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Last summer, along with Iowa State University’s Department of Entomology, we hosted a field day at Field Extension Education Laboratory (FEEL) in Boone to discuss and learn about native beneficial insects, and how to incorporate them in farming practices.

Why care about native bees?

Native beneficial insects provide pollination services and therefore are very important for many crops. They are estimated to contribute $3 billion annually to the agricultural economy in the US (from Organic Farming Practices: Reducing Harm to Pollinators from Farming by Eric Mader).

Some key tips discussed during this field day….

• Avoid tillage in the areas where nesting bees are concentrated by using no-till or leaving it fallow.
• Maintain crop diversity to provide forage opportunities for native pollinators.
• Incorporate flowering crop as a cover crop to provide forage for bees.

To learn more about native pollinators and how to incorporate them in your farming system or in your backyard, The Xerces Society’s website has plenty of great resources:

http://www.xerces.org/

Photo credit: Adam Varenhorst.

PFI staff were invited to a wonderful meal at our member farmer Gary Guthrie’s home in Nevada on Monday. Last year, Gary initiated a generous new tradition to treat us to lunch after Cooperators’ Meeting.

He prepared the following grand menu, and all the food except for a few items (such as sugar, flour, salt, Parmesan cheese, Picket Fence cream…) came from his farm.

-  French bread (made from scratch!)
-  Gary’s signature Bolero carrot sticks
-  Pesto with basil, garlic, walnuts and Parmesan cheese
-  Peperonata (stewed peppers) with Carmen sweet peppers
-  Roasted leg of lam
-  Black Aztec corn polenta (with some sweet corn)
-  Rhubarb, strawberry and blueberry pie with Picket Fence whipped cream

There is always magic in Gary’s cooking. If you eat at his table, you’ll learn something. But there is no definite or authoritative teaching involved (what “good” food should be, what nutritional values we need to consider, etc.). Rather, because the food is so delicious and it is obvious a lot of thoughts and care were put into each dish, it inspires you to think and imagine. I remember one lunch that I had at Gary’s two summers ago. I was not doing very well that summer to the extent I didn’t have a good appetite (if you know how I’m almost always ready to eat, you know how serious it was). But after eating lunch at Gary’s house, which menu I still remember precisely, I felt a lot healthier physically and mentally. That meal reminded me of the saying that I think all the Japanese people know, “ishoku dogen,” which literally means food and medicine are of the same source.

Hearty lunch plate

PFI staff with Gary (How can you not smile when your stomach is filled with delicious food?)

Beef producers and enthusiastic eaters gathered together at Griffieon Family Farm in Ankeny for the beef tasting field day on Saturday, September 17.

Seven PFI beef producers (Bratsch-Prince, Carneys, Corys, Germans, Griffieons, Jepsens, and Specht) generously donated their rib-eye steaks for this tasting event. The field day hosts, Craig and LaVon Griffieon also procured the rib-eye from Cattlemen Beef Quarters (distributed by Sysco) at the Iowa State Fair to include in the blind tasting.

Before Dan Specht, Earl Hafner and other grill masters took on the challenging task of simultaneously grilling eight different steak samples while keeping them separate, we asked everyone to take a look at uncooked steaks to see how different each of them were in terms of colors, proportion of fat, etc.

The goal of this tasting was to provide a rare opportunity where people can taste several different kinds of beef at once and hear from the producers about the different production practices. The purpose of this event was to help people distinguish tastes and identify the beef they liked. It was not to judge which beef is the best or better. The score card asked tasters to list top three favorite beef as well as to rate texture (mushy, very tender, tender, good bite, chewy, very chewy, tough) and flavor (gamey, weak, well-marbled, rich, too fatty, well-balanced).

After the blind tasting, we introduced the producers who could attend the event; Craig and LaVon Griffieon, Tom German, Tom Cory, Bruce Carney, Dan Specht, and Ray Bratsch -Prince. We were also happy to have Alex Frooginpol from Mingo Locker join us. Carneys, Corys and Griffieons take their cattle to Mingo Locker for processing. Chef Donna Prizgintas prepared the dinner followed by the blind tasting. As always she transformed seasonal ingredients from PFI producers into a wonderful feast.

As I collected the information on the beef before the event, I learned that there are many more variables that influence the flavors of beef than I had thought. Grass-fed vs. grain-fed or confinement vs. pasture are not the only issues. To name a few, feeding systems, types of breed, handling methods, aging lengths and methods, processing and packaging all have roles in creating the flavor and texture of beef.  And within each category, there are many variations as well. For example, both grass and grain may be fed at different stages of cattle’s life. In terms of breed, we had two heritage breeds at our tasting; White Park (Corys) and Limousin (Griffieons).

All of us have distinctive taste buds and preferences. The result of the tasting score cards reflected that fact as each beef sample received wide range of feedback. For the detailed information of each beef, please contact Tomoko or look for them in our next newsletter.

Just a day after heavy storms hit the area in July, about 20 people gathered at Craig and Deb Fleishman’s Cardinal Farms near Minburn.

After enjoying a delicious meal prepared by Picket Fence Creamery, Craig took us to see the soybean field where he is conducting a trial to measure weed density and soybean yield to compare the effectiveness of cultivation versus herbicides for weed control in soybeans grown using a ridge till planting method.

Craig then showed us his cultivation equipment.  Craig has been ridge-tilling for many years. He discussed how important it is to decrease “deposits” of weed seeds to the soil seed “bank.” As Craig explained making deposits into this bank account is the opposite of what we want in farming. Over-drafting is the best route—continue letting weeds germinate but kill them using Steel and Herbicides to decrease their chances of a “deposit” into the weed seed “bank.”At the end of the field day, Craig shared his decision chart that describes the balance scale of herbicide and steel in ridge-till, from 100% steel and no herbicide to 100% herbicide and no steel.  100% herbicide and no steel might work for areas with high rainfall, as it does not require irrigation. But it needs good drainage. On the other hand 100% steel and no herbicide would be suited for areas with lower rainfall. The balance depends on the weather and Craig’s goal is to be in between, 50-50  steel and herbicide. Of course, there are other considerations including costs and profitability, production practices (organic, non-GMO, GMO, etc.) and the environmental considerations (soil erosion, increased compaction, etc.)  to determine the balance between the  two different methods for controlling weeds.