More than 80 Hoosiers are profiled in the 200 plus pages, giving you a glimpse into the burgeoning local food renaissance now underway in Indiana. In 2010, Indiana Humanities launched the Food for Thought program designed to help Hoosiers think, read and talk about food.

From Indiana farmers, restauranteurs, even distillers, Food for Thought follows the new, up and coming Hoosier food chain from field to plate. These first person accounts will share the newfound passion Indiana farmers and chefs have for crafting some of the finest, freshest and sustainable foods for their fellow Hoosiers. Get an inside look at what makes these folks tick and why they have a passion to feed you the best food to pass between your lips.

Their stories might surprise you. Little did I know that one of our local farmers, Bud Vogt, whom we see at the farmer’s market once a week, used to be a futures and options trader in Chicago. Vogt developed a hearing problem due to the noise from the trading floor and decided to come back home to help with the family farm. That is where he has stayed and is now supplying southwestern Hoosiers like me with some of the freshest heirloom produce around!

Interesting stories aside, this book would also make a great reference for picking an agri-tourism destination for the weekend. Driving by Atlanta, Indiana? Why not stop in to Lisa’s Pie Shop and try one of her prize-winning pies she has perfected over the last 23 years. Headed to LaPorte? Visit the Garwood Orchard and pick through their dazzling array of fruits and vegetables.

To celebrate the release of the book, several Evansville-area organizations are hosting book signings and discussions with author David Hoppe, photographer Kristin Hess and Vogt on Aug. 30 and 31. Books will also be available for purchase.

The events include:

Thursday, Aug. 30, 6 – 7 p.m.
Working Men’s Institute (407 W Tavern St, New Harmony, Ind.)

Friday, Aug. 31, 12 – 1 p.m.
Traditions Lounge, University Center (University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd, Evansville, Ind.)

Friday, Aug. 31, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
River City Food Co-op (116 Washington Avenue, Evansville, Ind.)

Hoosiers need this unique coffee table book, not only to become more aware of from whom and from where their food comes from but also to help continue the conversation about food (and food buying choices) by displaying it for others to notice, enjoy and discuss.

Buy this one of a kind book at your local farmer’s market or online and experience the Hoosier food revolution today! All proceeds of the sale stay in the state and will go toward funding future humanities programs for people in Indiana.

The post Food For Thought- Like to know your food Indiana? Then you’ll love this book! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Fleas are nasty, nasty creatures. If you can’t tell the kind of make me crazy. It is all because of this one encounter N and I shared way back in the day. Right after we began dating N moved in to my tiny 1 bedroom apartment with me. It was in Tempe, Arizona in the dead of summer and our fridge died so I went to the complex management about it.

They wouldn’t be able to get us a new fridge for several days and all our food was spoiling so we were pretty put out. The complex management offered to let use a working fridge in a vacant apartment in the meantime. They could have just moved the working fridge to our place but whatever. So they gave us the keys to the vacant place, we packed up our spoiling groceries and headed over to store them in the vacant place.

As soon as we entered the vacant apartment we immediately were disgusted by how dirty and messy it was left, then we felt things jumping on our legs. We soon realized the place was totally infested with fleas and they were feasting on our fresh meat as we walked across the apartment. It was the most unbelievable thing. We were literally jumping all around and trying to run across the carpet to avoid the fleas.

After entering the flea infested apartment we would shake off and even left our shoes outside our apartment to avoid tracking fleas in to our own place. We had 3 cats at that time so fleas were the last thing we wanted. Unfortunately they were unavoidable.

Inevitably a few made it in to our place and began taking up residence on our clean kitties. We got rid of the fleas after several months and it was not a fun process. We were just thankful that our flea situation never even came close to the nastiness of the vacant, flea apartment. To this day fleas and roaches just make my blood boil (I’ll save the roach story for another day though).

Amazingly bathing the cats was mostly an easy task. Jack, our huge yellow kitty, was the handful of the bunch. He acted like we were trying to skin him or something, it was quite dramatic and man is he strong! The rest of the kitties were cooperative and now everyone smells and looks so nice. Also, they have all stopped itching so I feel good about the flea eradication.

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Want a comb that will electrocute fleas? I found this fun and evil little flea zapper online that ammused me.

