A look under the Farmers' CAP

I often joke that I have a face for radio and a voice for newspapers. Now you can see for yourself.

Craig will resign

The Associated Press is reporting that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig will resign tomorrow. Read the story here.

The news broke today as I was working on the podcast for this week. Of course it happened after I recorded the audio, but before I could finish the editing and posting. So rather than post a podcast that is now outdated, I will delay the next episode of the podcast until after the Labor Day holiday.

Like anyone would be listening to our podcast over the weekend anyway.

Changing times

I haven't made a blog post in so long, I'm not even sure where — or how — to begin. We've had a lot of stuff going on lately at the Capital Press and I'm tempted to try to share it all. But there's a holiday weekend coming up, and I'm sure you have a lot more important stuff to do that read a long-winded blogologue from me.

So, I'll just say this. There's some new stuff happening over at the Capital Press website. Our staff, under the leadership of Executive Editor Elaine Shein, is increasing the number and frequency of news updates. Don't call us a "weekly" any more, because there is new stuff showing up on our website daily.

We are made a change this week to make our website a bit wider, to take advantage of the proliferation of higher-resolution computer monitors people are now using. We also bumped up the size of some of the ads on our site to take advantage of the wider page too.

We are still waiting on a coding change to reorganize things a bit at the top of the CapitalPress.com site, but in anticipation of that change we are looking at doing something different with our logo at the top, to help let new visitors see that they have indeed arrived at a website that's all about agriculture. The image at the top of this post is a prototype of a look we may try.

But all that is really only the tip of the iceberg. But the bottom line is that we are working hard and considering changes to make the Capital Press even more valuable as a source of news and information about agriculture in the West in print each week and online every day. The cosmetic changes may be easy to achieve, and see, but if we are successful it will result in far more subtle, but meaningful, changes to the information we provide and how we achieve that goal.

So, as things keep rolling along I hope to be making more frequent blog post again, and to wake up the podcast I've left sleeping for the moment.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And if you have to work this weekend — whether on the farm or off, I hope you find the time to remember the people in your life who have meant the most to you but who are no longer here.

Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone.

A Farmer's Rap

During our annual spring meeting and training session with the Capital Press staff, Spokane-based reporter Scott A. Yates treated his coworkers to a rap song he wrote about farmer's and agriculture. I won't spoil it by telling you too much about it. This is one of those things you really have to experience for yourself.

You can check it out here on our podcast site.

Thanks for sharing Scott.

Scott launched into his rap near the end of our meeting, just after the reporters had all been equipped with new digital audio recorders. So the reporters got a chance to try out their new toys and capture the rap on, um, well, not tape but... audio. I happened to have the digital recorder we've been using for our podcasts there too, so now you all get to share in one of the more lighthearted moments of our conference. However, be forewarned, the language in the rap is more PG-13 than G. But that's shouldn't scare off too many farmers or ranchers.

I am kicking myself a little though. If only we had captured the rap on video. It could have been the first ever Capital Press music video.

Oh well, live and learn, as they say.

Sweet 16

The 16th episode of the Farmers' CAP podcast has been posted. You can listen to it here.

It's not so good to be the king

Spotted today on a bumper sticker affixed to a car driving in Salem, Ore.

"Men are idiots and I married their King."

Anyone else wonder if the woman driving the car was still still married? If she is, the bumper sticker alone should be grounds for divorce. Oh, yea, I thought it was a funny sticker, but would you want to be her husband? And ride around in her car?

***

The newest episode of the Farmers' CAP podcast has been posted. Feel free to check it out, it's episode 15. Can you believe it? Me neither. How has that show survived cancellation?

Another online ag resource worth exploring

I've added a new link to our blogroll for a site called FarmerFeeds.com. If you are looking for podcasts and blogs about agriculture, it's worth checking out. They include not only links to blogs and podcasts about agriculture, but also include details on what their latest posts from those sites are.

"Everything is sorted by newest to oldest, so when you add a new one it will go to to the top and then work it's way down as newer files are available," says site creator Dwayne Leslie. "The newest 4 feeds are also on the homepage."

