Monday's agriculture video - Photographing Agriculture

No, you're not imagining things; today's agriculture website is a video. Ever think about America's farmers being art in of themselves? This video shows how a photographer set out to do just that.

Monday's agriculture website: The Fields Project

Today's website of agricultural interest incorporates art as well. The Fields Project tries to bring the two communities together. It is located in Illinois, nestled amid state forests and parks, historical sites, sandstone outcroppings, prairie vegetation and wild life. This wide and varied habitat provides endless subject matter for artistic expression.

The objective of The Fields Project is to focus public attention on art, agriculture, and natural resources while creating new relationships between artists, farmers, environmentalists, and educators. For artists, the center has a nine-day program that includes lodging on a working farm. During this time, the artists are encouraged to create their art within their medium, or create art directly to the land itself. Visiting artists can also display and sell their work.

Monday's agriculture website: Three kids and lots of pigs

Wonder what it's like living on a pig farm? Ever wonder what it's like living on a pig farm and raising three kids? Then come on over to Three Kids and lots of pigs to meet Heather Hill, also known as @proudporkmom on Twitter. Heather shares pictures and videos of what it's like to raise hogs and a family in Indiana. She is also generous in sharing her favorite recipes and giving us the "insider tour" on what it's like raising pigs. Heather also uploads short videos to give readers a feel for what her days are like.

Monday's agriculture article: Guest post by Ryan Goodman

*Every Monday, blog author Kathy Swift share an agricultural website or article of interest with readers.  Today is a guest post written by Ryan Goodman (@AR_ranchhand)*

Here we go, it’s that time of year where we all look back on the year that has passed and look at what is to come. It has been a busy year for me. One highlight of my year is becoming more active in social media and online communications for Agriculture. Alongside staying active on Facebook and Twitter, I started a new blog, Agriculture Proud, and if you had told me the site would have over 4,000 followers on a Facebook group after only seven months, I would have laughed. The result, I have realized the power of social media in Agriculture.

Since Kathy asked me to share my favorite Ag websites, I have looked back and came up with my Top Five list, in no particular order.

·         AgChat Foundation – This organization and its accompanying weekly chat on Twitter has opened many doors for me. After joining the conversation on Tuesday nights, I have made connections with farmers, ranchers, Agriculturalists, and consumers across the States and in several different countries.

·         Beef Magazine – This website and associated e-newsletters keeps me up-to-date on current industry news, headlines, and activity. The BEEF Daily blog always offers an interesting perspective and comment on Beef and Food related topics.

·         Ag- A Colorful Adventure – Janice may love cotton, and social media may be part of her job description, but this lady always knows how to bring something new to the table. I often catch myself laughing out loud at some of her posts, but she often has something new to teach me in her posts about cotton, social media, or just loving agriculture in general.

·         Journal of Animal Science – If this makes me an Ag Nerd, so be it. I often catch myself looking for facts, figures, and ideas in the articles of this Journal. True, it is animal scientists writing scientific articles on an academic level, but I find the results useful and interesting. And it never hurts to be up-to-date on the latest ideas in the science of animal production.

·         @AgBlogFeed and #AgBlog – This feed and tag have probably become my favorite follows on Twitter. A number of people promote their Agriculture related blog posts with this tag and I have found a great number of new blogs and contacts with this feed.

Thanks Kathy for allowing me to contribute to your blog, and for your recent contribution to my Ag-Thankful post series. (I would add that series of guest posts to my list of favorites, but I do not think that would be allowed.) There are so many more great sites I left out, but I think this gives a decent over-view of my favorites.

Cow Art and More loves bringing the best in agricultural art to the agriculture community. We also love working with our customers and enthusiasts as "farm folks" are some of the best people out there. When Cow Art and More was asked by a customer to create something special for the Michigan state Brown Swiss Grand Champion show award, we were happy to take on the challenge! After some thought by jewelry artist and gallery owner Kathy McComb Swift, a collaborative effort between glass artist Mary McIntyre and painter Gary Sauder was forged and came up with this beautiful result!

This stained glass box measures approximately 8 inches by 10 inches by 2 inches tall. The lid is hinged and opens all the way to reveal a mirrored inside. Customers may choose one of Gary Sauder's "ideal type breed" dairy cow prints to place into the lid. (Beef cattle images to be announced soon.) The boxes are made upon ordering and require up to two weeks for delivery. They are expertly packed in styrofoam and shipped via UPS ground.

