A few nights ago, Home Grown Tomatoes and Artist, Lisa Opielinski hosted a fundraiser for our Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, Ron Sparks at the North Shelby Library.

The theme for the fundraising event was &8220;Tailgating with the Commissioner-Tapas Style.&8221; I hope you get some ideas from this article for your next informal gathering.

I guess I just didn&8217;t realize until that night just how much agriculture touches our lives on a daily basis.

Right now I&8217;d like to share with you the menu and invite you to try to find one single thing that wasn&8217;t a product of agriculture.

On the meat bar: Grilled rabbit; hot wings; Dean&8217;s country sausage balls; Boston butt.

On the roasted potato bar: Herbal and plain butters; sour cream; fresh garlic chives; fresh basil; bacon bits.

On the sweet potato bar: Marshmallow cream; sweetened toasted pecans; chopped dried fruits.

On the grits bar…Yes, grits bar: Browned sausage bits; jalape&110;o slices; cooked mushroom bits.

Other toppings on the bar were: Chili; cheese dip; onions and a grand selection of others, all agricultural products.

Of course there was a complete salad bar and desert bar.

All of the food was prepared by us except the cheese dip, chili and the Boston butt and was served by our friends with the Dixie Shrine Club.

The point of all of this discussion is: The next time you plan a party, lay out your menu well in advance; shop wisely for your food products; prepare some of the items in advance while maintaining safe food handling practices and remember that we are what we eat and everything we eat is a product of agriculture.

For the best definition of tapas, go to www.wikipedia.org .

One last thing…The next time you watch a football game played on natural grass, think about the two main agricultural products there: Turfgrass and the old pigskin