AGvocacy is About Participating

University of Arizona students getting ready to start a day of AGvocating with Old Main, the oldest building on campus, looking on in the background. 

Today was a truly amazing day! It marked the second I Love Farmers/ WTF Day which brought together students from across the country in a collective effort to share our agriculture stories and help fellow students understand why they are neither naked nor hungry. I was lucky enough to help these amazing students coordinate the efforts on the University of Arizona mall. This enthusiastic group of young people prepared, organized and participated in the event and reached over five hundred of their peers in a short span of three hours. This day inspired me to put into words, something I've recently started to fully understand; The incredible importance of sharing the story about where our food and fiber comes from.

Not to go into too much detail, but I have a very limited agriculture background. I was raised in the middle of a good sized city but spent the majority of my time at a local horse training facility. My understanding and passion for the cattle community and agriculture in general really flourished while studying Animal Science at the University of Arizona. As an undergraduate, I was exposed to such great agvocacy groups like the Arizona Cowbelles and the Arizona Beef Council, but somehow missed the true importance of this segment of the cattle community. I had a love for the cattle community that I simply assumed, and we all know what they say about someone who assumes, everyone else shared. I was wrong.  After a few events on the job with the Beef Council and a couple frustrating and defensive questions from worried consumers it started to sink in; the average consumer wants to trust America's farmers and ranchers, but doesn't know where to find a trusted source of information. 

How do we fix that problem? I know it's never as easy as a one word answer, but I think a huge part of sharing our story, along with educating ourselves on how to interact in a calm and open manner, is participating. The students today, showed up and participated. Participated and helped to educate over five hundred people! They were only at this event for three hours. Think about how many people we could reach if everyone took three hours to talk to consumers.

You are an expert in your field because you live and breathe it every day. You have a drive and a passion to provide a great product. Get out there and tell other people about it! There are great organizations in every state, such as your Beef Councils and Farm Bureaus, who set up events with consumers on a regular basis. Get in contact with these groups and go participate. Be the consumers source of trusted information!

So you want to be a vegan?

So you want to be a vegan? I'll respect your decision and try to understand your reasoning, but I think it's a life style that you'll find is quite difficult!

You wake up with crusty eyes and in need of a nice, warm shower and a good scrub a dub dub. Watch were you reach! That soap that helps you get squeaky clean came from a cow, so it's of no use to you  my vegan friend!

Photo: Keeping it Real: Through the Lens of a Farm Girl

You can shake that off. The shower was hot enough to kill off most anything, so you're not too concerned. But your skin is as dry as a desert lizard. Lotion would do the trick, but once again, you are out of luck. A pretty face should help turn this annoying day around, right? Well it might, if you weren't a vegan and your cosmetics didn't come straight from a bovine. You may want to offer an apology to whomever gets to close and takes a whiff of your breath. Toothpaste is off limits too. Oh and I hope it's not to hot today. You won't be wearing any deodorant!

 Okay, at this point, you just want to get out of the house. Your rubber soled shoes, which happen to be the comfiest pair you own, are off limits in this new life style. Ix-nay on those fancy leather ones you spent a whole pay check on, too. Brace yourself. Getting to work is going to be a process. The rubber tires on your car are by products of cattle along with the asphalt road you travel on every day.

The day has been long and frustrating, resulting in many absences of the convenient products you ave grown accustom too. It's been rough, to make it simple and you are worn out! It's too bad you can't just grab a snack of beef jerky. It would provide you with zinc, iron and protein, all wonderful nutrients that your body is able to absorb quickly and give you the last little boost you're going to need to finish out the day.

Tread carefully. You are going to want to stay in excellent health because quite a few medications come straight from our dear friend, the cow. Don't forget about the surgical sutures! Those too, come from cattle, making the healing process from any sort of surgical procedure significantly shorter. 

It's been a long day? It's always helpful to look at a problem from the other side. Those of us who use our cattle by products, truly appreciate the great resource provided to us. Realizing all the wonderful things cattle provide to us makes our lives easier and ensures we aren't wasting anything of importance. 

Note: I volunteered to help with the youth speaking contest at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association convention last week and was then asked to fill in as a judge for the 14 and under age group. It was a blast and holy smokes, the quality of speakers and content of the speeches blew me away! I am happy and thrilled to say that the cattle community is going to continue to be in great hands in the future! One young ladies speech stuck with me and has inspired me to write a blog post on cattle by products through the eyes of a vegan.

