Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Stained Glass Heart by Patsy Claremont

The other day I went to the doctor because I couldn’t sleep. I thought he was going to tell me, that something was medically wrong with me. I was confident when I walked in and I told him straight away that I didn’t want any drugs. I was going to deal with my medical issue in a natural way. He took one look at me and said “I see you are a new mother.” “yes I said” beaming and then he started in about my daily habits, commitments etc.. The reason I could sleep was due to stress. I didn’t feel stressed, I felt great, I felt like I could do anything that needed to be done. The reality of it, is that life can be overwhelming and in the end you may not realize what it means to live life when you are caught up in the commitments and habits. I really liked this books, and when I feel overwhelmed I just take a moment to sit down in a quiet room a reflect on what god has given me and the blessing surrounding me. Take a moment to sit down and reflect with, “Stained Glass Heart”. I wont tell you what you will gain from it, because only god knows what you need right now.




I received this book for free from BookSneeze for this review as part of their blogger review program

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Polar Obsession

I get lost in books, it happens almost every time I pick up a book. I read mostly Non-Fiction or Historical Fiction and dabble in standard Fiction as they get recommended. My last obsession was with the Phillipa Gregory books, starting with The Other Boleyn, which later became a movie. I read every book she has written and I bought a few other books by other authors in that Genre. Needless to say, there were many nights when my husband came home to me drinking wine, reading my books by a roaring fire. I love to set the mood for the genre.



My current selections: Endurance: Shackeltons Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. The adventures of Ernest Shackelton has opened my eyes to the Antarctic climate, wildlife and the human ability to adapt and survive in such a hostile climate. I bought the book after my dad, sister and I visited the Polar Obsession exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We went because it was raining and I feel the urgent desire to surround my daughter (who is 1) in everything educational, plus I love museums. The hauting story of the Endurance Crew brings to mind a brilliant blue background, with the whitest snow and a reminder of being in infinite space. Its scary to me to imagine being without a lifeline and I cant imagine how the crew could trust their leader so much. It has been a long time since I have engrossed myself in the story line of a book but I am now Obsessed with the Antarctic and unknown to me this topic has rooted itself in my psyche for at least the next few months. As Ohio is headed into the Winter months, the snow, cold and downright loneliness of Winter will be a great backdrop for my latest obsession, Polar Expeditions.




Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Child Labor Laws

I ran across an article in Drovers today, about changes to child labor laws in America. I almost overlooked it because the issue of child labor doesn’t affect agriculture. Mind you I know of adults and Children who have been killed while on the farm and education is needed to make farms a safe place to be but some of the best memories I have or learning experiences as we call them are while I was working on the farm.




I remember failing an algebra test in (I believe) 5th grade and having a hard time remembering the multiplication table of 9. My dad tried and tried to teach me that table but I couldn’t get it. I could see he was at his wits end because he and my sister are great at math and I preferred hanging out in the barn. On Saturday morning 7am we headed to the barn to start chores. After feeding the goats, horses and chickens I thought I was free to catch the rest of the Saturday morning cartoons. We did only have 5 channels in the boonies and cartoons came on 1 day a week. Yes, kids this was a BIG deal. But, the tractor fired up and the manure spreader was backing into the barn and I know I still have that stuck-on-stupid look on my face like “why is Dad going to clean out the barn today, by hand, in time for Cartoons, by himself.” The pitchfork was handed to me, Dad took his and with every sweep of manure he asked me what 9 x 1 was, then 9 x 2, etc. If I got the whole sequence correct, I could go inside to the cartoons. We were both pitching by now and I was trying my hardest to get the whole sequence correct and you know what....after time I finally did. Cartoon and cereal awaited and the rest is history. Dad also got quite a few clean stalls; I am really bad at Math! But looking back I can see many times where hard work, determination and a little manure put me in my place. It taught me character or math but if the governments wants to talk to me about child labor in agriculture I recommend they pick up the manure fork because I have a barn to clean.



The article is below, as well as a place to comment so your voice is heard. I know I will be commenting on the article because I want to have my nieces in the barn helping and learning about life because there is a lot that can be learned from barn time.



The article can be found below:
http://www.cattletradercenter.com/news/industry-headlines/Commentary-Changes-in-child-labor-laws-affecting-farm-kids-132994943.html

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Farming Runs in our blood


I grew up on a 50 acre farm in rural Ohio, still Appalachia area or as my husband calls it Hillbilly Hollow. Animals were my friends, there really wasn’t anything else around and that could be why I went to an agricultural college. Now I raise beef cattle which does stray from my origins of goats, chickens, horses, cattle and more goats but I enjoy it none the less. True country folk know the difference between farmers and those people who show goats.. but that is another story for another day. I still love my goats and think they will be gracing the farm any day. Goats are still a few steps above horses at our place. I mean we CAN ride our Herefords and they double as playmates.  Back on topic…easily sidetracked….. but my daughter is super cute with her cows!