Thanks, Dwayne, for including our podcast on your directory. This could be a good resource for farmers wanting to know what is happening in other parts of the country. For the most part the links we've been putting on this site we have tried to limit to either West Coast specific sites, or general agriculture sites/blogs that might be of interest to West Coast farmers and ranchers. So, FarmerFeeds.com is a nice collection of ag-specific sites representing a broader geographic and commodity range of sites.

In a press release issued last month when the site what announced, the mission of the site was described as "the first website designed to help the farm media communicate better with farmers and the agriculture industry."

In the statement, Dwayne Leslie said, "Farmers spend more time with the radio than they do with any other form of media. Listening to audio content on their MP3 player is the natural progression so they can listen to the daily markets and news regardless of what time it is or where they may be. Having the opportunity to listen to specific programming from outside their regular listening area is also a huge benefit."

I would agree with Dwayne in that there is great potential out there for this sort of use for podcasts. It's very much a content-on-demand model, where farmers and ranchers can choose what they want to listen to and listen to it when and where they find it most convenient.

Thanks again, Dwayne. Check out his site. You are sure to find something there that will be useful or interesting for you if you care about agriculture. And it will be another place you can monitor to tell if we have a new podcast episode ready to download.

Giving away the store

A new episode of the Farmers' CAP podcast has been posted. And there may be a prize just for listening (and sending an e-mail).

But you'll have to check it to find out what we're giving away and how you can get it.

We hear you, now the world can hear you too

One of my favorite innovations that has stemmed out of blogging and been adopted by more mainstream media outlets is the option for readers of a post or story to add their comments. It enriches the reading experience for readers by giving them more details than were found in the original story or post.

Blogging has forced the media to be more interactive. That's not to say that people weren't sharing comments with ink-and-paper media before. People have always had the opportunity to also put ink and paper and write letters. Since its invention, the telephone has also offered people an opportunity to put their two cent in on how a newspaper has covered or not covered various issue.

Now, with digital voice-mail technology, we have an opportunity to capture comments from people who call us at Capital Press and share their comments back, as audio files, with visitors to our website.

This week we posted the first batch of what I hope will be many comments from readers who want to share their views and have those views shared back with readers. It's sort of like a way to call in a letter to the editor.

You can hear what some of our readers are saying for yourself through this link. I've also used some excerpts from those calls in episode 13 of our Farmers' CAP podcast. If you would like to leave a comment yourself about the Capital Press, Blogriculture, our podcast or an issue important to agriculture, you can let your voice be heard too by calling 800-285-6005. The call won't cost you a dime.

My thanks to our first batch of callers. Keep those comments coming — on the phone, in letters to the editor, on the blog or on the article comments on the capitalpress.com website.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

Speak up, we can't hear you (yet)

We want to hear what you have to say. If you have an opinion on an issue related to agriculture, we want to hear from you.

There are certainly no shortage of issues important to farmers, ranchers, agriculture suppliers and consumers in the news out there. A glance at the headlines in issues of Capital Press, which went out to our subscribers today, or posted this week on capitalpress.com, gives an indications of issues affecting us all. The 2007 Farm Bill, food safety, a new mad cow case in Canada, avian flu, eminent domain, land-use planning, bovine growth hormone use, environmental regulations, water supply, winter snowpack levels, levee safety, impacts of the '07 citrus freeze — well, you get the idea. There a lot of stuff brewing in not-so sleepy little farming communities from border to border. Oh, and speaking of the borders, I left out immigration, guest worker legislation and worker shortages.

There is no shortage of issues, or opinions, for that matter. However, the proliferation of issues and opinions isn't always reflected in the quantity of letters to the editor or guest commentary pieces that we receive or print in Capital Press. We understand that it takes time to write us a letter and send it to us. So, now we are going to give people a new opportunity to let their voices be heard — literally.

The Capital Press has established a new, toll-free comment line for readers of our newspaper and websites. You can now call us and leave a voice mail message. And if people you do leave us messages we will give our web readers an opportunity to hear what you have to say on our website or through one of our podcasts.

Now, that doesn't mean we will post every message — slanderous material won't be allowed, so if we want talk bad about your neighbors (or family members or competitors, etc.) we could get into some trouble for putting that out there, so we won't put it out there. However, if you have an opinion on an issue, that's fair game. Issues don't sue, but people do.

