Our Food Supply & Giveaway

591 Replies

I get a lot of emails telling me about new websites, cookbooks, magazines, etc.  I usually just “skim and delete”, but every now and then, one will catch my eye.  I recently received an email about the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, their FoodDialogues website, and their U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Facebook page.  I was skeptical, yet intrigued.  After taking a look around their website and facebook page I was pleasantly surprised and thought it was worth sharing.  If you’re interested in where your food is coming from, you’ll want to check out their sites and read on for more information and a new giveaway.

The U.S Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) was founded in 2010 by America’s farmers and ranchers to start a dialogue about American agriculture.  They are offering a lot of resources online such as “Learn About Your Food” videos, blog posts, and more.  The best part I think, is that YOU (yes YOU, the consumer) can ask questions publicly and get a wide range of answers from not only American farmers and ranchers, but from others not in the industry.   You can also comment and provide information for other consumers!

Do you wonder where your food comes from?  Unless you are one of the lucky few who is growing their own produce and raising your own animals, you have probably wondered from time-to-time where everything is coming from and if it’s safe.  If you’ve watched the news at all recently you’ve probably wondered like me about a few things.  What is “pink slime”?  Is organic dairy/produce better?  What is GMO?  I’m sure we could all add more and more questions to that list!  The FoodDialogues website and U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Facebook page not only has a wealth of information, it also contains a lot of dialogues going on about these topics and much much more!  I was going to ask some questions, but have been so busy reading through all the questions already there!   I look forward to reading through more questions and dialogues and asking questions in the future.  Do you have a question about your food and our food supply?  ANYONE can post a question!  You can start a dialogue where you will get many opinions from different sides of the “issue”.   Then you can make your own decisions,  so go ahead, ask some questions!

There’s been so much in the news recently about where are food is coming from, and as a mother of two small children, my concern has been growing.  It’s hard to know what to believe and where to go for information, don’t you think?  I’m concerned for my children’s health, my health, our planet’s health, and the health of anyone and everyone!  I’m sure many of you agree, yes?

 

SNAPPY GOURMET USFRA GIVEAWAY:

(Check out my GIVEAWAY page regularly for any new giveaways!)

To kick-off this new alliance and resource, the USFRA has offered to give one reader a great prize!

Prizes:  1 winner will receive a $100 Visa gift card, a Crock-Pot Programmable 6-Quart Slow Cooker, and 2 reusable designer Envirosax shopping bags. (Total prize pack valued at about $168)

 

TO ENTER:
You have up to 8 chances to win so you can leave up to 8 comments (1 VALID comment = 1 entry). To enter, leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry using the comment form below on THIS blog post…

1.) Leave a comment if you follow Snappy Gourmet on FACEBOOK.
(If you’re not a follower , you can follow now at FACEBOOK.) (1 entry)

2.) Leave a comment if you follow USFRA on FACEBOOK.
(If you’re not a follower, you can follow now at FACEBOOK.) (1 entry)

3.) Leave a comment if you follow Snappy Gourmet on TWITTER.
(If you’re not a follower, you can follow now at TWITTER.) (1 entry)

4.) Leave a comment if you follow USFRA on TWITTER.
(If you’re not a follower, you can follow now at TWITTER.) (1 entry)

5.) Leave a comment if you follow Snappy Gourmet on PINTEREST.
(If you’re not a follower, you can follow “My Recipes” board and other boards now at PINTEREST.) (1 entry)

6.) Leave a comment if you receive Snappy Gourmet posts by EMAIL or RSS Feed.
(If you’re not receiving recipes/posts you can sign up now to receive by EMAIL or RSS Feed – you must also verify your email address/subscription through feedburner. Subscriptions that have not been verified will not be valid.) (1 entry)

7.) Leave a comment if you have posted about this giveaway with the link (http://snappygourmet.com/giveaways-enter-now/)  on your FACEBOOK page, your TWITTER account, or if you pinned this giveaway to your PINTEREST boards.
Include something like “I just entered to win a $168 prize pack  from @snappygourmet & @USFRA  #giveaway  http://snappygourmet.com/giveaways-enter-now/”  . (1 entry)

