Virtual Farming Experience

 

(Farmville Farm Layout/ http://mentalfloss.com/article/25047/why-do-people-play-farmville)

         

Virtual Farming Experience

         For my farm field trip I was limited in my options so I decided to download the app Farmville and play the game for a week. Now I am not interested in video games so this was a new experience for me. This game isn't set up to be very competitive, and there isn't necessarily a winner in the end. The game consists of starting a farm and continue to grow it, as you grow it you earn the privilege of planting more variety of crops. Like all apps you can pay to grow quicker and the produce more, literal money that is, but that was definitely something that I was going to avoid.
         I was given a small plot to start my farm. I was aloud to plant wheat with a small amount of money that was given to me for starting, and when it was harvested it was worth one point for each plot. It took a couple hours to grow, I didn't have to water or weed, but if I didn't return to the app "in-time" my crops would go bad. I collected about nine points the first harvest. That made it possible to plant wheat again and collect another nine points when it was harvested, with a click, or to by more plots to plant in. I choose to continue to plant in my same plots until I could afford to expand.
          My farm was expanding slowly it seemed so I wanted to figure out a way to receive more points for all of my hard work, well my time staring at my ipad. I grew my farm until it had tripled in size and then more seed choices became available to me. It cost more to plant them, but the return was higher. So I did I mixture of crops to earn more points. The game continues like this probably forever. I don't think it was realistic. However, the concept of working and growing slowly until you have enough saved up is a good business principle.
          The product of this game were "achievements" that could be shared on different social media outlets so that your friends could see how you were spending your time. This was not attractive to me so I didn't use this feature. The title of the game, Farmville, did not seem to fit the idea of a village of farmers. There wasn't any interaction between "farmers" like tying to buy the same plot of land for example. The interaction came in asking "friends" on social media for clicks essentially so that you could advance even faster.
          The ambience of Farmville is calming. You get to relax while you labor in a field. The app features and visual appearance is very clean, organized, and nothing like a real working farm. The application is attractive to all ages.  Young kids can easily play because reading skills are not required, elderly can play it to pass the time. That was the hardest thing for me. I felt like I was spending so much time "farming". I am sure these feelings are similar to what an actual farmer feels, but for different reasons.
          I appreciated a blog I found called Mental Floss. While this topic was quite old, it was still interesting to see his perspective of the game, which was a lot like mine, but mostly how his readers responded to the post. One follower, wordkyle, said:

                    "Farmville is an escapist activity that evokes satisfaction by evoking a false sense of productivity" (Higgins).

          I agree, this is exactly what the game does for its fans. With this false sense of working, players feel accomplished. Now, nothing was done in reality, but this virtual reality is addicting to some people. I was glad when I could delete the game and not ever have to waste time like that again. Obviously I did not advance very far due to the short amount of time. Farming takes a lot of time and patience though, so this constant feeling of waiting is probably popular with those that work in this industry. 

 

 

 Farmville. Computer Software. Apple App Store. Zynga. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.

Higgins, Chris. "Why Do People Play Farmville?" Mental Floss. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

Where do hamburgers come from?

My daughter is a savvy little three year old. She is too smart for her own good and is one of those kids who never stops asking why. So I was caught of guard when she asked me "mom, where do hamburgers come from?" My family was sitting at the dinner table eating hamburgers and she was so content chomping down on that burger, until I answered her question that is. "Well Indiana, hamburger is cow, we are eating a cow right now." she dropped her burger on her plate and spit out her last bite. "Gross mom." my husband and I laughed and laughed because she is just so animated. We then went on to explain where all of our meats come from, bacon, sausage, steak, chicken nuggets, etc. She wasn't impressed or excited that this whole time she had been eating animals! However, it was nice to see as her mother, a lightbulb switch on in her head. Indiana started to name other meats/meals that we eat as a family and telling me what animal it was. when she was finished teaching me I asked her if she was going to eat her hamburger anymore. She looked at me and said, "meat is so good! I like eating animals!" I was grateful, since my husband and I like meat as well. Having a vegetarian three year old would have been a little bit difficult at dinner time.
Although this is a cute story, I remember when I realized that meat was the animals that we saw around us on the farms. I wonder if children often don't know what they are consuming because they never see meat in a raw or butchered state. I think about the meats I purchase, the chicken breasts are frozen, hotdogs look nothing like an animal, hamburger and sausage look like meat noodles. If children and the general population were able to see where our food comes from, I think we would make different food choices. That is probably why there have been so many pushes for free range, humane, and organic food choices in the past ten years. People care that the food they consume is helpful to the body and not harmful. I imagine I will have many other teaching opportunities with Indiana when it comes to farming, and hopefully I will be capable of showing her a different perspective since taking this class.

