AgWired

Today is the final day to register on-line for Commodity Classic, March 3-5 in Tampa. It’s an event you don’t want to miss!

The 16th Annual Commodity Classic will help growers set sail for a successful 2011 by offering educational sessions on topics such as the new pesticide application permits, crop insurance and sustainability. “There is no better time to improve one’s marketing skills then now with record commodity price levels,” said Commodity Classic Co-chair Charles Cannatella. “Growers can increase their profitability from attending one of the marketing sessions during Commodity Classic.”

In addition to educational opportunities, attendees will enjoy exhibits from over 220 companies in 870 booths at the trade show. Escape the winter blues and embrace the sun while learning from ag industry experts, networking with fellow growers, and attending association banquets and events. The Commodity Classic grand finale will be the Evening of Entertainment on March 5. Described as “the best harmony band in the world,” the Little River Band will delight the crowd with a performance of their unforgettable melodies.

Hope to see you there!

On rolling out and cutting and frosting Christmas cookies. When I start making cookies the first of December and don’t finish until about a week before Christmas, and when my freezer is overflowing with about 30 dozen cookies, 6 different kinds, I just really don’t feel like going to all that hassle. Is that a Christmas cookie crime?

I’m a professed “love to cook and bake” kind of girl. But I think that love only goes as far as what kitchen ettiquette has imposed on me in 2011. This cookie cutter and donut cutter (L to R respectively) belonged to my grandmother’s grandmother. That would be … my great, great grandmother. I think. Either way, she was born in 1860 and married at the age of 31. I’m guessing she was using these cutters about that time; my great-grandmother and my grandmother both used them, too.

That was back when everything was homemade and homegrown. And on days when I just don’t feel like “taking care of my man” (and by that I mean the old-fashioned version of welcoming him home to a kitchen full of homemade biscuits, gravy, corn, green beans, turkey and stuffing), I have been known to open a bag of rice and make it on the stove. Yes, I said a bag of rice. The kind that’s pre-packaged and processed and only costs $1.39.

No one ever said I was Betty Crocker.

But I do own some cookie cutters of my own. Maybe someday I’ll once again decide that frosted shapely sugar cookies are worth the time. I doubt, however, they’ll get as much use as these.

Until we walk again …