Making pulled pork in the crock pot is a simple meal.   Crock Pot Pulled Pork BBQ is a crowd favorite recipe to plan in advance for harvest, or bring to the game! 




Pork shoulder is a great cut of pork for pulled pork. Using the crock pot is a great way to cook the pork at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time, and allows the meat to become tender enough to pull it apart for BBQ.

We attended the Indiana State Fair last weekend.  We watched our friends kids show pigs, ate lots of fair food, ate at the pork tent.  My daughter had a delicious baked potato with pork, cheese, sour cream and jalapenos on top, called loaded Potatchoes.  We drank lots of iced tea (it was a hot day) and of course, we had beignets for breakfast as soon as we got there! 

6 Fun Facts about Indiana Pork

1. There are more than 3,000 pork farmers in Indiana. The industry employs more than 13,000 people in the state.
2. Ninety-four percent of Indiana’s pork farms are family-owned and operated.
3. The Indiana pork industry contributes more than $3 billion annual to the state’s economy.
4. Pork is the No. 1 consumer of soybean meal in Indiana, consumer 500,000 tons in 2011.
5. Compared with 50 years ago, farmers are using 41 percent less water and 78 percent less land to produce pork.
6. Pork is Indiana’s third top commodity, and the state is the fifth-largest producer of pork in the United States

The Skyride was installed in 2017. There is a line to ride it all day long! We still haven't been on it, but I need to do that next year. I would love to see that view of the fairgrounds, it's 35 feet high! 

Use a 7-10 pound pork shoulder, place in crock pot and add chicken broth. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours.  Remove from crock pot, and use 2 forks and shred the pork.   Remove the fat, if needed. Remove all the juices from the crock pot and save.  




Return shredded pork back to the crock pot, or you can freeze the shredded pork until you are ready to use it!  Add your favorite BBQ Sauce, and adding slaw gives it a crunch that I absolutely love!

INGREDIENTS FOR CROCK POT PULLED PORK BBQ

RECIPE

• 7-10 pound pork shoulder
• 24 oz. chicken broth stock
• Bottle of BBQ Sauce
• Pretzel Buns
• Slaw, optional

HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT PULLED PORK BBQ

NOTES ON MAKING CROCK POT PULLED PORK BBQ

T-Bones is one of my favorite meals. Ever. All cuts of beef have always been my favorite, It is the perfect meal for me. It reminds me of growing up on a cattle farm, dad cooking on the grill, family dinners. T-Bone Steaks, when grilled correctly, are best off the grill at home.  When you can enjoy T-Bone Steaks at home, it always feels like a special meal.  This summer when the sweet corn is ready, that is a perfect combination with any cut of meat. 




Kids won't normally order steaks when they are eating out, but mine will. When we eat steaks at home, table manners are thrown out the window, and you can find my teenage daughter eating steak with her hands.  I know I need to work on her manners, or not worry about her going on any dates when she is age - appropriate (we have decided that is 30). 





Grilling T-Bone steaks at home can save you money, because it is an expensive cut of meat to begin with. I have seen the prices of T-Bone steaks increase in the past years.  

Why has the price of meat gone up? 

There is a very strong demand for beef products.  When demand goes up, so does the price.  The consumer will see this all trickle down to an increased price at the grocery store. According to USDA, beef demand has gone up 12% from 2016-2017.  Not only has the demand in the US gone up, Japan is demanding more of our meat, up 26%.  In return, US cattlemen feel the pressure.  Beef supplies are increasing, but at a slower pace than the demand.  

How do I know when the grill is hot?

Just seven things? Of course, more than seven things happen when your kids are in 4-H.  I'm making mental notes of what I want to do differently in the following years. Sometimes it's picking up the phone to ask alumni, a vet, or a friend, what can I do to make this better?

I still catch myself telling  my kids, "When I was in 4-H, this is how we did it!"  I am sure I thought I worked really hard on my projects, and I bet my parents thought I could have put more work into my projects.  That's what parents do.  Push their kids, because we know what they are capable of. 

What matters is the lessons we teach our kids, and the habits that form over time.  

1. You meet a lot of families with the same interest as yours.
   
   Photography, foods, animals, or learning about lawn mower parts, you are going to find that these parents are teaching their kids the same thing you want to teach your kids.  Chores, responsibility, life skills and knowing their way around the kitchen.  Survival.  Think you did it right the first time? Let's do it again!  Knowing other families with the same interests gives you someone to talk to, with questions about feeding, picking out an animal to purchase.  I have had conversations with some 4-H moms about the best brand of flour to use for our kids foods project.
   
