Harvest is Officially Underway

Harvest has officially begun on the Pagel farm. Which means that I'm tired and not going to write a very good blog. I hear it's supposed to rain sometime this week so maybe I can get a good one wrote then. For now the three 'S' are more important. Shower, Supper, Sleep. A blog will be forthcoming with all the harvest escapades in it. Hope you have a great week!

WOTUS-Ditch the Rule!

Issues week. So many of us are faced with issues everyday of our life. Some out of our control. In a world filled with all sorts of regulatory controls, we are often bombarded with what we can legally do an not do. As producers of the world's food supply, we are regulated. In a political year such as we're in right now, some issues are brought to the forefront, others shoved under the rug.

One issue that you may not have heard about, but is a HUGE issue for not only farmers but everybody! The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are trying to protect our waters. In 1972, our waters were polluted and not safe. Congress passed the Clean Water Act. This act protected the interconnected water system. It understood that when dumping pollutions in streams, everything flowed downstream. So we're all downhill from something. In that time 1 in 3 Americans got their drinking water from these types of streams that were very polluted. Water isn't just essential for drinking, it is also has a large part to do with our nation's economy. Farmers and ranchers need water to grow the crops and livestock that feed the world. Manufactures need water to make everything. Energy makers need it to produce power for our homes. Then let's talk about the recreational uses for water. More than $640 billion is spent in consumer spending each year. The jobs that are associated with that is about 6 million. The Clean Water Act has produced some confusion about which waters are protected under this act. Hence the reason that the EPA is now proposing this new rule. Many think that this will broaden EPA's regulations. According to the EPA's website, "...that's simply not the case. Our proposed rule will not add to or expand the scope of waters historically protected under the Clean Water Act. In the end--the increased clarity will save us time, keep money in our pockets, cut red tape, give certainty to business, and help fulfill the Clean Water Act's original promise: to make America's water fishable and swimmable for all." (www.epa.gov/uswaters)

So that was all EPA's take on their new rule they are proposing. Let's take a different view of it. This view is from the National Association of Counties (www.naco.org). The new definition of waters that are covered would expand the range of waters. EPA is proposing taking out the world navigable. That means any puddle on your land could be regulated by the EPA. Even if it only filled with a heavy rainfall. According to this new rule there would be more waters federally protected and subject to the new rules. It would increase the number of county owned ditches. Meaning the ditch would have to be maintained by the counties and will lead to "cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive" maintenance of said so called ditch. Permits would have to be obtained in order to do a lot of this. A backlog of permits pertaining to the Clean Water Act already exists. If succeeding in taking out the world navigable, this number will exponentially grow. The current backlog of between 15,000-20,000 permits and takes and average of 2-3 years to obtain a permit. Can you imagine what it would be like if you had to obtain a permit for every little thing? If this rule goes through, more projects will be required to have permits. Which means the backlog will increase making it virtually impossible to get a permit.

The rest of this information is from http://ditchtherule.fb.org/. A lot of this information is directly quoted from their question and answers page. I encourage all of you to visit it and thoroughly look over the information. This is going to be structured much like their page is. Visit the website!

What will be different under the proposed rule?
Previously the word 'navigable' was in the definition. The proposed takes that world out. The result would include "ditches, small ponds and even depressions in fields and pastures that are only wet when there is heavy rain." Permits would have to be acquired to do daily things such as building fences, using pesticides, many other routine farming activities. Permits aren't guaranteed and with the backlog the chances of getting a permit is slim to none.