8.) Leave a comment here telling me your concerns about our food supply.   (1 entry)

 

NOTE:  COMMENTS MUST BE LEFT HERE ON THIS BLOG POST TO BE VALID! Comments left on Snappy Gourmet’s Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest page, sent by email or comment page, or anywhere else will NOT count and will not be entered in this giveaway.  I will be using random.org to choose entries.  The number next to your comment here on this post is your entry number.  If the comments with those chosen numbers are valid and follow all rules, they win, if not, new number(s) will be chosen.

OTHER RULES:
Up to 8 entries per person (no automated entries or cheating allowed). Entries that are not valid and multiple entries will not be considered and will be thrown out when choosing winners. Each entry must be a separate comment and not a reply to a comment and not multiple entries within one comment. You must be 18 years or older and a United States Resident to enter. Prizes will be mailed to U.S. addresses only and can not be mailed to P.O. Boxes. Contest is void where prohibited by law. Giveaway is free to enter and no purchase is necessary. All entries must be received by April 30, 2012, 11:59pm EST. Your personal information will only be used to contact winners and will not be sold or distributed.

WINNER SELECTION:
Snappy Gourmet will choose a winner using Random.org based on the number of valid entries on or around May 1, 2012. One prize per person. Winner will be notified by email and have 3 days to respond with their address before an alternate winner will be chosen and notified. Prize(s) may be sent by me or the sponsor of this giveaway.

DISCLOSURE:
All prizes were supplied by USFRA.  Snappy Gourmet did not receive any personal compensation. All compensation that was offered is being given away as prizes.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.


 

 

I’m just a poor blogger and all I ask for is a little love to keep me going. :) So please don’t forget to ENTER my current giveaways for some great prizes! If you like this recipe, please follow me on FACEBOOK or TWITTER. You can also sign-up to receive my recipes and posts by EMAIL or RSS. My recipes are original creations and owned by me unless otherwise noted. Please do not steal or copy my recipes or pictures without my permission. Thanks for visiting Snappy Gourmet!

 

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591 thoughts on “Our Food Supply & Giveaway”

  17. Heather DiLena

    I am a mother of 3 young boys and I worry that by the time they are grown and starting their own families that certain foods will be scarce or very very expensive. Thank you for this info and giveaway. Good luck everyone.

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  37. Mami2jcn

    I shared on Facebook with my username Mary Happymommy–https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=362566850451552&id=100000611160195

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  38. Chelai

    I think our food supply is in danger b/c nothing is ever really healthy. The news always shows something that is not good for this or for that. Unless you are growing EVERYTHING yourself, its dicey.

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  39. Diane

    Thank you for this post!!

    Another great website is http://commongroundnebraska.com/

    I think there are other Common Ground websites for other states; this is from my home state of Nebraska, as you can tell from the address. :-) This website features real moms from real farms telling their story. I also live on a farm with my husband and kids, raising grain and also a few sheep. I see so much misinformation about agriculture sometimes; its unfair to consumers as well as farmers for these misunderstandings to persist. We all want a safe, nutritious food supply, and many farmers, such as myself, are happy to explain what we do and why we do it. We live and raise our families right where we farm – so safety in everything is huge to us and this is true among all of our farm neighbors – whether big or small operations.

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  40. Schmidty

    Uh oh – you’ve hit on one of my buttons when it comes to concerns about foods. My number one concern is the addition of hormones to our meat …but my concerns also include GMO’s, pesticides, the influx of foreign grown foods and the lack of quality control with them. On a side note but related – I abhor federal regulation and interference when it comes to MY choice of what I choose to eat.

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  51. Diane

    http://findourcommonground.com/

    Ok…regarding my prior post on the Common Ground website…I posted one from my state, but here is what I think is the overall national website. As it says on the home page, it features answers to your food questions and helps you feel confident about your food choices. I strongly feel its really good to connect with producers when looking for answers on all of the issues that involve our food.