A break from our regular (or not so regular) scheduled programming...

Crystal Cattle has teamed up with Noble House Designs and is giving away a choice of three necklaces.

This beauty is the Magenta Necklace.

How about the Red and Pink Vintage?

and last but not least, 

The ever wonderful turquoise option, the TC Necklace.

If I do happen to win this awesome contest, which one would I pick? It's a hard choice, but I think I need to move away from my comfort zone (which is definitely turquoise) and would go for the stunning Magenta Necklace!

I follow Crystal Cattle on a regular basis to keep up with her advocating work for agriculture. She also happens to have a great sense of style, so it's a plus!

On another note, in the near future I think a good brush up on cattle by products is in order!

Also, want to send out a huge congratulations to my co-worker, Anna, and her husband, Bas, on their beautiful baby boy! 

Nashville, Here We Come!

This afternoon, Lauren (my co-worker) and I fly to Nashville, TN for the 2012 National Cattlemen's Beef Association Convention! Life is all about continuing your education and I have so much more to learn about the cattle industry. I'm sure I'll come out on the smarter end after all the meetings and educational sessions we'll be heading too this week. 

I'm going to take advantage of my handy dandy iPhone, so be on the look out for pictures of the beautiful resort and other attractions. I've already seen a few pictures on Facebook and it looks wonderful! I'm also looking forward to meeting lots of people and connecting with those who I've meant at previous conventions and events. Oh yea and having a total blast!

Stay tuned, Arizona is heading out! 

PS... we're going to the Grand Ole Opry!! 

Wordy Wednesday

I know the average Wednesday blog post is "wordless" but I'm going to do a Wordy Wednesday and post some of my favorite quotes which I have accumulated on Pinterest over the past while. 

Definitely not scared to get my hands dirty. Whatever it takes to get the job done even if it means pulling on an old pair of jeans and a baseball hat (to be honest, I think I prefer it that way).

Mine scare the bejesus out of me... guess I'm on the right path.

Something that has been proven itself true over and over again. It's hard to sit back and wait for the reason, but it's worth it. 

True. Done. 

Great verse. So much wisdom in so few words. 

More people in our world could benefit from this simple idea.

My dad gave me very few words of wisdom growing up, but the one thing he did say to me over and over was that I could do whatever I wanted with my life even if it meant pushing outside the boundaries.

Fatal and boring. 

I do love my high heels!

In other news... some exciting things are coming up in the Beef Council/ Tiffany world! Heading to Tucson tomorrow to help the University of Arizona Collegiate Cattle Growers put on a Beef Training Day to help their club members better understand the issues faced by the beef industry and how to interact with consumers in an effective and positive way. After they have gone through this training, they are going to head out to public events and educate the public about their story! So stoked to see this group help the public understand the beef they eat!


In a few short weeks, I'm heading to Nashville for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Convention. That's right, Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music! We are staying steps away from the Grand Ol' Opry, plus I'm hitting up the Cattlemen's College to learn some more about raising beef cattle. It's bound to be an amazing week!


Okay... so I wasn't joking about the Wordy part of the title. But I'm done now! 


Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Tiffany Nicole

Life Lessons

It's been so long since I posted! There is so much to catch up on, but I won't bore you with the details. How about some life lessons I may have finally started to catch on too?

* As long as it's reasonable (no drugs or anything stupid like that!) don't miss the opportunities that are thrown at you. It's better to say "Oh well" rather then "I wish."

* It's easier to be fluid and always willing to roll with the punches then set in your own narrow ways.

* Life moves at it's own pace. For a reason. You can't force it to speed up to reach the destination you desire.

* Speaking of destination... how about that lovely quote along the lines of "life isn't about the destination, it's about the journey." I'm starting to think it's true.

* Life is short. Shorter then you could ever imagine. Make sure you tell all your loved ones how important they are to you as often as you can.

* Be positive. It seems the things you worry about the most never end up going anywhere and think about all that time you wasted!

And my always favorite "Everything happens for a reason!"

PS I haven't forgotten about my last post. I'll have a response to the answers shortly!

All the best,
Tiffany Nicole

It's official!!

I finally got cards in with all my information so I suppose it doesn't get any more official then that!