The project wind down

 Hey buggy friends!!!!

We have some last few fun little updates before we close out the semester and consequently, our project.

First off, at the conclusion of our project we presented in the Student Research Conference here on campus. Our group printed a poster with all data research, analysis, and conclusions. We were able to talk to several groups of people from the school as well as from the public. 

To conclude our capstone class we will present over our project as a whole including our teamwork and work ethics that made the completion of this project possible. 

Finally we got the opportunity to cook cricket flour chocolate chip cookies for Earth Fest on the Truman State University Campus. During this festival we talked to several students about insect protein, the sustainable future and about how good the cookies taste! 

The cricket flour we used is available for purchase off of Amazon. CHIRPS: eat bugs. 

Thank you to all who kept up with us on this journey and hopefully everyone was able to learn a few new things. I know we did!!

There will be one more post covering learning objectives and group dynamics and last final huzzahs!

Survey results

         Hey there buggy friends!!

As we are winding down our project we have finally come to our survey results. 

    DRUM ROLL PLEASE........

Overall, our survey and video as well as in person presentations were able to shed a positive light on the consumption of insects. When asked questions such as familiarity and comfortableness with eating insects and diets with insects, people were less apt to respond in a positive manner towards the consumption of insects and their incorporation into ones diet BEFORE the presentation or video. A total of 166 people took our survey and according to those results, AFTER the survey we were able to help participants become more comfortable with the idea of insect consumption. We were also able to raise awareness on bug farming and the ethical and sustainable option that is bug consumption. 

Project update!!!

 Hey buggy people!

    Today we want to talk about project updates. In the last post we explained the project survey that we sent out and we finally concluded that and  have results. We had a total of 166 survey responses at the time of data analysis and the data will be explained in a post by itself. 

Our mealworm population was harvested and left to freeze for a couple weeks before we turn them into a flour product that ca be used for consumption. After harvesting the mealworms we were able to inspect the larvae and beetle populations. Currently we have 80 beetles that will soon be reproducing in order to continue a breed/harvest cycle. 

One fun thing we have done in hopes of destigmatizing entomophagy is hand out samples during  AG WEEK! We bought FDA approved cricket flour and made chocolate chip cricket flour cookies. The flour is available on Amazon if that is something that is of interest. We feel it is safe to say our cricket cookies were a hit! 100% GONE! 

Project data and student research conference information will be available in the next publication 

As always..... STAY BUGGY🐛🐛🐛🐛

Lets talk project updates and presentations

Hey BUGGY PEOPLE!!!

Today I want to talk about presentations. 

So far we have had the opportunity to present to 3 clubs on campus, ECO, Save the Bees, and The Wildlife Association, as well as one freshmen level course AG 100. 

These presentations include a brief precursor survey for participants to gage current thoughts and feelings on entomophagy and assessing backgrounds of participants. Following this we presented our slide show about entomophagy, its benefits, the state of the future of agriculture, and our current process of raising mealworms. After we concluded the participants took a post survey to say if their ideas or feelings had changed any or not towards introducing insects into an everyday diet. 

The same survey was sent out school wide to Truman State University students and staff. We currently have over 100 participants. 

The results and further updates will be coming to the blog at a later date!!! 

As for our little mealy friends we've had to make some housing changes and adjustments. 

Mealworms should ideally have housing that is ~80 degrees F and 70% humid to live their best mealyworm life. In order to achieve this we have added moist paper towels sprayed with DI water (distilled) as well as spraying the sides of their tub. This, as well as being placed and a warm greenhouse environment has allowed us to get the humidity levels to a desired percentage. 

It has also come time to pick out pupae from the mealworms. 

Now, the pupae are the final stage of growth before becoming the full grown adult Darkling Beetle. 

In comparison to mealworms they are stouter and milky white . They also do not eat or defecate during this stage. Their soul purpose, growth. 

We currently have 42 pupae and 10 beetles. 

We are now waiting for the ideal time and population to begin harvesting mealworms to be turned into flour and later.....COOKIES!!!!

Stayed tuned for more updates and as always,

STAY BUGGY🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛

FBLA and more info

 Hey buggy people!!!

We had the opportunity to present our project to the high school FBLA contestants in Kirksville. We had two time slots to present toa total of 20 kids. This was a great opportunity to practice and get some entomophagous info out there. 

Some new additional information we want to share is this link to a source to learn more about entomophagy and its relationship to the sustainable future. 

STAY BUGGY!!

Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security https://www.fao.org/3/i3253 e/i3253e.pdf

Project updates and NEMO AG SHOW!

 Boy Howdy do we have a long update today!!

First off......THE MEALWORMS ARE IN. I REPEAT. THE MeAlWoRmS ARE IN!!! 

We successfully got all of our supplies and began constructing the living quarters for the mealworms. These structure is a three tiered shelf with drawers. The top drawer is dedicated to the Darkling Beetle, aka the adult. The bottom of this drawer is decked out in mesh liner so that all the fertilized eggs drop through the holes to the second shelf where they can incubate in peace. After the incubation period and the production of the larvae, the mealworms will be scooped out and placed int he third tier. Each drawer is housed with grain substrate for living and consuming as well as potatoes for food. We also constructed our model system (same as described above but miniature) for events like the NEMO AG SHOW which we attended over the weekend!

THE NEMO AG SHOW!! Our group took and presented our miniature model tier system at the show. There were no mealworms present but we compromised and used fake bugs :) We got the opportunity to talk to the public about both raising mealworms and their opinions on eating bugs whether that be for fun or for a dietary supplement. Safe to say we got mixed feedback BUT ALL FEEDBACK IS GOOD FEEDBACK during this project! Simply being able to hear opinions about entomophagy is the starting point to education and later to change. 

We are so excited to get the mealworm rolling on this project and surveys will be out soon to determine the likelihood of incorporating entomophagy into daily lives of students and faculty/ staff at Truman State University. 

Stick around for more updates and as always.........STAY BUGGY!!!🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛

Let's Talk Goals AND Project Updates

Kickstarting any project is good with a strong set of achievable goals. For us, these goals are attendance and accountability as well as reaching 150 people with our surveys and in-person discussions. These goals are a good way for us to follow up with each other and to hold each other accountable! 

In addition to setting objectives, we have officially begun. The required materials for our project, such as oats, plastic bins, lights, cleaning fluids, brooms, etc. have been ordered and once they arrive it is go time! As soon as the products arrive we will be updating our Instagram (@THE.BUGFARMERS) and blog appropriately. 

Stay Buggy!