Family Farming at its Best!

As I get older I find myself stopping and reflecting on the many blessings in my life.  Over the Labor Day weekend I had the great opportunity of working on my family’s farm, helping to harvest corn silage. While I was waiting for loads to haul I couldn’t help but smile and thank God for how blessed we are to have our family and our family farm.  We were able to keep moving with the help of a good family friend who helped us for 2 days when he could’ve been relaxing with his friends.  This weekend both of my younger sisters were home helping do chores, feed calves, milk cows and delivering new calves (we had 3 new calves this weekend!).  My mom was busy with her job in town but still made time to cook meals for us and bake us treats.  My sister in law did the same, making us a delicious meal for supper one night and bringing my niece out to the field to watch her daddy chopping corn.  I love my niece, watching her farm girl personality just get ignited by the activities in the field was amazing.  The girl really loves her farm implements.  My 93 year old grandfather drove out into the field on Labor Day.  Watching him smile with pride and joy as his son and grandson farm the very land he and his father farmed together, well frankly that expression on his face was priceless.  I will always remember Grandpa's smile and his wave as I cruised past him.  I will also remember how proud my dad was to make his dad proud, dad was grinning from ear to ear.   Very few professions are linked with this type of legacy and the connection to the generations past, present and future.  It was so great to see everyone working as a team to accomplish the goals of the day. 



Putting silage into long bags for storage for the year.

I love helping at the farm! Watch me haul silage home!

Another great blessing for the day was the beauty of watching the growing crops being harvested for food and feed for the growing dairy cow herd.  Corn silage is the main ingredient in cow diets.  Not to be confused with corn grain, corn silage is the complete plant (stem/stalk, leaves, and corn grain/cob) chopped up into small bite sized pieces for cows.  My brother and dad did an excellent job to get the corn harvested at the correct moisture, and then set the chopper for the correct cut length.  The result is a feed that smells amazing and will help supply very important nutrients for the cows.  Working with nature is such a blessing: planting seeds and watching them grow through the heat, rain, wind, and storms; reaching full maturity to be harvested for nutrition for cows, which produce milk, a nutritious food for humans; it’s a beautiful cycle. 

During our harvest my brother has been an amazing farmer.  He made sure to take breaks for church and rest on Sunday.  He has been planning ahead to have everything ready for the people helping him.  He also made sure that everyone is well fed and caffeinated. Even through breakdown my brother kept his cool, fixed the broken parts and we kept on moving.  It’s been fun watching my brother grow into a really great farmer, and I am very proud of him.  Family and farming is what it is all about and I am so blessed to have been and still be a part of such a great profession!  97% of all farms are family owned and operated just like ours!

Blessed are the Persecuted

It's been a crazy couple weeks: county fair, state fair, farming, and work.  During this time I have been tested more than once for what I believe in, in taking the high road, in being the bigger person.  How often in life we are faced with challenging situations that check us for what we believe in, stand for and truly want to be known for?  I have had more than my fair share of successes and failures in my short 32 years, but one thing I learn over and over again is that I am so much more than my successes and failures.  I have recently used this phrase: "My past with not define me but refine me".   When faced with challenging situations I have tried my best to evaluate all benefits and consequences of my choices, but at the end of the day I have to be willing to take responsibility for my choices no matter what may come.  And then, I learn from those benefits and consequences.  It's the learning part that becomes so critical for growth and I am still a work in progress on that. 

Lessons learned this past week include that some people will hate you no matter what you do.  It's the truth.  It doesn't matter how much I can explain myself or defend myself, certain people will only hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.  I stand where I stand and I am coming to terms that I will upset them for holding true to my integrity and strength.  I have always tried not to outright offend people and be kind, I know I have failed some times, I am willing to admit to those times and take my responsibility in those situations.  In this situation I was in the "right" and just, but it doesn't matter.  The truth for me is that hatred that I feel towards me is real and it hurts.  It hurts when we try so hard to defend what we know to be just, truth, and fair only to be persecuted for it.  I keep playing a quote from Matthew 5:10-12: Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.  Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I will not back down from my stances in life, in fact I find myself more convicted.  Part of that ever growing integrity includes being empathetic to those who do hate us.  So this week have been trying to pray for those who hate me.  Not that they learn to "like" me again, but that whatever they have going on in their lives can be healed by God's everlasting love.  It's a an incredibly humbling experience to pray for those who hate or taunt you.  Today, try praying for those who hate you, you may be surprised by the love and grace you will feel. 

My Passion and Calling

This weekend I had the opportunity to help on my family farm.  While some part of me wanted to be at the lake for the 4^th, once I took my seat in the tractor, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.  I milked cows, I helped care for cows, and I hauled home alfalfa which was stored to make delicious food for the cows.  I worked hard and I sweated profusely in the 90 degree heat but it was the best vacation I could’ve asked for, I was right where I was supposed to be.  I have a deep faith in God and I believe that God calls each of us to a specific vocation to do his work.  From a young age I knew I was called to be a farmer.  As a young woman that seemed like a daunting vocation, but as a maturing woman I know there is no better fit for me. 

Farming is a noble vocation.  It is a vocation of faith and charity.  Farmers grow nutritious food, fuel and fiber for a growing population while caring for the land and God’s creatures, all while hoping for future generations to take the torch and keep on farming.  I am so proud to be part of the next generation of farmers as well as inspiring yet the next generation to follow.  God put cows in my heart for a reason.  God put a love of the land in my heart for a reason.  While hauling hay home I was in complete awe of the beautiful gifts the Lord blesses farmers with.  Farmers see the wonders of nature, capture the glories of life to give life.  Farmers feed people; what an amazing vocation!  Farmers care for the land; what an astonishing responsibility!  Farmers care for livestock; what an awesome duty! 

There is a small segment of the population that possesses the skills and passion required to grow and raise food to feed people and I am so proud to be called to that elite group.  There comes a time in life where you know you are exactly where you are supposed to be.  Where it just clicks.  Farming is hard work and there are difficult days but I would take a bunch of difficult days for just one great day farming.  Farming has never felt “like work” for me.   Don’t get me wrong, it is hard and I am not trying to sugar coat it, but I have always felt drawn to keep on trying no matter what my farming life threw at me.  Farming is my calling and my passion and I will keep on fighting for my vocation, it is God’s work that I am called to do.