So, let us know what you are thinking about. Call our comment line, toll-free, at 1-800-285-6005. If it's about the agriculture — the food and fiber products we all eat and wear and the land, water and air that make growing them possible — or Capital Press newspaper and websites, chances are good we will share your comments out here in cyberspace in the multimedia section of capitalpress.com or an upcoming edition of the Farmers' Capital Press Agriculture Podcast.

Call us. Talk to us. Tell us what's on your mind. And we'll help you tell others — in your own words and voice.

Oh, but the way, we are "breaking" the news of this new feature right here on Blogriculture. Other announcements will be made in the future on capitalpress.com, in the print editions of Capital Press and in a Farmers' C.A.P. episode. But you heard it here first. Well, read it here first anyway.

Technorati tags: Agriculture

iTunes, we have a problem

They say doctor's bury their mistakes. I tend to bury mine online.

Take Friday for example. I was posting a new episode of the Capital Press podcast when I stumbled over one of the digital corpses I've left lingering out there on the World Wide Web.

A few weeks ago, when working on a podcast I noticed that the label at the top of our podcast home page just said "podcasts." I thought that was sort of stupid, and not very descriptive so I changed it to "Farmers CAP Podcast home," which admittedly is not poetry, but at least I thought it would be more descriptive.

I never thought anymore about it until after I posted Friday's 10th episode of our podcast. For some odd reason, I decided to check the way the episode appeared in the iTunes Music Store. When I did, I realized the last couple of episodes weren't showing up, which I thought was odd. When I followed the link to the website from the iTunes store the webpage that came up didn't show the two most recent episodes either.

Well, come to find out, by changing the type at the top of one page (using iWeb) I had created a whole new directory. And since the way we publish our podcasts is by uploading stuff via ftp to our server, the "old" directory wasn't overwritten after I made updates. I haven't figured out exactly home many people are coming to our podcast through iTunes, but they were missing out on the new stuff.

I probably would have caught this on iTunes on my home computer, which I used to download podcasts and music onto my iPod. However, a while back iTunes decided it was going to refuse to launch on my personal computer, leaving me tragically out of date on all the podcasts I monitor (not to mention all the New Music Tuesday releases).

So, without iTunes at home, the error when undetected until Friday.

I won't bore you with all the details about how I had to edit our rss feed and redirect iTunes to the new page and jump through various hoops while spinning bits and bytes on my fingers and toes. But suffice it to say, I "think" I got the problem I didn't even know I created fixed.

But who knows.

The good thing is, the whole podcasting thing is a pretty new venture for us/me, so it's not like we have a ton of subscribers clamoring for new episodes or anything. To my way of thinking, it's better to make mistakes when no one's looking so my image of perfection goes unblemished.

It's certainly been a learning experience. And I've learned a lot through trial and lots of error. But what I still don't know would fill a volume thick enough to make "War and Peace" look like haiku. On good days, it's still challenging and fun. On bad days, that old student's lament I learned back in junior high goes sing-songing through my head.

The more you study, the more you know.
The more you know, the more you forget.
The more you forget, the less you know.
So why study?

Why indeed.

Now, if can just figure out how to fix iTunes on the home computer.

Bull riders play in NY, farmers work in Salt Lake

At times over the last two years, I've played at being a rodeo reporter. I've posted updates from the Pendleton Round-Up in 2005 and 2006 and made some blog posts from the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas last month. But if would like to see some regular updates on what's happening in professional rodeo, here's your chance to speak up.

Veteran radio/rodeo man Butch Thurman of Pendleton, Ore., is offering the Capital Press the opportunity to run his column on a trial basis to see if our readers are interesting in reading his comments on a regular basis.

Butch has covered rodeo for 27 years and this year, in addition to his radio duties, which includes doing a daily radio show on rodeo and his weekly column, he's got another little side gig. Thurman is this year's president of the Pendleton Round-Up board of directors.

So, check out his column about bull riders taking on the Big Apple and let us know if you like it.

***

Capital Press Executive Editor Elaine Shein and California Editor Bob Krauter will be in Salt Lake City this weekend for the American Farm Bureau Federation convention. They will be posting updates from Salt Lake City.

Bob previews the convention here. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will address the conference. Check for updates beginning Sunday and early next week on capitalpress.com.