Not a farmer? Think you don't need to concern yourself with this? Think again! Do you enjoy planting trees? Using weed control on your lawn or flowers? Thinking about building a new house? All of these activities are far from guaranteed if this rule is implemented. Under this new rule, "nearly every drop of water that falls would be regulated by the federal government-the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

So, farmers have to get permits. What's so bad about that?
We've talked about the backlog of permits now, let alone with this new rule. Farmers cannot wait 6 or more years to get a permit. These activities (building fence, applying fertilizer, pulling weeds and spraying for weed and insect control) have to take place when they need to happen, not wait for regulations! "Ultimately, EPA will have control to deny a discharge permit and, in doing so, to restrict a farmer's ability to farm". We haven't even talked about the increase paperwork that is associated with this. So why not just do it and hope to not get caught? Penalties include "up to $37,500 per violation PER DAY-and maybe be enforced by EPA, the state or even interested citizen groups." PER DAY!! Can you imagine that? We couldn't afford one day, let alone multiple days and we all know it wouldn't be resolved in a single day! And even interested citizen groups could regulate this? What do they know about what we do every day of our lives?

"Is it possible to do even more to protect water quality? Yes, of course, and Congress has determined that the best way to do that is by strengthening the state-led programs that promote best practices for agriculture and other land uses, not through federal regulation that stifles those activities."

So how do you get involved so that this rule does not go through? Visit http://ditchtherule.fb.org/ to learn more. There's a "Take Action" tab to click on. Go to your local Farm Bureau and sign a postcard making sure this does NOT happen. More questions? I loved to hear from you in the comment section. This is a huge issue not just affecting farmers and ranchers. It affects YOU to. Make sure you make your voice heard so EPA knows they cannot push ridiculous things like this through. Another little item that I neglected to mention. EPA doesn't have to take this through Congress. Congress will NOT vote on this. It's entirely up to the American public to make sure that this doesn't happen. Now, that I say that, our Congressman are doing what they can to make sure this doesn't happen. But we need to do our part! Don't be complacent about this!

Hope you have a great week! And remember! Make your voice heard...this will affect you!

Change

Change is usually not easy. Many resist change. And sometimes change happens and you just go with it and make the best of it.

Matt and I were given an opportunity for me to apply for a job at our local FSA (Farm Service Agency). We were both happy with our current situation; however, this job would be a pay raise. With our goal of being debt free before having kids this would decrease that happening from 100 years to about 95 years. Okay, that was a lot of sarcasm. So neither of us was sure about whether to apply or not, so Matt suggested I apply and see where it goes. So I did. Next, I received a call to interview. So Matt and I decided I would and see where it went. The morning after the interview I got a call offering me the job. So after a lot of thinking we decided to accept the job. It is a full time temporary job. It's only through March. Unless the government runs out of money before then, then I'll be let go before then. Or the time could be extended. I'm full-time, but on a compressed schedule. This means I work eight 9 hours day, one 8 hour day and have a day off in the pay period.

You're probably thinking this isn't a big deal. Most of America has full time jobs. However, for Matt and I this is a HUGE deal. Matt and I have been married for 11 months and 3 days. We work with each other every day. We talk hourly, if not more, every day. We can go on date nights or date days whenever we want. Rainy days we can sleep in. I'm 22 years old and have NEVER sat in one place for 9 hours straight. I grew up on a family farm and have always been very active. My first day of work, my body ached when I got home from sitting all day. After the first week in our temporary new life I have been more motivated to exercise than I have ever been before, so it's not all bad. Matt and I have been adjusting to being apart and not talking all day. I don't know how you all do it. I miss him so much. I've been doing a lot of filing in the first week which is fairly boring, but it will get better.

Well, that's about all the information about the change in our lives. We're fall calving cows right now. We've been having lots of twins. We don't let the cows raise twins. So that means we have a lot of bottle calves. But, with normal calving operations, we've lost a few for various reasons so we've used a few of them on them and are in the process of getting the cows to adopt the babies.

Okay, so that's about all I've got. Sorry about the shortness and probably let down for not very exciting change news for most, but for us having a full time job is a BIG change that we're still adjusting to. We'll get there.

Hope you all have a great week!

Twins week!

Sunday, sunday, so good to me. It's been a week of twins on our operation. I've been remembering to take lots of pictures so enjoy!

