Philosophy Sunday

First things first, had a frog in my washing machine while I was mowing the yard. I put in a load of clothes in before I went out to mow the yard. I asked Matt to put them in the dryer when they were done. I came back inside after getting rained out of mowing the yard and Matt told me there was a frog in the washing machine. Notice I said a frog IN the washing machine, not there WAS a frog in the machine, but that he had got it out for me. Nope he left it in there until I got back inside. This frog made it through an entire wash cycle alive and well! It makes me feel really secure about how clean those clothes are! So I know two things about mowing the yard.

      1. There is or soon going to be animals, that I don't want, in our house.
      2. It will rain before I get the whole yard mowed. Hence the reason there's about 5 different heights of               grass in the yard.

This week I spent a lot of time helping work cattle for my parents. As I've said before every cattle producer does things a little bit differently. My mom doesn't like putting implants into her calves. There's a market for implanted calves and there's a market for non-implanted calves. It depends on the producer to decide which option they want to take and what works for them. My parents have decided that non-implanted works for them. Therefore, we spent the week giving shots (to prevent sickness), castrating the bulls, ear notching the ears (for identification purpose) and putting fly tags in their ears to prevent flies. Flies are really bad for cattle. When cattle are fighting flies, it means they aren't eating. When they aren't eating, they aren't gaining weight. When they aren't gaining weight, they aren't being efficient with the resources they are being given. Also, they can get infections in their eyes and cause problems. Fly control is very important to cattle producers.

Another big event this week was the Jackson Heights FFA Alumni Tractor Drive. This, in theory, is ridiculous. What happens is farmers bring their tractors, pay a registration fee, then use their diesel to go on this drive. The drive consists of all the tractors registered following each other around. Our drive was 25 miles long and took approximately 3 hours with 2 stops. Sounds ridiculous right? Well, farmers LOVE doing it. There are some people that drove for 3 hours just to come to this tractor drive. It's a great fundraiser for our alumni chapter so that we can continue giving scholarships to the seniors and supporting other chapter activities.

One of my biggest mentors and role models in life is my FFA advisor, Mr. Paul Lierz. (For those of you that don't know, FFA used to stand for Future Farmers of America. It's now the National FFA Association. FFA has over 500,000 members nationwide and over 8000 in the state of Kansas. It's an organization you can be in during high school and there are a few Collegiate FFA Chapters as well. It was and is by far my most favorite student organization to be involved in. Look up their websites to get more information. (www.ksffa.org for Kansas FFA or www.ffa.org for National FFA.) Anyway, Lierz has always been a huge supporter of mine. He encouraged me to run for offices, compete in different events, get outside my comfort zone, but most importantly showed me just how overlooked simply having an incredibly great role model is. I was his first State FFA Officer Candidate (after 20 some odd years of teaching) and he supported and got me help for an intensive and rigorous interviewing process. When I wasn't successful in getting an office, we did the whole thing all over again the next year. When I again didn't get an office, he encouraged me to get involved in different things and not to give up because of a failed attempt to get an office. Lierz is a very philosophical person as any of his students should know by Philosophy Fridays in his class. (Hence the name of this blog).

I had the chance to visit with him Saturday at the Tractor Drive. I'm always amazed at the wisdom I come away with. He has the ability to make you think deeper about your life and the true meaning behind life. Lierz makes you want to really set goals for your life and work hard to accomplish those goals in life. The first day of every class you take of Lierz's starts with "Lierz's Philosophy of Life". In it he teaches student that life doesn't start on certain birthdays. For example, many people really look forward to being a teenager and wish away those years before, then when you get to be a teenager you want to be sixteen so you can drive, then when you get to sixteen you want to be eighteen so you can vote, then you want to be twenty-one so you can drink, then on and on and on and on it goes. Wishing away our lives, waiting for "the" birthday where life will really begin and be great for us. Lierz teaches us not to wish away any time in our lives, but to really live each year, not to keep waiting for "the" year.

This past week was the Kansas State FFA Convention. (Look up www.ksffa.org to see some video from the event.) It's a big deal where a lot of FFA members converge on Manhattan to compete in different events and be awarded for their accomplishments. There are normally a ton of great motivational speakers. Lierz was telling me about one message of one of the speakers and I thought it was appropriate to share in this very philosophical blog.