 Why Rural? I know there are a lot of very eloquent women who come from the city, marry county men and then declare their allegiance to the country way of life. They wouldn’t look sideways at me! I am a tomboy, wear jeans all the time, sport the classic ponytail and know the calving partition book by memory. However, I am a true believer in being a constant student and am glad to hear more people tell their story about the country life. Who Knows,  I may become better acquainted with the Clinique counter and less acquainted with the barn.

 
Sadie, our cattle dog, doing what she does best! Watching her cows





View from the back porch. Nice!








Thursday, October 20, 2011

No Joke, this is normal for me.

I am not a mechanic, gear head, grease monkey. My husband however is so, we have an assortment of old trucks being giving life again and road ready. However, sometimes I feel like his idea of road ready is not my term of road ready. My daily driver is a 2008 dodge ram 3500 dually (Cadillac of trucks) and his daily driver is a 1991 dodge ram 250o with more rust than paint. ON the occasion of having to haul equipment we switch vehicles and I get the honor of driving the ’91 monster. It never bothers me, I kinda enjoy it. Not today though!


After getting dressed for work, get my daughter packed for a day at Grandmas we head out the door and load up in the truck. But wait, where is my truck, oh yes hubby used it to haul the tractor to get fixed last night. It looks like I am driving the Farm truck a 1991 Dodge Ram 2500 rusted out and the door handle is barely attached.

but that is ok because I love this truck. It is an example of my farming heritage, rugged, dependable and a reminder of how far we have come in pickup truck technologies. I load baby and her bags into the passenger seat still feeling good about my day and happily slide across the seat to the drivers side. Put the key in the ignition and the truck rumbles to a start with the power of the Cummins engine. Press the pedal and away we go…….

Wait no, still sitting here..tires spinning….mud flying… ok well this is a small problem, just step out, lock in the hubs, put in 4-wheel drive and away we go… step out into huge mud pile from mud from day two of the Ohio Rains! Lock in the hubs, now I am muddy, still in a decent mood try to open the door gingerly as I don’t want the door handle to fall off. These things happen, go with the flow right?

Engage 4-Wheel drive lever inside and smoothly pull out of the mudhole, onto the gravel drive and head over to Grandma’s. Now we are on the road to Grandma’s only a few minutes behind schedule but I can make the time up on the commute.

Get to grandmas and the 4-wheel drive mechanism wont disengage. Are you kidding me? I cant drive to work in the city in 4-wheel drive! The feeling of happiness is slowly drifting away…After dropping off daughter, I get backing into truck (I cant even pull the door handle now because yes it is dangling) and mess with the 4-wheel drive mechanism for 15 minutes. Ok now, away I go. Heading to work 20 minutes late but I can still make it. Crusing down the state routes because the dodge cant drive 70 MPH on the interstate, no radio, and left my coffee cup sitting in my driveway still feeling like the day can be salvaged. In the back of my head I have this image of Garfield the cat, telling me that he “hates Mondays”, but its Thursday he doesn’t have any feeling about Thursdays Right?

A few miles from work, my cell rings I am sure it is my husband telling me how great his evening went taking the tractor to get fixed. Nope, my husband is calling to tell me the new truck that he had last night is actually in the shop now because when he was hauling the tractor last night he had it towed to the shop for brake problems and it actually broke a seal and now has burnt bearing, with a major repair needed.

Happy feeling GONE… Dark clouds forming…….

Why did I ever think this was going to be a normal day? In farming, no day is ever normal or predictable. Keep in mind all of this happened before 8am. Who ever said farming is boring never lived at my farm.

Monday, October 17, 2011

quick thought

Somedays the stress of being a responsible adult can become overwhelming and the dynamics of working on a family farm can be enough to drive me crazy.  On those days, I have to stop and remember what is at stake if we give up, not that we ever would. The cattle is the reason I met my Husband the reason our relationship works. Its amazing how much farming is really because part of your identitity and gets in to your blood.
I grew up on a rural Ohio Farm in the middle of nowhere, actually it was Hillbilly country and it was very nice. I knew what it meand to katch crawdads, never wore shoes and my mom made almost everything we needed.  I spent most of my time in the barn playing with the animals or since our goats were "free range" (this isnt a term we used but has become quite popular now) I roamed all over ther farm with them while they grazed.  Animals were my best friends, hay was my currency and animal talk was the dominat languafe. There arent that many farms left and my homeplace is no longer but I remember how great it was to learn the independance of wandering all around the farm, I was never bored and I learned a lot. Today I am glad to give my child the oppurtunity to live the life I knew growing up and no matter what it costs to maintain the farm and cattle, we will do it, not just for ourselves but so our kids can know the true meaning of what it means to be responsible and grow into your own person.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Tasty Tuesday!