www.realcaliforniacheese.com

Ugly Kiwi Fruit

The other day my husband and I were browsing the produce section in the grocery store. There was a large bin, or let's call it extra-large, of kiwi's.  They were on sale, 10 kiwi's for $1. WOW!!! That is an incredible deal in Utah. A fruit that isn't native to our area being 10 cents a piece must mean that they are all rotten, right? So we wandered over to check it out and we were surprised. The kiwi was not rotten, but it was not perfect either. It was ugly kiwi. Think of a kiwi, a small round shape with light brown fuzzy skin. When cut open it has a perfect light green outside with small black seeds and a soft white center.  First off, this kiwi wasn't fuzzy! It was like all the fuzz had been rubbed off. Second the kiwi fruits were incredibly large! They were about as big as a baseball. Not only that! many of the kiwi fruits had grown together like a pair. So there were all of these kiwi's connected together, the size of baseballs, and no fuzzy hairs.  We could say that we had a good laugh as we pulled up kiwi after kiwi trying to find the largest or the oddest pairs. We even found 3 that had grown together.  They looked gross. Like body parts that shouldn't be talked about here. So we bought 10 kiwi's to take home and to show my 5 brothers, who we knew would get a laugh out of it.  We had no intention of eating the produce, just laughing at it. 

When we returned home we showed my brothers, everybody laughed and then the kiwi was left on the counter. A day later my youngest brother asked me to peel the kiwi for him so he could eat it. I thought he was joking but he wasn't so I went ahead and peeled a pair of kiwi's. we sliced them up and put them in a bowl. We were hesitant to try them but we finally did and to our surprise they were sweet and juicy. Not to sound cliche', but that kiwi was one of the best I have had in Utah. By the end of the day all the ugly kiwi had been eaten. 

This made me think about how much food is wasted or thrown away in grocery stores just because it is ugly.  Because there was normal looking kiwi at the store and they were marked at 2 for $1. After doing some reading I found that an estimated 40% of food does not get eaten (Beating, 2).  That was an astonishing amount to me, but I was glad to hear and find that this was too much for a lot of other people as well and that changes have started to correct this problem. 

Some of the changes are made in the home. Consumers aren't throwing away large amounts of food. They aren't buying too much that will rot before it gets used. More frequent trips to the grocery store help with this. Others are composting and recycling.  Some grocery stores have eliminated packaging so that you only have to buy what you need, and nothing extra. For example you could buy a few stems of cilantro instead of an entire bunch that will just sit in the refrigerator until it is black. I have also heard of a smoothie shop that only uses ugly fruits and veggies for its product. It is ironic how we as consumers have a difficult time eating something that doesn't look perfect.  We manipulate food all the time to make it look "pretty" to us. I bet in other areas of the world they would think that our pretty food was ugly food. 

Beating Food Waste with Bulk Bins and Ugly Produce : June 2015 : Contributoria - People Supporting Journalism. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

Book Review

[A South Carolina bee yard in early May, http://kutikshoney.com/south_carolina.htm]

          The Secret Life of Bees is a coming of age novel written by Sue Monk Kidd. It is set in South Carolina in 1964. At this time in history civil rights laws were recently passed but not necessarily accepted everywhere. The story is set in a farming community named Sylvan. Orchards, farms, and animals are a part of every day life for our main character Lily. Lily is fourteen years old, she is a tomboy, and she is abused by her father. She has a blurry memory of her mother's death that occurred when Lily was a toddler. Lily's father owns a peach orchard and makes his living growing and selling peaches. Lily has worked on the peach farm from a very young age. She also sells the peaches in a fruit stand along the side of the road.

