Thursday, February 24, 2011

Spring is in the Air

Here in upstate NY, the weather is bouncing all over the spectrum. There is still about 8 inches of accumulated snow on the ground, but the temperatures have warmed to 35 degrees today with about 45 degrees expected on Monday. Snow flurries are still floating but it is going to rain on Monday. Just can't wait for warmer weather!
It is great to finally be able to let the animals out to roam around and gather up some of this sunshine! It makes me feel happy, but reminds me of all the work inside that needs to be done now. Barns to be cleaned, spring cleaning in the house, bedding that needs to be aired on the line, windows that are dirty and on the list rambles.

Needless to say...I am just waiting for the snow to melt enough to show me those spring crocus! The first color! Oh, how I miss the flowers!

This winter has been a roller coaster ride, with everything. So many good days follow by miserable bad days. Being raised a pessimist, it is difficult sometimes to get up that steep side of the mountain but, the new optimist in me says...one bad day will always result in a good day that follows!

Headed off to the Farm Show tomorrow to look at new machinery and implaments! Maybe even get a new hat and t-shirt while I am there. The great thing is, I will get to visit with some of the guys that I deal with all the time on the phone! Always nice to be able to chat with people I know. Can't wait to get a look at some of the other new stuff that is out there in the Ag-world too. I will update on anything that is new and really interesting...and maybe even fill ya in on the new equipment purchases!

Have a fantastic day! God bless!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Where does your food come from?

An excellent topic! Do you know where your food comes from?

Let's see....Cereal, Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Sausage, Oatmeal, Apples, Oranges, Cheese, Yogurt, Milk, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Rice, and the list goes on and on....where does it all come from? All of those things listed and many more are produced every year from family run farms right here in the United States. A little known fact, 99% of farms are still family owned and operated. There are 7,000 of those farms across the United States. Now considering those factors, please watch the video below and remember the next time you go to the grocery store....buy local fruits and vegetables when you can and when they aren't available purchase US products. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARM FAMILY TODAY!

Winter Issues

So, the photo here is the damage done to our barn roof. The tractor is unfortunately, buried under that pile of rubble! Hoping to get it out of there sometime this weekend.
On another note, things were rough around here today. We had problems keeping water unthawed and heat. It was a whole 2 degrees out this morning! It didn't help any that the wind was blowing and no matter how warm you dressed the wind and cold just kept biting. I spent the majority of the day going in and out of the house trying to keep up with all of the issues. For me, today was a complete waste of time. But...the water lines didn't freeze and everything is now warm! So, over all it turned out alright. Things will get back on track tomorrow!
As for some upcoming things, we have been asked to contribute to another blog. One about grassy biomass and I am going to use that opportunity to start establishing the connection between farming and renewable/sustainable energy. I can't wait. I will link to the blog once it is released.
It still amazes me sometimes what a backwoods country hick can accomplish! I sit back sometimes and think about all of those wasted years when I was a pessimist! I know, first hand, how difficult it is to be an optimist but, there are rewards beyond your wildest imagination if you are just open to the possibilities!!!!!!
God Bless! Stay warm and more news to follow soon!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Disaster Strikes!

I shouldn't even be sitting here right now typing...but I needed a serious break from all of the torture going on around here!
Last night about midnight, we heard a crash. It sounded like a really huge chunk of ice falling off something. It was loud. This morning, as I go outside and start doing chores, we have two of the calves in our front lawn. Which, by the way, is nothing new, but it seemed strange at such an early hour. As I began scooting the oldest one back across the road, I happen to notice that something on the barn looks strange.

Realization hit me then.......PART OF OUR BARN ROOF HAD COLLAPSED! I came back in the house to tell Mr. Farmer that he needed to get up out of bed and what had happened. This is just the start of the issues this morning. The part of the barn that collapsed was where we house our tractor. Needless to say, our tractor is now buried under boards, debris and snow. On top of that, we let someone borrow the wood splitter yesterday that wasn't put back where it was found. Then when I tried to get the cows back in the barn...here is the machinery blocking the way for them to get in. The barn door track is shifted and moved now too, so you can't open the right side of the door, because some idiot run the wood splitter into the door when they were taking it out and bent the retainer bracket and shifted the track!
Then we had to borrow the neighboors tractor to move some snow and Mr. Farmer got that stuck. The whole inside of the barn was torn apart by the two loose critter and to top matters off, one of our turkeys got trapped under some falling debris and was killed.
Already, I wish this day was long behind me!!! Everyone in this house is in a horrible mood. It was time for me to take a break! Just to get away and come in and get warmed up!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Anniversaries, Laughter and Happiness

