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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!