2. Find a blog buddy, someone to walk you through the first steps on one of the free sites such as Blogger or WordPress. Sites such as these are relatively easy to maneuver, but it may help to enlist a friend or a local teen. Teens today are part of the “millennial generation” and grew up so entrenched in web technology that they can be your seasoned mentor.

Find more tips here.

She says that they offer alternative products to chemical pesticides and fertilizers. They are all natural products which increases nutrient uptake and moisture retention and fight disease in a natural way. Molly says that besides crops they have also moved into gardening by teaming up with Jon Carloftis Fine Gardens on a series of products like Bloom & Fruit and Soil & Root. You can listen to my interview with Molly: Molly Dugan Interview

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

For the past month, I’ve been living (and continue to live) in the Canyons of California on Puma Canyon Ranch. Here on the ranch (what most people would call a farm), there are dozens of acres of avocado, lemon and orange trees. However, there is more than fruit here on the farm, we’re also growing produce.

Over the past week, I’ve been helping to turn an area into an organic produce field. We’re growing the produce for a local restaurant in Santa Barbara called Pizza Guru. We began by tilling the field (although the land will never be tilled again) and then we created a series of raised beds. Each bed is 4 feet wide with 2 feet of walkway between each bed. Once that was completed, we built a drip irrigation system. From there, we began to plant.

Yesterday, we planted rows of tomatoes, lettuce and onions. Today we’re planting more lettuce as well as garlic and squash. Once we planted everything, we added a homemade fertilizer and then we added a homemade mulch to the top. Now we wait….

The lettuce will take about three weeks to start producing and once it is done, the bed will be overtaken by the second crop (either tomatoes or onions). This fall, we’re going to have completed the construction of both a shade house and a greenhouse where we’ll continue to grow produce year round.

The coolest thing about the ranch is that we have gardens all over and each night, I can go out and pick what I want for dinner. My new favorite food is kale.

However, what I’ve taken away so far from my short experience, is that I want to give a shout-out to all the farmers around the world who feed us. This is a very difficult and thankless task, one I will never again take for granted.

BTW – I’m photographing my experience on the farm and you can see my pictures here.

One of my favorite attendees was Keagan Long (pictured between myself and Laurent). As you can see, Long rocked a Farmers Feed Cities t-shirt. Have you heard of Farmers Feed Cities before? It’s a really cool website put together by farmers in Ontario. Here is what the website is all about:

Farmers Feed Cities! is an agriculture awareness campaign working with farmers across Ontario. Farm families have been growing food for generations, and we’re proud of our tradition of providing, safe, reliable food that tastes great! Now that you’re here, why not take a moment to look around and learn more about us? Meet farm families, take our trivia challenge, and learn more about why a long-term investment in agriculture is a smart investment in a healthier, stronger Ontario.

Here is a description of what my blog is all about: I’m a farm girl at heart, and I feel pretty lucky to have made my passion and hobby into a career that I love. I enjoy a medium rare ribeye steak and a glass of Merlot, with the company of friends or family.

Follow me on Twitter @AmandaNolz or check out the Ag in Action Facebook Page. Thanks for your support in my new endeavor!

H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009, passed in the House of Representatives Thursday by a vote of 225 – 200. Introduced by North Dakota Representative Earl Pomeroy, the bill would permanently extend the death tax. It would exclude amounts up to 3.5-million single and 7-million married, and permanently set the death tax rate at 45 percent. Under current law the death tax would expire in 2010. According to Palmeroy, “This bill will provide full and permanent estate tax relief for 99.75 percent of families, farmers, and small businesses in this country, who would not have to pay any estate tax.” Pomeroy adds, this bill will, “Provide the stability families need to make long-term decisions and avoid the estate planning roller coaster that will result from current law.”

Nowadays, it seems the worries of a farmer and rancher are monumental. High input costs, ballot initiatives, strict regulations, bad media coverage, consumer misconceptions, animal rights activists’ agendas and low prices seem to plague the agriculture industry. Most depressing, it’s been said that for every consumer dollar spent in the grocery store, the farmer and rancher only receives 18 cents. Yet, true agriculturalists don’t let these negative things get to them. Nope, they endeavor to persevere.