          There are three major stereotypes of farming in the first chapter. One, Lily has worked on the farm since she was a little girl. Farming is romanticized in writing and movies, making it appear as if it is a profession every person should aspire to obtain. However, Lily hates it. Her father makes her work for free and takes her away from doing other things she loves, like reading. Second, Lily's father grow\s peaches in the South. It seems as though the author wanted to push this Southern theme hard on the readers. So what better way than farming peaches in the south, a fruit that many people know is grown in abundance in this area. Last, Lily sells the fruit in a stand on the side of the road. In the farming community I grew up in there were produce stands at the edge of almost every farmers property. Here in Cache Valley there are also several areas to buy produce directly from the farmer. Farmers today usually don't grow food just to sell directly to the public. They sell to large corporations and leave a small amount to sell to the community if they want to. However, in 1964 most farmers sold directly to the public either at farmers markets, local grocery stores, or in a produce stand.

          Later in the novel Lily runs away to another small farming town two hours away from her hometown. She left because she found a clue from her mother's belongings that could give Lily answers she has longed for pertaining to her mom. She finds a label on a jar of honey that leads her to a household and farm run by three black sisters. They own a bee farm and collect the honey and wax to sell at a local grocery store. They take Lily into their home and make her a part of their lives. By this I mean she is given her own small room off the side of the house and she is given chores and responsibilities in the home and on the farm. The author, Sue Kidd, broke a stereotype because she had three black sisters owning their own home and farm. This is not typical for 1964. Mostly men owned property, and they were primarily white. Having sisters working together and running a business is not a stereotype of the profession of farming.

          The true character of farmers is portrayed well in this story. Lily is taken into their home, showing how caring and kind farmers are. Next Lily is put to work. Farmers work hard and everybody knows that. They also expect that everyone should work just as hard as they do. Hard work shapes our character, and these sisters knew this. They were showing their love for Lily by having her learn through her hard work. Later in the story June, the oldest sister, uses her knowledge and experience of bee farming as a teaching tool. She relates problems and situations in life to the hives and the work attitude of bees. It is perceived that farmers are generally religious or spiritual individuals. Many times metaphors and analogies about farming are used to compare our lives to the profession of farming, in a spiritual manner that helps us feel connected with each other and to the earth. Farmers are typically spiritual people because after they have done all that they can to produce a plentiful harvest, they rely on God or the earth to do the rest. Success in farming depends on many outside forces which factor into the end result.

          My analysis of this novel is that many stereotypes were used by Kidd to help the reader connect with the lifestyle of farming and the culture in the deep south. In my opinion Sue was smart to steer clear of negative stereotypes. She did an excellent job portraying the great characteristics of farmers in this novel. The message of this story is so touching and the reader can relate to it on so many levels without being a farmer. She makes you wish you could go back in time and live a simpler life and have a strong community to lean on. This literary work is a wonderful depiction of the hard work farmers do on a daily basis. It also shows that farmers are spiritual, generous, and kind. Many qualities that good people try to develop throughout their lives. The Secret Life of Bees is a novel that can teach about these characteristics.

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life if Bees. New York: Viking, 2002. PDF.

Harvest Process, https://coxshoney.com/general/honey-harvest-process

GM Makes More Money

         My sister-in-law is married to a farmer. His name is Levi and he farms corn and hay. He also has some cattle and goats. Levi is farming the same land his father farmed, and his grandfather.  He always knew that he wanted to be a farmer. He looked up to his dad and grandpa and learned everything from them.  He was always working on the farm when he wasn't in school and that is where he finds the most peace a joy. Levi says that the work is taxing and stressful, but he feels like it helps him be a better person, having to learn to deal with difficult things on a daily basis. Levi currently farms about 400 acres and lives in a very rural town in the Uinta Basin. They are about an hour away from any conveniences 
        Levi farms genetically modified corn seed. The corn he farms has a pesticide and a herbicide in it. This helps the corn grow and achieve desirable traits. The purpose of genetically modified seeds is to yield more product for less money. In 1994 "FDA grants first approval for a whole food produced through biotechnology" according to the Ag Classroom website.  Levi is able to yield more corn because of the modifications. Making him capable of earning more money than his father or grandfather ever did. I know that there is controversy over GM foods, but I haven't heard an argument that makes me change my eating habits. 


"Genetically Modified Corn- Environmental Benefits and Risks." PLOS Biology:. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.


"Historical Timeline — Farm Machinery & Technology." Agriculture in the Classroom. N.p., n.d. Web.                       10 Sept. 2016.