This is some of our fall cattle. Just showing how calm the cattle are. We were cleaning the waterer out so it would be clean for them. 

Do I have a spoiled dog or what? She got Sonic! It was just water, but still!!

Matt thought he could cross here. Obviously not. Made for a good laugh when I went and pulled him out though. 

The first of our twin filled week. We are officially fall calving.  I went and checked them one night. Tagged this baby and everything was good. Went back the next morning and she had another one. So we took this for a spare. 

Twin number 2. Checked cows one night and she had one and was having another. It was getting dark so we brought this one in. I was on babysitting duty and the bugs were biting really bad so I brought her into the bathroom. 

And twin number 3 with Abilene. The first couple calves she wasn't sure about riding in the pickup with. By not sure I mean she road on one side of me while the calf ran on the other side. 

Eventually, they both started getting used to each other. And rode on the same side together. 

Both of the twins in the morning. Matt was fixing their bottles to feed them and I was babysitting on the porch with Abilene. 

Some people have dogs, but Matt has calves. They were running all over the deck playing. 

Full pickup. 2 calves, Abilene and myself. They all rode very nicely.

If you look very closely, that's Matt reading directions. That's all I have to say about this picture, just a man reading directions. Didn't know if there was any other picture in the world with a man reading directions. Wanted to document it. 

This week Margaret and I picante sauce. Margaret had a whole bunch of tomatoes so we made picante sauce. I don't have the recipe right now, but I'll put it in a future blog.

That's all I have for this week! Hope you have a great week!

Interesting Week!

Oh it's Sunday again! What a week it has been! Okay, so let me first preface this blog by my view right now. Miss Congeniality on TV, blog open, Abilene roaming around and a glass of wine. So anything incorrect in this blog is the wine talking! 

What an interesting week it has been for us. There's a lot of pictures this week so I think I'll let them do most of the talking.

I did 4-H for the about 10-11 years. Recently, fundraising efforts have been happening to raise money for new fairgrounds. This past county fair was the last that was held at these fairgrounds. Next year the fair is to move out to the new grounds south of Holton. I happened to be in town when they first started tearing the old barns down. I wasn't that involved in 4-H. I did it, but it wasn't one of my favorite things. However, when I saw the barns being torn down it tore at my heartstrings a little. Knowing how many animals I had put through those buildings. How many steers I spent hours training and selling them through the ring. I'm sure there's a lot of people in Jackson County that is sad about the barns coming down, people a lot more involved in 4-H than I was. Better things are supposed to be coming, but change is always hard.

We're always trying to do land improvement projects so that the land is left in better condition for our children and grandchildren than it was for us. This next picture shows the haybuster blowing straw out on the ground. (Refer to the blogs about feeding cattle last winter to learn how the haybuster works.) We had a pond built to make it easier for the cows to get to water when fenced in certain parts of the pasture. The dirt that was moved to form the pond was put in to a waterway. After the waterway was filled, Matt spread brome seed on it and then blew straw out on the seed. It's just like when you seed your lawn, once the seed is spread you insulate it with straw or some other sort of insulation. The straw helps to make sure that the seed doesn't wash away the first time it rains.

This week we got to see Jeff! He's a truck driver from North Carolina. We stayed with him and his wife on our honeymoon and had a blast! Jeff has a North Carolina accent so you need to pay attention when he's talking, but he is one of the funniest, kind hearted, caring people I know. He hauls cattle from back east to the Midwest then back hauls with a load of our square bales. The pot only has two doors on each level. The hay has to go in through the side. Then when it is in the trailer it gets hauled to each end and stacked just as tight as it can be stacked. Everything except putting it on the flatbed, that all the guys are standing on, is done by hand. It's a very labor intensive job and the bales weigh quite a bit. It's hard to get help to throw the bales because it's such hard job! This time we had Matt Watkins, who worked for the Pagels before we got married, his son Riley, my dad came up to help, a guy from the labor firm in town and Henry, Matt and I. Jeff always helps. He can keep up a running conversation the whole time he's stacking bales! It's incredible, the rest of us are exhausted, but he just keep telling story after story!

