This. Is. It.

On October 31, 2015, I unzipped my FFA jacket for the last time along with around 3,400 other FFA members that had just received their American FFA degree. It is essentially the capstone on many great FFA careers.

As I unzipped my jacket for that final time, a flood of emotions came over me. I tried holding back tears knowing that it was the end of a five year journey. But beside the sad emotions, those tears symbolized many, many memories and experiences that I can never forget. Those tears were not only sad tears since it was the end, but happy tears that it had even happened.

Imagine if those 33 young students from 18 states did not gather in Kansas City at the American Royal to form the Future Farmers of America. Imagine if the chapter from Fredericktown, Ohio did not don their blue corduroy jackets to Kansas City so that they would adopt those jackets as the official dress. What on earth would we wear!? What symbol would we have that essentially everyone from the state of Alaska to Puerto Rico and from the state of Maine to Hawaii know us for?

What I am trying to say is, there are so, so many people that have had a play in making this organization what it is today, and without all of those people, 3,434 FFA members would not have received their American FFA degree this year. They would not have been pushed to buy that cow, invest in that lawn-mower, or try that new type of corn to get the best yield.

Thank you to those 33 boys from 18 states for forming the FFA. I would not be the person I am today, and nor would the thousands and thousands of people that have been in the FFA be who they are either. Think about it, the FFA has produced a President! Anyone of the thousands current and past members could be one in the future!

Personally, I want to thank the good Lord above, my parents, my advisors, and all my friends for the experiences, resources, and memories to make it to this point in the FFA.

The Fear of Aging Out

Another fair season has come and gone for me. This made my 16th year showing animals at my local county fair and my 7th year showing at the state fair. However, with the total years of me showing animals rising, my age is rising as well. In fact, I only have two years left until I can't show as a 4-H or FFA member anymore. To tell the truth, that scares me to death. I will then become what my Granny says, a has-been. Everything will start with was, not am or is. I will have to start saying I was a 4-H member or I was an FFA member. I dread the day I turn 21 because the part of my life that I have treasured for so long, showing livestock as a junior, will have to come to an end at the end of that 4-H year.
It is hard not to reflect on everything that I was able to accomplish and participate in, and think of what I could have done more or things that I wish I would have been able to go to earlier. I wish I could have started showing at the state fair earlier and gone to bigger shows, but I also didn't get involved in showing purebred animals until about midway in my 4-H career. 
 Despite all of these regrets and the sadness that goes with aging out, it is still important to look back on all of the opportunities and accomplishments that happened in the past 11 years of showing as a junior exhibitor.

1.  Scholarships: If I would not have been able to show, I know of at least two scholarships that I have received that I probably would not have gotten. There are numerous scholarships that I also probably would not have even heard of if it had not been for showing.

2. Closer to Family: I must say, especially within the past few show seasons, I have grown much, much closer to my family. 

3.  Friends: All of the friends I have been able to make via shows and being in 4-H and FFA in general were lifesavers when it came to my first year of college. 

4. Time management: Those 8 a.m shows definitely proved that time management is super important. Getting up early enough, getting everything washed, blow dried, fed, and fitted in time for the show lends itself towards helping you get pretty good at time management. 

It's going to hurt when I come out of the showring that final time as a junior exhibitor, but it will be so worth it. Tears have been shed, tears will be shed, but I would not trade for any of it.  

 Me and my first sheep Pepper, we dressed up as the Teletubbies!

 My favorite cow, Yea-Sayer; so many opportunities just because of her!

My sheep Softie and I in Master's showmanship

Driving a hog in the round robin round of Masters showmanship at county fair.

 

Credibility

This post doesn't exactly have to do with what I'll typically post however, my subject matter is (what I consider) pretty important. In my college English class, it was highly stressed that we use credible sources (NOT WIKIPEDIA) when we were not only writing research papers (any paper for that matter) but I soon realized that when writing or posting anything, it is very, very important to use credible sources. Not only does it make you gain credibility, but it also puts more reliable sources out there. Facebook (in my 19 year old opinion) is the ruination of credibility. I cannot even begin to count the amount of "sharing" that people do that is not from (what I would consider) reliable sources! Sharing recipes and other things like that is great (I love seeing yummy food) but sharing unintelligent, no common sense links is ridiculous. As you share this hubbub, you're loosing your credibility. That's enough of my soapbox.

Here are a few helpful tips when sharing links on social media:
1. If it's too good to be true, more than likely, it is.
2. If the domain (i.e www.facebook.com is a domain) seems odd or just dumb, it's probably not a credible source
3. Use sources like USA Today, NY Times, basically, any major news outlet (newspapers, news TV...)


That's all for this time!

Bridging the Gap

     As I was walking back from class today, I saw a woman that had a bag with a heart of cabbage on it, and I instantly thought, "Oh look, another crazy vegetarian." Then, as I kept walking, I started thinking (Oh no! I was thinking!). I started thinking about how those of us who thoroughly enjoy meat products really push our "brand" onto practically everyone. I also thought about how vegetarians and vegans are constantly pushing their brand onto everyone as well. There will never be common ground between us "carnivores" and vegetarians. It's just like there will probably never be any middle ground between different religions. It's our "food religion." We are going to eat what we are going to eat and it's going to take a lot for that to change. 
     I honestly think that there is no point anymore in meat eaters like myself arguing with groups such as PETA and the HSUS. They are going to believe what they believe and I am going to believe what I am going to believe. It is those core values that cannot be changed. The one thing that should be changed is that organizations like those above need to provide hard science rather than skewed facts that it seems that they are spreading. Photoshop is a lovely thing, but when it is distorting the facts, then things need to be changed. I am for each side providing hard, scientific facts not lies. The best thing to really do is just: AGREE TO DISAGREE! 
     And maybe someday, we can all enjoy what we choose to eat without being ridiculed for eating what we choose, whether it be all fruits and vegetables or meat and vegetables.

But in the meantime vegetarians and vegans can keep eating their salads and I'll enjoy my ribeye steak. YUM! YUM!