   
   
2. You discuss more livestock than you ever thought you would at the dinner table
   My son started talking about sows at the dinner table that I'm sure most kids don't talk about. My daughter's friends who were over for the evening learned a few things. One time my son started talking about pigs when we were out to eat.  He was helping another breeder and was beginning to learn about what it takes to breed a sow.  I thought my husband wanted to hide under the table.  
3. There are deadlines to meet, and we like to push it to the last minute.
   
   As parents, we promise ourselves we are starting projects "earlier next year"  and many can be completed in the winter time.  Time tends to get away from us, and most projects are completed, just in time for check-in on general projects day. 
   
   
   
4. When things start disappearing from the house, you know it's probably out in the barn.
   
   My kitchen ladder disappeared this spring.  I  use it to get to the top shelf in the kitchen.  I'm that short, or my cabinets are just too tall.  The ladder is being used to hang lights, and fans, and hold a door open.
   
   I'd love to hear what kind of soap is your favorite to use on pigs, we use Dawn. You know why it gets the grease out! So when we run out, the kids pull mine from the kitchen sink.
   
   We like to give pigs treats.  It's a late night snack or a way to coax them to walk out of the barn, or a little further down the lane.  All the marshmallows are currently cleared out of the pantry.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. The family spends a lot of time in the barn.
   In the evening, we tend to gather in the alley of the barn, sitting in folding chairs, or on buckets. We watch the pigs eat, and we watch them sleep.  When we finally look at our watches, we know its late, and time for us to head to bed ourselves.
   
   
   
   
6. Learn from the Mistakes                             
   
   Last year, my son took lawn mowers for the first time.  There was a driving test and a written test.  He became so confident in driving the course, he bumped the throttle up.  When he bumped up the throttle, his speed increased.  He approached the end of the course with too much speed and knocked off the golf ball from the last post.  That lesson will always be remembered.  Learn from the mistakes so you can do better the next time.  
7. Celebrate the victories
   Celebrate the victories, no matter how small. The blue ribbon in foods, completing the tractor course. Embrace your kids and tell them you love them and are proud of them.  At the end of the week, when the family packs up the trailer and pick up the projects, you realize how fast the week went at the fair.  Take those victories and apply them to the next year.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Congressmen Todd Rokita, and Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock. visited the Culp Farm Thursday, June 3rd to survey damage caused by recent heavy rains in Jasper County. The USDA says 19 percent of Indiana's 5.7 million acres of soybeans and 21 percent of its 5.7 million acres of corn in very poor or poor condition.

As you can tell, they are standing in a field, but there is a huge wash out.  There were many roads closed due to high water, which lead to wash outs on many roads.

The State Climate Office says 18.06 inches of rain was measured in Jasper County in the month of June.

The Governor also visited Cass County the same day to view their flood damage.  I am very interested to hear what assistance will be available for farmers, if any besides crop insurance.

Brownfield Network  interviewed Governor Pence, and he said that by they had accessed nine counties by the end of June, and they had submitted reports to the FSA Office. None of those counties reached 30% of damage to declare a disaster. Farmers are encouraged to submit crop damage reports to their FSA office as soon as possible to help measure the extent of the damage for this year's crop.  July may prove a different story for those counties.

Congressman Todd Rokita visiting with Jasper County Farm Bureau members. Photo Credit: Wayne Belden

 I am approaching this question on the different side of the equation.  I am not a producer, I am a consumers.  I work at a grain elevator.  So when products are shipped from the elevator to a large processor, what are those products used for? In this post, I will use corn as an example, and we will talk about  Tate & Lyle as the processor.
 


There are many Tate Lyle locations in the United States, and their headquarters is located in London.  There are two processing plants located in Lafayette, Indiana. One on the north side, another on the south side.  The north plant takes waxy corn and the south plant takes commercial corn.  Corn can be shipped in by truck or rail.

When most consumers think about corn, they think about the corn being fed for livestock consumption.  There are many products consumers use that are delivered to these processing plants. You can check out the brands websites.
 

Tate & Lyle said consumers make up for 75% of their consumption of products.  Their products range from food, starches, gums, ethanol, pharmaceutical care, cosmetics and feeds.

The list is long of the products made from corn. 
Ethanol
Drywall
Adhesives
Cosmetics
Waxed Paper & Waxed Cardboard
Bio-engineered Bone & Gum Tissue
Splenda & Equal
Windex
Varnish
Toothpaste
Matches
Paving Bricks
Coated Asprin
Tires
Jelly Beans & Licorace
Molded Plastics
Spark Plugs
Diapers

Splenda, a sweeter you are probably familiar with, has a sugar like taste and a sweetening power 600 times more than regular sugar.  Sucralose was discovered by Tate & Lyle in 1976 in London.  Splenda was launched in 1992. Sucralose is sold to food, beverage and pharmaceutical companies.








If you are interested on the history of Tate & Lyle, visit their website.