A few weeks ago I got a call from Nancy Degner of the Iowa Beef Industry Council.  A group called The Iowa Food and Family Project was partnering with the Mills Civic Hy-Vee, and they had invited six people and their friends to spend an evening making a week’s worth of meals for their families.

The meals were designed to be taken home, froze, and ready to use when needed.  Since May was Beef Month, they decided on a “beef” theme and wanted a local cow/calf producer to come in and address the group.  Being close to Des Moines, Nancy contacted me.  I was happy to go.  Our local Madison County Cattlemen Association has always been on the lookout to find ways to have a greater footprint with our urban neighbors.

This happens to be the mission of the Iowa Food and Family Project:  Connecting families, farmers, and food.

The evening went well.  I burnt nothing.  The guests had a good time.  Nancy even treated me to supper at Hy-Vee’s in store Chinese Express afterwards.  The only wrinkle was that they were about to close, and their beef options were exhausted.  Later, as the 12 participants filed past us, half of them took time to comment on my choice of Sesame Chicken.

There are at least 10,000 comedians out of work in this country.

I volunteered additional time if the Iowa Food and Family Project ever needed it, and last Saturday they took me up on my offer.  They had a booth at Des Moines Downtown Farmers’ Market and wanted help staffing it.  I navigated through a parade of runners participating in the annual Dam to Dam race and made my way to Court Avenue.

IFFP features the work of two bloggers, Kristin Porter from Iowa Girl Eats, and Cristen Clark from Food & Swine.  Last Saturday Cristen was on hand, signing copies of the Iowa Food and Family Cookbook we were giving away.  The book contained recipes from both bloggers, as well as additional ones from farm families across the state.  I provided relief for her husband, who had been in charge of spinning a wheel where guests were asked random questions on agriculture in exchange for a free Subway sandwich.

In no time flat my mouth was in gear, and in no time flat, with never a down moment, three hours passed. Somewhere in the process I got a bottle of water.  I never had time to open it.  Cristen had signed so many cookbooks, they gave away 700 that day, I was surprised her hand hadn’t fell off.

They estimated a couple of thousand people went through the booth.  I would call that conservative.

Conversations ranged from the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit, GMOs, organic foods, support of Iowa’s agriculture, animal care, and Fred Hoiberg coaching the Bulls.  For my part, I learned it took 48 hours to get milk from the farm to the grocery store shelf, that Jethro’s restaurants purchase over one million pounds of pork annually (making them the largest independent purchaser of pork in the state), and that 11 million turkeys are raised in Iowa (making us the largest supplier for Subway and Jimmy Johns restaurants).

There were two questions I used particularly for their advocacy.  The first was in detailing what a bioreactor is and it’s role in removing nitrates from agricultural drainage water.  The second was about the inability to find a nutritional difference between organically raised and conventionally raised produce.

In regards to the first question, I got to witness one guest accurately describe to another the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit in 30 seconds.  I was impressed.  With regards the second, I had one boisterous guest take issue on it.  With regards to the cookbooks, I had one turn it down because it didn’t look very vegan.  I think it was the pot roast that gave it away.

Make that 10,001 out of work comedians in this country.

 Iowa Food and Family Project:  http://iowafoodandfamily.com/

Food & Swine:  http://foodandswine.com/

Iowa Girl Eats: http://iowagirleats.com/