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Mike Howell (00:08):
The Dirt with me Mike Howell, an eKonomics podcast where I present the down-and-dirty agronomic science to help grow crops and bottom lines. Inspired by eKonomics.com, farming’s go-to informational resource. I’m here to break down the latest crop nutrition research, news, and issues, helping farmers make better business decisions through actionable insights. Let’s dig in.
(00:38):
Well, hello again everyone. Glad you’re tuning into our program today. This is our 74th episode of The Dirt and we are completing our second season. Hard to believe that we’ve been at this for two seasons now. But here on The Dirt, we strive to bring you research-based scientific information to help increase farm revenue while promoting conservation and sustainability. We also try to have a little fun while we’re doing this. We do some special episodes such as the NASCAR race we did at Indianapolis and the Calgary Stampede Rodeo. Now, this episode will be our last for season two, but we’re already making plans for season three. We’ll have more guests bringing you the latest research information. We’ll have more special events, and we even have a new segment that we’re going to be adding to the show next year that I’m really excited about. Season three is going to begin March the fifth, but in the meantime, you can always go back and catch up on any episodes you may have missed. But we still need to get this episode finished up before we can move on.
(01:34):
Now, I really struggled with what to do for this episode. Last year we did a Thanksgiving episode where we brought the Nutrien agronomy team on and we talked about Thanksgiving and what it meant to each of us, some of the foods we ate, and how that differed in various parts of the country. And we really enjoyed doing that, thought that was a really good episode and I didn’t know how to move forward with that episode and do another Thanksgiving episode, but one thing we all agreed on after that episode was that Thanksgiving was about spending time with family and friends. So after talking with some of the people that helped me put this show together, we decided to bring in some of the family and talk about Thanksgiving again this week.
(02:10):
Now, I’m a little nervous about doing this. When I introduce my guest, you’ll probably understand why I’m nervous. And to tell you the truth, they’re probably about as nervous as I am. So with that, let’s go ahead and get this kicked off. Our first guest that I’m going to introduce today is my oldest son, Heath Howell. Heath, if you will, introduce yourself to our listeners and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Heath Howell (02:30):
Well, first I’d like to say thanks for having me on the show. My name is Heath Howell and I’m a freshman at Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Mississippi. I’m about to finish my first semester and my major is integrated crop management.
Mike Howell (02:42):
Now, Heath probably doesn’t know this, but he was actually the inspiration for the segments we did at the end of the programs in season one where we talked about the tailgating at the football games. Heath was playing football last year. He loves to eat. He was always hungry after the games and that just made the perfect fit. We were able to cook at the ball games and enjoy that food after the ball game was over. Heath, what was your favorite tailgate meal we did last year?
Heath Howell (03:06):
He did some chili one time. That chili is always good.
Mike Howell (03:09):
Yeah, the chili was pretty good. Next, I want to introduce my second son. That’s Evan. Evan, welcome to the show, and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Evan Howell (03:18):
Thanks for having me. I’m Evan Howell, a senior at Poplarville.
Mike Howell (03:23):
Guys, thanks for being part of the program today. Now, listeners, if you have been listening for very long, you’ve heard me talk about Evan a little bit as well. Evan’s the one that messed his ankle up playing basketball this summer. We ended up going to the doctor several times, but during that experience, the doctor is the one that actually gave me the idea for one of our most popular episodes where we talked about regenerative agriculture. If you missed that episode, I really encourage you to go back and listen to it. It was one of the best that we’ve done.
(03:49):
So today I thought we would spend a few minutes talking about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it, some of the foods we enjoy, and some other things that take place during the holiday. Also, I want to talk a little bit about the impact Thanksgiving has on the agriculture economy. Evan, if you will, tell us a little bit about Thanksgiving. I know you’re a senior in high school and you’ve probably had US history. Let’s see if you’re going to be able to graduate this year, if you know enough about Thanksgiving to talk about it a little bit.
Evan Howell (04:15):
In 1620, the Mayflower Pilgrims and the voyage that changed our lives. Some 100 passengers set sail on the Mayflower in 1620 to start a life in the New World. They landed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and settled the first colony in New England shaping the future of the American colonies.
