You’ve probably heard of contraband—drugs, guns, and more that are smuggled illegally—but I’m guessing you haven’t heard of contraband cheese.
photo by Eva K. via Wikimedia Commons
In Moscow, Russia, police recently arrested six people that produced $30 million of contraband cheese using rennet forbidden by Russia’s import ban. (A year ago, Russia imposed a ban on imported agricultural products in retaliation for U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine.) The cheese was made with the illegal rennet, then sold using counterfeit labels of known legal foreign cheese brands. Government workers seized the cheese and publicly crushed it with steamrollers and bulldozers, drawing outrage from concerned citizens who say the cheese could have been used to help feed the poor. In an effort to crack down on the ban, government officials recently began publicly destroying contraband food, including over 500 tons of produce and nearly 50 tons of animal products. “Many Russians were uneasy at the images, shown widely on state television, of food being destroyed in a country where millions live below the poverty line,” says The Guardian. Moscow alone is thought to have up to 60,000 homeless residents.
One upside of the ban is that small, local cheese manufacturers have seen a dramatic increase in demand for their products, and are filling the need for fresh and short-aged cheeses like mozzarella, ricotta, Brie, and Camembert.
Somehow, summer has come to an end and I now have a second grader and a first grader. Back to school we went!
And since we don’t get to move into our new house for another few weeks, we got to head off to school from the farm. Pretty exciting for these two farmgirls.
Here’s to wishing you all a wonderful year!
The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,629 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,365 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ
Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …
For this week’s Get ‘er Done Expert Level Merit Badge, I was already sore and in the swing of things from helping my farmgirl friend move houses (and thereby earning my Intermediate Level Badge), so I decided to go with the flow and earn my Expert Level Merit Badge next. A house built by Habitat for Humanity was going up right down the street from me, and it was just the thing.
Photo, Navy Visual News Service via Wikimedia Commons
Twelve hours required for this badge, and I was rip roarin’ ready to go.
It took a while to prepare. I mean, I couldn’t just show up with a hammer and call it good. No, siree! They would know I was a novice. I knew exactly what to do: after all, I have watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers often enough.
I knew how to raise a barn—how could building a house be any different?
I made several pies (rhubarb, raisin and sour cream, egg custard, and good old-fashioned apple), ironed my best country dancing dress, practiced my DoSeDo Flutterwheel Reverse Square dance moves, and headed out.
I would have hitched the horses up to the buggy and arrived that way, all proper style and all, but I don’t have a horse.
Or a buggy.
Photo by dee & tula via Wikimedia Commons
I plan to remedy that eventually, though. They’re on my grocery list, right before buckwheat flour and right after tropical fish food.
Anyway, I was surprised and kind of disappointed that none of the other volunteers were as prepared as me. It’s a good thing I brought so many pies, because evidently all the others forgot. At least I’ll win the blue ribbon, so all was not lost.
They also seemed a little under-dressed for the occasion, but I let that one slide.
They also were a shy bunch. Why, it took me at least an hour to get a dance going! Part of that time was trying to roll the nearest felled tree over to the dancing area, though. That was tough. But I made it, and when everyone quit staring (they really weren’t the most self-motivated group, I gotta say), I demonstrated a little quickstep atop it. Of course, I knew my limits and I didn’t do any backflips or add in any ax swings at the same time, but I must say, I have feet like lightening!
After that, I kind of expected a fight to break out over which girls wanted to marry which guys, but the volunteers were sort of a focused bunch, and instead we put up some walls.
I guess walls are good, too.
I kept my eyes out for a batch of good-looking, single brothers (you know … for my single, good-looking girlfriends, of course) but no one seemed related. Or single. Or good looking.
All in all, I had a nice time and earned my badge, but the whole experience was a little strange.
It’s almost like people don’t know how to properly do these things. They did appreciate my pies, though.
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sonja Gasper!!!
Sonja Gasper (opengatefarm, #5671) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an Expert Level Connecting Growers & Eaters Merit Badge!
“I am now a co-organizer for the Garden to Pantry project that I got my beginner and intermediate badges from last year. Our garden was started to grow vegetables for the area food pantries. All food grown goes to area people in need. Last year, we donated over 4,000 pounds of produce.
This year is going very well. We do not expect to have anywhere near last year’s numbers for poundage, as we have adjusted our plantings to what area pantries felt there was a greatest need for. This meant no more cucumbers or squash, and more focus on peas and beans. Instead of looking at pounds, we are focusing on people helped. This year, we have also included area Master Gardeners and volunteers who are pantry recipients.”
Shelter dogs with an over-abundance of energy can sometimes be hard to place. Their bounciness may be a little intimidating to those looking for a pet that’s more low maintenance. But Rescues 2 the Rescue, a Washington, DC-based program, is putting all that energy to work by training shelter dogs for wildlife conservation jobs. Created by Working Dogs for Conservation and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Rescues 2 the Rescue works with high-energy shelter dogs, especially those who are “toy-obsessed,” to give them jobs as conservation detection dogs, finding hard-to-see wildlife or even the tiniest invasive weed among a mountainside of plants. They also work to help scientists gather data. These dogs are often more easily trainable, as they are rewarded with a favorite toy when they find their target.
photo by KatrinKerou via Wikimedia Commons
The program is intended to connect shelters with trainers/handlers who are equipped to adopt, prepare, and care for detection dogs. There are many ways you can help these hard-to-adopt shelter dogs find new, rewarding lives through Rescues 2 the Rescue:
Visit the Rescues 2 the Rescue website to learn more.
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.
