Despite the challenges and frustrations that come with farming – or maybe because of them – I cannot imagine going back to the lifestyle we had before farming. A friend of mine once told me, "the deeper the love, the deeper the hurt". It's kind of like the physics law that states "every action has an equal but opposite reaction". With farming, the greater the challenge, the greater the joy. The challenges we face provide contrast for the joys we experience.
I watch Dan greet each cow with an imaginary name as she comes back into the barn. He then waits until they're all tied up before going around the barn looking for Dinah, our oldest cow, one of our most cherished cows, and the only one he recognizes. He finds her and proclaims, "Dinah, my favorite!" Every day his greeting is the same, and I am reminded this is why I farm.
A kitten climbs up into the stroller to nap on Monika's lap. She tries to say "kitty". And I know that she, too, will learn to love and respect all God's critters the way her brother and the generations of farm kids before her have. This is why I farm.
I stand guard at the gate while Glen brings straw to the heifers and the heifers come to me, waiting for their turn to have their ears and polls scratched and I think to myself, This is why I farm.
When we started farming, nearly five years ago now, some people thought we were crazy for choosing farming over the good, salaried jobs we had. This was the response I sent to one of them:
Hard work is what we grew up with and what we enjoy. We choose to farm because we enjoy spending the day with the people we love most in this world, taking naps together, eating our meals together, feeling fulfilled, making a difference, not answering to anyone but ourselves, solving our problems and making our own decisions, living and working in the open air, and experiencing the miracle of life on a daily basis; and for the million other reasons why farmers are called to this profession.
Is it hard? At times, yes. Is it unbelievably rewarding? 99% of the time. Without challenges in our lives, we cannot fully appreciate the rewards.
I have never felt more fulfilled, more purposeful than I do now.
These words have never been truer; this is still why I farm.
Why do you farm?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
This is reality
There are never enough hours in the day to finish everything that should be done; something will have to wait until tomorrow. Some of tomorrow's to-do's will be pushed to the next tomorrow. And so it goes. The list never ends.
There's never enough money in the checkbook to do everything that could be done.
Learn to be self-satisfied, because, at the end of the day, nobody's going to say 'thank you' or 'good job'.
The days are long, but the years are short.
This lifestyle is not for sissies.
If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger.
There's never enough money in the checkbook to do everything that could be done.
Learn to be self-satisfied, because, at the end of the day, nobody's going to say 'thank you' or 'good job'.
The days are long, but the years are short.
This lifestyle is not for sissies.
If it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Dinner is served
I'm a big fan of stove-top suppers. I tell myself that I could save time by using the crock pot more or by assembling a casserole in the afternoon to be baked while I'm outside doing chores, but I don't. Most of the time I rely on easy stove-top meals. We eat a lot pasta (prepared assorted ways) and stir-fried vegetables and meat with rice. Here are two of my favorite stove-top recipes:
Taco Skillet
Serves 5 – Ready in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients:
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 (1.25 ounce) envelop taco seasoning mix
• 1 cup taco sauce or salsa
• 1.5 cups water
• 1.5 cups uncooked instant brown rice
• Optional: 1 15-ounce can refried beans
• Optional: 1 10-ounce can petite diced tomatoes with or without chiles
• shredded taco blend or co-jack cheese
• shredded lettuce
• sour cream
Directions:
Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain. Stir in seasoning mix, taco sauce, water (use the water to rinse the taco sauce jar!), beans (if using) and tomatoes (if using). Heat mixture to boiling; stir in rice. Boil 1 minute; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 8 minutes. Fluff mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 2 minutes more. Serve with lettuce and sour cream. Leftover taco skillet is great wrapped in a tortilla.
Cheeseburger Pasta
Serves 4 – Ready in 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 1 can beef broth (or 1.25 cups water + beef bouillon)
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 cups uncooked whole wheat penne pasta (or other medium sized pasta)
Directions:
Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain. Add soup, broth, milk, water and ketchup. Mix well (a silicone whisk works really well for this if you're using a non-stick pan). Stir in pasta. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until pasta is tender.
Enjoy dinner!
What's your favorite easy meal?
Taco Skillet
Serves 5 – Ready in about 30 minutes.
Ingredients:
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 (1.25 ounce) envelop taco seasoning mix
• 1 cup taco sauce or salsa
• 1.5 cups water
• 1.5 cups uncooked instant brown rice
• Optional: 1 15-ounce can refried beans
• Optional: 1 10-ounce can petite diced tomatoes with or without chiles
• shredded taco blend or co-jack cheese
• shredded lettuce
• sour cream
Directions:
Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain. Stir in seasoning mix, taco sauce, water (use the water to rinse the taco sauce jar!), beans (if using) and tomatoes (if using). Heat mixture to boiling; stir in rice. Boil 1 minute; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 8 minutes. Fluff mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 2 minutes more. Serve with lettuce and sour cream. Leftover taco skillet is great wrapped in a tortilla.
