Can food get TOO cheap?
Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
While we might all like a bargain at the checkout, remember that behind all food, there is a farmer, and that farmer needs to make a living.
In Belgium, farmers recently took to the streets to protest low prices for milk, pork, and more. A convoy of hundreds of tractors blocked a major highway while famers burned piles of tires to bring awareness to their plight. Belgian famers are paid about 26 euro cents per liter of milk, but need 35–40 cents to just break even. Many farmers say low prices are pushing them to the edge of bankruptcy.
photo © EPA
Protesting is nothing new to Belgian farmers; in 2009, dairy farmers sprayed nearly 800,000 gallons of fresh milk onto their fields in protest of low milk prices, and in 2012, thousands of angry farmers on hundreds of tractors sprayed fresh milk on the European Parliament in Brussels during two days of demonstrations.
Just last year, the European Union lifted a milk quota that had been in place for more than 30 years, allowing cheap surplus milk to flood the market. That, and a Russian food embargo banning imports of crops that had been shipped there for years caused a lopsided market, where demand is now smaller than supply. Farmers’ losses are estimated to be as high as 5.5 billion euros.
What to do? Belgian farmers have launched a national fair trade label they hope will help. Six other countries in the EU currently have fair trade guidelines that help farmers get a fair share of the profits. Similar protests in France recently led to an emergency government aid package worth 600 million euros in tax relief and loan guarantees. Belgian farmers are hoping for something similar. On September 7, European agriculture ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels to address the problems.
If you’re a city gal who’s always dreamed of owning a farm, you might like a new HGTV series called Farmhouse Life. Based on the model of the popular House Hunters series, Farmhouse Life follows potential buyers as they tour farm properties to buy around the U.S.
Historians in period dress at the Hillsman Farm House Museum, Virginia State Parks via Wikimedia Commons
“Families wishing for wide-open spaces head to the great outdoors to search for the luxury farmhouse of their dreams,” says HGTV’s website. “From hundreds of sprawling acres to classic, quaint country living, follow along as they look for the perfect homestead and discover some of the most affordable and beautiful locations, proving you don’t have to be a millionaire to live a Farmhouse Life.”
Spark your dreams of owning a farm Monday nights on HGTV.
Farmstead, East Earl Township, Lancaster County. by Nicholas via Wikimedia Commons
This post is extremely hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian. (In other words, it’s all about really, really long words.)
So what’s the longest word in the English language?
Is it supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? (34 letters) Well, no. This word—meaning extraordinarily good or wonderful—was actually made up by brothers Richard and Robert Sherman, co-writers of songs for the musical Mary Poppins in 1964. The brothers pulled the word from their memories of creating double-talk words in their childhood. Due to the popularity of the movie and its songs, the word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986.
Mary Poppins via Wikimedia Commons
The current longest word in any major English dictionary is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis (45 letters). Pneumonia? Microscopic? Volcanoes? Well, pretty much. It’s a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano.
But if you’re looking for truly hippopotomonstrosesquipedalian words, here’s one that’s bound to astound:
methionylthreonylthreonyglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine
“51 letters!” you exclaim. Not so fast. You know those three little dots called ellipses? Well, we know they represent some kind of omission, in this case, 189,768 more letters! Yep, this word, the chemical name for the human protein titin (a very short word for the largest known protein), is a total of 189,819 letters, and takes about three-and-a-half hours to pronounce!
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Miranda Strickland!!!
Miranda Strickland (#3535) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Grease Chicks Merit Badge!
“Well, I am actually applying for all three levels at once. It started with me doing a tuneup with my husband and my mentor on my OLD truck (’04 Trailblazer) as well as the oil change.
But, Memorial Day was a bad day for folks in my area. Several people lost their homes or businesses, or had damage. Others of us lost our vehicles. I was blessed, however, and a family friend traded me my Trailblazer (severe water damage and all) for a 1974 Chevy C10 pickup. Now, most would not call it a fair trade, but it really was. The truck is awesome!
I have been keeping an eye on fluid levels and gas mileage (which is how we figured out the carburetor needed a rebuild) and changed out a headlight, tail light lens, assisted in pulling spark plugs and, as I have an oil leak at the moment, I have been keeping an eye on my oil levels and refilling as needed. (New gaskets will be another project.)
Once I got it, we discovered I had a few more problems than originally anticipated. This included the Master Cylinder (which had been replaced less than a month prior to my taking the truck) blowing out. We pulled the cap off and found the front chamber empty. We pulled the back wheels off to check the brakes, but they were clean. My husband had me put the wheels back on (I’d never used an impact driver before … it was fun!) and my mentor (the shop foreman at the shop where we got the truck) inspected the front brakes and all the connections. We determined that the system likely had not been bled properly before, and so the master cylinder blew, which meant getting a new one installed. I did not get to assist in that, but they walked me through the steps and even let me fill the old master cylinder with fluid to see if it was leaking. It wasn’t after that, but it also wasn’t working. I also sat in as they installed the new Morosa valve covers and the gasket material.
My third “expert” level project (plugs, brakes/wheels) was last Sunday at the shop, assisting my mentor with rebuilding the Quadrajet carburetor. I did the cleaning, part of tearing it down, part of reinstalling and listening/watching carefully as he explained everything that was wrong with it. He seemed very impressed with how much I understood!
The truck still needs a lot of work. New gaskets, all new wiring, new battery cables, new hood, new mirrors, etc. It’s not truly finished, but these old vehicles are not cake walks.
I learned with my previous vehicle, however, that NO vehicle is a cake walk. Let me tell you, being 5’4″ and trying to pull plugs from an Inline 6 is NOT an easy task.
I have discovered that I am actually pretty good at mechanic work and have been in school to be a motorcycle tech for a little over a year. With the experience I have gained over the past month and a half, I have decided to start looking for a job in the field!”
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
