By Julie Tomascik Sweet, spicy, tangy, a hint of tomato or a touch of vinegar. It’s the Lone Star State and we like our choices of sauce. Or no sauce at all. But, no matter our preferences, we can all agree barbecue is a part of Texas culture. The charred edges of a piece of [...]
By Julie Vrazel Values and farmers and ranchers—they go hand-in-hand. A 30-second commercial by Whole Foods Market shows that. Sort of. It implies organic is superior and more ethical than conventionally-grown food. I don't agree. In their marketing scheme to boost sales, Whole Foods left out one important ingredient—conventional farmers and ranchers. Truth is, like their [...]
By Julie Vrazel Not all farmers grow corn, cotton and grain sorghum. There are lots of specialty farmers, too. Like Mark Chamblee. He wakes up and smells the roses every day. That’s because Mark is a rose farmer in Tyler, where he and his family have been growing roses since 1953. Their nursery, Chamblee’s Rose [...]
By Julie Vrazel Budget, budget, budget. It’s an all-too familiar word in my house with a wedding less than two months away and winter feed bills for the cows just around the corner. But a large part of my usual monthly expenses isn’t directly related to our wedding or cattle. It’s my weekly trips to [...]
By Julie Vrazel Walk into a grocery store and you’ll find yourself wandering through the maze of food choices. Bright, bold labels help guide you to your selection—natural, GMO-free, local, organic, gluten-free. The possibilities are endless. But what do you really know about those buzzwords and the food you’re buying? Well, the farmers and ranchers [...]