This speaker attended several events nationwide. At the smaller events he had all the letters in the alphabet on cards. He would give each attendee a letter and explain that they would have 10 minutes to use their letter to make as many words as possible. Atendees would get excited about this challenge until he handed the letters out and some got the q or x or z. Letters that are difficult to make words out of. Then they would get discouraged and decide they weren't even going to try to make an effort. Well, one event he was asking a student that had a q how many words he had made. He was shocked when the student replied 39. The speaker asked the student how he had done that with a q. The student replied, "Well, you can't make very many words with a q, but if you put your finger over the tail on the q, the q turns into an a and you can make lots of words with an a." What would life be like if we all thought like that rather than being discouraged when life hands us a q. What letter has life provided you with this week and what have you done with it?

Farming is a lot of time like this. Sometimes farm life hands you an "a" one week. All the projects get done, the cattle get to grass, planting done, etc. Other times farm life hands you a "z". Nothing gets done, you find dead cattle in the pastures, the crops all need sprayed, etc. It's what we do in each one of these weeks that define what kind of person we are. Matt likes the saying, "Attitudes are like flat tires, you aren't going anywhere until you change it."

Not sure where all this philosophical stuff came from this week, probably from seeing Lierz, but every once in a while everybody needs a little reminder about attitude. There is ALWAYS someone that has it worse. Probably somebody right down the street. Take time for yourself. It's a great thing we live in the country, 2 miles from our nearest neighbors. Mowing the yard has become "my" time. I get my iPod out, put it on my favorite playlist, turn it up really loud and sing my heart out. (I'm not a great singer). But, that is my time to be with me and me alone. It's a time to reflect on what I've been doing, what I have done wrong recently in my marriage, how to improve that. It's not a time for me to be planning what I need to get done and when (it probably should be), but mowing the yard is simply a time for me to reflect with myself. I don't think it's made me any better person or wife, but I enjoy the time. I encourage you to find a time like this to have "me" time. I'm sure all you moms out there know that WAY better than me. Find a time to love on yourself, forget about what you haven't got done and simply enjoy. Feel blessed for the fact that you have a mower to mow the yard, a yard to mow and a life that you are continuing to live. Some don't have near that much! I'm so utterly blessed and forget so often.

Anyway, go make your favorite chocolate chip cookies this week. Can't go wrong with any of those recipes. (I always use the one on the back of the butter boxes-that's how awesome my cooking skills are). If you need help tasting any of them, let me know!

Have a great and safe week. Starting to storm at our house tonight. Be safe when out and about. Listen to weather warnings and get inside! Don't forget about your pets!

Beef Month

Very big blog to read! Don't miss this one! Couple things to start off...May is Beef Month! Awesome month to celebrate what we do for a living. Second, I've been meaning to do a blog like this, but I'm being prompted by Matt's sister, Melissa. It fits in great with this month being Beef Month. This blog is going to be devoted to beef and how it gets from our farm to your plate and a few of the differences between natural, organic, grass fed, etc.

Cattle are ruminant animals. They have four stomach compartments. There are only a few ruminant animals. They include cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, deer, elk, giraffes and camels. We are able to utilize a lot of our Earth because of ruminant animals. We, as monogastrics, are unable to utilize a lot of the Earth's vegetation. Ruminant animals, such as cattle, are able to convert this unusable land into high quality protein and milk products.

Moe (Melissa is called this because Matt couldn't say her name when he was little, so he started calling her Moe and it stuck) asked me to address cattle's natural diets. When told that most cattle are finished on a ration including corn, people balk saying corn isn't something cattle would naturally eat. I think the following picture does a fairly good job of dispelling that fact. Those cows in the background you can see came over as soon as they saw this cow was getting a treat. It's like candy to them. Cattle can eat too much of it and get sick just like humans do when they eat too much stuff.

Producers spend a lot of time and money figuring out the best ration for their cattle. As I've explained before, producers have to figure out an economical solution (so they can stay in business), but since it is their life they figure out a solution that is healthy for their cattle. Our source of income is from these cattle. Sick cattle don't pay. That's why we spend so much time and money ensuring that the cattle are healthy, being fed a balanced diet and have proper shelter and water. It's getting close to summer in northeast Kansas. We've had a few days over 90 degrees. It's important for our livestock to have shade to stand under and an adequate water supply.

