Saturday, July 23, 2011

Touching Base

I feel guilty. Well, sorta guilty. No not that guilty. I haven't done anything. That is the point. I haven't blogged for a little while. That sorta, not really, kinda guilty.

The reason for the lack of blogs is pretty easy to figure out. There are three things sucking up my time that should provide food for the blogger juices for a while. The first is the heat wave we all have experienced. The second is my family's involvement with ThinkTV (PBS) in filming a 30 minute segment profiling our farm family. And the third is a discussion that is going on in the social media Agvocacy community and the Ag trade associations concerning what is appropriate to post online.

Each of these are a rich source of information and examples for my very active mind to work with. I want to share with the public (consumers) an honest picture of what my life is so they can better understand the people that produce food and what motivates us. We are a unique breed.

The question keeps coming up, "what is appropriate?".

Should I tell the public I will try almost anything to protect my animals from dying in the heat and how unpleasant dragging them out to bury is? Or should I come up with a different way to say it that doesn't cause the public (that isn't educated or thoughtful enough on their own to know it) to even think about it?

Should I go along with staging parts of our ThinkTV production so that the producer has the shots to work with that will best tell the story for the audience? Or should I insist on only allowing shots of spontaneous events? What will be left after editing? Are the two really any different?

Should I some how ease up on caring for my animals in the heat so I have time to deal with these other important questions. (I am writing this now because I have imposed a "Siesta" on the activities at the farm to let the hogs rest through the heat of the day uninterrupted by feeding and chores). Where are my priorities to be?

So there are some interesting thoughts out there to explore, when I get time.

Thanks for beginning to ponder these things with me.