It is our hope that this piece of art will grace a desk or coffee table of the worthy Grand Champion winner. We are happy that we can be a part of helping someone remember their special day.

While we look forward to making more of these as show awards, we also expect people will like to give them as wedding, birthday, anniversary and graduation gifts. Looking to have yours personalized a little more? Please contact Cow Art and More. We are always happy to help.

(And THANK YOU to our fans, friends, and customers for allowing us to serve all your COW ART needs.)

Monday's agriculture website of interest: THE PIONEER WOMAN

Who doesn't like a good rags to riches story? How about the opposite? The Pioneer Woman website is the story of Ree Drummond, who proclaims she went from "high heels to tractor wheels." She worked in Los Angeles and lived the "southern California lifestyle." On a return trip to her hometown, she met her future husband, a cattle rancher, and her life has never been the same since.

Her website details her life, cooking styles, and overall appreciation for living the country life. She shares pictures of many aspects of her day, including family, animals, and gourmet creations. She has published her own cookbook (cover shown here), which took her a year and a half to finish.

Cow Art and More blog selected for "top 100" list

The Cow Art and More blog has been selected as one of the "Top 100 Great Blogs for Art Students and Enthusiasts." Our blog is specifically mentioned in the nature category as "a blog connecting art to the natural world."

The list was compiled by"Online College," an online source for those going back to school. The site provides information about online college admissions, accreditation, student loans and aid. The site also help users select the best online college to meet their needs.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: GARDENING ARTICLES

Today's agriculture focused website of interest to share with the group is a blog of "Gardening Articles". As much as I like being outside, I'm really not good with plants or gardens, but I'm always willing to learn. What I like most about the articles on this site is that they're geared towards people like me; people with small spaces, inexperience and not necessarily a lot of time. The site is maintained by the company "Mini Greenhouse Kits", which also sells greenhouse, gardening and compost accessories.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGDAY ESSAY CONTEST

While I have featured Ag Day before on the blog, I wanted to bring to everyone's attention an essay contest the organization is sponsoring. The Agriculture Council of America (ACA), sponsor of Ag Day, calls on seventh- to 12th-grade students each year to submit an original, 450-word essay about the importance of agriculture. This year’s theme is “American Agriculture: Abundant, Affordable, Amazing,” and the deadline is Feb. 12. The contest winner will receive $1000 and be flown to Washington, D.C. to receive the award during the "Celebration of Ag" dinner. Information about the contest can be found at the Ag Day essay link.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AG - IT'S NOT JUST A JOB, IT'S AN ADVENTURE!

For those new to the Cow Art and More blog, we feature an agriculture themed website with our readers every Monday.

Today's agriculture website of interest is the "Ag -It's not just a job, it's an adventure!" blog maintained by Janice Person. Janice was not raised on a farm, but had the opportunity to explore agriculture journalism while in college. She has kept her position within the agriculture industry and blogs about her "new life". The best part of Janice's blog is getting to know the farmers and people she meets as a part of her "everyday adventures."

Giving Thanks

On this Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to specifically thank all the farmers who helped to provide the meal for myself and many millions of Americans on this day. Regardless of what specifically you are eating on this day, human hands were necessary to grow, produce and process your meal. Farmers come in many forms, small to large, animals to produce, organic to conventional, in all parts of the country. Thanks to all of you for what you do!

Along that line, I would also like to take a moment and thank Michelle Payn-Knoper (@mpaynknoper on twitter) for organizing agriculture folks on Tuesday nights for the #agchat and #foodchat conversations. She has provided a platform for people with varying agriculture backgrounds and interests to come together and converse and debate about agriculture topics. I urge all of you out there to vote for her as the Mashable twitter user of the year. She's up against several big name celebrities and needs our daily votes to help her win!

Monday's agriculture website of interest: THE CENTER FOR FOOD INTEGRITY

Today's agricultural website to share is The Center for Food Integrity.

The Center for Food Integrity was established in 2007 to increase consumer trust and confidence in the contemporary U.S. food system. The primary mission of the organization is to promote dialogue, model best practices, address issues that are important to consumers, and serve as a resource for accurate, balanced information about the U.S. food system.