Now to discuss natural, grass-fed and organic beef. Okay to be very honest with you I know very little about the guidelines for the different types. So to the internet I went.

http://www.explorebeef.org/beefchoices.aspx

This is the website I primarily used. It had a lot of good information on it and would encourage you to visit it.It's structured the same way I'm going to structure my explanation. I'm just going to give a summary of what they explained in detail on their website.

GRAIN FED BEEF:
The most common type of beef raised and harvested. These cattle finished on a grain based ration. They spend approximately 4-6 months in a feedyard being fed (normally twice a day) a ration including either corn, soybeans, milo, distillers, wheat. This is usually mixed with some hay or silage. Many people prefer their meat is fed a grain based diet shortly before harvest. When this is done, the meat is much more tender and juicy giving the consumer greater satisfaction.

NATURAL BEEF:
There's a couple different pieces to this. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service will allow beef to be labeled natural if the meat doesn't have any

• artificial flavor or flavoring
• coloring ingredient
• chemical preservative
• any other artificial or synthetic ingredient or 
• the product and its ingredients aren't more than minimally processed.

What you have to keep in mind is that these guidelines are ONLY for AFTER harvest. It has nothing to do with the way the animal was raised which means the producer has no control over this labeling of natural. It's simply how the meat is processed. Most meats are considered natural by government standards.

The other piece to this is a newer piece. It's the piece that the producer has control over. The naturally raised portion. USDA published a voluntary standard for naturally raised livestock in January of 2009. This allows for third-party verification. So what does naturally raised mean? Well, by the definition that USDA Agricultural Marketing Service certifies it means that the cattle have never received 

• growth promotants 
• supplemental hormones
• have never been administered antibiotics and 
• were not fed animal by-products. 

A lot fewer animals can meet this certification. If cattle get sick, they are normally given antibiotics. If they aren't given these they normally die. A lot of producers use growth promotants and hormones.

GRASS FED BEEF:
This refers to how the cattle were raised. As is pretty obvious in the title, these cattle are fed grass only. Most cattle spend a large majority of their lives in pastures eating grass.The difference is in the finishing stage. To be certified grass fed beef the animal remains on the grass and forage diet their entire lives rather than being moved into a feedlot operation. USDA published certain standards and guidelines that must be followed to have their cattle considered to be grass fed beef. They must be fed a grass and forage diet for the animal's entire life. This is in exception of the milk consumed prior to the calf's weaning. It is very, very, very difficult to produce a lot quantity of grass fed beef. This is due to the seasonality of grasses. Grass-finished beef is normally more expensive and some of the grass-fed beef sold in the U.S. may be imported from countries with more temperate climates. Remember, whenever you push for more regulation or want more of this type of beef, it may have to be imported. When products are imported, consumers have little to no say about how that animal is raised. Some countries have different standards for their certification program we have. That could be better in some cases, but a lot worse in others.

ORGANIC BEEF:
The meat that is labeled certified organic must be from cattle that meet USDA National Organic Program livestock requirements. Any of the previously explained types of meat can qualify for the organic program. The standards for organic beef include...

• cattle must be fed certified organic feed, but may be given certain vitamins and minerals
• Cattle may not be given growth promotants or receive any antibiotics. Any animal that is treated with antibiotics to ensure its health is removed from the National Organic Program.
• Organically raised cattle must have access to pasture. They may be temporarily confined for specific reasons. (Most cattle in the US meet this requirement. Most of the cattle raised in this country are in pastures for a majority of their lives.)

So that gives you a little about each type of beef. I had to do research because I was unsure of the different guidelines and criteria to be considered for the different types. The following website has some more information about beef and a lot more statistics if you would like more information.

http://www.explorebeef.org/CMDocs/ExploreBeef/Choices%20of%20Beef_Final.pdf

I was reading on one website (don't remember which one), but it was saying that there is room for all the different types and ways of raising and processing beef. The meat raised in the US is safe and healthy for us to consume. However, I encourage you to research thoroughly with several different websites, books and actual live human beings before believing anything you read about any of the different methods. If you want to eat just grass-fed, that's your choice. BUT, make sure you understand what you are supporting, know why you are supporting it, and don't believe, just because you read it on one website that cows don't naturally eat corn. If you want to see that that is a plain lie come visit us any time! We'll show you just how crazy those cows go for something that's like candy to them. Research what you're supporting and if you still want to only eat grass-fed beef, great! Just know the facts not just one websites version so they can push whatever it is they are selling.

