Winn Meat Company poses the question, “What could be more fun than watching meat dry?” on it’s website. For those who like that kind of excitement they set up a web cam on which you could do just that.
They call it the Dry Age Cam.
For a bonus you get the recipes for the steak which is a Dry Aged New York Strip.
It includes Smokey Cannellini Bean Puree and Pappadam.
Thanks to meatingplace.com for the tip.
There’s just something about a “Gourmand” property that attracts me. Enough to let you know about Blackberry Farm. Never been there. Want to go. Especially now that they have Peter Glander as executive chef.
This season, in conjunction with the opening of its new FarmStead, Blackberry Farm announces the arrival of Executive Chef Peter Glander. From the Indiana farm where he was raised to the world-famous kitchens of Manhattan — and now, to rural Relais Gourmand destination Blackberry Farm — Glander has always had a passion for the soil’s bounty in every season.
“Peter’s intimate knowledge of the land and his exceptional culinary achievements speak for themselves,” says Sam Beall, proprietor of the 4,200- acre country estate. “He will complement the FarmStead perfectly.
Blackberry Farm — often described as “Easy to get to. Hard to leave.” — is located in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee. This 51-room Relais & Chateaux/Relais Gourmand property offers some of the world’s finest wines, cuisine, fly fishing, horseback riding, hiking, cycling, sporting clay and mountain biking opportunities. In addition to an abundance of outdoor activities, Blackberry Farm offers an Aveda Destination Spa and a series of annual cooking schools and culinary events featuring Blackberry’s own celebrated staff along with other world-renowned guest chefs and vintners. For reservations and information, please call 800-993-7824 or visit www.blackberryfarm.com.
It looks like we’re going to have a great Info Expo at the Ag Media Summit. This is the floor plan. Click on the image to see a bigger one that you can read.
I think there are 65 organizations exhibiting this year which is a record. There’s no way I’ll be able to personally visit with all of them but I’ll try my best. There will be a lot of relationship building going on there between these organizations and the media representatives attending.
You can find the floor plan here too (pdf).
AgWired coverage of the Ag Media Summit
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What’s happening with the Farm Bill is the subject of more press releases than we can count lately. I don’t focus a lot of time on policy but it’s important to know what’s going on.
This morning U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, held a press conference to bring us up to date and explain the Administration’s position on things. You can hear his remarks here if you’d like. They’re only about 15 minutes. usda-farm-bill-press-conf.mp3
Post Update: One of the interesting things Sec. Johanns says is that he and his entire team of advisers will recommend that the President veto the bill proposed by the House Ag Committee if it is adopted in its current form. Sounds like there’s still a lot of work to be done.
While I was attending the Cattle Industry Summer Conference someone said to me that one of the biggest dangers facing livestock producers in this country are the animal rights activists. I don’t know about you but it seems to me like they’re getting more aggressive and I guess fooling a lot of people out of their money in the process. They sure seem to spend a lot of it. Although livestock production is one of these whackos favorite targets I’d say it’s a lot broader than that. Just check out Spira/Grace sometime and surf through all the websites and organizations they’re connected to and support. Examples include, Sustainable Table, The Meatrix, FactoryFarm.org, Eat Well Guide and there’s a lot more if you click on through. If you’re not aware of what they’re doing then you should be. I’d love your take on what they’re doing online to reach consumers and if you think that’s having any impact on your business. Hopefully you’ll see the need to invest in some online tools to be part of the conversation that’s taking place whether you like it or not.
This post was inspired by yesterday’s release by Food and Water Watch (another whacko group) of an interactive Factory Farm Map. Is your’s on the list? They’re the same group that released a report recently titled, “Rush to Corn Ethanol Is No Farm or Fuel Solution.” I read through that one. It makes a bunch of wild unsubstantiated claims, raises questions that aren’t answered and when they actually do point to science they admit positives about ethanol production. Unfortunately it’s the kind of sensationalist junk the mainstream media likes to pick up on.
I sure wish we could get some more of their creativity channeled into communicating facts and not just emotion from people who may even be well meaning in their intent but just don’t have the knowledge or experience to know what they’re talking about. I’m being generous I know. The reality is that a lot of people behind these groups have an agenda which includes things like population control. I guess the animals would be better off if it wasn’t for us people. Me, I’m a Person who likes to Eat those Tasty Animals.
The latest innovation in the cotton industry merges two integral processes to offer growers a more efficient production of cotton. And more growers can get their hands on the technology too. Case IH manufacturing has gone commercial with cotton.
The machine is the Case IH Module Express 625, which allows growers to save capital, fuel and labor by combining cotton harvesting and module building in a single operation. The Benson plant is ramping up production to fill orders for the Module Express in time for this fall’s harvest. The new machine continues a Case IH tradition of cutting-edge cotton technology.The Case IH Module Express has the potential to transform the cotton industry, because it’s designed to fit the needs of ginners as well as growers, says Trent Haggard, Case IH marketing manager for cotton harvesting.
“Our engineers made sure that the Module Express fit with existing cotton production practices, with no additional handling, logistics or costs,” Haggard says. “That’s especially important when you consider that many of today’s cotton growers are also gin shareholders… ginning Case IH modules and traditional modules together is a seamless operation. A modern cotton gin that produces 60 ginned bales per hour will be equally maximized while ginning the Case IH module,” Haggard says.
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Farmergy held a webinar today with U. S. Congressman John Shimkus who gave an energy bill update to start things off. Farmergy is the company started by Osborn & Barr Communications’s Steve Barr who serves as Chairman and Mark Green who is the President and CEO.
Here’s what Farmergy does:
Now you can reduce your operation’s dependence on costly traditional energy while saving time and money. Using renewable energy solutions, Farmergy can help you protect your operation against volatile energy costs, blackouts and power failures.
What can Farmergy do for you?
* Our engineers use a software tool called SmartEnergy PRO™ to analyze your complete energy needs and opportunities
* Complete renewable energy blueprint and plan
* Obtain grants, loans and tax credits specific to agriculture and rural development
* Product sourcing from best-in-class manufactures
* Complete installation with Certified Farmergy Installer
You can hear Mark Green describe Farmergy from today’s webinar here: farmergy-1.mp3
It’s only days until the 2007 Agricultural Media Summit. I’m heading that way on Friday. From what I’ve heard we’re at about 568 registered! Let’s all give Diane Johnson fits and have about 500 more show up as walk-ins. Now that would be cool. Demand to go on Saturday’s tour too. I’ll be there to take the picture.
Okay, so if you’re not going then you know where to turn right? Yeah. You’ve got it. Think photo album, interviews, posts, hopefully some YouTube videos. I’m just not sure how all that will turn out, especially on Saturday since I think we go to a bourbon distillery. I’ll be doing my best.
One of the exciting things about this year’s event is our international attendees. We’ve got 14 media professionals from Mali in western Africa coming. They’ve been at the campus of Oklahoma State doing internships I guess. You can count on me spending some time with them and letting you meet them online.
This event has a lot of groups involved. The first person (not Diane, Den or Steve) who posts a comment correctly identifying all of these will get a set of ZimmComm New Media retractable ear buds. They are, AAEA, LPC, ABM, NACT, ARC and IFAJ.
AgWired coverage of the Ag Media Summit
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