JP Loves Cotton!

I am often reminded of how diverse agriculture really is.  I am generally focused on the production of food, but there is SO much more to agriculture, including, fuel, pharmaceuticals, and fiber.  One of those wonderful fibers is COTTON.  I LOVE COTTON!  I love wearing it, I love how easily it washes, I love that it comes from farm fields right here in the good old USA.  But noone I ever met loves cotton as much as JP loves cotton. 

I met JP at the 2010 Ag Chat 2.0 training in Chicago.  I think she smiled the entire weekend.  She's my kind of gal. 

If you like my blog and following my random adventures raising kids, corn, wheat, soybeans, pinto beans and cover crops, but would be interested in slightly more urban flair, and array of different agricultural products (like rice) you've GOT to check out JP's blog:

http://jplovescotton.com/

Special THANKS to JP for mentioning me as one of the "Farm Mom Blogs" she reads (I'm a latecomer in the comments section).

http://jplovescotton.com/blogs-i-read/blogging-home-family-farm/


Oh, and special thanks to JP for snapping this rare footage of the elusive Val Wagner and I in the wild :)

"Farm Tech" Exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry

WELCOME...

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the "Farm Tech" exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I hope that someday you will get a chance to see it too!

The place is HUGE! As you enter the exhibit you are greeted by a real-life tractor!

I had fun trying out the combine simulator. Inside the cab a recording of a local ag report was even on the radio! You'll see they've got some real corn plants that blend right into the GIANT screen.

This combine simulator is a real combine, it's just running really sssssllllllooooowwwwww....this way you can see how all the parts move and the corn is harvested. They also have video kiosk's surrounding each piece of equipment so you can learn more detail about how the machines work.

There are some FUN stops too! This life size cow photo op. was a big hit with the kiddos (and their parents who were snapping away)!

Even with all my ag. experience, I learned a lot. Throughout the exhibit there are "farm facts" along the walls. I was so happy to see that the exhibit really embraced and celebrated the innovations in agriculture that have helped us to have such a safe and abundant food supply!

I even found my self-portrait! This soybean farmer welcomed me into her kitchen....

Where I found chocolate cake.... yum...

...and the icing on the cake (pun intended) was that I learned that soybean farmers (like my family) provide so many of the ingredients that I use to cook with everyday in my own kitchen!

For example, the chickens that made the eggs for this cake were fed a diet containing soybean meal, the wheat flour was fortified with soy flour for added protein and vitamins, the oil in the cake is made from soybeans, and the chocolate icing contains soybean oil to help it maintain it's liquid form!

Hope you enjoyed this "virtual visit" to the Farm Tech exhibit!

For more information:

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/farm-tech/