Other things I need to address in this blog...take time today to remember and honor the fallen military men and women that have given the ultimate sacrifice for us. You've read before freedom is not free and I'm extremely thankful for those people that are willing to risk it all for strangers that they've never met. Also, remember the loved and lost ones in your own families. Take time to reflect on just how short life is. Enjoy all those barbecues that are happening across the country.

And last, Matt and I got a puppy this week! She's about 9 weeks old and an Aussie/Blue Heeler Mix though several people have told us she is going to be a very big dog. We're hoping to train her to be a cow dog! My sister in Abilene found her for free. So in honor of that we named her...Abilene! I know, I know, I'm possibly the least creative person in the world. We all have to have our strengths and creativity and running aren't mine.

She goes everywhere with me. This is when she's on the floor of the tractor playing with her cup. 

I looked down the next second and this is what I found. She sleeps a lot! And she sleeps very very soundly.

Apparently she decided she this was more comfortable then the seat?

I'm excited about how she watches the cattle. I think she has a lot of potential if trained correctly. 

Look closely in Matt's arms. Yes, that is Abilene riding a horse with Matt. Like I said she's with us most of the time.

Recipe for the week: 

In honor of beef month it should be something to do with beef right? There isn't much that is better than a grilled steak. My father-in-law and husband are pros at making a wonderful grilled steak. Matt likes to get steak on our very occasional date night. He always lets me have a little bite of it and every time I ask him why he gets steaks when we go out because he can make a much better one at home. I can't tell you how they do it other than put the steak on the grill and when it comes off it tastes amazing. 

The following website is the website for Beef:It's What's for Dinner. They have some awesome recipes ideas and great tips to help you get the perfect cut at the grocery store all the way through grilling it to perfection. So go look up the type of meat you're having and have fun grilling.

http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/recipes.aspx

Have a great week and enjoy the family time!

Life is Busy!

My goodness life is busy! Which is why I'm going to have to apologize and beg for your forgiveness because I don't have a blog prepared for this week and don't think my brain is going to function enough at this time of night to do one. I apologize. I've been working on a really great blog about beef since May is Beef Month. It is yet to be complete though, and rather than hastily finish it I will post it next week. Look forward to learning all about beef next week.

Hope you all have a great week! Again, I'm really sorry about not having a blog done.

Lucky Girl

Most important in my blog today...Happy Mother's Day! Take time today to honor the mothers in your lives. Moms in general are the most selfless human beings. I don't know how they do it. Just a few that I would like to give an extra shout out to are my mom, my mother-in-law, my grandma, Estella (Matt's Grandma), Kristen (my sister), Jenny, Melissa (both Matt's sisters) and Dora (Matt's brother's wife).

I saw a Facebook status this morning that said, "Thank you Mom for giving me life and then proceeding to let me keep it despite everything I did growing up." I am notoriously bad at gift giving and having the gifts on time. So to the mothers in my life, you won't be getting a gift on Mother's Day. Maybe by fourth of July?

So a little tribute to a couple of the moms in my life. First, my mom. So I've seen all these statuses of people's moms being the best moms in the world. Well, my mom isn't perfect like these moms supposedly are. My mom has faults. My mom is an actual human being and human beings make mistakes. The thing that sets my mom apart from the rest is the amount of love she has for her children. She works more than any human being I know. However, she ALWAYS has time for her children. If I call while she's right in the middle of getting a calving cow in that's having trouble, the conversation may be very brief and a touch on the yelling side, but she calls back later, apologizes for being short with me and listens to whatever it is I had to tell her. Usually, my emergencies that I call to tell her about have fixed themselves by that time, but it's the thought that counts. For example, yesterday I called her when our lawn mower ran out of gas. I'm 22 years old, married, living in our own house, 20 some odd miles away from her house, but who's the first person I call to fix the problem? My mom. So Mom, thank you for not being perfect. Thank you for pushing us to be involved in things, thank you for raising us to be adults that people actually want to be around, thank you for teaching us to work hard, thank you for teaching us the wonderful lifestyle of being on a farm and thank you for being my mom because despite the yelling matches and disagreements we have and will continue to have, I can't of asked for a more perfect mom for us three girls then you. I love you.

