Insect Butter

This morning, as I waited for my coffee, I found a nice little news blurb about insect butter. Butter made out of insects and they expect us to eat that? That sounds totally disgusting, gross, horrible. What on earth are they trying to make us eat now? What is wrong with delicious butter made from cow cream or goat cream? I am so sick of scientists and governments trying to reinvent the wheel with their fake meats and now butter made out of bugs!

Insect Butter - 3/18-3/24/24

I prefer real butter made from cream, don't you? Margarine is made from water and vegetable oil. I ate it growing up but now I just use real butter.

Monday, March 18, 2024

Good Monday morning! It is chilly at 58° Fahrenheit and very windy outside. The rain has stopped and the deck is drying. It is hard to believe that the weekend is once again over and it is time to work. I am still trying to figure out why it is already 7am. I have been up for 90 minutes now and the coffee is not working. I'd better have another cup!

Our pecan flavored coffees are on sale this week through Thursday. Get $2.95 off each bag with code COFFEE2 at checkout.

The day was filled with orders. One of our helpers called in so we did not come anywhere near close to finishing the weekend orders.

It stayed gloomy and cool all day long. We drove over to a nearby T-shirt shop to see if they could make T-shirts for us to sell. They want $18 to $24 per shirt so there is no way we could sell them for $25 and make a profit. We thought someplace local would be good. You know, support local and all? Hah! They don't make their shirts there. They send them out to be made so that is out. I will keep looking online.

The whole day went by and we did not see a single customer at our Farm Store. I guess everyone is broke after spring break.

Back to work and we kept working until evening. We went in for a quick dinner of noodles and turkey with Alfredo sauce and mushrooms with sauteed garden fresh asparagus. We watched Gordon Ramsay and then I prepared for all of the people who will be coming tomorrow.

Insect Butter

I prefer insects dead and not in my food.

Apparently, insect butter has been a thing since 2020 but I just heard about it. I was minding my own business, scrolling on Facebook, when I saw a link to an article talking about insect butter. Yuck! Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium have been trying to figure out a butter substitute made out of insect larvae for us to enjoy. Isn't that thoughtful?

The scientists soak the larvae of the Black Soldier Fly in some water. Then they put it in a blender. This makes some lovely gray colored stuff. Then they put the gray stuff in a centrifuge that separates the bug butter from the bug body parts and, voila, delicious gray insect butter for us all to enjoy. A centrifuge spins something so hard that it causes the parts to separate. Below is a video about it for us to watch:

It reminds me of the old "I can't believe it's not butter" commercial. If you are old enough, you remember this commercial about margarine. Just so you get the joke, here is the commercial.

By the way, the insect butter is for real. It is not a joke.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

I woke up freezing at 2:30am and I asked Alexa what the temperature was. She said 47°. No wonder I was so cold. I pulled my comforter up and it felt so good. I had no idea the temperature would get down so low in the middle of March. That is just nuts.

Here is an abundant spring raised bed garden. In this serene setting, you can see wooden raised beds filled with a variety of flourishing vegetables and flowers. The plants are displaying vibrant hues of greens, reds, yellows, and purples, signifying the peak of springtime's bloom. Within the garden, a pair of gardening gloves and a trowel can be seen, depicting the tender care provided to the plants. In the background, a wooden fence stands tall, providing a sense of privacy and tranquility. Patches of rich, moist soil can be seen, awaiting the planting of new seeds. The overall atmosphere is peaceful, full of life, and encourages one to pause and appreciate the beauty of nature.

We are getting a lot of eggs each day. I wash them before selling them per our county rules.

To top it off, today is the first day of spring and it is cold.

This morning, Matt came here at 7am and brought breakfast tacos. We have to start work early because we had a missing person yesterday.

Today, the pest control guy comes to spray the business and the house. The housekeeper is coming. Nacho and his crew is coming. A mobile pet groomer is coming for the first time to take care of Ethel and the cat. Our friends from San Antonio are coming for lunch so we will be taking them out to eat then. Meanwhile, we have a business to run, a store to open, and orders to fill.

It will be a busy day for sure.

Nacho is spraying something all around. You can see the mobile pet grooming unit in this photo as well.

Nacho is parked in front of the house blocking the driveway. We had a team meeting with eight of us. Then the mobile pet unit got here and had to park in the entry driveway because Nacho is in front of the house. Of course, when Michelle gets here, she will have to use the parking lot and carry her stuff to the house. We always have so many here at once. Not sure how it always works that way.

You can see the truck and mobile pet groomer trailer as well as our new land, all green and pretty.

