With much disdain and after an onslaught of emails over the all-school listserv I finally decided to drag my tired carcass up the 4 flights of stairs to the top floor of Trotter Hall (ok so I may have taken the elevator) where the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine Library was holding their annual book sale. Would there really be anything worth reading in a library that I couldn't conjure up with a mouse click and a little help from Google? My hypothesis was no.
Not surprisingly, there was a slew of now "outdated" technical textbooks and references of the subject matter you expect from a top tier veterinary college (shameless plug): Physiology, Toxicology, Pathology, Medicine,the list goes on and on. Once worth hundreds of dollars each, these old relics were now being offered up for the scrap price of $5 a piece. Oh well I thought to myself, I needed a break from my desk anyways.But as I turned to leave, something caught my eye. There it sat, brown and tattered, on the bottom shelf of sale items, between a brightly colored edition of Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy and an acid-base homeostasis and disorders text that would make Henderson and Hasselbalch cringe. The spine read United States Department of Agriculture Year Book 1920.
As I began to thumb through the pages, I knew it was a keeper. Reading this book is like getting a visit from the Ghost of Agriculture Past. In fact its more like a slap on the back of the head than a visit. Most people in my generation are just down right oblivious to how lucky we are have today's technologies and production systems and at times I can count myself as one of them. On the other hand, I was amazed to to see that many things that I have viewed as only problems of my generation were discussed in depth as major concerns almost century ago.
I thought it would be a shame to not share some of it with you all and along the way I hope we will all get a little better understanding of why we do things we do today and how we used to do them. STAY TUNED!!!
Cheers,
DJ
P.S.- Here's a great recipe I just stumbled onto for Pork Medallions on a Bed of Creamed Corn! It comes from the good folks over at the Kansas Pork Association. :)
