Getting Back to Family ~ Guest Post from Trent Loos

Today we are going to take a break from fashion to talk about one of my other loves – FAMILY

I have had the grand opportunity to meet a lot of folks in this industry who have made an impact on me  – Trent and Kelli Loos and their three girls Libbi, Lindsi and Landri are the epitome of a family unit. I was lucky enough to spend a week with them last summer and I fell in love with their way of life in Nebraska .  They are all that is good….. simple, hard working, committed to the betterment and future of our industry.  Trent writes for the High Plains Journal, you can find him here at www.hpj.com .

I felt so strongly about his most recent article that I asked if I could use it as a guest post today – and he obliged. So sit back and take a gander at this one – its good !!!  For I believe that with the love and commitment of family everything is possible ! Someday I hope to venture out and check out the Hutterite way of life , not sure I will need to worry about packing all of my “fashion stuff” but I know for one thing that I will come away with a different appreciation of what is real and true in the world.  Thanks Trent and Kelli for opening your home to me and introducing me to your lovely way of life – You are the real deal ! 

~For sometimes keeping things simple will get us where we need to go in the future ~

 

Today is same as yesterday on a colony By Trent Loos

There is no question that our society is ever-changing and after my last week's trip north of the border to Starbuck, Manitoba, I am reminded that not all of our changes are for the better. I spent two tremendous days with a couple of Hutterite colonies near Starbuck, mostly the Starlite Colony. If you are not familiar with the colony structure, simplified it is basically 100 people living together that operate as a large family farm.

"Good night, John-Boy." Does that bring back memories for you? Even though the Hutterites do not live under one roof, it brought back the whole concept to me of the way life used to be in the United States. Three generations living under one roof, each gaining and learning and leaning on the other. What happened to those days?

A new study from the University of Illinois says that over a 10-year period 8.3 million seniors (about 14 percent) in the United States face the threat of hunger. From 2001 to 2010, the number of seniors experiencing the threat of hunger increased by 78 percent, according to the study. Since the onset of the recession in 2007 to 2010, the number of seniors experiencing the threat of hunger increased by 34 percent.

In fact, the numbers say that one in seven seniors face the threat of hunger.

I don't need to tell anybody about the decline in the economic conditions outside of the farm economy in the past three years. If you truly look at the big picture, isn't the issue that we have ventured too far from the core of how we are meant to survive--by having our family members close in a time of need?

In fact, it just hit me that even my cows tend to hang in cow family units. Ironic, isn't it, that the animal that survives with basic instincts rather than social pressures still clings to the concept of a family unit.

With all of the statistics and numbers that I can throw at you, this one hits me the hardest.

In 1965, 93 percent of all American births were to women with marriage licenses. Over the next few decades, the percentage of babies without a father has risen steadily. As of 1970, 11 percent of births were to unmarried mothers; by 1990, that number had risen to 28 percent. Today, 41 percent of all births are to unmarried women. And for mothers under 30, that rate is 53 percent.

We all know that what we grow up with tends to be what we accept as the norm. So while I am romanticizing the Waltons, nearly half of the kids born today don't even have the benefit of a father and a mother under the same roof.

You would think that this election year, where the rhetoric flows freely about how to improve life in America, that at least one person would latch on and say: "The problem we have today is that we have ventured too far from the family unit. We need to get back to the family unit and most of our perceived problems will go away."

Nope. Instead we discuss and propose such things as gay marriage being the norm. Look at the poor developing nations where survival from one day to the next is top of mind, they still have strong family units. I suppose that a fair number of you are shouting, "Trent, the Bible says that wealth is the destruction of what is really important."

So back to where I started with the fact that we all need reminders about what is truly important in life. I, for one, am thankful we still have folks like the good families on the Hutterite colonies in Canada and United States that have not veered one bit from centering on God and family for the future as well as our past. Perhaps if we all return to that value system, we can help restore the strength and stability of our great nation.

Eager to find out more about Trent Loos – check him out !!!!

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information atwww.FacesOfAg.com, or email Trent at trent@loostales.com.

Date: 6/11/2012