Here is the info if you would like to use them. There is a deep tub and a table in there. I went in to take her proof of vaccinations.

The lady in the mobile pet unit groomed Ethel and it cost a whopping $115.00! She couldn't do anything with Kitty at all. Kitty is very temperamental for a 14 year old cat. I ordered her a new collar today from Amazon because the old one is jammed. She will like that. Ethel looks very cute.

Encino Pest Control came and sprayed. Right after, Michelle came to clean the house. Our friends from San Antonio came out around 11:30am and we drove into Pleasanton and had some great Mexican food. Then it was back to the farm to work on orders.

We ended up having just two sets of customers today which is a big upgrade from yesterday with zero. I think people are tapped out from spending all of their money last week on spring break plus Easter is in less than two weeks and that is an expensive holiday with Easter baskets and new clothes. It is funny how everyone wanted plants and seeds during the winter months of January and February but now that spring is actually here, people are not coming out much.

David had the team pick three baskets of asparagus. They picked stems, ferns, and all, much of it inedible. It took me a long time to sort out just one basket. They actually pulled a few up by the roots which means those plants will never grow back. I am not happy about it. They were told to cut the stems, not to pull them up by the roots. When we moved here, I spent many hours on a Saturday morning on my hands and knees planting these and now they are destroyed. Why?

Look what one of our employees did! I try to be nice to them and they killed my asparagus.

Look what one of our employees did! Who would pull asparagus up by the roots? They killed this plant and several others.

I am exhausted and we have two tiring appointments tomorrow. I dread them both.

Insect Butter

Imagine a unique type of butter, which is made from soldier fly larvae, commonly known as insect butter. Try to picture this unusual and intriguing concoction in a well-crafted butter dish. The insect butter should have a smooth and creamy texture, providing a fascinating spin to regular dairy butter. Visualize the fly larvae's distinctive traits subtly peeking through the yellowish hue of the mixture. Accompany this delicacy with a butter spreader rested next to the dish. Think about the interesting fusion of culinary creativity and sustainable food sources. To me, this is gross. Ain't no way I will ever choose to eat this. How about you?

So researchers took the gray insect butter plain, mixed with 3/4 of real butter, and mixed with half butter so consumers could taste it on waffles. The New York Post reports that tasters could not tell the difference. Then they baked a cake with it and they report people liked it. How about telling folks what they are about to try and seeing if they will try it? If I had a choice, I would not take any of the three versions of fake butter.

In the above-referenced article, they quote researcher Daylan Tzompa-Sosa. “The ecological footprint of an insect is much smaller compared to animal-based food sources. Besides, we can grow insects in large quantities in Europe, which also reduces the footprint of transport. After all, palm fat is often imported from outside of Europe.”

But palm fat comes from a tropical tree. Insect butter comes from fly larvae. Butter is made from cream and it is delicious. Bug butter is made from bugs. Are there not enough cows in the world to make us all butter? Who comes up with all of these horrible ideas? Who would want to eat a spread made from a black soldier fly?

Would you eat insect butter?

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

The blue in this field is a display of Texas bluebonnets. They are beautiful this spring. The white flowers are bull nettle, not a nice plant.

Good morning. It is cold. We left at 9am. We went to the accountant to finalize our taxes but he lost a folder with important papers in it. We were there for an hour and he could not find it so we do not know what we need to pay. He filed an extension for us because our taxes were due five days ago. Yet, he was still not ready.

Then we moved on to a lunch appointment with our life insurance agent. He wants to get us to sign up for small policies that will cost over $100 a month each plus long term care that will pay out for just one year if we have to go to a nursing home. Those are very expensive policies, definitely not good deals. We declined and then had to drive across the city to pick up a sign for an Easter sunrise service. We finally got home close to 4pm and went to work on orders.

We worked late but did not get much done. Then we had roast and veggies that I made in the Instant Pot.

Insect Butter

A unique concept of butter made from soldier fly larvae, often referred to as insect butter. The substance boasts a creamy texture and characteristic hue, perhaps slightly paler than traditional butter. In the image, the distinctive insect butter is presented on a plate next to a cutting knife and some soldier fly larvae. The butter could potentially bear a few characteristic spots or streaks, indicative of its origin.

The same scientists who created this bug spread say that it is healthy because it is more digestible than butter. I have never had a problem digesting butter. There is no way I could digest this insect butter because I would throw it up long before it was time to digest if I knew what it was before I put it in my mouth. How about you?