Mike Howell (04:31):
Evan, that’s exactly right. The Pilgrim set sail in September of 1620 on the Mayflower, there were about 102 of them all together. Some of them were separatists, they were separating from the Church of England and others were just looking for prosperity in the New World. They had a treacherous and uncomfortable crossing. It took them 66 days to get across the ocean to America. They landed at Cape Cod. That’s not where they intended to land. They were trying to get to the mouth of the Hudson River, but about a month later, the Mayflower actually crossed Massachusetts Bay where the Pilgrims, as they were known, began establishing a village there at Plymouth. Now, throughout that first winter, things were really tough. Most of them remained on the ship. They suffered from exposure to the elements. They had scurvy and outbreaks of contagious diseases. Only half of the Mayflower’s original crew lived to see their first New England spring.
(05:21):
In March, the remaining settlers moved onshore where they received a visit from a member of a Native American tribe who actually spoke to them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American named Squanto. Squanto had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before he escaped to London and was able to return to the homeland. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, and they were weakened by malnutrition and illness, but he taught them how to cultivate the corn, extract sap from maple trees, how to catch fish in the rivers, and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag tribe, which endured for more than 50 years and remains one of the sole examples of harmony between the European colonist and the Native Americans. Heath, we know the Pilgrims had a meal to celebrate Thanksgiving later in the fall that year, any idea what may have been on the menu that day?
Heath Howell (06:13):
I would think corn, they was growing corn or maybe a turkey. They kill some wild turkeys with some bows and arrows and maybe potatoes, some bread.
Mike Howell (06:24):
Well, that’s some good guesses. I will tell you that you’re kind of wrong on some of those. We know they didn’t have bread because they didn’t have ovens at the time, so they weren’t able to bake the bread. We don’t know exactly what they did have, but from the notes in history that we are able to determine, it was very unlikely that they even had a turkey. Most of the meat that they had for that meal was lobster. They ate some seal and they had some swans. I found that hard to believe, and that’s not anything that we want to put on our table today I don’t think. The vegetables you name the corn and the potatoes, that probably is something that they had to eat in that first Thanksgiving.
(07:01):
The first Thanksgiving was in November of 1621 after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved to be successful. The Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited a group of the fledgling colony’s Native American allies. This included the Wampanoag Chief Massasoit. This is now remembered as America’s first Thanksgiving. And although the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term at the time, the festival lasted for three years. While no record exists of the first Thanksgiving’s exact menu, much of what we know about what happened at the first Thanksgiving comes from Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow. He wrote that historians have suggested many of the dishes were likely prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. Because the Pilgrims didn’t have an oven and the Mayflower sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal probably didn’t have any pies or cakes or other desserts which have become customary in our current Thanksgiving celebrations. So guys, have y’all ever thought about how Thanksgiving became an official holiday? Who set it up to be a holiday on the fourth Thursday of November?
Heath Howell (08:07):
I thought it was George Washington.
Evan Howell (08:09):
Didn’t Abraham Lincoln do that?
Mike Howell (08:11):
I guess technically you’re both right. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of Thanksgiving every year, and in 1789, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States. In that declaration, he called for Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the US Constitution. John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies. Now, in 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt the annual Thanksgiving holiday. Each of these states celebrated it on a different day, however, and the American South usually did not participate in this tradition. In 1827, a noted magazine editor and prolific writer named Sarah Hale, she was also the author of countless other things, including the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb, she launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
(09:10):
For 36 years, she published numerous editorials, sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents, and other politicians earning her the nickname the Mother of Thanksgiving. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863 at the height of the Civil War in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in this civil strife and to heal the wounds of the nation. Abraham Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that year every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up one week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan was also known as Franksgiving, was met with passionate opposition, and in 1941 he reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November where it still stands today.
(10:10):
So let’s get into a little bit of agronomy. Earlier we talked about Squanto, a Native American that helped the Pilgrims. One of the things he taught them was how to grow food. He taught them how to fertilize the crops with fish and the concept of the Three Sisters garden. Now, the Three Sisters weren’t three females with the same parents, but this referred to the planting of three companion crops in the garden. The Native Americans had been planting corn, beans, and squash in the same garden interplanted amongst each other, and they learned that this was beneficial to each of the crops. The beans were planted next to the corn, and as they grew, the corn served as a trellis for the vines to grow up, while the squash or pumpkins that they planted were able to shade the soil and served as a mulch. Now, these three crops when eaten together also provided a balanced nutritious meal and had many of the same benefits that we recognize today from crop rotation.
