Let Me Buy You A Beer

To say social media has changed my life would be an understatement.

It wasn’t the tools, the toys or the techie gadgets either.

It was you. The people, the relationships, the phone conversations and the visits IRL that really changed it.

Thank you.

In the near future I’ll be applying to a conference where I hope to meet some new folks who share my passion for social media, people, farming and food.

It’s a conference you might be interested in too, so I thought I’d share.

AgChat Foundation is hosting the third-annual Agvocacy 2.0 training in late August of this year. I went last year and I had a blast.

It’s one of those “perfect sized” conferences. You know what I’m talking about. It’s big enough to have great speakers and fun people, yet just small enough to really learn hands on information you can put to use that day.

Yes. I’m a fan.

To join the conference apply here. Send me a message on Facebook if your application is accepted. I’m always up for meeting new people and I’ll even buy you a beer if you make the contact.

How’s that for a little encouragement?

DIY Gifts on the Go

We used a lot of quart sized Ball, or canning, jars for wedding decoration and I have vowed to use as many as possible for Christmas presents.

I went to Pinterest and was pretty happy with the ideas I found.

I knew you guys wouldn’t lead me astray.

I made three different gifts. They were all simple to assemble and the ingredients were found at my local grocery store. Honestly, I was surprised which one I liked the most.

Note: I did make a few extra of each of these, just in case the “unexpected gift giver” popped up. I won’t be caught without a gift and nobody feels left out. Win-win, right?

I thought these cookies in a jar at Make It Do were too cute not to make. I love the idea of fresh baked cookies for Santa. Back in the day, I think Dad would have liked fresh baked cookies too. The recipe was borrowed from Bakerella’s Cowboy Cookie recipe.

Thanks for letting me borrow this picture Make it Do.

The next was The Crafty Nest’s bath salts. I did a little twist on her lavender and substitued peppermint. It made the kitchen smell amazing. Peppermint has such a revitalizing and invigorating aroma. I thought it would be perfect for a winter or spring bath for my Florida family.

Picture from The Crafty Nest.

Of the three, Under the Table and Dreaming’s lemon sugar hand scrub totally won me over. I love it because my hands are a wreck right now and I’m not one to spend oodles of money on hand scrub.

Picture courtesy of Stephanie Lynn.

It’s the perfect mixture of exfoliant and softening for my hands. The smell is a bit too “olive oily” for my liking but I added a little bit of a perfume. Just for the sake of experimenting, I might even make my next batch with almond oil.

DIY gifts are hot right now and I’ve got a lot of jars to use. Do you have a favorite “_____ in a jar” gift? If so, would you mind sharing it with me? A link would be great.

Merry Christmas!

Everyday Food Thoughts

On Tuesday I’ll be packing my bags and heading out of MHK.

Why? I’ll be attending The Center of Food Integrity‘s 2011 Food Summit for work.  I’ve attended this meeting for 3 years now and I always enjoy it.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Jason Clay of the World Wildlife Fund. I’ve never heard him speak in person and I’m very interested in what he has to say. The World Wildlife Fund’s website describes itself as, “the world’s leading conservation organization, combining global reach with a foundation in science, involving action at every level from local to global, and ensuring delivery of innovative solutions for both people and nature.”

To me, this meeting is about much more than work. This is about my life. My life includes food. I want to know the food I cook everyday is healthy for us all- people, planet and the environment.

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to food and our food choices. I want to make the best one I can.

In the below video, CFI does an interesting job summarizing food-globally and locally. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Low Budget Girl Seeks Yummy Recipes for Hungry Man

In September or October of 2009, I made a life changing decision.

I purchased my first Taste of Home magazine.

I can’t remember how the purchase happened. It was probably an impulse buy to cook for friends. I never used a recipe, the magazine was stashed in a drawer, and somehow {miraculously} the magazine survived and it’s living in my kitchen.

By chance, I found the magazine last weekend when I was looking for a good Fall recipe for BEO.

Little did I know this magazine was going to save my newlywed life- one low budget recipe at a time.

The article: Shop Once…Eat All Week!

You can find the 5 recipes on the page linked to above. They are to the right hand side in the box that says “related recipes.” They include ham & sundried tomato alfredo, savory onion chicken, ham & broccoli frittata, onion-dijon pork chops and southwest beef pie.

Yes, it’s online. Yes, that’s cool.

The link above will provide you and your family 5 weeknight recipes, prepped and cooked in 30 minutes, UNDER $1.50 per serving. It even tells you what day to cook them.

Organization, budgeting and time management at it’s best folks. What’s not to love?

I went to the store immediately, purchased the items on the already prepared grocery list and started cooking.

I made the ham & sun-dried tomato alfredo recipe on Monday.

The bad news: He wouldn’t have wanted me to share this picture.

