When I was little my mom’s meatloaf was my favorite food. But ONLY her meatloaf. I didn’t like anyone else’s, and she told me that she would teach me how to make it when I was older. And when I was like 19? She finally taught me, but she told me never to tell anyone else and I was like weird but okay
Anyway, she was super fucking homophobic and abusive to me when I told her I was gay, so here’s the recipe
4-6 lbs of Hamburger/turkey burger
1 pk onion soup mix OR ranch mix
1 TBs ketchup
1 Tbs spicy brown mustard,
1 Tbs bbq sauce
1 Tbs steak sauce
1 egg
mix, shape into a loaf in a big pan, and bake at 350 for 2 hrs (maybe 2 and a half if you’re feeling dangerous)
You can get almost all of these ingredients at the dollar store, and have leftovers if it’s just you. The leftovers make great tacos if (taco seasoning is also like a dollar). Enjoy your revenge loaf
here’s a mashed potato recipe from my homophobic mother that i swore to never share that would pair perfectly!
(6 servings)
-2lbs red potatoes
-1 cup butter (2 sticks)
-1 cup cream cheese (1 pack)
-Chives (optional)
-Salt & Pepper to taste
1. drop those bad boys (potatoes) in a big ol pot. U don’t even have to chop them just wash them
2. boil til soft!
3. Drain
4. Mash (usually they’re small enough you can use a fork if u don’t have one of those squashers) until its a pretty chunky mix
5. add the other stuff. Keep mashing
I like my mashed potato consistancy more lumpy but its all up to you!! Peel the potatoes or keep them on, it literally makes the creamiest fluffiest mashed potatoes which she always served with the nastiest fuckin meatloaf
So after spending hours combing through the recipes in the comments of this post I have created a cookbook. Feel free to use it. The link should work for everyone, its the only file on the google drive! I have referenced all of the recipes I used, all of which are from this thread. I made it for myself, but figured after all that work I should probably share. Happy spite cooking!
SALINA, Kansas — Sometimes developing food for the future can be like playing the lottery.
The Land Institute is playing the long game to develop perennial grain crops that reduce farmer inputs and promote healthy soils.
At the institute, greenhouse specialists will place an annual plant next to a perennial plant and then study all the combinations that result from their cross pollination. The goal is to create high-yielding grain crops that don’t have to be planted every year.
“You’re not really sure which of these traits you’re going to get at any given time,” explained Lydia Nicholson, educational design technician at The Land Institute. “But there’s a chance that you’re going to hit that jackpot and really quickly find a product that has everything you need.”
In essence, that’s a simplification of the scientific work that goes on at The Land Institute. It also illustrates the remarkable progress of the nonprofit, which started in 1976.
Kernza, The Land Institute’s most notable perennial grain, has found a market in beer, flour and cereal production. It is now grown on more than 2,000 acres of U.S. cropland. Kernza offers evidence that perennialization, which is a slow occurring process in nature, can be cultivated.
Watch Harvesting Change
Why Perennials?
Most food crops are annual plants. Each year, farmers till the soil, plant seeds and spread fertilizer and herbicide to raise the next crop.
It’s an essentially extractive process that has led to an estimated loss of 24-46% of topsoil in the Corn Belt, according to a study from the University of Massachusetts.
Perennial plants, on the other hand, come back each year and keep most of the soil and its nutrients in place.
The Land Institute believes that by replacing annual crops, (primarily grain crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat) with perennial versions, producers can feed the world and take care of the land they farm.
“Soil is not a renewable resource,” Nicholson said. “We need to protect the soil that we have because it takes a lot of time to build up.”
Advocates argue that perennial crops can play a crucial role in developing a virtuous cycle in agriculture.
In addition to grain production, perennial crops can also provide forage for livestock. Nicholson said grazing (and the associated manure) helps naturally fertilize soil.
Moreover, the deep root systems of established perennial plants absorb more carbon out of the atmosphere and put it back into the soil. Notably, Kernza is used in Minnesota to remove harmful nitrates from drinking water.
The Land Institute is working to perennialize some traditional grains, including wheat, sorghum and several varieties of lentil. It is also trying to domesticate Silphium, a wild perennial, to be used as an oilseed.
Many of these crops are still years from being successful as a crop, though they’ve shown promise in a greenhouse setting.
The Land Institute wants to make sure that a crop will perform well in the wild before asking a farmer to plant it. This means making sure they can start from a seed outdoors, grow well under varying conditions and be harvestable with conventional equipment.
“Instead of thinking of it as, ‘Oh we have a solution and everybody has to change,’ we’re thinking, ‘What is the wisdom that people already know and what is stopping them from leaning into that?’” Nicholson explained.