So I really really love Matt. And it's stories like these that remind me of that when I'm furious at him.

Matt and I HATE snakes. Like hate! HATE with a capital H A T E. HATE! Doesn't matter if they are 6 inches or 6 feet, we hate them. Did I mention we absolutely hate snakes? I'm a little worse than him, but not a whole lot. Last winter when we were having mouse problems several people suggested we get a pet snake and that would take care of the mouse problem...it would also take care of us living here.

Matt's been working dipping out a pond. There's been a lot of dirt and sediments that filled it up, so while the hoe was there anyway he's been dipping the mud out and building the pond dam back up. So the hoe has been sitting on the pond dike when he's not working and he'll work on it for a while, then something more important will come up so he'll have to leave, then he goes back and works for a while, etc, etc. Well, he headed back down to work on the pond for a while. He was just getting down there and walking across the dam to the hoe when I called to see what my next project was supposed to be. All of a sudden I heard a lot of not very nice words. I thought he hurt himself somehow, but nope just a snake. Apparently it was laying right outside the door on the ground. So my brave husband crawls up the hoe on the other side and crawls through the window to get in the hoe then proceeds to start chasing the snake with the hoe. All the while telling me the step by step of what was happening. Now, I know some of you don't know my husband, but he's 24, somewhere a little shy of 6' probably, lean and very muscular. He's also very quiet. Matt rarely does unnecessary talking (probably why we have fights). To be having a conversation with somebody like this while he's in the hoe (see the picture below-the yellow thing is the hoe) chasing a snake around after he crawled in through a window to avoid the snake, is frankly one of THE funniest things I have been around. After getting the step by step for a little while he hangs up on me. For those of you that have conversations with Pagels on the phone, getting hung up on isn't that much of a shocker. So I wait a full five minutes. I'm thinking the worst at this point...the snake bit him and now he's dying of poison, he tipped the hoe into the pond (sometimes I doubt his hoe operating skills a little too much) and is drowning because he's trapped in the hoe, he tipped the hoe over the steep part of the bank and the hoe crushed him (again with doubting his ability with the hoe), so at this point I'm paranoid and about ready to start running to the pasture (literally running not driving because I'm not thinking rationally, obviously if I was thinking even a little I would know not to do any running since I hate running) so I call my dear husband back and he doesn't answer. I'm one of those people that if you don't answer, I'll just keep calling because if you don't answer the first time maybe on the 26th time I call you, you'll answer. It's been a pretty effective strategy for me in the past. So anyway, he answers on one of the next 10 tries and triumphantly says, "I got it, sweetie. I killed and buried him!" Oh the joy I felt in that moment. I don't think a wife has ever been more proud of her husband than I was of mine in that moment. (For those that don't know me or can't pick up all the sarcasm I'm laying down with that comment...IT'S ALL SARCASM!) For heavens sake, my dear Forever just killed a 4 foot snake with a piece of heavy equipment AND is proud of his accomplishment! And those are the stories that make my life and my husband one of the best out there.

In all fairness, it really does look like it was a vicious snake. Matt said it tried to bite at him when he was getting in the hoe. (and remember that was through a window!) As he explained to me, those hedge balls beside it are unusually large hedge balls. Those hedge balls are like the size of soccer balls so the snake looks a lot smaller than it actually was. However, I was down there later the same day and found just regular size hedge balls so apparently he buried the soccer size ones with the snake. And yes that picture is deleted off my phone and computer so I don't ever happen to run across it and be terrified and have nightmares of snakes for months like I will for a while.