The center is a non-profit entity and does not lobby or advocate individual food companies or brands. The group's member organizations represent each segment of the food chain, including farmers and ranchers, processors, and companies that deliver food products under local, regional and global brand names, and government.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: DAIRY GODDESS BLOG

Monday's agricultural themed website of interest is the Dairy Goddess's blog, written by Barbara Martin, a third generation California Dairy farmer. She married a 3rd generation dairy farmer 26 years ago, and together, they have a dairy farm located in Central California. She is the very proud mother of 2 great college kids.

On a personal note, I believe Barbara does a great job putting a face on "where your milk comes from." It is obvious that Barbara has a passion for what she does and doesn't mind sharing it with her readers. My favorite updates are about Barbara's favorite heifer "Chica." Meet Chica and Barbara in their video.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: BACKYARD CHICKENS

I thought with all the interest as of late that people are showing in agriculture and growing their own food, today's agriculture website of interest is Backyard Chickens. The site has a lot of information and personal experiences of people having their own small flock of chickens at their home. A warning though, the website is loaded down with a lot of advertisements, so you will have to be patient with the pop up and banner ads. Overall though, it looks like a lot of interesting information for those looking to get to some farming roots. It includes articles from how to hatch and feed baby chicks, to how to build your own chicken coop. There is also a "chicken forum" to allow fellow chicken enthusiasts to chat and answer each others' questions.

October's featured artist is veterinarian John Plishka

Dr. John Plishka is the featured artist for October on Cow Art and More. Dr. Plishka's art has been featured on the cover of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. He enjoys both painting and drawing with pastels portraits of the animals he sees on a regular basis, whether they are patients or not.

Enjoy his question and answer session all month on the Cow Art and More blog. John's art will have free shipping for the entire month. See the complete collection of John's art on the Cow Art and More specials page.

Picture credit: Dr. John Plishka enjoys a moment with a couple of Holstein heifers.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: THE FOOD PROJECT

Today's agriculture focused website to share is The Food Project, a Massachusetts based group encouraging leadership through farming. The group's mission is to grow a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. They produce food for residents of the city and suburbs and provide youth leadership opportunities while supporting others to create change in their own communities.

The group was organized in 1991, and works with over 140 teens and thousands of volunteers yearly to farm on 31 acres in rural Lincoln, MA, 9 acres in Beverly and Ipswich, 2 1/2 acres in Boston and 1 acre in Lynn. The group considers their hallmark to be a focus on identifying and transforming a new generation of leaders by placing teens in unusually responsible roles, with deeply meaningful work. Each season, The Food Project grows nearly a quarter-million pounds of food, donating half to local shelters. The remainder of the produce is sold through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) crop “shares” and farmers’ markets.

A day in the life of my other career

While I know many agriculture people follow the Cow Art and More blog, I know there are those from the art crowd that keep up with me and the other artists on the site. I get asked by this group to post a few pictures of what I do during the day (which is being a large animal veterinarian). It's not that I don't want to share with everyone, it's just not necessarily at the top of my mind to take pictures while I'm out working. However, I did have the opportunity the other day to take a picture of a Holstein dairy cow tending to the calf I helped to deliver. Both agreed to be photographed for the website. :)

Farm life is really a great way to live and raise a family. I would encourage everyone reading this to get to know your local farmers and learn about what they do.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGRICULTURE SCHOLARSHIPS

Today's agriculture website of interest is the Agriculture Scholarships. This site lists scholarships from various organizations for college students. While I wasn't able to find out any information about the person who runs the site, I was amazed at how many scholarship are available to college students interested in different forms of agriculture.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: AGRICULTURE ONLINE

This week's agriculture focused website is Agriculture Online. Launched on May 10, 1995, Agriculture Online was one of the first agricultural web sites in the world. Agriculture Online was created by the editors of Successful Farming magazine, the publication that started the Meredith Corporation in 1902. Today, Successful Farming magazine is the largest paid circulation farm magazine in America. It is the largest paid-circulation business magazine in the US, too.

The site is committed to homegrown, grassroots content. The editors include popular news, content and opinion, empowering individuals to have a voice in shaping agricultural news and opinion.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Today's agriculture website of interest is the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, also known as the FAO. The FAO leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, it acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The FAO also helps developing countries modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all. Since its founding in 1945, the FAO has focused special attention on developing rural areas, home to 70 percent of the world's poor and hungry people.