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  58. Babs

    Wow! There is so much information to be learned on these sites. Definitely “food” for thought. I also really enjoy trying your recipes on the website.

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  59. Beth @ Hungry Happenings

    I really worry about hormones and other chemicals given to our animals. It is so expensive to buy the more natural meat and poultry and I’m conflicted about spending an extra $6-$10 per pound for it. I know it’s better for me, but I can’t quite afford it. I’d like to find affordable food that is healthy.

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  62. Desi

    I always wonder about chemicals added to food and meats, and the whole Starbucks bug fiasco has got me thinking too! I also wonder if the “natural” and healthy foods really are so much better for us. I don’t really take any steps to find out more information and I don’t not eat certain foods based on it, but I do wonder about it often. I’ll check out the site, thanks!

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  69. Jacqui

    I am concerned about the pesticides, hormones, chemicals, etc. being put into our food. It would be great if everything could be healthy, safe and natural.

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  94. Melissa C.

    I worry that we will get way overpopulated, and there won’t be any fresh vegetables, and libraries will be illegal and we will eat Soilent Green type products.

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  118. Christina Tong

    I am concerned about if any hormones and chemicals added to the food and meat and the price that I can afford to pay. Thanks for this giveaway.

    attct[at]aol[dot]com

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  134. Kelly D

    My concern about our food supply is all of the pesticides that are being used both in this country and the countries where our foods are being imported from. I don’t want my family ingesting these chemicals.

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  141. Sara B.

    Honestly, I’m not too concerned about our food supply. Do we need to be wiser? yes, but I’m not worried about it.
    bebemiqui82(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  146. Cynthia C

    I’m concerned about factory farms and mega corporations that control the seed supply as well as the pesticides used on the crops. I try to buy local organic whenever possible.

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  188. Dara Nix

    The one thing that REALLY concerns me about our food supply is that it is SO hard to find out what is being put IN and ON our food!

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  202. Suzanne K

    I’m concerned about all the chemicals used in fertilizer and insecticides, and then all the horrible growth hormones and antibiotics for all of the meat supply – what it’s doing to what we are eating (and us) and our poor planet!

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  204. Shawna

    What concerns me most is the mass ignorance (myself included) about the food supply and all of the possible problems we could be facing in the not too distant future. I need to be more educated on this, and I think that’s true for most people.

    Thanks for the giveaway and the enlightening post!

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  207. Sharon

    I’m concerned about the number of recalls we’ve had on food lately and also how the cost of food has been increasing.

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  214. barbara wright

    I”m really worried about all the additives they add to food. The sodium content in chicken breasts is totally ridiculous! – sometimes over 10 times what it needs to be – and this is in a country that already uses too much salt.

    And if you specifically want to talk about food supply, how about this? Tuna used to come in 9 ounce cans and it kept getting smaller and smaller and now it’s… what… 5 oz? Canned tomatoes – same thing. From 32 ounces to 28 ounces to a little more than 26 ounces. Same with ice cream, baked beans, peanut butter, and cereal. I want to know what is going to happen when all these companies reduce the content of their products SO much that there’s nothing left!

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  225. Michelle H.

    I often worry about the quality of our food supply. How many people are now allergic to basic foods like dairy, peanuts, wheat, etc? So many of my friend’s children have severe food allergies now and there must be some type of correlation between what chemicals we’re using in our foods and the upswing in allergies in children. I try to buy organically grown vegetables whenever possible but it is very expensive; not to mention there seems to be added preservatives in everything I buy.

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  233. amy @ uTryIt

    My concern about our food supply is how the plants/animals are treated to boost their growth. There are too many chemicals and abusive substance used in our food chain that are unnecessary and I’m concern some might just harm our health in the long run!

    amy [at] utry [dot] it

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  256. *°•ƸӜƷ Louis ƸӜƷ•°*

    I like Snappy Gourmet on facebook (Louis H Uffmire)

    Thank you for hosting this giveaway

    Louis
    pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com

    Reply ↓
  257. *°•ƸӜƷ Louis ƸӜƷ•°*

    I like U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance on facebook (Louis H Uffmire)

    pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com

    Reply ↓
  258. *°•ƸӜƷ Louis ƸӜƷ•°*

    following @SnappyGourmet on twitter @left_the_stars

    pumuckler {at} gmail {dot} com

    Reply ↓
  283. wendy

    I’m concerned about our food having additives and items that shouldn’t be in our food. Lots of sugars and fats. I’m afraid that healthy alternatives will be to expensive to buy.

