Visiting Sioux Falls

One amazing fun thing about blogging is the opportunities we have to learn, travel, and connect with other bloggers. Truly one of the biggest perks of my job!  

Not only do we get to connect with other bloggers, we get the opportunity to meet others who play a vital role in our food industries and to visit amazing places and learn about things we are passionate about including all things food!

It’s no secret that, based on the amount of bacon found on this blog, I’m a big fan of pork!  Pork is one of our favorite proteins to prepare from a lean and juicy perfectly roasted pork tenderloin to  fork tender Crock Pot Pork Chops.

Thanks to the National Pork Board, I recently I had the opportunity to be a part of the Pass the Pork tour. We were lucky enough to visit Sioux Falls, South Dakota and learn about pig farming first hand as well experience some amazing food (and BACON)!

 

Thank you to our friends at the National Pork Board for sponsoring this post!

Sioux Falls is a gorgeous little city and so much fun to explore, great shops downtown, lots to see and everyone we met was warm and welcoming.

A stroll through the park allowed us to stop and take in the falls and take tons of photos, so pretty. 

On our first evening in town, we headed to the Stockyards Ag Experienace Barn, I wish my daughter had been with us! 

Such a cool interactive place for kids and adults alike to learn about agriculture!

While we were there, we had the opportunity to experience some incredible appetizers including pork tenderloin lettuce wraps which were amazing (don’t worry, my own version will definitely be appearing on the blog sometime soon)!

That evening we had a dinner where we got to meet some of the farmers we would be visiting the next day as well as people from Pipestone Systems to learn a little bit about what we would be seeing the next day as we visited the pig farms. And we capped the night off with a bacon apple bread pudding, truly heavenly!

The next day we really got to learn the nitty gritty about pig farming.  I have to admit, it was nothing like I’d expected!  

If you really don’t know much about pig farming (and before this trip, I really didn’t) you’d be amazed at how advanced the farms really are!

The technology was mind blowing to me, each sow at the farm is tagged and closely monitored to ensure she’s optimal health, even the amount she eats is regulated by her ear tag and the farmers are alerted if anything is out of the ordinary.  Everything from regulating air temperature to monitoring their diets is regulated by computers. 

There are vets and nutritionists on site to ensure the well being of the animals. 

It was truly an incredible experience to hear the farmers speak and to see first hand, their passion, not only about caring for their animals, but about the end product and creating a sustainable farming environment.

We were fortunate to get to see several little piglets being born (in fact, my friend Meseidy from The Noshery even helped deliver some of them). We had the opportunity to snuggle the little new piglets (well more like hold them while they squealed but I’m going to go with snuggle).  

Additionally we learned all about the different stages of growth.

 

On the final day we spent the day learning about the different cuts of meat (I think this was my favorite part). 

It was amazing to watch a chef explain the cuts of meat and where exactly they came from.

Pork is definitely a staple in our diets and I loved having an understanding of what each cut was. You can find more information here about the various cuts of pork!

And what kind of pork tour would be complete without creating the ultimate feast!

Our visit to Sioux Falls was ended by creating a magnificent feast with all of the beautiful cuts of pork we’d learned about!

Sioux Falls is a lovely and welcoming city to visit. There are tons of amazing places to eat and beautiful sites to see!

Be sure to stop by Pork.org for more recipes and information on pork and pork farming!

I am excited to have partnered with the National Pork board to share this experience with you.  While I was hosted in Sioux Falls and compensated for this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own.  Working with great brands I love allows me to keep bringing you the great recipes you love!