To that end, Nicholson said a lot of the work at The Land Institute starts with listening to farmers and consumers and considering ancient practices. These conversations inform the work that goes on at the institute to make sure that perennial grains are something that can be worked into existing systems, rather than overhauling them.
“It’s about the long view,” Nicholson said. “Looking at deep history and far into the future … being open to many perspectives and making sure we’re inviting in the voices of farmers and indigenous communities and marginalized populations who have often been doing the labor of care work and food work and making sure we’re integrating all of these voices.”
Healthy Food Leads to Healthy Communities
Conventional agriculture systems have allowed food production to scale up and create affordable food by maximizing production.
“But there are tremendous hidden costs in scaling up and those lower prices of foods,” said Matt Sanderson, a professor at Kansas State University
Sanderson teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses about community, sustainability, environment, global change, agriculture and food.
“People are searching for alternatives,” Sanderson said. “Farmers are because of what they’re seeing (happen) on the landscape to biodiversity, to soil, to water, but also to their rural communities as they’re hollowing out.”
Crop Land Accounts for a Large Share of U.S. Land
Sanderson researched the effect of regenerative farming practices on farmers’ well-being.
“Most of the research that’s been done on farmers and regenerative agricultural principals are about soil health … and the evidence is becoming pretty clear that … these practices and principles, when enacted, are building soil health.”
Sanderson’s research asked if those practices were also good for the farmer.
They found that in the long run it boosts a farmer’s well-being. But, there is a period where it’s hard for a farmer to change from conventional practices (tillage, pesticides, fertilizers) into regenerative practices (like no-till and cover crop systems) and some will drop off.
To support folks through the difficult transition period, it’s necessary to have a community of support.
Essentially, making major changes like implementing a perennial grain crop can’t happen in a vacuum, and a more localized, scaled down version of farming, could be the right type of support.
“Where farming once again becomes producers and consumers seeing each other, less disconnected, less separation,” Sanderson said. “When people reconnect and see each other again — it sounds so simple — you get different relations… you have support networks.”
From there, conversations around sustainable practices become possible.
“Agriculture is at the bottom of what has become a series of crises from the climate all the way down to the soil,” Sanderson said. “And as it is part of the problem, it is also part of a set of potential solutions.”
Sanderson believes the perennialization work at The Land Institute could be one solution.
“(The benefits of perennial crops) are very vitally linked — even if you can’t see it directly — to reinvigorating the health of these local communities,” Sanderson said.
“Food is a relationship with people and place,” he said. “Soil health is related directly to the health of people … and you eat in a community, even if it looks like a bunch of individuals.”
Cami Koons covers rural affairs for Kansas City PBS in cooperation with Report for America. The work of our Report for America corps members is made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.Julie Freijat, a masters student at the University of Missouri and a Flatland contributor, assisted with visualizations.
Watch the previous installments of Harvesting Change:
Harvesting Change | Making a Local Meat MarketCattle rancher Mike Callicrate is rethinking the food chain. He embraces a sustainable approach to raising, processing and selling meat directly to consumers.
Harvesting Change | Advocating for Family FarmsPatchwork Family Farms provides vital links in the local food chain, relieving farmers from the stress of processing, packaging and marketing to customers.
As a prairie state, Kansas has abundant opportunity for sun and wind energy production. (Mischa Keijser/Getty Images)
In the heart of America, Kansas stands at a crossroads where policy, ethics, and environmental sustainability intersect. With renters forming a significant portion of our population — 33% statewide, and even more pronounced in key urban centers such as Lawrence (56%), Wichita (42%) and Topeka (41%) — there’s an undeniable imperative that transcends the usual debates surrounding energy sources.
It’s not just about advocating for green energy. It’s about ensuring that every Kansan, regardless of housing status, is included in our vision for a sustainable future.
Data reveals a stark reality: the majority of our residential buildings, more than 75% of them, predate the year 2000. This statistic represents a widespread challenge in energy inefficiency, particularly for rental housing. These older, less-efficient properties not only contribute to higher energy consumption, but they also impose a disproportionate financial burden on our most vulnerable populations.
Research from the National Renewable Energy Lab offers a beacon of hope, indicating that single-family homes in Kansas could achieve a 24% reduction in energy use through feasible upgrades. For example, transitioning to LED lighting can result in substantial savings. With an investment that typically pays for itself within two years, residents can save approximately $114 annually, while on a statewide level, this could translate to savings of up to $44 million.
