Honored

It was announced on Thursday evening. "...And the winners of the 2010 Florida Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award are....from Jefferson County..." I think he said our names then, but I didn't hear it. I just heard him start to say Jefferson, and I knew it was us. Tears filled my eyes, I put my hand over my mouth like I was Miss America or something, and I just leaned my head against the Farmer.

I could believe it and couldn't believe it all at once. It is one of those things that you hope will happen, you work incredibly hard for it to happen, but you just can't guarantee it will happen...so then when it happens, you are surprised, you are humbled, you are grateful.

People congratulated us, hugged us, told us we deserved it. We thanked them of course. But I sincerely knew that the couples we competed against were deserving too. The farm families around the country are also deserving. In my opinion, no one works harder than America's farmers and ranchers. So while our names were being called Thursday night, I couldn't help but think of all the names that weren't being called-- the fellow farm families who put food on our tables, just as we do.

We go on to the American Farm Bureau Federation National Conference in January to compete against all the other state winners. It will be an amazing display of a few thousand cowboy hats, Wrangler jeans, bedazzled purses, and a lot of farm talk. We will present our farm, our accomplishments, our goals, our contributions to the industry. Then a man will step up to the microphone and announce, "The winner of the 2011 American Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award goes to..."

As they say, somebody's gotta win, right?

To read the press release click here

Time for Tony Tuesday

Saturday was shot day...the Farmer, who is petrified of needles, had to give Sweetums a shot in the hiney. I was wondering to myself if I should accompany him outside for moral support (Lord knows I wasn't going to offer to do the sticking! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt back in 2000...I guess I'll have to share that story one day)or if I should just stay inside, think happy thoughts, and pretend that I lived in the city and had a huge shopping spree planned for that afternoon at the mall that is 5 minutes from my house. That is my secret fantasy and what sometimes gets me through hard times.

Anyyyyyywayyyyyy....

The shot was given. Tony gave us the instructions to give her the shot on Saturday so she'd be in heat by Tuesday when he makes rounds. I was on heat watch yesterday, and I was happy to report to the farmer that there was some activity with #425. (Let's pretend Sweetums has a tag in her ear that has the number 425 written on it, OK?)

Work with me people!

Today is Tuesday and we have Tony confirmed for noon time. Since Sweetie has to be in the front half of the pasture when he gets here, I suggested to the farmer that we simply leave the situation as is after the morning milking. "As is" means that Sweetie is left up front (with Peanut the goat since he has taken to spending nights with her rather than his 2 annoying brothers and 1 rather cantankerous bull-calf)and Bit-Bit and the 2 goats are left in the back half of the pasture. "As is" would also therefore mean that Bit-bit would not enjoy his morning coffee until after Tony left, since he is separated from Mama... are you following me here?

Things were left "as is" for approximately 5 minutes.

Ever seen a nursing baby who wants to nurse be in the same room as his mother? The baby cries. The baby fusses. They do this until they are nursed. And there is no way around this.

I couldn't stand it. The mooing was incessant. And my windows are open today, so it was really loud and I just can't take mooing, my own baby crying, and 2 kids talking my ears off. The farmer was gone, so as I like to do, I took matters into my own incapable and accident-prone hands.

Never fear, Heidi lives here!

Heidi put food in Sweeties bin, which attracted her back to the milking stall which allowed me to open the gate, which allowed Bit-bit to run through, which allowed me to then close the gate, which allowed for all the animals to be in the front half of the pasture, which allows for Tony to be able to do his thang as quick as possible, which allows the farmer to not have to do this when he gets home, which allows me to be able to write a blog post that has turned a really short story into a really long one and to say, "I did it!" Ha!




This is one big baby! Kinda reminds me of when I saw a 3 year old kid nursing one time in a grocery store.




She still licks him and gives him a good bath...he is 7 months old and she seems to love him more and more :)

Well, rats!

The sad news is that Sweetums has had a miscarriage. In the animal world, it is really called an abortion. But I just feel weird saying that, so I'm going to keep saying miscarriage. Tony came today to confirm it, that she is indeed "open". Now we do the shot to induce heat, and then Tony comes back, and then Tony comes back again...and then maybe one day I'll be writing a post about Sweetums being pregnant once again. In the words of my Granny, "It is what it is!" And that is all I have to say about it.

Grain Sorghum (or for you midwesterners...milo) Harvest

I still count on my fingers every now and then. And when it comes to determining how far along we are in our farm year, I like to start at April as month #1...and then count on my fingers until I get to December (so that is 8 months).....and then divide that in half (so that is 4)....and then count on my fingers again from April till I get to four...AUGUST! And we are at the end of August, soooooo.... we are half way through the farm year. We are hot and heavy into harvest. We have green peanuts up to our eyeballs, almost done with grain sorghum, and pretty soon we will start dry peanuts. But I wanted to share the milo harvest photos with you because I love love love harvest photos. (and if you love them too take a look here) I love the way something looks when it is ready to be picked and then I love watching it be picked....and then I love seeing the empty field....and then I love knowing we are closer to fall and closer to holidays and closer to the farmer having family time...anyhoo, lets get to the photos.