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Good morning. I got up before 6am today to get ready for my bloodwork appointment. As I was getting ready, I heard a loud sound that I thought was David dragging something across the front deck. It was actually a very loud and long thunderclap...It then began to pour. It rained hard, so hard for about 15 minutes. Ethel had to go out. As it let up a bit, Ethel did her thing. Then it came down harder. It finally stopped and we left to go into Pleasanton for my fasting blood draw.

I am glad that is over. I was starving. David got me breakfast while I was in Quest. Now we are back and David and Matt left to get early morning father/son makeovers...

I need to go to work and get orders out.

We finally caught up on orders today. Because of the rain, our teen helper put seed packs together. Then Nacho and his son were here and they spent much of the day putting seed packs together as well so that was a big help.

We had no customers at all in the Farm Store today. I think it is because of spring break and Easter. Both can be quite expensive and with today's grocery, utility, and gas prices, there is no extra money for most people to play with. Of course, the importance of growing your own food cannot be overlooked, especially in light of all of the packaged foods with bioengineered ingredients in them.

Insect Butter

So what exactly is larvae? Maggots. Yes, they want you to eat maggots on your toast, in your cake. Doesn't that sound appetizing?

They say that maggots are a much more sustainable way to go because maggots don't eat a lot of grass like cows do. Bugs are much cheaper to feed and you can contain them in a small space instead of huge fields of grass like cows require.

Insects are very popular in Europe. They say the insects provide high levels of protein and all sorts of vitamins and fiber. Of course, you would have to consume a whole lot of them compared to a steak or some creamy real butter.

Friday, March 22, 2024

David at Salt Grass. Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to our Founder and CEO, not to mention my husband, David!

It is foggy out and 56°. Matt will be late because he is picking up a cake for David. He tried to pick it up last night but they said it would not be ready until 8am this morning.

We went into Jourdanton to the DPS office to renew David's driver's license. More than a month ago, I went online to make him an appointment and the first one available was for today so I grabbed it. If it had been later, David would have had to take a test. That is ridiculous. He tried to renew it online but that was a no go. Now, after covid, you have to make appointments to do everything. The place was packed with people so I am not sure what the appointment nonsense was about. It is just a huge inconvenience to everyone.

We then went grocery shopping and grabbed some lunch because I was starving. We got back to the farm and discovered there had been a lot of customers including two different cars that pulled in right in front of us.

It is actually hot outside now, 82°. I just read the shocking news that Princess Catherine has cancer. How tragic.

We got David a chocolate fudge cake and it was pretty tasty.

After everyone left, I had Matt go out to the gate timer with me. I cannot figure it out but Matt set it properly. After the time change, the electric gate was staying open until almost 7pm and we close at 5pm from Monday through Friday. Now we have it opening at 8:30am and closing it at 5pm.

On Saturdays, it was opening at 7:30am and closing at 3pm. Our Farm Store opens on Saturdays at 10am and closes at 2pm. Now the gate opens at 10am and closes at 2pm, hopefully. At least that is what we think we set it to this evening. We will find out tomorrow.

We roasted a chicken for dinner and watched Shark Tank. We have begun watching Star Trek: The Next Generation earlier this week so we watched that after Shark Tank. I fell asleep and woke up at 9pm. I went to the kitchen to do the dishes and to let the dogs out for the night.

Insect Butter

Imagine a container filled with a unique substance called insect butter, which is a palatable product made from soldier fly larvae. It has the same consistency and creaminess as regular butter. In the background, we see live soldier fly larvae, their off-white color contrasting with the yellowish butter.

When we lived in Arkansas during the 1990s, there were huge chicken farms and chicken processing plants all over. We drove through in December of 2023 and they were all closed up. Why? It seems they closed down and bought cattle instead. No kidding. It sort of looked like we were in Texas with all of the cows we saw. So I did a Google search and I found the article below.

Here is a link to Tyson's announcement that they have bought into a company in the Netherlands that produces insect foods. Tyson plans to feed animal waste to black soldier flies, (yes, the same ones that the insect butter is made from) and then turn those flies into feed for our pets, chickens, and fish. How about that? It is a way to get Americans used to the idea of eating bugs. Of course, if it is good enough for our animals, won't it be good for us?

Here is another article about Tyson.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Good morning. It is 51° and dark. I woke up hungry. David is still sleeping. I fed the dogs after taking them out as well as Kitty. Once it is light, I will have to go outside and feed the fish, chickens, and rabbits. We still have no baby bunnies, yet it has been over a month since three of them were bred with the new male rabbit. Not sure what is going on there.