Next, my mother-in-law. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law. Margaret is so thoughtful in everything she does. She always has food for us, always has the ingredient that I don't have when I'm half way through making a recipe, always willing to help clean, paint, stain or do any other home improvement project. It's so wonderful to be so accepted into a family so shortly after being married, thanks in large part to her. She's an amazing person that deserves a day of rest and pampering. Which I hope she gets from her other children since I'm awful at gift giving. Thank you Margaret, for everything you do for me and I'm so grateful to have you for my mother-in-law.

To our sisters and sister-in-law-thank you for allowing us to be a part of your children's lives. They provide us such wonderful joy every time we see them. You guys are great moms and we look forward to watching your children grow up to be wonderful people (just like their favorite Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Matt).

So happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers in the world and the mothers in my life. One more very special person that I would like to appreciate today is my grandma. Yesterday was her 101st birthday. That's right 101! Maybe I should listen to her when she tells us to take care of our skin. As with anyone that age, we ought to be listening to what they are saying and writing their stories down.

My oh my I'm a lucky girl. I really do mean that though I say it with just a hint of sarcasm. So last week I started telling you about our mouse problem. Well, just about the time we think they are gone, ants show up! I don't know what it is about these animals, but our house is NOT going to be their home! Matt sprayed the kitchen (where all our problems are) and around the outside of the house before we left to go work Saturday morning. Hopefully that will deter the pesky little devils. I started to mow the yard again, but got rained out. I'm not liking how these critters keep telling me to mow the yard. But every time I do it seems to solve the problem, so we'll how it works out this time.

This week we finished up a lot of the planting. This is a picture of the planter getting filled. Each of those white boxes is filled with seed. The green wagon has bulk seed in it. Matt (in the white shirt) is using an auguring system to get the seed from the green wagon into each of the white boxes. Technology has come so far. I'm trying really hard to get action shots while things like this are happening. However, sometimes this may not be a great idea. While I was taking this picture, the cord that runs the auger got run over and ripped the wires off. Luckily Matt is such a great and wonderful fixer of all things and got Humpty Dumpty all put back together again, but I got a dirty look that something broke while I was taking a picture. I told him it was very important stuff I was doing!

I LOVE storm pictures. Storm pictures, not storms! I love storm pictures even more when there is agriculture involved in the photo. My phone doesn't do this justice. It was a beautiful sight!

If you squint your eyes just right, you can see two drills running. We were trying to beat the storm to get this drilled. We were drilling a mixture of grass, peas and sudex. The cows will graze it when it comes up. The goal is never to have to feed cows hay. In our climate that isn't feasible, but by drilling things like this, it makes it a little easier.

We started a stream bank project this week. This includes a LOT of work and heavy equipment. This is the scraper and the hoe behind it. A lot of soil has to be moved and relocated. The hoe loads the scraper, then the scraper takes the soil to the other location to dump. Then something else pushes that soil into a ditch or levels it out. A lot of work and a lot of man power goes into fixing this.

This is just a farther away picture of the scraper and hoe. 

More storm pictures. 

My recipe of the week is pumpkin butterscotch muffins. This is a really bad picture, but they are very tasty. I got this recipe from a friend of mine. My grandma loves them so I made them for her birthday and mother's day gift.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins:

1 package yellow cake mix

2 eggs

1 package butterscotch chips

1 can pumpkin

Mix it all together and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Happy Mother's Day! Hope you have an awesome week!

Mouse Hunting

Good evening! Sorry this is a lot later than normal. Such a beautiful day and I haven't been working very much this week so I used the weather to get some stuff done.

It's been a very interesting week. We had our niece, Autumn, with us most of the week. She came on Tuesday and went home today. She spent a couple nights here and a couple nights at Momma's (my mom) house. She is such a bundle of joy. Matt and I are definitely not ready for children yet, but are so blessed to have wonderful nieces and nephews. Matt and I have decided we want to be debt free before having children. Is they aren't ever going to have children running through your mind? Or maybe if I wanted to be debt free I shouldn't have married a farmer? Yeah, we've discussed these things too. Have to set goals in life to get anywhere in life, right?

I know this is a long ways away, but this is my mom and Autumn shopping. Autumn had to have the little cart, but then grew tired of it so Mom ended up pushing it around the store. 