The good news: He liked it.

I did add a few extra ingredients for flavor- like salt, pepper and random Italian seasoning I had on hand.

I never got to the rest of the recipes. Oh well, that’s what the weekend is for.

I’m on a mission. I want more of these pre-planned, budget friendly recipes. Do you or any of your blogger friends do this type of thing?

If so, leave me a link. I could use it.

WBG’s and Other Acronyms I Don’t Understand

My love for the outdoors and BEO’s natural tendency to be a cowboy have come together lately for an exciting new adventure.

We decided to buy a few head of calves and we’re keep them a few miles north of town.

Cute right?

The new little adventure comes with lots learning on my end and I’ve taken quite a bit of interest in helping out.

Here’s what I see when I go out to the pasture.

Yep, they want something to eat.

Since BEO does this everyday -and is a pro at this cowboy stuff- he suggested we feed them wet brewers grain (WBG) from a local brewery. This peaked my interest because- well, it just does.

So I looked up a bit about using WBG’s as cattle feed and found out that BEO’s not only super good looking- he also knows a bit about feeding calves.

Here is what the the WBG’s look like.

As you can see, we tote them up to the pasture in clean trash cans. More on that later.

Here is what WBG’s look like up close.

If you read the article that I linked to above about WBG’s it states “ A well-balanced mineral supplement should be supplied when using WBG in cattle diets to avoid the negative effects of decreased growth performance experienced when this ratio is not properly balanced.” So we also feed this pelleted supplement to make sure the calves get the right amount of vitamins and minerals.

It seems to be a hit. I think it’s pretty cool we can make use of the WBG’s and help out our local brewery.

Remember those trash cans from above? BEO named me the “CEO of Trash Can Cleaning.” It’s an honor I take very seriously. This is my realm.

It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.

As mentioned, I’m not the expert in all this cattle stuff. If you find yourself interested in or looking for some fine folks that post stuff about feeding cattle or cattle in general, check out these blogs.

http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/

http://crystalcattle.blogspot.com/

http://kansascattleranch.blogspot.com/

http://thesouthdakotacowgirl.com/

For the record, I am an expert trash can cleaner.

Sunday Nights and Peach Dessert

Sunday nights are big around these parts.

Most Sunday’s you can find me and my closest neighbor-friends huddled up at one of the 5 houses on our block cooking, laughing and eating.

We all play a part in the food.

Yesterday, I was assigned the role of dessert-maker. So in my quest for the perfect dessert, I ended up on my friend Ree’s webpage.

For the record, she really isn’t a “friend”- but I wish she was.

I decided to cook this quick and easy peach parcel.

This is how Ree’s looked.

This is how mine looked- can we say amateur?

They looked a bit better than this when I placed each of them on a bed of whipped cream and drizzled a little caramel over them.

For the record, I did make one change to the recipe.

I traded peach schnapps for my new-found love,  Cake Vodka. It was worth it.

Going to the Chapel and We’re Gonna Get Married

THE day finally came.

And went.

And it was amazing.

I’ve been waiting for some of my friends to post pictures so I could borrow them for a blog post since Sunday. Note: I promised BEO I would put down my phone and camera from Friday, September 15 at 4 pm until Saturday, September 16. It was hard- but worth it.

In the mean time, BEO’s adorable cousin Andrea wrote a super funny blog post about the wedding with a lot of pictures.

So did Brooke.

And, if these two blog posts weren’t enough, Jennifer posted a YouTube video of our bridal party’s speeches. You might not want to listen to this with your kids, grandma or anyone else that doesn’t have a really good sense of humor. I wish you could have seen the look on BEO’s Grandma Kathy’s face! It was priceless!

Below are are a few pictures I thought summed up the weekends activities best. I borrowed these from my lovely sister Cindy, C & W Ranch’s Facebook page and from cousin Andrea. I hope they don’t mind. Professional pics to come- I promise

Dad arrived late on Wednesday along with his lovely new bride Beverly and my sisters Cindy and Pacita. We were all tired and hungry so we ate and I settled in with Cindy, Pacita a night of Pinterest and girl talk.

Thursday morning everyone was super curious to see the lay of the land so we went to visit C & W Ranch. The ranch is where we decided to have our reception. It was just as beautiful as I remembered and everyone was happy to see us- even this handsome fellow.

We didn’t stay too long though, we had lots to see and decorations to gather. I think this made Cody the Ranch Dog sad.

Sorry Cody. We’ll be back. Right now we have to go drive by the church.

Wow that’s pretty.

And then it was off Hobby Lobby. Please raise your hand if you and your closest friends and family have ever pushed around 5 Hobby Lobby shopping carts at once?

