I am pursuing a master's degree in journalism with the goal of writing sport history books and article series.
The Journey As I drove out to Stolen Acres on a sun-splashed Saturday morning in November, I saw dormancy glitter all along County Trunk Highway N in the township of Pleasant Springs. The town takes pride in its local farming and rural character in an era of industrialized farming and subdivisions. My journey took me to a …
Pleasant Springs — An Old-Time Legacy for the future Read More 👉
Coca-Cola has been a popular drug of choice for nearly 125 years. The famous beverage was born in 1886 in Georgia, the same as Tyrus Raymond Cobb of the .367 lifetime batting average who was one of the company’s first big investors. Prohibition laws in Atlanta and Fulton County convinced John Pemberton …
Bill Buford’s best-selling book, Heat, was a case of an author deciding to stand the heat and stay in the kitchen until he learned first-hand what Italian food culture, the “reality of the kitchen,” and he process of becoming a chef was all about. He learned the reality of the kitchen,the truth about real-not Americanized …
As Thanksgiving approaches, we tend to focus more on what we have to be grateful for. We have a bountiful food supply, symbolized at this time of year by horns of plenty, Turkey Day feasts at our tables and in trade magazines from Country Living to Better Homes and Gardens, among others. The stewardship of …
I knew little about Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) when I walked into a Wisconsin Department of Agriculture (DATCP) talk on the subject Nov. 3 at the Microbial Sciences Center on the UW-Madison campus. Here is a description of foot-and-mouth disease, an example of FAD, from www.cattletoday: Foot-and-Mouth Disease is a severe, highly communicable disease …
A recent blog criticized Kraft’s Macaroni & Cheese dinner, a family and kids favorite for decades, for selling a quick meal product made with “cheese products,” not real cheese. [social_buttons]On my next shopping trip, I bought a box to investigate what was in that powdery but tasty cheese sauce. A blue and gold ribbon printed on …
Nearly 20 years ago, my doctor told me that I had IBS. Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I was getting my annual physical exam and lamented about consistently painful bowel movements and related flaming hemorrhoids. [social_buttons] One of his recommendations was a daily dose of high-fiber laxative and a high-fiber diet. The diet made me an instant …
Soybean oil. That’s it. That’s it? [social_buttons] Yes. After learning that Crisco got its name from crystallized cotton seed oil and waxing nostalgic about the big red-white-and-blue shortening can Mom used to keep in the cupboard for baking, I was shocked to find that a typical 32-ounce bottle of all-natural, cholesterol free Crisco Pure Vegetable …
[social_buttons] To food safety advocates, CAFO is a four-letter word. The acronym stands for Concentrated Animal Feed Operations. They came into being as industrialized farming methods took hold largely as a result of the demand for food worldwide and the decreasing amount of land upon which to grow it. Author/journalist/activist Michael Pollan is among many …
Henry Albert Schroeder (1898-1967) must be rolling over in his grave at Kroghville Cemetery. Either that, or he is about ready to come down from Heaven and give corporate farming hell, bringing with him the Clydesdales that once plowed his farm fields in the township of Pleasant Springs, 20 miles from Madison in eastern Dane …
By Steven D. Schmitt A Letter to the Editor in the September 17, 2009 Wisconsin State Journal could not have been timed better. A Madison resident who had farmed for a career questioned why UW-Madison was spending its financial resources to bring author Michael Pollan to the Kohl Center (Sept. 24, 7 p.m.) to speak on his …