Farm girl, Autumn has no problem riding horses or being around animals. 

Or being a pretty girl with pretty manicured nails.

This is Matt's birthday breakfast. Dr. Autumn was checking Matt out to see if he was going to make it to his next birthday. 

Things went downhill fast and he had to go lay on the couch. He had to see three different doctors before he made a miraculous recovery and slipped out while his doctor was busy playing with her crayons.

Autumn and JJ running across the driveway. She had her hat on backwards and to the side. Such a cutie. 

She's had to feed the horses at Momma's. 

Matt's birthday was on Friday. We had a birthday supper for him with our parents and his grandparents. We got him an ice cream cake. Yep, that's right and ice cream cake. I have a 24 year old child who has to have his ice cream cake on his birthday.

Now to the most interesting part of the week. Our house is overrun with mice! We had a problem around Christmas, but got them cleaned out, but they are back! I was dealing with them fairly well until they got on top of the counter. We have sticky traps, the old fashioned snap traps, traps that they crawl in then can't get out. We have everything! Unfortunately, we think that these are the mice that made if through the Christmas hunting and are a lot smarter! They are tricky little devils and not very particular about what they eat. They ate our bananas! We're going to call first thing in the morning to get somebody to come fix the holes. Lots of cats and dogs have been offered to us to get rid of them, but we want to fix the hole they are coming in. We have a deck around our house so it's going to be more difficult to find it, but we'll get if fixed! 

I hadn't mowed our yard yet and it was getting kind of tall.  I got that taken care of tonight so I'm hoping the mice see that and realize that people inhabit the house so they need to get out! That's a sure way to get rid of them right, mow the grass? I wish.

A lot of people are enjoying this time of year for mushroom hunting. Matt and I aren't mushroom hunters. The family that Matt bought the house from got stuck while mushroom hunting. We went and pulled them out and they gave us some mushrooms for thanks. Matt cooked them. Autumn and him really liked them. Me, not so much. So my recipe for this week is mushrooms!

Mushrooms (The way Matt cooked them):

Whisk an egg and milk together. Immerse the mushrooms in this, then coat them in flour. Then he fried them in our electric skillet in oil. There is probably more healthy ways to cook them, but fortunately we don't have to worry too much about that. 

Hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for reading! Give me suggestions on how to get rid of these mice!

Planting Time

What a wonderful week! We got most of the corn in the ground. All we could anyway; the rest of the ground was too wet. Now it's raining! Always a blessing. We really like when it rains and then the sun pops out the next day. We're calving the Herefords we just bought right now and my mom is calving so the rain is much appreciated for the crops, pastures and ponds, but it's very nice to get sun soon after the rain for the baby calves so they don't get pneumonia or get sick. I thought I would focus on planting for the blog topic this week.

As I've said before, the price of inputs for farming are very expensive. Making sure that we use them effectively and efficiently is very important. The GPS and Auto Steer we bought last fall is important in making sure that happens. Each kernel is put where it's supposed to go and covered with just the right amount of soil to make it grow the best.

Each white box on the following picture has seed in it. Each one has a system below it with rollers to drop the seed in the ground and then covers the seed up. If one of those rollers aren't working probably, seeds aren't being planted and there is a skip in the field. This means that we're not using the land efficiently to make food for the growing population. Every amount of land that producers have should be used as efficiently as possible to grow the most food we can to feed the world. This is why producers buy such expensive equipment to make everything as efficient as possible. We want to use the resources we have to the best of our ability.

No-till is becoming very popular among producers. This leaves organic matter on the ground. Cattle can be turned in to eat some of the remaining material; however, they don't eat near all of it so there is still not soil erosion into the creeks, streams or ponds. We use the ground as much as we can to be as efficient as possible, but not harm it. Using it too much and not taking care of it would hurt us; therefore, we take care of the land to the best of our ability.

Side picture of the tractor and planter. 

I love rain pictures. One of my favorite pictures I have ever taken is when I was riding on a horse. We had just gotten cows in and the storm was rolling in. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I was focusing so much on the picture that I fell off the horse as soon as I got done taking the picture and Matt started laughing at me, but the picture was totally worth it. 

One of the prettiest sights, I think, is a line of feedbunks with healthy calves eating. The sound they make is about the most comforting sounds in the world. These are my parents calves. 

