Cheers to freshness pioneers on National Farmer’s Day.

Sep 20, 2023

Imagine biting into an apple that's been sitting on your kitchen counter for days, but it's still as crisp as ever. Sounds like magic, right? Well, thanks to Sylvia Blankenship and Edward Sisler, it's science.

As we gear up for National Farmer’s Day on Oct. 12, let's chat about these two brilliant minds. They discovered something super cool called 1-methylcyclopropene, but let’s keep it simple and call it 1-MCP.

Now, this might sound geeky, but 1-MCP is a lifesaver for fruits, veggies, and even those pretty flowers you love. It fights off ethylene, which is like the "aging potion" for produce. Because of 1-MCP, our favorite greens and blooms can stay fresh and fabulous for longer. That means fewer sad, wilted salads and more bright, cheerful daisies.

And guess what? This discovery is a big win for sellers too. They get more time to sell their produce, and it can travel farther without going bad.

So, on this National Farmer’s Day, let’s send a big thank-you to Sylvia and Edward. Without them, freshness just wouldn't be the same.

Source : wisconsinagconnection

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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