Cheeseburger Pasta
Serves 4 – Ready in 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 1 can beef broth (or 1.25 cups water + beef bouillon)
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 cups uncooked whole wheat penne pasta (or other medium sized pasta)
Directions:
Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain. Add soup, broth, milk, water and ketchup. Mix well (a silicone whisk works really well for this if you're using a non-stick pan). Stir in pasta. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until pasta is tender.
Enjoy dinner!
What's your favorite easy meal?
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Memories
On Friday, Dan found the video tape of our wedding day on the shelf in the office and asked if he could watch the "new movie". I obliged. I'd never watched more than the first couple minutes.
Dan was pretty excited to see all of the people he knew in the movie, and asked if he could go in the movie. The movie was bittersweet for me. It warmed my heart to remember all of the joy of the event and see all of the people who celebrated with us. I wept, though, when I saw my grandfather in the video. This was the first time I'd seen him since his death almost exactly a year ago. Maybe Dan found the video when he did for a reason.
We didn't finish the video until Saturday morning. Then, at noon, we got a phone call from my sister saying my dad had been brought to the emergency room with some sort of amnesia. He had no short term memory (kept repeating questions), thought the year was 2004 and couldn't remember anything from the past five years — including his grandchildren. By the time I had the kids ready and the car packed for the trip up north, the results of his EKG had come back normal, but he still couldn't recall any recent memories and was still repeating himself. Talk about scary! Just the thought of Dad not remembering Dan and Monika made my insides curl.
We're still up north now. Dad was discharged this afternoon. The CT Scan of his brain came looked normal, with no evidence of a stroke (one of the suspected causes) or brain trauma (the other suspected cause, since one of the panels on his squeeze chute fell on his head last October, hitting him hard enough that Dad said he could feel his brain bounce). His memory started to return by about 4 p.m. When we arrived at the hospital at 9 p.m. he recognized the kids and knew Monika's name was spelled with a K. He didn't remember the 45-minute conversation we had on Friday night, but after I told him he recalled that we'd talked about how to fix one of the stall dividers in the barn.
The doctor isn't sure what caused the temporary loss of memory. It turns out both my grandfather and my dad's uncle had similar experiences in the past, but family history doesn't help us make a diagnosis. It could have been transient global amnesia, a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss that can't be attributed to a more common neurological condition, such as epilepsy or stroke. Or it could have been a very mild, mini-stroke. Dad will be following up with his regular doctor this week to run some more tests. Regardless of the cause, Dad's condition was extremely frightening for him and for all the rest of us. It was a stark reminder that memory is not something we should take for granted. Take care of your brain!
Dan was pretty excited to see all of the people he knew in the movie, and asked if he could go in the movie. The movie was bittersweet for me. It warmed my heart to remember all of the joy of the event and see all of the people who celebrated with us. I wept, though, when I saw my grandfather in the video. This was the first time I'd seen him since his death almost exactly a year ago. Maybe Dan found the video when he did for a reason.
We didn't finish the video until Saturday morning. Then, at noon, we got a phone call from my sister saying my dad had been brought to the emergency room with some sort of amnesia. He had no short term memory (kept repeating questions), thought the year was 2004 and couldn't remember anything from the past five years — including his grandchildren. By the time I had the kids ready and the car packed for the trip up north, the results of his EKG had come back normal, but he still couldn't recall any recent memories and was still repeating himself. Talk about scary! Just the thought of Dad not remembering Dan and Monika made my insides curl.
We're still up north now. Dad was discharged this afternoon. The CT Scan of his brain came looked normal, with no evidence of a stroke (one of the suspected causes) or brain trauma (the other suspected cause, since one of the panels on his squeeze chute fell on his head last October, hitting him hard enough that Dad said he could feel his brain bounce). His memory started to return by about 4 p.m. When we arrived at the hospital at 9 p.m. he recognized the kids and knew Monika's name was spelled with a K. He didn't remember the 45-minute conversation we had on Friday night, but after I told him he recalled that we'd talked about how to fix one of the stall dividers in the barn.
The doctor isn't sure what caused the temporary loss of memory. It turns out both my grandfather and my dad's uncle had similar experiences in the past, but family history doesn't help us make a diagnosis. It could have been transient global amnesia, a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss that can't be attributed to a more common neurological condition, such as epilepsy or stroke. Or it could have been a very mild, mini-stroke. Dad will be following up with his regular doctor this week to run some more tests. Regardless of the cause, Dad's condition was extremely frightening for him and for all the rest of us. It was a stark reminder that memory is not something we should take for granted. Take care of your brain!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Re-tethered
A couple weeks before we started farming, my cell phone died and I lost five years' worth of phone numbers. I was peeved. Cell phones were a lot more expensive than they are now, so instead of buying a new one at full price I decided to go without until I was eligible for a free phone. In the meantime, we started farming. It didn't take me long to realize that I didn't need a cell phone anymore. Glen was the person I called the most and now he was working right beside me 24/7. I cancelled my plan (and still had to pay the early termination fee after five years of being a Verizon customer because I'd signed a two-year contract 22 months before). Glen surrendered his phone when he left his position with the Department of Ag as well. So we went from being cellularly tethered to the world, to free (in a nonconformist sort of way) in a matter of weeks.
