Why? ~

Recently I read a great article in Farm and Dairy – “Emotion Trumps Science Everytime~ Farmers need to start with Why” by Susan Crowell

I applaud Susan for such a tremendous message!  I too have always been one to think this.  I believe science is a great resource at our fingertips and we need science for facts and figures to support the things we believe in.  However I also think that when we are out AGvocating that the why we do it seems to always hit it out of the ball park.  This inspired me so much that I decided to write about it and I continued to share my thoughts about it on my personal blogs and others sites I blog for.  It keeps coming back to me and I feel the need to now share with all of you.

Why do I do what I do? Why do I ranch? Why do I AGvocate?  Why do I contribute to this magazine? Why do I blog for so many different agriculture outlets? Probably many of the same reasons many of you  do what you do.

For me it is really quite simple~

• I am steeped in the heritage of my family roots
• I love waking up on the weekend and going with my dad to check cows about to calve
• I love taking my niece- Baby Paige- with me on my four wheeler to feed at night
• I love fixing fence and water troughs – well maybe not love but it gives me the opportunity to be out with the cows and that is what I love.
• I love my ag family
• I love the smell of sweet hay
• I love the smell of cows – really I do!
• I love watching my dad each spring prepare to plant his vegetable garden, order his seeds, start them in little trays and then take them out to grow his own little personal crop
• I love seeing my mom prepare her menus each year as she takes food to us during branding time!
• I love the industry I have grown up in and feel it is my obligation as a fellow farmer/rancher to share my story with all who I can engage in conversation.
• I love caring for the animals, taking care of the little ones when maybe they cant get it done on their own
• I love warm baby calves on the floor of my truck on cold nights
• I love baby sheep bleating in a big box on the floor of my living room by the pot belly stove waiting for me to feed them
• I love waking up on a farm when the sun is shining and there is a crisp dew on the ground and I take it all in and appreciate the beauty of it all
• I love going to bull sales with my dad
• I love meeting fellow agriculture enthusiasts from literally around the entire USA
• I love all the cows lined up on the “cow trail” walking to the water trough in a perfect line like they are on a mission
• I love feeding hay on the back of the flatbed as my brother drives and taking time between fields to sit on the hay and admire the beauty of it all
• I love to eat – too much at times – and because of farmers I am able too!
• I love watching my young friends take so much pride in exhibiting at the county fair and me being on the sidelines cheering them on.
• I love cowboy boots – I have all sorts!
• I love car hart jackets and gloves and ball cap kinda days
• I love the heritage of 4-H and FFA and what it all means
• I love my county fair and my fair family that continues on now into adult hood.
• I love my dear farm and ranch friends for helping me become my best self.
• I love it cause it feels good to share my love of all of YOU , my farm and ranch friends.

I love it because I do not know anything else this is who I am, who I have become and who I will continue to be.  I am dedicated to the industry I love and to each of my fellow farmers and ranchers.  For I owe it to them to share my story, I owe it to them to show them it can be done, hopefully empowering them to tell theirs and do the same. 

It’s all quite simple – when someone asks me why you farm/ranch. Why do you do what you do? Why do write about your thoughts and experiences?

My answer – because I LOVE it and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

That’s why! 

I LOVE what I do and for that I am THANKFUL ~ Thankful for all of YOU who have made an impression on who I am , who have taught me , helped me , been my friend!

~~~~~~~~Wishing all of my blog readers a Blessed Thanksgiving Holiday~~~~~~~~

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

You've Got a Friend in Me

I have been blessed in life with a swarm of friends !  Since I have a small family my friends have become an extension of my bigger circle.  They mean the world to me and I think it is very important to tend to them properly.  So today I thought why not mix it up a bit and jot down a few tips on what I think is an outline for being a good friend.  With the help of “How To Live Like a Lady” by Sarah Tomczak I have created a list:  ( because being ultra-anal I like lists)

Tips on Being a Good Friend

• Phone when you say you will
• Always remember their birthday
• Don’t tell their secrets
• Don’t be judgmental
• Always be a shoulder to cry on or a place of celebration
• Return what you borrow, cleaned and in good condition
• Don’t gossip about a friend behind their back
• Let them sleep on your sofa if they miss their flight, the train, has a fight with their spouse or too tipsy to drive home
• Don’t comment on their weight unless of course they ask you
• Don’t copy a girlfriends style – create your own
• Help with job applications, moving to a new home and planning their kids birthdays

What are your tips to being a good friend?  Lets share them!!

My friends are a blessing in my life~ not sure what I’d do without them !

I love you more and cherish you more than you will ever know !

Cheers to each and every one of you !

Thank you for adding that special sparkle to my life!

A Sense of Family ~

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be a guest on Rural Route Radio broadcasted on the Plains of America and through the Midwest. I love when I am asked to be on radio, it is really a lot of fun. ( in my other life I will be a radio host) Anyway, yesterday we talked about family and it got me thinking about what makes a family so I thought I would blog about it.

For many if you ask them what is a family they would more than likely say mom, dad and kids. Thinking I am probably right in thinking that way but many of us might not have kids or only have one mom or a dad but not both due to divorce or death or some other circumstance.  And what about grandma and grandpa? Some have gone before us , some of us are lucky to still have them. And then there are aunts and uncles and cousins.  I believe that there are no rules to family it is what you make it , it is who you connect with and who you love.

Do you have to be blood related to be family? No way! I believe some of us have friends that are like family and I believe agriculture is the cornerstone for many of these “family” relationships. Within the last year or so I have met numerous people I know and  consider them part of my bigger “agriculture family.”  Many of these folks have the same beliefs and appreciations as me . Do other industrys have this same family type connect?  What about the automobile industry, the health field, insurance and banking industry?  I am thinking probably not.  Why? I believe that we in agriculture are tied to the land, the fabric of America in all the farmlands across the USA and I am so lucky to be a part of a bigger picture.  I believe we can count on each other to lift us up when we are having a bad day or offer advice on issues happening in one community in middle America might be happening in the south – we have similar problems and similar successes. We are knitted together with the bond of agriculture and the love of the land and the animals and all the other things that go along with it .

So I ask you – what is your family?  It doesn’t have to be the traditional mom and dad and kids, it is the ones you surround yourself who support you , love you and wish for you to succeed.  May all of you enjoy a blessed 2012 with your “family.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And for those of you that follow me just for fashion fun – here is todays Fashion Friday segment on Rural Route Radio – Take a listen and always eager for feedback!

 http://www.rodeoattitude.com/facesofag/2011/12/30/the-power-of-orange-on-the-last-segment-of-2011/

See Y’all Next Year  (hee hee I love saying that)