Despite the challenges and obstacles, we have a lot to be thankful for in the agriculture industry. There is nothing better than having a career that provides nourishment for the world. For me, I live to watch my calves grow up, and it’s always a good feeling when we can fit the needs of our customers with our seedstock offerings. It’s amazing that the calves in my own pasture will someday move down the beef industry chain to backgrounders, feeders, processors, the grocery store and finally, to a dinner table around the world. The best part is knowing that the folks involved in every stop along the chain are great people that are dedicated to the same things as I am.

I’m thankful to be able to work alongside my family in a career that I love. I’m thankful to be able to work with my hands to help create something bigger than myself. I’m so blessed to be capable of the well being of so many animals, and I feel fortunate to live in America where food is abundant, healthy and safe. Today, set your worries aside and think about the things you are thankful for. You will quickly find that the list is much longer than your stresses and fears. God Bless the American farmer and rancher!

The Space Shuttle Endeavour headed into space last week as part of the STS-127 mission. On board was the National 4-H flag. The Endeavour is delivering the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. The 16-day mission included five spacewalks and the installation of two new space station components and equipment.

Azeem Ahmed, 17, who is an avid space enthusiast and 4-H member from Alabama and President of the Alabama 4-H Council, made the original request to NASA to have the flag flown with a future space shuttle mission.

“4-H is more than green and white – it is a collage,” Ahmed said in a news release. “It is agriculture and it’s also healthy living, leadership and citizenship and science, engineering and technology. Science, engineering and technology is one of the missions of 4-H, and by flying a 4-H flag into space, I hope we shine a new light on 4-H.”

Anyway, regardless of the very sad and disturbing truth that there are many people out there that have absolutely no clue where their food comes from, I hope this video gives you a laugh this afternoon!

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the most radical animal “rights” and anti-hunting organization in the country, has been quietly trying to get Carrie Underwood voted Entertainer of the Year via the Academy of Country Music. The problem is, a large percentage of country music fans are also gun owners and hunters who do not like Carrie Underwood’s active support for HSUS. And HSUS knows it.

Underwood and American Idol have already listed HSUS as a beneficiary of the proceeds of one of her songs and now HSUS is enlisting their radical animal rights supporters to vote for her in the Entertainer of the Year contest. But they are trying to keep it quiet. In an e-mail sent out to supporters by Kathy Bauch, the HSUS Senior Director for Corporate Relations & Promotions, she asked people to vote for Underwood, but added, “Feel free to distribute this to friends and family, but please don’t post to lists, twitter, etc.–anything that would identify that HSUS is urging people to vote for her, or it could just breathe life into the opposition.”

Oops, too late! Perhaps someone should tell the folks at HSUS that e-mails are not exactly the most secure way of communicating their “secret” agendas. Country music fans who do not appreciate Underwood’s support for HSUS should go and vote for an entertainer who shares their values and supports America’s hunting heritage. Please share this with every meat-eating, freedom loving American you know and then VOTE!!!

She’s back at work already and I appreciate her sharing a photo for me to share with you.

It’s just part of how they’re “Making the good life better.”

People are passionate about the lifestyle they have chosen. Country Living Association has learned from members that while people are moving to the country for several reasons – their love of pets, space to raise horses, a safe environment to raise children, enjoyment of the great outdoors, etc. – the prevailing reason is that the quality of life they find in the country cannot be matched in a city. The NAFB Rural Lifestyle Report estimates that there are over 69 million people (27 million households) living in the country with the numbers increasing daily.

According to Gene Danekas, Director of Ag Statistics, USDA-Missouri, (pictured on the left in his booth at the Country Living Olympics) there’s valuable information in there. He says you’ll find information right down to the county and zip code level on all sizes of operations. He says the rural lifestyle farms contribute significantly to the overall U. S. economy as well as local economies. All the data is publicly available via their website.

