the value of a gift

I guess I’m still a kid at heart! I love Christmas and I love receiving boxes in the mail! So, when I received my box from my “Secret Santa”, I couldn’t wait to open it!

Thanks to some lovely ladies, my second year of participating in the Christmas In the Country was a success! These gals certainly know how to organize and create a fun activity during the Christmas season! Thank you Laurie, Jamie, Robyn and Erin! You gals are the best! And…Merry Christmas to you – all of you! It seems like the holiday was a year ago already but my Christmas tree and decorations remind me that it really wasn’t THAT long ago (no, I still haven’t taken any of it down)!

So, to give you a bit of an idea of what this is all about, I agreed to be a part of the gift exchange in November. Those gals that I just mentioned gathered names of people wanting to participate (from all walks of life) and then matched us with another blogger. The name I was given was Amber whose blog is, “A Gentle Word“. I, of course, had to visit her blog when I was trying to figure out what to send her and realized that she is way younger than me, has way younger children than me and yet we share some same similarities and life experiences. Her blog was something I needed at the time. Her writing provided my crazy soul with a bit of peace that it needed! I didn’t take any pictures of what I sent to her. However, I did send her an angel like the ones I had made for my girls and for some of my close friends:

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This is my angel.

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Cowboy Church

Today began by attending “Cowboy Church” held at a local horse ranch. Thank you, Dave and Dolly, for organizing this “alternative” Sunday worship which brought us together in a humble setting – a horse barn.

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HHD and The Dirt Blizzard

The flags can attest to the strong winds as we entered. As it was, this was calm compared to what we endured later in the day.

The plan on Friday was for Jim and The Yellow Beast to get back to picking corn AFTER the trip to Husker Harvest Days on Wednesday. That plan was spoiled by the hot temps that made their way back into the region. It was 96 degrees on Tuesday. I tried to justify to him why it would be ok for his taking Wednesday off to make the  trip to Grand Island. “It’s still so early in the fall”. “What? Is it going to start raining now?” “It’s not like the weather’s going to drastically change”. However, because of his strong work ethic all my attempts were met with a strong NO!  I wanted to go. Mark, Candi and Jenna were still planning on the trip, so I decided what the heck?! (One more day to pretend like I have nothing better to do.)

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Moving Through the Montana Prairie

It showered in J Town early Monday night.

Jim and I headed to the field to get the combine moved back to Charlie’s. We didn’t realize the threatening cloud bank was there until we began heading east out of town. Jim kept looking back over his shoulder until it finally got the best of him. “It’s against my better judgment to go any farther”, he said. We turned around and headed back to town. There was NO WAY either one of us wanted to be on those “cow paths” should it begin to rain…especially since our service truck is the only two wheel drive pickup left in this part of the world.

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Lunch and a Cattle Sale


We’re nearly two thirds done with our 2,100 mile trip from Limon, CO to Jordan, MT – back to Limon – back to Jordan.

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As quoted by our 34th President:

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a corn field.”                                 Dwight D. Eisenhower (9/11/1956)

Farmers/Ranchers…the next endangered species?

I’ve been trying to keep up with the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/USFarmersandRanchers). However, every time I go see what’s being talked about, I just get mad!

The following is MY opinion and MY opinion, only!

Why does it make me mad? Because there are a few people and a few anti-ag groups who speak up and, in turn, quiet the voices who SHOULD be talking – the farmer and the rancher. The farmer/rancher’s responses to the questions about food and animal production are oftentimes met with criticism and name calling. Once in a while, there will be enough positive ag comments from the farmer/rancher group the confidence level reveals  the truth.

So, this is what scares me. These food activists and anti-Ag groups will be the ones that will be heard by our congressional leaders. In turn, the governmental agencies who are there to “protect” us will make rules and regulations from behind their desks which will affect all agricultural businesses. We’re already seeing it with the EPA, the USDA and even the DOT. The American producer and supportive businesses simply will not be able to continue to abide by all of the ridiculous rules created by people who lack common sense.

The food activists will yell and scream that farmers are growing and selling unsafe food products, raising their animals in cruel ways, creating more dust than should be breathed, receiving more subsidies than they are entitled to, etc., etc. Do these people not realize that by generalizing all farmers/ranchers into one mold and making unfair accusations they are slowly digging a hole that really shouldn’t be dug? When the backbone of this country is forced from the farm and the ranch, we will be forced to look for our food elsewhere. We will be forced to import more of our food, leaving the safety issues behind. Will we really know how our food has been grown, fertilized, or harvested? We will be at the mercy of an unknown link in our food supply that could be dangerous to our country! When it reaches that point, those anti-Ag people will have created a monster too large to be stopped – the farmer/rancher will no longer be there to put the food on our tables.

What farmer/rancher really wants to grow unsafe food? damage the land that’s been in their family for five generations? abuse animals? The farmers/ranchers I know are in love with the land and their animals. Why would they do anything that would jeopardize their way of life and the lifestyle they love? The farmers/ranchers I know take care of what they have and do it in a way that most Americans don’t understand. How many other businesses do you know put in 12-15 hours (or longer) per day, seven days a week? Get up every two hours to check for new baby calves and bring them in the house if they need warmed? Suffer from drought, lose everything and continue the process all over again in HOPE of a good crop next year? The average American would NOT put their lives on the roulette table and risk everything like the farmer does.

I wish these food activists and anti-Ag groups would make an effort to visit more farms and ranches before they make such untrue and ridiculous accusations! I wish they would think about how their food gets to the grocery store shelves and eventually their tables before it’s too late. There are quite a few agricultural groups supporting the farmer/rancher who are trying to educate the American public. Unfortunately, I think they’re preaching to the choir! We’ve all got a story to tell and I challenge you to start telling that story! Don’t be afraid of the ones criticizing agriculture – speak up now and make them aware of the truth before it’s too late!

Here are a few links that are interesting to me:

http://nebraskafarmer.com/story.aspx?s=54218&c=9

http://usfraonline.org/

http://www.findourcommonground.com/

http://www.advocatesforag.com/

https://www.facebook.com/becomeafanofagriculture?ref=ts

http://www.agchat.org/