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My students did well yesterday. They got 7th place (out of 11) which is great considering they are all newbies except for one! They have much work to do (as do I) to get the show looking better for the next competition in 2 weeks. They did a great job though, we have 5 more weeks to work on and perfect the show be fore championships.

Tomorrow marks the start of spring break for our schools so I will have a low key first part of the week and I will try doing something interesting for my birthday towards the end of the week. I still have no plans or ideas about what I might like to do, is that bad?

Oh, I did get some new information today about my body temperature chart and my period. I joined this group called NFP-FAM over on yahoo groups and fellow members have give me their opinions about my own chart. Basically I was told that my thermal shift (when my temperature jumped about 7 10ths of a degree) indicated that I had ovulated, I am still getting the hang of all this. So, it looks like my period should be on the way in about 1-2 weeks.

I am learning so much about natural family planning right now and think it is so cool to be able to chart your signs of fertility and find out so much about your body. I bought the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility  to learn more about NFP and am very pleased with all the info it has provided me.

I was surprised to learn that many women become pregnant and miscarry all without knowing it because it looks just like a period and these women never even suspected pregnancy in the first place. Charting your body temperature and other fertility signs is a great way to “keep tabs” on what is going on with your body and it is a natural way to become pregnant or to prevent becoming pregnant and it is free!

The post It's a stormy weekend day, perfect lazy weather! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Weight loss is partly about eating right & exercise but it is also about your body’s metabolism so in order to effectively loose pounds you need a solution that addresses your lifestyle/ habits and your body’s chemistry.

I just read a book that outlines a natural way to loose weight; it’s called The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra. No, you won’t loose weight by just drinking tea, this book is not about a tea fast or any other “quick fix” someone came up with. The book shares with you the ways tea can help boost your metabolism, improve your health and much more.

You will need to gradually alter your lifestyle & eating habits so that you are enjoying a balanced diet and you will need to stay active. Basically the book outlines how you can alter your choices and actions to become healthier in your eating and exercise. When you are healthier your body will be able to benefit from the herbs and antioxidants found in tea that have been proven to increase metabolism and improve your overall health.

So, if you are looking to loose some pounds or just become healthier consider taking the “tea challenge”, get the book and commit to following it. You will be amazed at the results!

The post Loose weight naturally without starving yourself! A book review appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

I started the book today and thought the beginning of the book was quite intriguing. I was sold on the idea of a “sex detox” and continued to read. The ideas presented in the beginning of the book seem like they would benefit me. I am very excited about the ideas of this book but I have to admit I am totally aggravated by the redundant explanation of what will be discussed in the book. They way I understand it (I only read to page 7 so far) the author believes that you can re kindle your intimacy and sex by going without for a period of 30 days. This absence will help you to reconnect with your partner in an emotional way. The absence of physical intimacy will make you miss it and will drive you to fulfill your intimate desires in more substantial way, via the mind.

It seems like every self help book I have read lately follows the same format of introducing the concept, explaining why you need it, you become intrigued and are ready to learn more but the book continues to explain what will be explained in the book, forever. This begins to bore me, it makes me want to stop reading the book and it irritates me. Just adequately present the concept in the beginning of the book and then get on with it. I don’t want to read 30 pages about what you are going to present later in the book, I already know what the concept is and I am still reading so I obviously want to learn more, I don’t need further convincing.

Anyway, I skipped the “What You’ll Encounter in This Book” section when I realized this book began to follow the redundant explanation trend. Actually the redundant explanation was not as long as I though it would be, I just didn’t want to read the same info presented in another way. So, I went straight to chapter 2 which ironically enough started out with “we live in a culture of instant gratification”… Well, I am just a perfect example of that with my rant about the ongoing explanations of what the book is about huh?

The book really ties together the connections between our past, our present and how these two aspects shape our future. Many people suffer from “neurally reinforced” habits or behaviors that are subconscious/ that they are unaware of that often times are the root of our relationship problems and thus affect our intimacy.

The program in this book consists of different stages (observation, recognition, de-coupling, engagement and regulating) that are intended to help you recognize triggers and work beyond them so you can love and be loved in a more fulfilling and healthy way.

If you feel your romantic life is not where it needs to be you may benefit from reading this book. It is released in February 2008 and if you click the photo posted above you can visit amazon.com and pre-order your copy today. When I finish the book I’ll write more about it here. Happy reading!

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