How about another animal story since we're on the topic of animals. This one, however, is much more pleasant. Our dear Abilene...okay correction...my dear Abilene (Matt doesn't like her) got spayed this week. No more puppies for us...ever again. I wanted the puppy experience and I'm getting it, but once is enough. I'm totally okay with adult dogs from now on. Anyway, she got spayed this week so was at the vet for almost exactly 24 hours. She went in Friday morning and I went to get her Saturday morning. She has shown absolutely no sign of being sore so that's a good thing. Ever since I went back to get her she's been hanging a lot closer than she usually does to me. Abilene goes with me everywhere-tractors included. However, normally she lays on the floor. Well, I spent most of Saturday mowing roadsides and weeds and this is where she stayed for a large majority of the day. The picture isn't very good, but she's laying on my lap. They weighed her when she went in and she now weighs 43 pounds. (She was 15 when we got her.) So I have a 43 pound lap dog that slept quite peacefully on my lap in the tractor for most of Saturday. 

I don't do a lot of selfies, but the sky was absolutely beautiful so I thought I would take a minute after checking the fall cows to snap one. Behind me, you can kinda see the roadsides I mowed. I read a farm blog from a girl that had a top 10 list of things that you got used to being a farm girl and one of those was your hair never being where it's supposed to be. In a bun with a headband on, it still gets in my face! And I even cut it  off after we got married! Guess it's a good indication of what way the wind is blowing. That's important to know when you're spraying? Life is all about choosing the right perspective. 

Sorry if you saw this on Facebook already, but Matt and I were really humbled this week. Things in this life can be gone in a blink of the eye. I went on a rare grocery shopping expedition. I came home to put the groceries away and immediately noticed a power line down to the well. So, I immediately called Matt and told him to come home. (I freak out anytime electricity is involved.)  I went on in to the house and smelled something terrible, a smell I had never smelled before. I stowed Abilene in the pen we have and ran the groceries in the house (didn't put them away) just literally ran them inside and ran back outside. Again, me thinking the worst possible scenario, thought there was a gas leak or carbon monoxide and thought the house was going to blow up. Well, Matt assured me when he got here that something got hit in the house and that was the smell. Did I mention a lightning strike caused all this? Anyway, Matt told me to look up our insurance company's number online. (I don't have a smart phone). Tried getting on with my computer, but the internet wasn't working. So upon investigation we found this....

I know a bad picture. But it's a bag of the tissue paper (the kind you put in gift bags). Half of it is burned. We have NO idea how it didn't burn the house down. It was enclosed in a cabinet with the door shut and I had an extra set of glasses shoved next to it and there was a second shelf on top of it so Margaret suggested it might of ran out of oxygen. Whatever the reason, we don't know it. We're just VERY fortunate to have a house left standing. Other than completely freaking me out and having a complete meltdown (Matt was ready to ship me off), the only other damage we could find was an electric fence charger, garage door opener, internet modem and we're suspecting the ice machine on our freezer but the jury is still out on that one. It's been broke before and Matt's fixed it. I don't think the lightning could have affected that when the rest of the fridge and freezer still works, but maybe so. Other than that all the major electronics work (washing machine, dryer, oven, microwave, dishwasher, freezers, fridge, etc.) Thanking our lucky stars that we have a house to sleep in!

The next morning I walked outside and found this beautiful sight to greet me as I went to check the fall cows. A double rainbow. It was a beautiful and welcome sight!

So it's been quite sometime since I've had a recipe. Probably because I don't do a lot of cooking, but this week I had the chance to make deviled eggs. I love deviled eggs, Matt hates them...so more for me. I'm sure everybody has their own spin for deviled eggs and I would love to know some of the variations. Also, if anybody has an easier way to peel them that works, I would love to know that.

For my eggs I put...

Mayo
Mustard
Ranch
Pickle Juice
Salt
Pepper
and of course...
Paprika on top

I don't measure any of the ingredients as I'm sure most of you don't either. Just mix until it tastes right. As per normal with my cooking, it's not the prettiest results, but they taste pretty good.