I have friends, pictured to the left, that celebrated their 25th wedding annivsary this last weekend. No matter how many people I have seen celebrate the silver or golden anniversaries...It never fails to amaze me that they have been together for all those years. This past summer, we helped celebrate Mr. Farmer's parents 50th. To watch both of these couples, you would never know that they have been together for so many years.
I have asked many times in the past what the secret was to a long, happy relationship...and I always get the same answer. Give 110%, expect nothing in return, take time for yourself and communicate. I didn't get the chance to ask this last weekend but, I know them both and spend a fair amount of time with them in the summer when they come here to go fishing. They both have things they love to do and then they have things that they do together. Since I have met them, I always hear them laugh and pick on each other. Mr. Farmer's parents are the same. Maybe that is the biggest key...laughter!
Smiles on others never fail to amaze me. When someone smiles, a real heartfelt smile, it is like a light switch flickers on inside them. I have friends who get down on themselves because of scars, being overweight, too tall, too short...but when they smile, they are so beautiful. I don't even think they know it sometimes. I have one friend who is on the slightly heavy side, that was insulted by her own grandfather about carrying around some extra pounds...but when this girl smiles, the world seems to energize around her. She is a stunning beauty. One of the most beautiful women I have had the fortune to know, with a personality that outshines her outer beauty. I have yet another friend, who bashes herself for her weight, that is the same way. She under estimates the power of just being happy with who she is. When she smiles and she laughs, she is the most amazingly beautiful women. Her eyes shine with stars in them, probably from mischief, but they are still there.
I know many others who are the same. They just can't seem to see how much their inner beauty shines through when they smile! Maybe I just have the ability to see them through the camera lens...Maybe I just like seeing the happiness shining in their eyes when they smile and laugh.
Maybe that is just the key to life in general. Laughter and Smiles. The thing you do that makes you feel good inside and with those you love.....
I sit here with a dumb grin on my face now, thinking of the things that make me smile...realizing now that I really do enjoy the little things in life!
God Bless...May you find something to make you smile and laugh today!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

So called winter blizzards...

Well, yet again the weatherman sucks. Just once I wish they could get the forecast right for this area. We were due for a big storm to hit us over the past couple of days...the perfect storm for snow. HA! I beg to differ. We got five inches of snow yesterday and about another two inches overnight. Then today it is actually warm enough to start melting it all already.
I remember growing up when we would get feet, not inches, of snow in one blast. We just don't get that kind of snow anymore and I have to say that I honestly miss those storms. I used to love getting buried under a foot and a half of snow. That was when our family would sit around the wood stove and play games all day long.
These days we get snow and all it means it more work for me to get done. Plowing and shoveling aren't an issue with me. I actually love the exercise. I just wish if it was going to snow, it would snow enough to make it worthwhile!
I have been doing too much thinking lately about some things in my life. Maybe that is the biggest reason why I would actually enjoy the extra work load. I seem to have too much time on my hands to think about those people that I have cut out of my life, but still miss. I don't regret the decisions that I made to get me to wear I am today...I just miss what I once had with my dad and my kids. All the rest, I am glad is behind me and not part of my life anymore. Just a fancy dream of wishing that I still had my daddy around. My daddy who was my best friend for the majority of my life. My daddy that I miss dearly but, I have faith that he knows how much I love him. I know that my children know just how much their momma loves them. It doesn't make the situation any easier, but just knowing that when they lay down at night and think of me, it's happy thoughts like those that I have of my dad..That's how I know that someday everything will change and that broken road will be repaved.
I need about four feet of snow, just to wipe out these sad and lonely thoughts from my head. Maybe another animal or maybe another "project" is in order!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Born Country