Honestly, I loved not having a cell phone. I loved not being bothered while I was working. I loved the greater sense of privacy that came with being unconnected. And I loved seeing the look on people's faces when I told them "no, I don't have a cell phone". Our families thought otherwise, but they learned to leave messages the old fashioned way and wait for us to call them back. Besides, if there was a serious urgency, they knew where to find us – in the barn.
Fast forward a couple years to our first year in Melrose. Dan was a couple months old when we hooked up the cattle trailer and traveled up north to bring a load of heifers down. On the way home, the trailer blew a tire on Highway 371 just south of Fort Ripley. Thankfully, my sister was traveling with us and she had a cell phone. The other fortuitous event on the trip was that Glen's brother and his family happened to be driving home from Pine River at the same time. They found us stranded on an approach. Glen and his brother took the car to get the tire fixed (there was no spare). The rest of us – me, Dan, my sister, my eight-months-pregnant sister-in-law, and my twin nieces – piled into the truck with all of our luggage to wait.
To make a long story short, we made it home just fine, albeit a bit later than we expected. One thing was clear, though, by the time we got home: we needed a cell phone. In our cellular society, nobody stops to help stranded motorists anymore because everyone figures everyone else has a cell phone which they've already used to call for help.
So, in the interest of traveling safely with an infant, I got a TracFone. It was a good compromise between being tethered and free. Very few people knew my number and I only used it while traveling.
Then, while we were putting up our second crop of hay this summer, Glen announced after making his seventh trip to the house for a phone call that he needed to get a cell phone before the corn harvest started. Much to his brothers' delight, Glen got a cell phone. (If I had charged his brothers a quarter every time they had told Glen he needed a phone, we could have paid for the first month's service.) We did some figuring and decided that if we cut our long distance usage in half, we could justify the added expense of the cell phone.
The cell phone has definitely saved Glen time and steps. Now, instead of coming to the house to grab a bite to eat, he calls the house and asks if I can bring a sandwich out with me. Or, rather than coming to the door, calls to ask if I could come watch a gate. I found myself calling the cell phone from the house, too. Well, this wasn't helping us reach our goal of less long distance used; in fact, it was costing us double to call each other.
We did some more figuring and now I, too, have a new cell phone. After nearly five years of eschewing the technology, I am once again tethered to the world. I've learned a lot in my five years without a cell phone, though. Like most of our society's conveniences, when used responsibly and in moderation cell phones can indeed make life a little easier. Just don't expect me to answer every time the phone rings.
Honestly, I loved not having a cell phone. I loved not being bothered while I was working. I loved the greater sense of privacy that came with being unconnected. And I loved seeing the look on people's faces when I told them "no, I don't have a cell phone". Our families thought otherwise, but they learned to leave messages the old fashioned way and wait for us to call them back. Besides, if there was a serious urgency, they knew where to find us – in the barn.
Fast forward a couple years to our first year in Melrose. Dan was a couple months old when we hooked up the cattle trailer and traveled up north to bring a load of heifers down. On the way home, the trailer blew a tire on Highway 371 just south of Fort Ripley. Thankfully, my sister was traveling with us and she had a cell phone. The other fortuitous event on the trip was that Glen's brother and his family happened to be driving home from Pine River at the same time. They found us stranded on an approach. Glen and his brother took the car to get the tire fixed (there was no spare). The rest of us – me, Dan, my sister, my eight-months-pregnant sister-in-law, and my twin nieces – piled into the truck with all of our luggage to wait.
To make a long story short, we made it home just fine, albeit a bit later than we expected. One thing was clear, though, by the time we got home: we needed a cell phone. In our cellular society, nobody stops to help stranded motorists anymore because everyone figures everyone else has a cell phone which they've already used to call for help.
So, in the interest of traveling safely with an infant, I got a TracFone. It was a good compromise between being tethered and free. Very few people knew my number and I only used it while traveling.
Then, while we were putting up our second crop of hay this summer, Glen announced after making his seventh trip to the house for a phone call that he needed to get a cell phone before the corn harvest started. Much to his brothers' delight, Glen got a cell phone. (If I had charged his brothers a quarter every time they had told Glen he needed a phone, we could have paid for the first month's service.) We did some figuring and decided that if we cut our long distance usage in half, we could justify the added expense of the cell phone.
The cell phone has definitely saved Glen time and steps. Now, instead of coming to the house to grab a bite to eat, he calls the house and asks if I can bring a sandwich out with me. Or, rather than coming to the door, calls to ask if I could come watch a gate. I found myself calling the cell phone from the house, too. Well, this wasn't helping us reach our goal of less long distance used; in fact, it was costing us double to call each other.
We did some more figuring and now I, too, have a new cell phone. After nearly five years of eschewing the technology, I am once again tethered to the world. I've learned a lot in my five years without a cell phone, though. Like most of our society's conveniences, when used responsibly and in moderation cell phones can indeed make life a little easier. Just don't expect me to answer every time the phone rings.
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