So that about wraps up our interesting week. I hope this next week is less eventful! Bad storm coming tonight I hear. There's tornado watches in counties just to the west of us. Take proper precautions and be safe! Talk to you next week. And just to mention again...I did change the comment section so anybody should be able to comment, google account or not. If you are unable to, please let me know and I'll try to fix it.  Have a great week. 

Girls Vacation

Sorry for not having a blog last week. We were gone on our vacation. A couple years ago my mom started the girls vacation. Ever since we've gone on a yearly vacation with just the girls. This year we went to Colorado. So it was my mom, my two older sisters, my oldest sister's daughter and myself. Georgetown was our first stop and Estes Park our second. While staying at Georgetown we did some driving through Loveland Pass. We went paddle boating and kayaking. We went to Breckenridge and road a gondola to the top of the mountain. Once there we went down a big slide on a scooter thing. My niece is 3 so we did things that she would enjoy. But, to be honest it was a lot of fun. Having her is just an excuse to do all the fun things that people would judge us doing if we didn't have a kid.

After leaving Georgetown we took the scenic tour up to Estes Park where we stayed in a condo for five nights. While there we took Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, go-karting, bumper boating, walks around the lake, lots of swimming and relaxing. As you can imagine with 4 women and a 3 year old that didn't get naps all the time, things were sometimes rather stressful. Overall,   it was a great trip. Saw a lot of things that I hadn't seen before. I missed Matt like crazy though and was very very very happy to be home.

Kristen and Autumn go-karting

Autumn and I bumper boating. I'd never done this before and it was TONS of fun. I want Matt and I to build me some of these to use on the ponds.

Autumn LOVES train so she loved this little train.

Kristen, Autumn and Mom in front of the activity place. Mom wanted to prove that she went go-karting.

There was an elk right in town! Kayla saw it while we were driving. We were one of the first people there taking pictures.

The female elk was there too. 

By the time we left there were like 50 people there taking pictures. It was like somebody put out an emergency alarm that there were elk in town and all the tourists converged. It was crazy!! We have nothing better to do than take pictures of elk in town! It was ridiculous! But incredibly funny. 

And of course we had to go down a giant slide. 

Those are the few pictures I had on my phone. The rest are on my sisters' cameras. That's the very brief synopsis of our vacation.

On the farm, we're gearing up to start fall calving soon. Matt got all the hay hauled while we were gone so we're all caught up on that. The next project is to get the combine out and get it ready for harvest which will be here before we know it.

Hope you all have had a great couple weeks and will have a good week this week!

Apple Pie

Sunday again?! So soon? Back to my phone camera to see what we did this week so I know what to blog about. Well, apparently we have done nothing this week.

I have exactly three pictures on my phone. The first is of the streambank project we've been working on for quite some time. We have some land next to a creek. The creek was hitting the bank and washing it out. Meaning it was cutting into the farm ground and washing soil away. Being environmentally aware, like most farmers are, we decided to do something about the problem. What it detailed is a lot of time, money, rock and labor. It's been a lot of moving dirt, sloping and spreading seed and straw to cover the seed so that the seed grows on the streambank so it doesn't erode away anymore. I think we're ALMOST finished. It seems like we've been almost finished for about two months now, but I really think we're about there.

The only other picture I have this week is something I'm incredibly proud of. I don't bake often and when I do it normally doesn't turn out just quite right. We have 2 1/2 apple trees. I see all the apples and think what a waste it is to just let them go bad so one day this week I got very motivated and made 2 apple pies and another apple dessert. Homemade apple pies, crust and everything. For me, this is a major accomplishment! For all those women (like our Grandmas) who made pies all the time, they are my heroes. It took me over two hours to pick, wash, peel, cut, mix, knead, roll out dough, make the filling and bake the pies! How these women did it all the time is WAY beyond me. The final product turned out pretty good. A little ice cream to cover up some of the imperfections never hurt anyone right? 

That's all I've got for this week. Hope everybody is enjoying the rain we got and hope you have a fantastic week!