***

On another note, I'm still making mistakes, and still learning, about this whole podcasting thing. I ended up having to re-post Episode 7 of the Farmers' Capital Press Agriculture Podcast today. When I posted it yesterday, for some reason the file had about 5 minutes of dead air at the end of the file. I would have though the blank portion wouldn't add to the files size, but I would have been wrong. Dead air makes for a big file.

Who knew?

So, I lopped off the dead are and reposted the file.

Live and learn.

If your iTunes subscription downloaded the big file, my apologies. Someday maybe I'll get all this stuff figured out.

***
Technorati tags: Agriculture, American Farm Bureau Federation, Rodeo, Podcasting

Christmas week preview

Episode 6 of the Farmers' CAP (Capital Press Agriculture Podcast) is now available and posted. After a brief hiatus for a vacation and some time to recover from a nasty cold, the Farmers' CAP is back and ready to wear.

This week's episode looks at some of the stories on tap for the editions of Capital Press currently in production.

So, if you can't wait to open your Capital Press present this week, take a peek inside the wrapping at http://www.capitalpress.biz/podcasts or you can also download it through iTunes.

I'm trying to get in the Christmas spirit myself. I've got some Christmas music playing on the ol' iPod. There's nothing like some good old traditional Christmas carols to get you in the spirit of the season. And what could be more traditional than "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band?

Not your cup of eggnog?

How about a little "Christmastime is Here" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio from the "A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack"? "Thank God it's Christmas" by Queen? "When It's Christmas Time in Texas" by George Strait? "Silent Night" by Sarah McLachlan? "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano? "Frosty the Snowman" by Jimmy Durante? "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt? "Please Come Home for Christmas" by the Eagles? "Honky Tonk Christmas" by Alan Jackson?

None of those?

Well then I'll play "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" by Thurle Ravenscroft from "Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas" just for you.

Technorati tags:
Agriculture, Podcasting, Christmas, Music, iTunes

Playing games, podcasts, punchin' cattle and horsin' around

The games module I mentioned in an earlier post is now operational on the CapitalPress.com website. If you like to play sudoku, crosswords, word search or word scramble puzzles, you can now do that from our main website. Just look for the "Game Center" link on the left navigation bar of the Capital Press website, or click on this link. New puzzles will be available daily.

Also new today is the newest (fourth) episode of the Farmers' CAP, Capital Press Agriculture Podcast. You can find it at our podcast page (www.capitalpress.biz/podcasts). You'll find a link there if you want to subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.

And if you like horses, cattle or other types of livestock, you may want to pick up a copy of this week's Capital Press, which comes out Friday, Dec. 1. As I mention in the podcast we have a special section inside the upcoming issue on Livestock and Horses. You'll also be able to find the special section materials on the CapitalPress.com website.

And speaking of new stuff, if you are still looking for Christmas gift ideas, this one could be money in the bank. The eighth Capital Press commemorative truck is now available, just in time for the holidays. The die-cast replica of a 1937 Studebaker Woody delivery van is a great toy that's also a bank, where you can stash away some of your cash. See it for yourself in the Capital Press store, along with some of the earlier trucks in the series that are still available. Proceeds from the sale of the truck go to the Capital Press Newspapers in Education program to promote literacy and agriculture awareness for students.

There's all kinds of new stuff on the Capital Press website. You can listen to a preview of what's in the next edition while you do a crossword puzzle, then catch up on some of the ag news and do some Christmas shopping and contributed to students' education all in one spot.

Has anyone else noticed those sudoku puzzles are sort of addictive?

Technorati tags:
Agriculture, Podcasting, Puzzles, Games, Christmas gift ideas, News, Newspapers in Education

We thank you for this food...

This week is Thanksgiving. American families will be coming together for a big feast this week to celebrate all the things we have to be thankful for in this country.

We especially thank the farmers and ranchers who make it possible for us to have such a family feast. In tribute to those farmers and ranchers, we have the Capital Press Thanksgiving editorial as the third episode of the Farmers CAP podcast.

For those of you who follow such things, the podcast is also new available through the iTunes music store. You can also find all of our episodes at www.capitalpress.biz/podcasts.

Agriculture
Thanksgiving
Podcast

Is it a podcast yet?

