Shrimp

This past week in class Yu Huang came and spoke to us about the development of shrimp aquaculture in Southern China. She is doing her graduate research on this topic and she gave us some insight into the whole process.



Some of the pros of this type of aquaculture is mass production done in one location, it can reduce fishing pressure, and it can help cause income growth for developing countries. However, the con’s to this type of aquaculture are that they use bad antibiotics and the process could destroy the ability of survival for wild species if they were to breed with the shrimp in the aquaculture. It also is destroying the mangrove forest and they release the waste of the fish into the ocean.

As it was made clear to us, there are many good things as well as draw backs to the development of shrimp aquaculture in Southern China. In my mind, the shrimp all tastes the same to me so as long as there are no shrimp that are being hurt in the process I think it is not that bad of an idea.

Agriculture of the Future

What is the future of agriculture? Many Americans are confused about what is going on on our farmland across the country in regards to genetically engineered crops. To be honest with you, I am quite confused by it all myself. Large corporate businesses are making patents on their crops that they have genetically engineered, and small family farmers are paying the price for it.

Some plants are genetically engineered when they are a seed to be exactly similar in some way. For example, some plants are engineered to be resistant to week killer such as “Round Up”. When a company patents these genetically engineered seeds, a farmer must buy the seeds from the company that produces them if they want to grow this type of plant. However, this can cause a large conflict with farmers. The seeds can easily be blown by the wind or transported on a bird onto a farmers plot of land and begin to grow there without the farmers knowledge. The genetically engineered plants look identical to the non-genetically engineered plants. If the company who has made the patents discovered that their seeds are growing on the farmers land, they can sue them for illegally growing their patented seeds. In this type of situation, the farmer is helpless. There is nothing they can do or say to get them out of the fine they have to pay for illegally growing the seeds even though they have no previous knowledge that they were growing. It is these large, corporate companies that are causing small landowners that have been farming for years, to go bankrupt or be forced to change their crop.



I think that genetically engineered crops are not a good direction for our world of agriculture to be headed. What happened to the days when farmers farmed their crops from the land and didn’t get their seeds from a science lab? It upsets me to hear that small town farmers are being taken to court for something they had no knowledge over. They have lived their lives in the fields, and that is being taken away from them. Plant seeds should not be patented because they are from the land, and everything from the land should be shared with everyone.

Food Not Bombs

Have you even jumped into a dumpster behind a grocery store, retrieved food, and then eaten it? “Food Not Bombs” does exactly this. The main idea behind this group of people from all over the country is to dumpster dive to get food from the garbage that a grocery store has just thrown out. The food is sometimes still unexpired or it is just expired, but still edible. The group them brings all the food together they gathered for the day, cook it, and then give it away to the less fortunate in the society. This group shows how much food goes to waste in the United States simply from over production.



When I heard about this idea that the group is presenting, I began to think about the people all over the world that are dieing of hunger. It amazes me that our country can throw away so much edible and delicious food while many areas of the world are barely or not even getting by with enough food. It is our job as citizens to make sure no food goes to waste until everyone has enough food for themselves and nobody is hungry.

One way I help to save food is by always bringing home my leftovers. It kills me to see a big, perfectly good meal go to the garbage just because someone was not very hungry. I think that even if you are not going to eat it, you should still get it to go and give it to someone less fortunate who is homeless or needy. These types of people would love a fresh meal from a restaurant.

In order for our countries malnourishment to go down, we need to step forward to not let so much food go to waste. Whether we are joining “Food Not Bombs” or simply giving away leftovers, any little action is helping the hungry be fed.

Comfort Soup

This week in class we went into the HUB kitchen and made one of the best meals I have had since leaving home. We broke up into small groups and made lentil soup from scratch. Soup is a great comfort food that makes me feel like I am right at home again. It is a nutritious meal because it is very balanced and is full of various vitamins and minerals that help the body.



All the vegetables we used in the soup were fresh and full of flavor. What amazed me the most about the soup was how much flavor it had when we used water as the base of the broth instead of using the normal vegetable or chicken broth. I can only imagine how amazing it would have tasted if we had used chicken broth. The technique we used to get the most flavoring into the soup was by layering the flavors. We would add little bits of different herbs and spices until we got our desired taste. It was a delicious recipe that I’m going to bring back home with me and cook on some cold winter day.

Pizza Time

Pizza, pizza, pizza! I love it. There is nothing like an oven-baked pizza made with amazing rich, healthy, and fresh ingredients straight from the garden. Cooking pizzas with the class out on the school “Farm” was a fun experience that I know I will never forget.



Making the delicious pizzas reminded me a lot about being back at home at my uncle’s house for dinner. We used to go over there about once a month to make pizzas in his brick pizza oven. It was always a great time rolling out the dough and adding all the toppings just like what we did in class. I find that I enjoy pizza so much more when I’m the one making it and I know all that is put on it as well as how much. Homemade pizza has a much fresher and healthier taste to it because it doesn’t have all the extra grease or oils like in pizza restaurants. I like it because it feels much lighter so then I can eat even more!

Making pizzas all together is also a fun way to spend time with one another. I have so many great memories with my family spent around my uncle’s kitchen sampling pizza after pizza. Making pizzas with the class was really enjoyable because we were able to spend time together, enjoy great food, and soak up the sun as we ate on the farm.

Fast & Easy or Healthy & Fresh

Watching Supersize Me this past week in class was an eye opening experience, and painful for my tummy. I never realized the severity of the obesity issue facing our country. Fast food restaurants are a strong factor adding to one of the highest leading causes of death in the United States. Americans need to start turning away from the fast, easy, and cheep ways of eating. They need to start looking to the better and healthier alternatives.



From a young age, we are trained to want fast food. The companies direct many of their campaigns toward children such as “Happy Meals” and playhouses. It is a parent’s job, to teach their children about nutrition and encourage them to eat what is good for their body, not something that comes in a box with the side of a free toy. One of the best ways for this to be achieved in a child’s mind is to eat at home. Good homemade meals are balanced, nutritious, and tastes great. Growing up, I rarely went out to eat at McDonalds, Burger King, or Taco Bell. If I wanted to eat a hamburger or a taco we would make them at home; even my baby food was pureed by my parents. Because I was raised this way, I still turn away from fast food and look towards healthier, natural, and whole foods.

If our country as a whole begins eating healthier at a young age, our nation’s obesity rate will lower dramatically. Seeing obese children is one of the saddest things for me to witness because I do not think it is their fault. They have young, impressionable minds, and they obviously weren’t given the proper information in their upbringing. With the help of better food education I think America can choose to become a much healthier and thinner country.

Sharing is Caring

In my mind, sharing food with friends is more rewarding than keeping all the food to yourself. Not only do you get to enjoy the fresh ripe fruit that you spend much of your time and labor into, but your friends get to too. In my small agricultural town, this is a common routine.

Most people who have their own working gardens know that they produce more food than they can eat themselves. Our tomato plants at home produce enough food to feed a family of ten. In order to get away from wasting ripe food, my family, as well as our friends, share our food from the garden. Not only do we get to eat our own fresh tomatoes, but we also get to enjoy one neighbor’s peaches and another neighbor’s melons. It is a great way to build a strong sense of community and friendship.