(11:01):
Thanksgiving began largely as a religious holiday. However, much of that has been lost over the years. More often today, people tend to think about it as a time of sharing food with family and friends. Now, I have to admit, I really enjoy that part of Thanksgiving as well. We’ve already mentioned that in the first Thanksgiving feast, there was probably no turkey on the table, but today nearly 90% of Americans have turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Now, there’s several different ways you can prepare this turkey, and they vary greatly as well. It can be smoked. I like to use a good pecan wood when I’m smoking a turkey. You can bake it. And don’t forget the butter. When I bake a turkey, I use a minimum of a pound of real butter to bake that turkey, and you can’t put too much butter on it. If you put enough butter, you’ll never end up with a dry turkey.
(11:45):
And another way to prepare that turkey is to deep-fry. Now, I want to caution everybody to be careful. If you’re going to try this method, make sure you know what you’re doing because every year we see something on the news about an accident that happened frying a turkey. But if you’re going to fry that turkey, I like to put some Cajun seasoning on that, gives that turkey a little bit of a kick, and the list just keeps going on and on. Now, I’ve cooked turkey all three of these different methods over the years, and sometimes we’ll even cook two turkeys a different way, and everybody seems to have their own favorite. Heath, what’s your favorite way to cook a turkey?
Heath Howell (12:17):
I like deep-fried. It’s always juicy and the flavor is just there.
Mike Howell (12:21):
I like that deep-fried turkey as well. And turkey is just going to be a small part of our meal that we’re going to have on Thursday. We’re going to have some ham too. We’ll have lots of vegetables like cream corn, green beans, English peas, and a broccoli casserole. There’s going to be sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dressing. No, we don’t do stuffing, we eat dressing, good old-fashioned cornbread dressing. And of course, we’re going to have a lot of rolls and all types of desserts. Evan, what’s your favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving?
Evan Howell (12:49):
My favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving is the English peas. I love to eat English peas and I also like to eat turkey and gravy.
Mike Howell (12:56):
All right, Heath, what about you?
Heath Howell (12:58):
I like all of it, but one thing that sticks out to me is my Nana’s dressings. It’s so good.
Mike Howell (13:03):
It’s hard to beat that dressing. I got to agree with you on that one son. That dressing is so good. It’s hard to only think about having it at Thanksgiving. Maybe we ought to be more thankful during the year and celebrate once a month so we can have dressing more often. But no matter what’s on your Thanksgiving menu this year, don’t forget the role that agriculture and farmers played into making sure that you continue to have the highest quality, safest food anywhere. Our farmers work year-round to provide this to us. And I wanted to take just a few minutes to give you a few statistics about some of the food we’ll be eating this week. The US ranks number one in global turkey production, ranks number five in global potato production, ranks number one in global cranberry production, number one in global pecan production, and number five in global pumpkin production.
(13:50):
Here in the US on Thanksgiving, people will consume about 46 million turkeys or about 365 million pounds. We’ll consume about 80 million pounds of cranberries, 214 million pounds of potatoes, 57 million pounds of sweet potatoes, 483,000 pounds of pumpkin, and 77 million pounds of ham and over 40 million rolls will be consumed that day. Americans spend about $4.3 million each year on Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving. Now, don’t worry boys, most of the vegetables that we’re going to be eating are coming out of the garden and Brussels sprouts just don’t grow very well down here in the South.
Heath Howell (14:30):
That’s no problem with me, sweet corn is better than Brussels sprouts any day.
Mike Howell (14:33):
Now, most of the vegetables we eat, as I mentioned, are going to be coming out of the garden, but last Thanksgiving, Americans spent $137 million on frozen vegetables. Speaking of the vegetables, I said earlier that Americans will buy 483,000 pounds of pumpkins for Thanksgiving. Evan is pumpkin a vegetable or a fruit?
Evan Howell (14:52):
Pumpkins are fruits because it comes from the part of the plant and makes seeds. Vegetables are plants that we eat the parts that don’t make the seed.