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  295. joni

    My biggest concern is the future of our kids with all the chemicals, preservatives, and growth hormones in our food.
    dolniaks at consolidated dot net

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  304. Amanda Sakovitz

    I’m scared that we will run out of food soon and that some of the foods we are eating are contaminated from all the chemicals used. Thats why I’m in support of farmers and farmers markets which have locally grown food.

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  308. Nancy

    I am concerned that the healthy products farmers and ranchers provide to businesses are sometimes turned into less than healthy over-processed food products. Simple is better!

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  310. Melissa Reyna

    My concerns about our food supply:
    Honestly speaking, I know little to nothing about our food sup;y and/or shortage their of. I do know that with the heat and flooding in the U.S., the food suply is bound to be effected. Unfortunatly, weather is out of our control. The best way to help matters is to do what is in our control.

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  334. Roy F.

    What concerns me is that there seems to be more and more recalls. And when recalls are made, it means a lot of people already got sick. There should be more effort made in enforcing our standards.

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  341. Rosanne Morrison

    My biggest concerns about our food supply is feeding hormones and antibiotics to our animals, not rotating crops and letting the soil get depleted, feeding animals things that are not natural instead of grass, using too many chemicals and pesticides

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  344. patricia skinner

    I have serious concerns about our food supply. From pesticides to hormones, I believe commercialism due to money greed is killing us all slowly by our food supply. I remember when soda had sugar in it instead of corn syrup. Other moves such as that substitute has harmed us all.

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  348. clynsg

    While ‘factory farms’ may make sense in an expedient way, there are way too many instances recently of lousy conditions, poor handling, contamination, etc. The family farm is an endangered breed, and that is a great loss both to our safe food supply and to our culture.

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  356. Kris

    My biggest concerns about our food supply are extensive use of pesticides and herbicides. We consume fruits and some vegetables with the skin and some fruits such as apples have wax coating that seals pesticides.

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  362. tamar

    Our food supply can run out if we don’t treat the earth with respect. I also think about those in third world countries who go hungry and hate it when food goes to waste. :(

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  367. alyce poalillo

    I have so many concerns regarding our food supply. From use of pesticides , farm animal conditions and antibiotic use,climate change effect on supply, irrigation issues, foreign food standards and the lack of oversight on imports, the degradation of food quality and nutritional value and most certainly GMOs. I think in general the American public has no idea where their food comes from and what is in it or not in it. Wake up people, ask questions, go local-you are what you eat.

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  381. Deborah Rosen

    If I were to share all my concerns about our food supply, this post would take you two weeks to read. :( I suppose my biggest concern is that the agency charged by our government to keep our food supply safe is in the pockets of the chemical companies and they accept everything BigChem tells them as the truth…and they don’t require disclosures on consumer packaging.

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  388. Lisa

    My biggest concern about our food supply is an over-reliance on heavily processed foods. There’s a surplus of ingredients that need to get used up somewhere, plus a demand (or something?) for artificially cheap food that makes the average American diet unhealthy at best (and dangerous at worst).

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  411. JehanP

    I’ve been concerned about our food especially with the pink slime outbreak. It just seems as though they somehow find a way to contaminate everything that we eat.

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  429. april yedinak

    My major concern about the food supply is contamination from toxins like pesticides.
    ayed2016(at)aol(dot)com

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  444. Judy B.

    My concerns are mostly related to mass production techniques. I have done some reading on my own about sustainable organic farming and know there are some really dedicated farmers and ranchers out there that are hands on in developing safer and healthy food. There are many farms out there (often family run) that also offer internships to those studying agriculture and trying all kinds of ways to improve quality production. It was interesting to see how many are based on different philosophical foundations. I also have concerns about how some of the commercial farms and ranches are only guided by the bottom line and don’t care about the animals in the ways that they should.