But before we could decorate Thursday evening, it was off to the rehersal dinner at Martinellis. Yum, BEO’s Mom and Dad chose the place. It was amazing. If you ever get a chance to visit Martinelli’s,  try the homemade salad dressing. It’s smack your momma good- just don’t smack your momma.

Our last stop on Thursday was to decorate- and decorate we did. Until 3 a.m. You won’t see any pictures of that. People were looking awful shady come that time of night.

It’s here that I must give a little extra mention to my sister, Pacita. She runs a fantastic home decor and retail business north of Altanta, GA called Pineapple Park. If you’re ever in the market for the perfect gift or decorating ideas for your home- contact her or peruse her Facebook page. You won’t be disappointed.

She did a fabulous job making the entire barn come together and even had BEO steal a old farm door from his Grandma’s house for deco.

Here’s what the barn looked like when you walked in.

It was cooler than I could have imagined. We went to bed very, very tired.

We woke up just as tired but concealed the dark circles with great makeup and hair, thanks to the girls at the Hair Loft. For the record, Lana- I love you {that was the fabulous gal who did my hair}.

From here on out the day was a whirlwind of my last tweet as @jtgirl, hours of photography, a 15 minute church service and then to the ranch for the reception.

I wonder if BEO was nervous here?

Here is Dad and I waiting to head up to the alter- I was nervous. I could just see me doing some type of face plant walking up the isle. You might laugh, but that is soooo Jodi.

I made it without a big fall! Check out the look of relief on my face.

I wonder what BEO was thinking here?

Before we knew it, I was Jodi Oleen.

Back at the ranch and after a quick dress change, I was ready to role with some really good help by my side.

From there on out it was the normal wedding reception stuff. Cake cutting, bridal party speeches {seriously, you will want to hear this}, first dances and time with friends and family. Here are a few other pictures I just couldn’t leave out.

.

Strawberry & Blueberry Crisp

Last weekend Mom visited to help with wedding stuff. We found the perfect dress and set our date. September 17, 2011 can’t get here soon enough!

To celebrate, we brought together a few friends and cooked a big Saturday dinner. The spread was impressive to say the least. We had flat iron steaks, chicken breasts and asparagus on the grill; a tomato and cheese salad topped with smoked filet mignon slices; a salad packed full of veggies from our neighbors garden; and a creamy macaroni dish.

Dessert was my responsibility.

Strawberry and Blueberry Crisp

I decided to make one of my favorite recipes. It’s fairly quick and easy and always a big hit. I originally found the recipe in a Fine Cooking magazine a few years ago. I’ve made changes to it over time.

After posting the picture above to Facebook, a few friends asked for the recipe. So here goes it- my first blog post about cooking.

Ingredients

4 Tbs. unsalted butter (room temp works best)

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup of light brown sugar (don’t be scared of too much- this makes it good)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 lb. room temperature blueberries (scruba-dub-dub)

1 lb. stawberries (washed and sliced into edible pieces)

1 1/2 Tbs. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Cooking directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Give your 9 inch baking pan a good once-over with butter or Pam.

In a small bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and 1/8 tsp. of salt. Take your butter and cut it up into little chunks. Work the butter into the flour mixture. Work until the mixture clumps together. If for some reason it’s not clumping, add a little more butter.

If your butter is cold, your fingers will probably start hurting a little.

Combine the strawberries and blueberries in a big bowl.

In another small bowl, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and 1/8 tsp. of salt. Make sure this is mixed well. Toss the mixture with the fruit.

Spread the fruit mixture in the baking pan. Press the streusel (the first flour mixture) into small clumps in your hand. Spread those clumps over the fruit mixture.

Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the streusel topping is browned, 40-50 minutes. Cool. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

*Optional- run an extra 3 miles tonight.

I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate National Ice Cream Month.

We’ve All Got A Story

I ran across this video from Jan Hoadley of Slow Money Farm today while trying to learn more about Agchat Foundation’s Agvocacy 2.0 Conference.  Since attendance is only granted through an application process, I’ll keep my fingers crossed. With any luck, I’ll join Jan for #ACFC11 August 22-23 in Nashville, TN.

I’ve followed Jan on Twitter for some time now. She has all kinds of farm animals and shares a unique love for rabbits with another Twitter friend of mine, Kelly Rivard.

I love how she insists “we’ve all got a story” in this video.

Jan’s right you know, our stories provide a foundation for our lives and can even define our lives.

One day I’ll tell you the story of a city girl [lil ol' me] who met a dairy farmer. The experience changed my life forever and began my “story” in agriculture.

I’d like to think our stories in life are more alike than they are different, but I guess the jury’s still out on that one. Maybe the themes of our lives are more alike than the actual stories themselves?

Just curious, do you have a blog? If so, leave me a link in the comments below.  I’d love to learn more about your life and your story.