I need to clean the fish pond out today. We have been so busy doing things away from the farm every day that I never had time to clean it this week. It is also full of leaves from that stupid oak tree on the property next door, right by the fence line. Every single day, it drops leaves into the pond. I wish we had placed the pond elsewhere.

Someone just called David's phone and woke him up. It was no one we know but he constantly gets phone calls looking for other seed companies. This happens all day long. But what seed company is open on a Saturday morning while it is still dark out? That is why I turn my phone off at night. They also call at 10pm and sometimes later. Please tell me what seed companies stay open that late. None.

I made poached eggs in the egg cooker that I bought David for his birthday yesterday. He always wants boiled eggs that peel easily so I hope it works.

It is supposed to get up to 75° today with no rain so we should have a lot of customers except for the fact that is a week before Easter and spring break just finished. I think people will be Easter shopping for clothes, toys, and candy today instead of seeds and plants. We will have to wait and see.

I have 16 dozen beautiful eggs in the Farm Store fridge at $4 a dozen and I hope I can sell those today.

As I was getting rabbit food from the feed shed, I heard "hello". I looked out and it was Matt. David called him to do some work but I did not know. He helped me by taking care of the chickens.

It is so hard to get the gate time correct. By 9:35am, the gate was open so I am not sure when it opened. It wasn't supposed to open until 10am. It closed at 1:53pm but wasn't supposed to close until 2pm. Right after it closed, I looked up and saw the mailman outside the gate. I rushed out and flagged him down. He came in and got our mail. I thanked him and then he left.

We ended up having four sets of customers which is not very many considering how much running our TV ad is costing us. None of the sales were big. All were around $8 to $30. I am sure that most are out shopping for Easter. I sold just one dozen eggs, two plants, some seeds, and two pounds of our pecan coffee.

I am going in now to do some laundry. Later, we will have to take care of all of the animals again. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday. I hope you will find a church to attend as we look forward to Holy Week and think about all that the Lord Jesus Christ did for us so long ago.

Farm Store Hours Next Weekend

This spring, we have spectacular wildflowers. They are the best since we moved to the country.

We close most years for Good Friday. When we do not, no one comes to shop so we will be closed next Friday and Saturday, March 29 and 30. We will be open Monday through Thursday and then we will reopen on Monday, April 1. No, this is not an early April Fools joke.

At 4:30pm, we went into Pleasanton to the Atascosa Garden Market for some spreadable corn meal called Prevent. Then we picked up some food at Golden Chick for tonight.

This evening, we watched Svengoolie. The movie was Bram Stoker's Dracula with Jack Palance, made in 1974. It was pretty good.

Insect Butter

Some years ago, our neighbors invited us to a Halloween party and they served insect candy. No joke. I did not try it. There are also cicada tacos, cicada ice cream, insect sushi, chocolate covered ants and more in the USA. How about sauteed grasshoppers? No kidding. You can go into some fancy restaurants and order this stuff. Not me.

Some of you will tell me this is not true, like when I wrote the article about bioengineered foods so here is a link to an article you can read about getting bugs to eat and paying for the privilege.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

This is a paintbrush flower. Isn't it gorgeous?

I slept late. Not a problem except that I have to take my thyroid pill and then wait for 30 minutes before I can have coffee or anything. I was hungry but waited. I took the dogs out and then fed them. Now I have to go out to feed the fish, chickens, and rabbits. Then we have to get ready for church. It is 58° out now and a bit hazy.

We went to church and had a guest speaker again. He had a good sermon.

Insect Butter

I am an American. The idea of eating insect butter or any kind of insect is repulsive to me. I understand it is no big deal to Europeans. I prefer that my butter be made from animal cream, not bug parts, thank you very much. Environmentalists think eating insects is going to help the earth. They want to get rid of cows because cows fart and that is bad for the earth. That is ridiculous. All animals and all people pass gas. What is wrong with people?

Back in the late 1960s and 1970s, the powers that be normalized eating margarine instead of butter. It was easy to spread compared to butter unless the butter was allowed to soften. Many Americans were convinced to buy it because it was supposed to be more healthy than butter. My parents bought it because it was cheaper than butter and we did not have much money. Now that I can afford it, I buy real butter. It is delicious.

Interestingly, margarine was first manufactured back in the 1800s. It was discovered by a French scientist in 1813. By World War I, it was being pushed here in the United States. I had no idea. It is white so manufacturers dye it to make it look more like butter instead of lard. Even this is better than eating butter made out of bugs, right? Butter made from dairy cream is best. You can't change my mind!

Return from Self Sowing to Year Five On The Farm

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