Implementing drill-and-fill wall cavity insulation, despite a longer payback period of about nine years, offers an annual savings of $336 per residence and could lead to annual statewide savings of $154.6 million. If such potential were realized across all housing types, we’re looking at an annual savings of approximately $192 million in utility bills for Kansas renters. This isn’t just a win for renters, it’s a victory for all of Kansas and frees up funds that could be redirected toward critical areas like education, health care and economic development.
The inefficiency plaguing our rental housing stock stems largely from the age and condition of these buildings, compounded by a lack of incentive for property owners to invest in improvements. The result is a cycle of high energy consumption and high utility bills, with the burden falling squarely on tenants.
However, this cycle can be broken. By prioritizing energy efficiency upgrades in rental properties, Kansas can lead the way in creating a more equitable and sustainable future.
Kansas has a wealth of legislative avenues to foster energy efficiency within its rental housing sector. Setting energy efficiency standards for rental properties ensures that all dwellings adhere to predetermined energy usage criteria. Incentivizing landlords through tax rebates, grants or credits for making energy-efficient improvements could catalyze widespread property enhancements. Implementing energy-efficient building mandates for new constructions and significant renovations, alongside obligatory energy audits for rental properties, would not only elevate the standards of new buildings but also highlight the energy performance of existing ones, prompting necessary enhancements.
Adopting utility bill transparency policies would arm potential tenants with critical information regarding their future energy expenses. Encouraging public-private partnerships for energy efficiency projects can harness collective financial resources, while broadening the scope of weatherization assistance programs to include more rental units offers direct support to low-income households by facilitating access to free or low-cost energy improvements. Moreover, leveraging the “Pay As You Save” model — a financing method already familiar to utilities like Evergy, yet not adopted statewide — presents a unique opportunity. This model allows for investments in energy efficiency without upfront costs, with repayments made through savings on utility bills, ensuring the benefits outweigh the costs.
This suite of legislative tools represents just a starting point for innovative approaches to revolutionizing Kansas’s rental market.
Finally, beyond mere environmental and economic considerations, addressing the energy efficiency crisis of the rental market stands as a moral imperative: Every resident of Kansas, irrespective of housing status, deserves access to affordable and sustainable living standards. As Kansans, we have the collective power to advocate for policies reflecting fairness, sustainability, and inclusivity.
Kansas officials should prioritize investments in energy efficiency for rental housing, easing the burden on at least one-third of our fellow Kansans and averting wastage amounting to millions of dollars. Let us set a precedent, demonstrating that environmental stewardship and social equity can go hand in hand, embodying the Kansan spirit of caring for our fellow community members.
S. Mohsen Fatemi is pursuing a Ph.D. in the school of public affairs and administration at the University of Kansas, focusing on sustainable energy governance, policy and justice. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary,here.
While it may seem like those working in the cannabis industry are happy-go-lucky pot-burners, when it comes to banking, they don’t have it so easy. Simply put, since cannabis is only legalized at the state level—remaining illegal federally—licensed cannabis companies cannot deposit finances within federal banks. Their revenue remains illegally acquired at the national level.
There are many different heaps and bounds that dispensaries, manufacturers, and cultivators must maneuver to ensure that their business is following the state’s legal regulations. This process is one that many cannabis consumers are unaware of. But that is all right. Everyone is gradually learning the ins and outs of the industry, just a little over a year since recreational sales began.
For a service that has already supplied the Missouri market with over one billion dollars worth of the favorable flower, the more knowledgeable consumers are, the easier the process is for all parties. Next time you find the process annoying in person, here’s a breakdown of what your cannabis comrades are having to work through.
Over-The-Counter Confusion
Transactions at dispensary counters can be confusing—Especially for first-time buyers. 60% of all cannabis transactions in Missouri are cash transactions at the dispensary level. That part is easy for consumers. Give the budtender cash, and in return, they reciprocate with the product and change, if any.
But the other 40% gets a little tricky. When paying with a debit card, the dispensary’s process is to use the card in a cashless ATM transaction, withdrawing a certain amount from the customer’s bank account to cover the expenses of their purchase. In most instances, customers will receive change in these transactions because the price of products usually does not fall on a perfect pinpoint amount that the ATM can withdraw.
Not only can this be a bit confusing or frustrating for consumers, but as of right now, cannabis users cannot pay for products with a credit card.
“Credit card companies will not allow transactions because it’s federally illegal,” Franklin’s—local cannabis manufacturing company—CEO Michael Wilson says. “When a big company like that—especially a publicly traded one—gets involved in the cannabis market, that can mess up a lot of things for them legal and regulatory wise. So big corporations have sat off in the distance for a lot of these things because it’s a high risk, as they would call it, industry.”
Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I substance. But, as of lately, the FDA has published documents in support of reclassifying cannabis as a Schedule III substance. In turn, some in the cannabis industry are hopeful that this rescheduling will occur, which could change the landscape of cannabis banking, possibly bringing in credit card companies, such as Visa and Mastercard.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking you will be able to walk into a dispensary next week, or even next month and pay with a credit card.
“The marijuana business does not move fast. The changes happen quickly in this business, but the business itself is usually a slow-churning one,” Wilson says.
Banking Buds
One may ask, “Okay, now what happens with these companies’ funds since they cannot bank federally?” That’s where local banks play a role.
Out of the thousands of chartered banking institutions, only around 800 work with licensed cannabis companies. And only a select few are here within the Kansas City community.
“We have three or four banks that will serve us as professional customers,” Wilson says.
One of those banking bohemians is Bison State Banking. Their bank works with different individuals within the Kansas City cannabis industry, ultimately seeking to help these professionals grow in their occupations while eliminating some of the obstacles and grappling that come with these finances.
“We feel like we have built a system that allows our clients to actually grow their business versus having to spend time in their business with their bank, to verify where their money is going and coming from,” Bison State Banking CEO Ryan Wiebe says.
This side of the finance realm does not come easier for bankers either. Since the market is so fresh in the state, there are strenuous regulations and procedures, with little guidance.
“There’s no guidance. Our regulators have no real, concrete ability to administer, from a regulatory perspective, or offer any assistance or help because the framework doesn’t exist, still because of its federal illegality,” Wiebe says.
The process of banking with licensed cannabis companies is vastly divergent in comparison with any other industry. Banks must have bolstered Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act policies to ensure that funds are not being acquired illegally.
“It’s 2-3 times the due diligence, if not more, on certain occasions, compared to a normal entity,” Wiebe says.
“We have the same services, sometimes it just costs us more, the bank has to do tons of reporting on it to make sure that we’re not involved in organized crime,” Wilson says.
On top of that, beneficial ownership certification is more strict in the cannabis industry, having to account for those with 10% ownership or more, whereas other industries must account for 25% or more. This can get extremely tricky, due to the fact that there are so many out-of-state investors within these companies.
“Doing that legwork and enhanced due diligence background to find out the key people, the key companies to approve them is one of the challenges,” Wiebe says.
These are not the only hoops that these local banks go through when working within the spectrum. There are plenty of other procedures and regulations that they must abide by.
“We need licensing documentation, site inspections, verifying that you’re compliant with the state, even though the state complies with it,” Wiebe says. “Those are the different things that we have to do to get through it. It can be cumbersome and each institution is different from the other.”
The level of difficulty—as far as banking goes—varies from business to business within the market.
“If you’re going to measure from most difficult to least difficult, it does go in order,” Wiebe says. “Essentially dispensaries are more challenging to get approved and moved through the banking system than it is from a manufacturing or cultivation facility, due in part to the copious amounts of cash.”
Federal Future
It is very clear that cannabis finances are complex, to say the least. These additional procedures, processes, and regulations can be incredibly burdensome on all parties involved. So when is this going to get easier? Well, that is going to take a fair amount of time.
“I want it to be legal as quickly as possible. But my professional opinion is that I don’t think we will see any sort of federal changes until all 50 states in the union have some version of cannabis approved in practice, whether that’s medically or recreationally,” Wiebe says. “Once that occurs, then you have some sort of material framework that can be built upon that.”
“We’ve got states like Kansas just across the state line. I think it will be a challenge. I think that it will be one of the last states in the union to ever get to that point.”
As such a raw market right now in Missouri, it is important for consumers to be patient with individuals providing these services because this is not something that they want, nor something that they can change in the time between consumers walking in the door and pulling payment out of their pockets.
“Consumers need to know we’re still pushing forward. We all just got together and voted to bring it to Missouri in the medical market. We all just got together and voted to bring it to Missouri in the recreational market, and it’s gonna take time to normalize,” Wilson says.
The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is “a collective endeavor which engages in rhythmic typewriter manipulation combined with elements of performance, comedy and satire.” They recently submitted to be on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts with Selectric Funeral, their first piece to feature an electric typewriter.
A bear enclosure at Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire flooded so the zookeepers gave the bears a swan boat to entertain them because as everyone knows, black bears are often mollified by large watercraft shaped like other animals, though you never want to give them a boat shaped like a vole for obvious reasons. The bears are called Harvard, Maple, Colorado, and Aspen, and I might be losing my mind because I stg there are 5 bears in this picture? Deputy Head of Carnivores, Tommy Babbington mused the bears were “immediately intrigued” by the boat, though admittedly I only quoted him here so I could use the phrase Deputy Head of Carnivores, Tommy Babbington, which is about the most best combination of job title and name I’ve ever heard.