Mike Howell (15:00):
Evan, that’s exactly right, but a lot of people still get fruits and vegetables mixed up. And depending on which source you look at, some of these foods will go into either category. Now, Heath told us that his favorite food at Thanksgiving was dressing, but I couldn’t find any statistics on that one. I did find that Americans will spend $96 million on stuffing each year. Finally, Americans spend $112 million on spices and seasonings, 97 million on packaged mixes for breads, cakes, and cookies, and 50 million for pre-made pie fillings. With all this food, the next stat shouldn’t be that surprising to you. Americans also consume an average of 1500 to 2000 extra calories on Thanksgiving Day. Now, we’ve talked about the history of Thanksgiving, we’ve talked a lot about the foods that we’ll be eating, let’s spend a few minutes talking about some of the other traditions that we enjoy as part of this holiday. Heath, tell us a little bit about what you enjoy about Thanksgiving.
Heath Howell (15:57):
Well, this is going to be my first real Thanksgiving I can sit down. Usually, I’ve been having football practice on it because we’ve been practicing and we always go to state championship. But I like to spend time with family and watch Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State, and Mississippi State beating Ole Miss. It’s never a good Thanksgiving when Ole Miss wins and always Nana’s dressings. We never want to forget that.
Mike Howell (16:19):
Heath, that’s exactly right. We’ll be so full we can’t move that Thanksgiving night and we really hope that Mississippi State can pull it out and beat Ole Miss again this year. Evan, what about you? What do you enjoy most about Thanksgiving?
Evan Howell (16:30):
I really enjoy the Thanksgiving break, getting out of school, getting a little hunting done, getting to start the basketball season, all that good stuff.
Mike Howell (16:39):
Okay, sounds like you’re not going to be bored for anything to do during Thanksgiving, that’s for sure. Guys, thanks for being on the show today. I really enjoyed it. Before we go, is there anything else you want to say today?
Evan Howell (16:49):
Happy Thanksgiving.
Heath Howell (16:51):
Happy Thanksgiving y’all, and Nana, don’t forget to bring the dressing.
Mike Howell (16:55):
I sure hope she doesn’t forget to bring the dressing. Listeners, as you know, it’s time now that we talk about somebody famous in agriculture. Today I wanted to talk about the most important person in agriculture. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do every day. It would be meaningless. Farmers work all year to produce the food that we all need. That may be grains or it may be fruits or vegetables or livestock, but it’s all a part of our food supply. This year, when you start thinking about what you’re thankful for, don’t forget about the farmers who worked and sweated all year so that we can have all this food that we’re going to be consuming on Thursday. Now, while preparing for this episode, I remembered a poem that I’d heard several years ago and thought it would be appropriate to read it now. It was written by Paul Harvey, an American journalist who was popular in the 1970s through the 1990s. He’s probably most famous for his daily news reports and his evening report entitled The Rest of the Story.
(17:50):
He first delivered this particular message at the 1978 National FFA meeting. Paul told those attending the meeting, “God said, ‘I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.’ So God made a farmer. God said, ‘I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt and watch it die and dry his eyes and say, maybe next year. I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out of haywire, feed sacks, and shoe scraps. Who, planting time and harvest season will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon, then painting from tractor back, put in another 72 hours.’ So God made a farmer.
(18:39):
“God said, ‘I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a metal lark.’ So God made a farmer. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners, somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk. Somebody who’d bale family together with soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh, then sigh, then reply with smiling eyes when his son says that he wants to spend his life doing what Dad does. So God made a farmer.”
(19:22):
I personally want to thank all the farmers that are listening today for what you do every year. For those listening that aren’t farmers, pick up your phone and call or text a farmer on Thanksgiving just to let them know that you appreciate them. I want to remind everybody once again that this is our last episode for a while. We’ll be back with new episodes in March, but until then, catch up on any episodes you may have missed along the way or listen to an episode again just to refresh your memory. Finally, I want to thank all the guests that we’ve had on the show this year. You have graciously given of your time and knowledge to help others. And thanks to everyone who works behind the scenes to help make this program a success. I can’t begin to name everybody that’s a small part of this program, but I couldn’t do this every week without you.
(20:03):
Listeners, please take a moment and give us a rating and share us some feedback with us. We really enjoy hearing from you and what you have to say about the program. Would also like to hear anything you’d like to have us talk about during season three. And as always, if you need more information on anything we talk about here on The Dirt, you can visit Nutrien-eKonomics with a K .com. I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. And until next time, this has been Mike Howell with The Dirt.
