into the great Dinner vs. Supper controversy as well as other hot debates, such as Pop vs. Soda and Whether A Hot Dog Could Possibly Be Considered A Sandwich. But one thing they could agree on is the awesome opportunity National FFA Convention attendees have to see the President speak AND go to the Garth Brooks concert.…
Episode 030 – The Babies Are Booming
October 10, 2018Communication in the workplace is important, but how do you navigate getting the message across while managing the communications preferences of different generations? Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and now the first of the Gen Z generation are all part of the workforce and have vastly different styles of communication and work habits. Listen as two Millennials attempt to explain the differences between the generations, what early interactions with Gen Z has been like, and how they have learned to…