Just another phto of a storm rolling in. This was actually taken at my parents as well. 

We had a set of twins this week. The mom decided she only wanted one of them.  He took a ride with us in the pickup home so we could take care of him. 

My recipe this week is from my mom again. It's easy to make an a great side. 

Pea Salad

2 cans of peas

Mayo

2 dill pickles

2 cups cheese

2 eggs

Hard boil the eggs and dice up. Dice the pickles up as well. Mix everything together. Refrigerate until serving. 

Hope you are enjoying your significant others or families on this rainy day. Matt and I are resting up for  a busy week. Hope you have a good rest of the day. 

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Hope everybody is enjoying the holiday and spending time with their families. Remember the true reason for the holiday isn't hunting Easter eggs or the Easter bunny. 

I have a lot of pictures this week, so I think I'll explain the pictures and have a shorter blog this week so you can spend time with your families instead of reading my blog. 

The Herefords have started calving. I checked them a couple times this week on Red.
Since we're feeding the horses, they ought to be used occasionally so they're kept in shape.
Another reason we've been checking the cows on the horses is to get them used to horses.

Such a beautiful view. Horses are great stress relievers. 

My dear Forever grew up on a horse. I did not. We always had horses, but rarely road them. We went horse shopping when I was young. I was riding double on one of the horses we were looking at and my middle older sister, Kayla, neglected to mention a tree. It knocked me off and gave me a concussion. Therefore, I've always been somewhat scared of horses. I love riding them, but am not very skilled. I'm learning and being taught how to correctly ride. An ongoing process.

So yes that's a hair clip in his hair. In his other hand is a pair of scissors. Apparently there was an incident involving the top of a barn door and my dear Forever's head. He didn't trust my analysis of what it looked like so he is trying to clip his hair out of the way so that he can see it for himself. Then when that didn't work he decided he needed to cut just that portion of his hair. Luckily, I confiscated the scissors before he made it very far. 

Okay, Matt has figured out by now that when I get out my phone I'm taking a picture for my blog. So when I got out my phone out to take this picture of Henry and Matt on Burt and Red getting the cattle in, Matt started waving really big and saying, "Ooooo, get me, get me in the picture". He makes me laugh.

And yes that's him on top of a really tall building of ours. When the wind was blowing really hard, the tin on the roof started coming off, so my dear husband crawls up this building and starts putting screws in. The problem? Him getting down. He started yelling at Henry and I when he was ready to get down. I was half tempted to leave him up there.

Working on the fence some more. Almost done!

All done! Or basically done. Ready to turn the cows out!

There isn't much more satisfying in the ag industry to me then cattle being turned out on green grass in the spring. Such a satisfying experience for cattle and human. 

Adoption time on the Pagel Farm. I know no cattle producer that has ever had a 100% calf crop. Therefore, adoptions happen. This is a Holstein calf from a local dairy that got put on this heifer. They took to each other right away. It doesn't always happen like that. Sometimes it takes several days of working with the cattle to get them to take each other. It's always nice when they take each other right away. 

More cattle being turned out. Such a beautiful sight. Sunset in the background. 

Our beautiful house with blooming bushes just in time for Easter. 

Our first tulips are blooming. Just in time for Easter dinner at our house. 

My mother-in-law and her mother-in-law (Matt's Grandma) getting ready for Easter. Margaret helped me decorate cupcakes and some coking to get ready. Estella folded all my clothes for me. So thankful for a fantastic family on my side and my new family. 

The finished cupcakes! Not the fanciest, but they're going to taste yummy!

My project I've been wanting to get done since we got married. Matt and I wrote our own vows for our wedding. We didn't hear each other's until during the ceremony. His made me cry so I wanted a way to remember them and see them everyday so we don't forget them and live out what we vowed we were going to. I'm not a creative person, therefore, I'm super excited that this turned out as well as it did!

My recipe this week is a dish I made for our family Easter tomorrow. My mom made this while we were growing up. It's easy and simple and GREAT!

Pistachio Salad

2 containers of whipped cream (8 oz size)

2 boxes of pistachio pudding

2 cups peanuts

2 cups marshmallows

1 can 32 oz fruit cocktail

Mix the whipped cream and pudding mix together. Stir in the peanuts, marshmallows and drained fruit cocktail. Refrigerate until serving.