Fall is my favorite season and I spend a lot of it in the barn so creating Slow Cooker Recipes are real time savers! Of Course my 18 hour day, does include eating and I am big fan of food. Every Tuesday I will post a yummy recipe from the previous week. The recipe below is from Dad's Birthday supper and it was yum, yum, yummy!

Beef Stew

2# Stew Beef
1 Large Onion
6 potatoes. Peeled and cubed.
6 carrots. Peeled and Cubed.
3 Celery Stalks. Sliced.
3/4 C BBQ Sauce
3/4 C Steak Sauce
3 C Beef Broth
Salt and Pepper to taste.
1. Brown Meat with 1 tablespoon of butter and Onion. Transfer all ingredients to Slow Cooker and cook for 6 hours High or 8 hours Low.
 



Beer Bread
3 C Self-Rising Flour
1/2 C Sugar
1 can Beer

1.Mix flour, and Sugar. Add Beer mix and knead bread until dough like. Bake 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Pour 1/2 C butter over bread. Bake another 25-30 minutes.

YUM!



Thursday, September 15, 2011

Meeting todays Beef Demands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hZBWBs29QkI

Changing Weather

It doesn’t matter what species you are, when the seasons change there is a time where everyone gets sick. It starts with a runny nose, then escalates to a temperature and by the time you realize you are sick it’s too late. A few days in bed, without treatment will assist the cold into knocking you out for a few days but add in some cold medicine, decrease the symptoms and your body gets the rest it needs to recover in a timely manner.  The same goes for cattle, they enjoy the colder months, I mean they are built with a thick hair coat and ability to thrive on forage. But they get colds and they need the same treatment that we (humans) need, so her we are giving a calf some antibiotics due to its runny nose and temperature late last night. As a farmer the animals schedule and needs trump ours every time, it didn’t matter that it was late, supper was waiting to go into the oven at my house or that we had hay to mow. The only thing that mattered was making sure the calf started to feel better. My daughter, 12 months old, being used to the barn sat in her stroller watching us doctor the calf. She didn’t fuss at all and maybe they were talking to each other because as soon as we got home her nose started to run and her temperature went up.  So my daughter and her calf both received attention last night. We had pizza for supper and after an 18 hour day I headed for bed. When I went to bed I felt good knowing that we had helped an animal that it and that its body was getting the much needed rest it needed for recovery. The truth is we haven’t  even headed full on into the season change so I am sure this wont be the last time I get extra barn time this Fall.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

New beginnings



I am exhausted all the time, Fall is my favorite season but the time leading up to Fall can downright knock the wind outta ya. With to much rain here in Ohio we have been fighting to get that much needed third cutting of hay. The orchardgrass is almost to mature so the fight is on to harvest before that happens. To make matters worse the country seems to be in a mess of Natural distasters, wildfires and drought so any hay harvested will be like gold.

Fairs are ending for us, this has been the second week in a row of visiting two county fairs. I love the fair, some people we only see at the fair so this is a very important time. Our heifer, shown above, has been a great girl this season and has turned many heads. I am glad my husband has a keen eye for genetics but it bothers me that once the sale calves are broke to lead and tame we sell them to kids for 4-H projects. I like having the calves around they are always so playful and happy in the fields and just waiting for me to come and pet them. But the time is around the corner for the kids to come pick up their stock and enjoy them the way I have for the last seven months.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Where has the time gone!

I took a break from blogging, as I see it the break was over a year but now I am making an effort to bring my farm to the Internet. According to the farm Bureau over 98% of Americans live off the farm meaning cities and since I am one person in the 2% of Americans living on a working farm, I feel it is my responsibility to let you know how I live and Where I come from. I read a lot of books, everyone in my family are avid readers but lately I have been reading about city women coming into the county and marring ranchers. These women have become famous for their unique way of telling the world about their wonderful husbands and their new found appreciation for farming. Living in a farming community and going to an Agricultural college, the lust and appreciation for farming and our farm men wasn't lost on me. What is a challenge is explaining the lifestyle, the only way of life I have ever known, and how it compares to a life in the city. I am not as eloquent as those women previously mentioned, I have never wore or physically touched a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes so bear with me. Maybe this blog wont just teach you about Where I Come From but will also a window into where YOU Come from!