It's taken longer than expected, but we finally have done the groundwork to begin producing an agriculture podcasting in earnest. The software we had been waiting for to make creation of the rss feed easier came in Friday afternoon. I still have a lot to learn about it, but I've got enough figured out that we have a url for our podcast site now, and the first audio file, though now outdated, has been linked in.

My next mission is try to get episode two produced and posted.

Now if only I could find some better on-air talent.

Agriculture
Podcast

Podcastus interuptus

So far, my career as an agriculture podcaster has been off to a rocky start.

As I wrote more than two weeks ago, I was able to record and post an audio file, the first of what I still hope will become a series of podcasts. But I've been waiting on some new software to help me figure out how to actually do the things that will help me make that audio file (and the others that will hopefully follow) into a true podcast. At the time of that Oct. 17 posting, I thought the software might be in house later that week.

Well, we are still working on that.

But I can't completely blame the software delay. I still haven't recorded another episode yet either.

So, stay tuned. I'll post updates on developments here as they happen. I really think I need a 12-year old with a laptop to be my producer for this venture.

Agriculture
Podcasting

Brief eye in the storm

Yea, yea, yea. I know. I'm a bad blogger. I haven't posted yet today (until now) But it's production day at Capital Press, so there's other publishing of ag news going on that's getting the bulk of my attention.

For example, one of my duties is putting together our opinion pages each week. This week, readers of our East and West editions, which go to Eastern Oregon/Washington and Western Oregon/Washington will get to read the Capital Press endorsement editor for the Oregon governor's race.

Subscribers in Idaho and California will get an editorial looking at a cross section of issues on the ballot in November in four Western states which all seem to be influencing each other.

Westerners have a reputation of being independent thinkers and free-spirited, but you may not know that by initiative efforts to put items on the ballot in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. Everyone seems to be following everyone else.

Anyway, I've got one page to correct before sending it to press and another page to finish, so this is all you get for now.

Tomorrow I am sitting in on a web seminar to find out how to do this whole podcasting thing I've been experimenting with. Maybe they'll tell me what I've been doing wrong and what I still need to know to do it right.

Let's hope.

Agriculture
Capital Press
Podcasting

Not ready for primetime podcast

Well, here goes nothing.

My first attempt at podcasting is, well, as done as I know how to make it. James Earl Jones has no reason to fear I will cut into his voiceover work.

But, if you are dying to hear our first Capital Press podcast you can find the file here. We'll work on getting an RSS feed and registering with iTunes as we do here.

I'm calling the podcast the Farmers' C.A.P. or Farmers Capital Press Agriculture Podcast. Episode 1 features music by Capital Press reporter Mitch Lies. Our theme music is called "Proud" from Mitch's "Escapist" CD.

We also have a few audio clips in there from our editorial board endorsement interviews with
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his challenger Ron Saxton. More audio from those sessions can also be found online here (and the bonus on those audio files is that I only asked a couple of questions, so you don't have to hear my voice on those!).

Feel free to download Farmers' C.A.P. episode 1 if you like. It's about a 5 megabyte file and is about 5 1/2 minutes long. Download at your own risk.

Agriculture
Podcast
Capital Press
Election

Can you hear me now?

OK, so you can't hear me now. But if your ears and my pride can handle it, you may be able to hear me soon. I have recorded a file that may become our first Capital Press podcast.

Now I need to figure out how and where to post it. So, depending on whether we post it on an in-house server or somewhere else, there may be a podcasty-ish file available this week. It may not be an actual podcast with its own RSS feed and available on iTunes. At least not yet. But it will be a podcast-style audio file. When I get it posted I'll share the link here.

If you are bold enough to listen, bring your earplugs.

Seriously.

I may have a great face for radio but my voice is perfectly suited for newspapers.

You know how they say that sometimes you should talk to houseplants to make them grow? Well, whatever you do don't play the audio file anywhere near any growing crops or house plants because it will kill them for sure. And you may not want to listen through earphones, because you probably don't want that sound being piped in so close to the brain.

And keep the pets, livestock and small children away too.

Come to think of it, maybe the file would be good for Halloween sound effects if you are doing a haunted house or want to keep small children from trick-or-treating at your door.

Holy cow, what am I getting myself into here?

Agriculture
Podcasting
Capital Press