Clear creeks and cool mountain mornings. Honest work out in the fields. Corn bread in my mama's kitchen. Daddy saying grace before a meal. Family ties run deep in this home and I am never very far from where I am.
I was born country and that's what I'll always be. Like the rivers and the woodlands wild and free. I got a hundred years of down home running through my blood. I was born country and this country's what I love.
Moonlight and you here beside me. Crickets sarinade in the yard. What more could two people ask for? Laying here in love beneath the stars. Now this is where I want to raise my kids. Just the way my mom and daddy did.
I was born country and that's what I'll always be. Like the rivers and the woodlands wild and free. I got a hundred years of down home running through my blood. I was born country and this country's what I love.
I was born country and that's what I'll always be. Like the rivers and the woodlands wild and free. I got a hundred years of down home running through my blood. I was born country and this country's what I love. I was born country......

Those are the lyrics to an old Alabama song. No song has ever fit my life better than that individual song. The country life, no matter how much hard work involved, is the life I am meant to live. Some people ask why...my only response is that it is the only place I have ever been that I feel safe and secure. Safe with who I am and with what I do. Secure knowing that my neighboors are there for me if I ever do need them. Country is where people don't get wrapped up in the loss of common sense. Where people, for the most part, are still honest. There is no where else on this earth that I would rather be than out in the country where the green grass grows and the sky is still blue, where the trees are green and the fields grow strong. I can honestly say that it doesn't matter what area I live in, though I do love it where I am right now.
Hard work and staying busy keep me from going out of my mind. I really do enjoy every second of caring for our animals, including moving manure. :)
To some, it probably doesn't make any sense but to me it is the only thing that does. I can walk out the front door in my night gown if I want to watch the sun come up, cup of coffee in my hand and no one thinks twice about it. I think my biggest reason for loving the country life is that somehow it makes me feel closer to family that has long since left this earth. The country life is like a warm hug and a pat on the head. With every chirp of a wild bird, every blade of grass reminds me of the most precious time in my life...the days when I got to be with my grandparent's on their farm. I miss them dearly. I remember all of the good times that I had there. Times with my uncles and the dogs, times with my gramps in the barn, times with my gram in the kitchen while she was making butter or cooking a meal, times with my daddy learning how to drive a tractor and ultimately the place where I was safe from the spiteful words of my mother.
Memories constantly surround me like a blanket and a fire on a cold winters day. I feel a connection with the people that I love the most, even if they aren't around.
To those who have gone on to Heaven....thank you for everything you ever did for me, trying to make my life a better one; for showing me that it is better to treat people with respect; and for showing me that God will provide even when we don't think he will. I am so blessed for having you guide my early years in life, for your protection back then...and for the guardian angels that I know watch over me even now. I will always love you with my whole heart and soul...and I know that someday I will get to see you again someday.
As for those that I have left behind when I needed to take back the right way of what my life was suppose to be...I feel sorry for you for not knowing just how peaceful and blessed your life could be if you just let that thing you call control slip out of your fingers. I am sorry that I didn't turn into the daughter that you so desperately wanted me to become, but I am happy with my simple life and that is what truely matters. I am blessed with great friends and family members who love me for who I am under all the "fluff". I am sincerely sorry that you will never understand what true love and friendship really are, it may have helped you during your struggles in life to have someone to lean on. I am sorry that your life was so miserable that you didn't know right from wrong when it came to parenting. I am sorry that the one person you ever truely loved got sick and went to Heaven, leaving you here without her. I miss her too, but she no longer suffers and you know...she does watch over everything you do. She is up there in Heaven with God in a rose garden, with sweet peas growing up the side of the porch where she sits in the shade with her crazy hat on. I think that she would feel sorry that you have locked yourself away from those that could have loved you and someday she will give you the lessons again...but until then, know that you are prayed for everyday. Prayed for so that you will expel satan from your life and get the help from someone. I pray that someday, you will be able to find peace in your life.
I need to move on, enjoy my country life and do the best I can for myself because that is the only thing I have left. I will do just fine, because I know that all I have to do is knock on the door and ask for guidance and I will have my hand held and walk toward the right direction.
I pray for all of you out there to just discover the blessed item of self love through Jesus Christ, my saviour and light in my world. Faith in the unseen is difficult, but believing just means that you are already half way there. God bless you all...and to those who need prays, just look toward the heavens and say what you need to say. He is always listening.