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  447. Gaye M

    I’m seriously concerned about the power agri-business has regarding our nation’s (and the world’s) food supply. Shop your Farmers Market and buy local whenever possible!

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  458. Debbie C

    I am concerned about cattle being given antibiotics. Some people are allergic to some antibiotics and I wonder if they could have a reaction from eating meats from those cattle.

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  460. Sarah

    This would be very helpful! Ever since I heard about “pink slime,” I’ve been even more concerned with where my food comes from and what I’m feeding my family. It’s scary to think that they didn’t have to disclose that info at first; makes you wonder what else isn’t being told to you.

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  462. Sarah

    I’m now following Snappy Gourmet on Facebook. I’m going to use that evaporated milk as a substitute idea; genius.

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  463. Sarah

    I’m also following Snappy Gourmet on Pinterest; I think you might be hazardous to my health, lol. What I originally saw was the poppable strawberry shortcake recipe; who doesn’t love poprocks?! I’m going to be surprising my family with those tonight.

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  465. Sarah

    As for twitter, I am following Snappy Gourmet; I tried the link for USFRA and it didn’t work, will have to go back and search for them. I don’t frequent Twitter as often as I did since the birth of DD in January…lol.

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  466. Sarah

    Oh! I’m also now an email subscriber. Like I said, I think you may be hazardous to my health; I’m so excited that I found you!

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  468. Stacy

    As a vegan, my concerns are primarily about the consumption of animals and animal products. I am also concerned about the environmental impact of commercial farming.

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  477. carol s.

    I am also quite concerned about our food supply.Genetically altered food-ugh! Hormones-ugh! and so much more. One of my biggest gripes is meat at the grocery store-steaks that can last over 2 months because they are gassed and vacuum sealed-not on my table!

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  515. meme

    I worry about all the bad things like chemicals and pestisides that are being put on all the food that is supposed to be good for you like fresh fruit and veggies

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  520. Lisa Broaddus

    I follow Snappy Gourmet and USFRA on facebook. I also follow Snappy Gourmet on Pinterest. I would love so much to win this prize :)

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  524. Cheryl N.

    I now follow USFRA on Facebook. I’m interested in reading what they have to say about our food sources, etc.

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  526. Cheryl N.

    I think that we need to educate ourselves about what we eat and where it comes from. We can’t completely trust the grocers and their suppliers to do the right thing. The more I read the more I see how important it is to really take a look at what we put in our bodies. It can get so confusing though. Natural, organic, cage-free, hormone-free, free-range, grain fed, on and on and on. As they say, knowledge is power but it also brings more responsibility. I just try to make little changes and go from there. Healthier food is much more expensive too. I bought a book called “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth” Great book and has so much valuable info.

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  537. Jacca Anderson

    Im very concerned that these large companys/groups controll to much of our food supply and votes/laws in Washington,also worried about whats in our food supply.

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  561. Reni Valentine

    My biggest concern for our dwindling food supply is the measures that are being taken to extend it. Rather than putting more resources into finding sustainable and renewable options, science is taking the forefront by means of genetic engineering. I liked being a child, not starting puberty in elementary school. I liked the days of intermittent food recalls. The only designers I want are the ones I carry, not the ones I eat.

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  568. Kathleen Conner

    I concerned because I don’t believe there’s nutritional value in conventional foods, and people are deficient in vits and mins.

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  573. Tonya Dean

    I worry about the pesticides that are on our food and what they have done to us by eating them all these years.

    tdlsfm(at)gmail(dot)com

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  582. Michelle Spayde

    I’m definitely bookmarking this for when I’m not so tired. Of course I have all of the usual concerns about our food supply, but it’ s truly difficult to know where to begin in voicing those concerns. I truly wish that I could be self sufficient, but unfortunately I do not have a green thumb!

    Reply ↓

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