Gene wants rural lifestyle farm owners to know that they are a vital part of agriculture. He says they’ll be doing an update study at the end of this year when they send out 2 1/2 million questionnaires. The new report should then be available around February of 2009.

You can listen to my interview with Gene here:

Bill says that all of the information he heard contributes to a growing body of knowledge about the rural lifestyle market. He’s one of the people who calls it a diversified market. That’s something I heard a lot. Bill says he’ll take back ideas for future research that NAFB will do to enhance their study from last year (pdf) for the benefit of its members.

We also talked about the upcoming convention. It’s the 63rd NAFB Convention and I’ve been to a lot of them but not that many. Bill says they’ll have a panel of marketers on the program talking about the rural lifestyle market.

You can listen to my interview with Bill here:

You can see that we were planting a post garden in the middle of the floor. That was some pretty hard packed dirt floor too.

You can watch the action on YouTube if you’d like:

You can subscribe to my YouTube videos so you’ll automatically know when I’ve added a new one by using this link.

Teresa works on a lot of projects related to agriculture one of which is the Country Living Association. She says that just about any group of people who have some kind of interest related to rural life or agriculture has an association but there wasn’t one for people that share a passion for country living. She says that besides members, sponsor companies were looking for this. There may be lots of places to advertise but the Association creates member engagement which really builds relationships and a sense of community.

She says that growth has been great here in the first year and they’re on track for where they want to be.

I think you’ll enjoy my interview with Teresa here:

Take Alan Brend who was on the panel of rural lifestyle practitioners. He says that he does not view how he lives as a lifestyle but rather a way of life. Alan says that he will live no other way and the country way of life is good for kids. He says that having them raise animals and do chores teaches them self confidence and responsibility.

Alan says that when it comes to buying stuff he does all his research on the internet and then buys local. He thinks the Country Living Association has a great deal of potential, especially if it can provide him with resources on its website that would save him time. When I asked him if he thinks the marketers attending understood his needs he says that he could see the light in their eyes as they would nod like they finally understood.

I think you’ll enjoy my interview with Alan here:

Imagine having to run with them for a short distance and stack them on another pallet. That’s why we had some worn out competitors. 10 bags and a short run. Whew!

You can see the winning style and form in this video:

She wants companies servicing the rural lifestyle market to know that they separate their work and personal lives and that they need information and supplies to complete their home projects. She says that the marketers in attendance at the conference asked a lot of questions about the kind of research they do, how/where/why they make purchases and how they use mail. She says that although she doesn’t have high speed internet access on at their home that she and her husband use it a lot where they can like at work.

Kelly says that she thinks there’s a real need for companies to train their employees to work with rural lifestyle people. She says that often they’ll be trained to work with large scale farmers but her needs are very different.

You can listen to my interview with Kelly here:

Besides talking about country living we also talked about Agrimarketing Magazine going digital. I read my digital edition of Agrimarketing as soon as I got it and it’s now my preferred way to receive the publication. Lynn says there are 4 main reasons why he chose to go to a digital edition.

• He can get the magazine out 2 weeks before it shows up in the mail.
• His audience is wired and on high speed internet access and ready for it.
• His next generation of readers have grown up with the computer.
• Now subscribers who travel can read the magazine while online.

Of course I had to ask if this means he’ll stop printing the magazine. Lynn says his advisory board asked him immediately, “You’re not going to do away with the magazine are you.” So although it would represent a huge cost savings he has no plans to quit printing the magazine.

One of the things the digital edition does according to Lynn is present some new advertising opportunities since it can contain audio and video and links to online content. He says the response has been tremendous so far and he’s noticed that it’s driving more traffic to the Agrimarketing website.

The program concludes this week with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This week’s song is “Coyotes Song – End of Hunting” by the No Plastic Inside. I’m going to be taking a few days off later this week and again in a few weeks to do some hunting so I thought it worked.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 142 (18 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

I can’t even remember the exact details of how this one worked but you had to run back and forth moving water from one tub to another and it was timed event.