Ooops! How'd this one get in here? (But just for the record, Gannett calls this "a big huge piggy back ride")

One Call That's All...

Right after you have a baby, you are 100% positive you never want to do that again. As time goes on, you forget....your malfunctioning brain tells you that it really wasn't all that bad...the pain, the sleepless nights, the worrying, the guilt, the upside-down house and the days without showers...that didn't really happen to me, right? Oh nooooo....it was wonderful! So wonderful, infact, that I think I want another one! And there you are, right back in the middle of a crazy house, teeth that haven't been brushed in 48 hours, people eating frozen food 3 meals a day, and no orientation to what day of the week it is.

No I'm not pregnant.

But Sweetums may be!

Yes, I am going through it all over again. I am willing to endure, just one more time, what it takes to get this lady pregnant and then deliver another beautiful calf. I know, I know....crazy! But honestly, I don't think it was that bad, was it?

She was showing some signs the other day and so at breakfast I said to the farmer, "Should we call Tony?" And within a matter of minutes, Sweetums had a 12:30 date with her old flame, Tony the AI tech. She was very glad to see him. It had been so long, after all. And he never even called her last time!

It was all the same protocol as last time...and it was over within minutes and she was back to eating. Tony said, "Oh, by the way, the semen comes from a bull named Dale. He's one of the most used bulls for Jersey semen in the country." Please remember Tony is in his 70's. He is quite the character. I like him and appreciate his line of work.

But then Tony made me mad.

He said "You're gonna want to get rid of that calf. He's nothing special, just a ho-hum bull. You're not gonna want to use him for breeding." Whoa whoa whoa. Stop everything. Do you mean to tell me that that there calf is nothing special? Those are fightin' words my friend.

Apparently bulls are bred to be bulls. You know, for genetics and all. So since he came from a dairy that was trying to breed high quality females, and not males, he isn't necessarily that great of a male...because his genetics weren't meant to be the best bull... are you following me here? I didn't think so. Just trust me on this one.

Anyhoo, I'm still not that on board with Tony. I'm like any mamma...very protective of my babies. And when someone calls my baby ho-hum! Well, you're pretty ho-hum yourself if you ask me!

But Tony has always been extremely complimentary of Sweetums. Even folks on AgTalk have told me she is an exquisite Jersey. So we're all good there...

Ho-hum....seriously?

I'll let you know in 3 weeks if we are to have another March calf or not. 7 year old daughter is already planning to show the calf at the Fair in November 2011, so here's hoping!

Back to the weekly article...

My favorite time period to read about in American History is the late 1800’s. I love the stories of pioneer life and what life was like on the new frontier and how the west was won. I love to read about a time where people worked hard because they had to. If you didn’t work hard, you simply didn’t survive. Neighbors helped each other, challenges were faced head-on, and no one expected life to be a bowl of cherries.
I have just finished Laura Ingalls Wilder’s last book, The First Four Years. She tells about the first four years of her marriage, while they still lived in the Dakota Territory. It is an amazing account of what farmers were willing to risk in order to make a crop. There were constant threats of wolves attacking their livestock, storms ruining a crop in a matter of minutes, and disease overtaking animals and people. There were no fences, no weather.com, and no commercial vaccines or pesticides. Life was hard, to say the least.
For a moment while I was reading the book, I felt guilty because I too, am a farm wife, but because of modern conveniences, didn’t think I had too much in common with a farm wife from long ago. After all, I rely pretty heavily on technology during my day to cook, clean, and communicate. And I have a grocery store, the internet and central heat and AC. But then I got to thinking about the similarities… I help the farmer as much as I am able; I make a hot meal at noon-time and call it dinner; I let the youngens get dirty and explore the woods; I am even willing to go to the extent of protecting my livestock from danger (anyone remember my snake story?); I worry about having a “bad year” and pray for the crops to thrive; I take chances on investing in crazy animal adventures; I learn to accept the good and the bad about farm life, and I also grow to embrace the realization that farming is not merely a job, it is a lifestyle.
I saw all these characteristics in the life of a farmer’s wife from way back when, and I was pleased as punch to know that some things just don’t ever change.

Must See TV

This video is absolutely considered required viewing...

It is basically the message that the farmer and I try so desperately to get across to people. Thanks so much to a great fellow leader in Agriculture, Erin, for sharing this with me...if you are in the central FL area and need a photographer, visit her site !