You can watch this girl in action on YouTube if you’d like:

By the way, if you want to subscribe to my YouTube videos so you’ll automatically know when I’ve added a new one then use this link. I’ve got 92 videos in my account that have been collectively viewed about 100,000 times so far.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t get to talk to Steve though. His company, Drake & Company, is an accredited association management firm. Basically they are the staff and headquarters for several national organizations like the National Christmas Tree Association and Alpha Zeta. Of course the Country Living Association is one of those too.

Steve says that everyone is looking at this rural lifestyle market and trying to figure out how to reach it. He said that he saw a need for an organization to bring the community together. So how large is the market? Steve says he hears figures of from 2 to 20 million people. When I asked him how the CLA is marketing itself to reach this market he says that right now they’ve been working with their corporate partners and doing promotions and publicity.

As the CLA grows it’s obvious to me that the organization itself will become a viable way to reach out to the rural lifestyle market. That’s why if you’re not a sponsor now you might want to consider becoming one.

You can listen to my interview with Steve here:

These little dynamos were searching for $1 dollar coins. I think there were a couple hundred dollars worth hidden under the hay pile. They got to keep what they found.

You can watch them in action on YouTube if you’d like:

Matt says that he came with two messages. For one thing their current national publication is reaching over 300,000 people who would be considered rural lifestylers.

He also said that next year they’ll be rolling out a whole new concept with a publication aimed much more locally starting with the Louisville market. I know we heard from country living people at the conference that they “buy local.” Sounds like Fastline may be on to something.

You can listen to my interview with Matt here:

The competition included:

Cake Baking, sponsored by Nationwide Agribusiness and Allied Insurance. Winner: Amy Murphy, Kansas
Feed Bag Moving, sponsored by Land O’Lakes Purina Feed. Winner: Male: Josh, Hope, Kansas, Female: Alicia Rigden, New London, Iowa, 18 contestants
Lawn-mower Backing, sponsored by John Deere. Winner: Male: Barry, Clinton, Missouri, Female: Jennifer, Fontanta, Kansas, 12 contestants
Pie Baking, sponsored by Living the Country Life. Winner: Kayla, Olathe, Kansas
Steel Post Driving, sponsored by Tractor Supply Company. Winner: Male: Josh, Hope, Kansas, Female: Jennifer, Fontana, Kansas, 16 contestants
Water Bucket Filling, sponsored by Fastline Publications. Winner: Male: Brandon, Kansas City, Missouri, Female: Alicia, New London, Iowa, 18 contestants
Hay Scramble, sponsored by Farm Safety 4 Just Kids.

Congratulations to all the winners and we hope to see them back next year.

This guy was actually the winner of the feed bag moving competition. Contestants had to move 10 feed bags from one pallet to another and the person who did it fastest won.

You can see pictures of all the action in the photo album.

These guys are just plain crazy. It’s one thing to be walking through a pasture and get chased by a bull or to be working them in a cattle operation. It’s quite another to get up on top of one on purpose.

It was fun to watch though and I think there’s more tonight. I kept looking around for a Pabst Blue Ribbon but didn’t find any. I guess that’s not part of the branding for the event.

They started on January 1 and have over 11,000 members. She says that CLA is meant to be a community for like-minded people who share a passion for country living. They’ve held three clinics so far in three states with two more coming up next month. They’re working on developing their website so that it will be the authoritative site for country living information.

She also thanked the founding sponsors and corporate partners which include: Nationwide Agribusiness and Allied Insurance, John Deere, Fastline Publications, Land O’ Lakes, Purina Feed, Tractor Supply Company, PBI Gordon, Farm Safety 4 Just Kids and official publication, Living The Country Life.

You can listen to Courtney’s closing comments here:

This may be Courtney’s wrapup comments but I’ve got more to come from the Country Living Activities so keep your eyes and ears open.

I was there for a while and will post some pictures of the LPC Headliner and Hall of Fame inductees when I get some more information from Diane.

Pictures from the event are also in the photo set I’m working on for the Country Living Association.