Raising a Farmer

Last night I made chicken dumpling soup. I love chicken dumpling soup! There is nothing better in the fall than chicken dumpling soup. As I was getting the strainer out from the cabinet to strain the new fresh broth that I just made. I smiled to myself not because of my soup but because of the thought of one of the worst meals I ever made Nathan. I made him this infamous meal in our household when we were newly married. I am not sure how long we were married but I know that it was during the time of trying to figure each other out. The time after the honeymoon phase and you realize that you are really married and he is not going home. The phase when you realize that you are making a home together. When you realize you really are stuck together. The phase of testing boundaries with each other, let me tell you Nathan and I tested our boundaries with each other. This meal was the absolute worst. I mean the absolute worst for Nate. I made chicken dumpling soup. As Nate was eating his soup a small bone was in his bowl. I am not exactly sure how the conversation started but I know how it ended by Nate’s words, “That’s not how my mom does it.” These words are completely innocent but to a newly married woman who is trying to figure out the roles that are now hers. These are devastating and fighting words. Well, I’ll show him. A couple weeks go by and chicken dumpling soup is back on the menu. Nate came home from the farm, (at this time we lived off the farm) as a sweet caring new husband he instantly says, “MMM something smells good!” Little did he know. He washed up and came into the kitchen for supper. We sat at our kitchen table. A romantic table is set for two newly weds. Two bowls of freshly made Chicken Dumpling Soup. The best soup in the world…….Skreech wait what. Nate looks at his bowl and instantly says, “WHAT THE BLANK IS THIS??!! Well when I made this wonderful soup I skipped one vital and very important step. I didn’t take the bones out. I mean I didn’t take out a single bone. Not one! The entire chicken was in that pot! No bone was taken out. I made Nate Bone Soup as we refer to it today. I sat eating my soup. (I had bones in my bowl too) As Nate stared at his supper appalled, I sat eating telling him how wonderful it tasted and asked him how come he wasn’t eating. Was something wrong? Was he feeling ok? My dear sweet husband did try his bone soup but he couldn’t eat it all. It makes me smile thinking of it and when we talk about it we both laugh about it. I am sure when we are old and gray we still will be laughing about my infamous Bone Soup.

It doesn’t look like much but as dairy farmers our entire world revolves around it.  Our entire farm completely and whole heartedly depends on it.           It is corn silage. Corn silage is when the entire corn plant is chopped up into tiny pieces.  Think of taking a stalk of celery and cutting it into pieces.  That is exactly what happens when you make corn silage, just on a bigger scale.  Whether you are a big dairy or a small dairy corn silage is a necessity.  Corn silage can be stored in silos reaching for the sky, long white bags laid on the ground or piles packed tightly with the weight of tractors then covered tightly with plastic. The quality of silage determines so many things on a dairy farm.  It determines the quality of milk that is produced.  The pounds of milk each cow will produce.  It determines the health of each and every animal on our farm from calves to milking cows.  When corn is chopped in the fall every dairy farmer needs to ensure that they have enough corn silage to feed all of their cows and young stock for an entire year.  Talk about meal planning.  So that means that when we plant in the spring we need to plan how much corn silage we need to grow to ensure the health of all of our animals.  Every dairy farmer small or big, big or small needs to ensure that they have enough silage in the fall to feed their cows for the entire next year!  An entire year!  Our world revolves around corn silage.  Corn Silage is chopped in the field by a chopper and then is brought to the yard either by silage wagons pulled by a tractor or even semis haul corn silage.  So the next time you are behind a silage wagon or a semi hauling silage be patient and give them space.  That silage might not look like much but it is ensuring that you have milk with your cookies, yogurts for your lunch, cheese sticks for a snack or cream for your coffee.  Corn silage means everything to us.

All hands are needed to cover a pile big or small

Everett watching the loads come in from the top of a silage pile

Late night rides with Joe in the semi

Through the hottest and stickiest week of summer we survived the week of fair.  Sleep depravation, hard work, frayed nerves at times, living off of granola bars and Gatorade, we were able to have lots of fun along the way.  I am so proud of our 4-H Club!  The kids support each other, they want to help each other, they get excited for each other, they encourage each other, they learn from each other, they play with each other, they stick together!  The best part they have fun together!

Everett with the Cloverbud Judge

Final touch ups

Waiting……..

304 gets a pep talk

Headed to the ring

Making sure everybody is ring ready

Everett & 304 talking with the Dairy judge

Everett and 433

Vivian likes the fair

Waiting to get in the ring

One of my favorites!

Everett & 400

Everett’s turn with the Open Class Judge

Nap time

All babies need a break

Working together

Late, Late nights

Last day of the fair
Everett & Vivian 2015

This last week Nathan and I with Vivian tagging along, attended our co-op’s (where we sell our milk) Leadership/Young Cooperatives Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. So much useful information is given to us in a short amount of time. The entire room is filled with dairy farmers, employees of our co-op and individuals that are making great strides in promoting dairy from across the Midwest. Our co-op is able to create an atmosphere where every presentation feels more like a round table discussion than a lecture. During every break Vivian would catch the eye of a dairy farmer. She is so tiny and petite the first question is always how old she is and then she smiles with her big brown eyes so bright. Their hand goes to her with their first finger slightly bent. She looks and reaches. Her tiny olive hand reaches for their strong first finger tanned from the long days in the summer sun. While I hold her I feel the jolt of an electric fence as Vivian makes that small contact with them. She holds on. The small connection between a tiny little girl and a dairy farmer that is not her daddy. A dairy farmers hands hold so much meaning to me. When I see them I notice every nick. I see every scratch from the barbed wire fence that they have fixed. I see every scar from a tool that got a way from them. I see the strength they need to continue every day believing tomorrow will be a better day. I see the stain of grease in every callus. I see the power those hands have had to hold in prayer that next year will be a better year and the thankfulness of gratitude that last year his family was able to continue on. The confidence in every good hand shake. I see the gentleness those hands need to help a new baby calf who is having a hard time adjusting to life. The calmness they have brought to their children when they were afraid of the storm coming on the horizon. The love they have given their wives, the gold band tightly wrapped around their ring finger refusing to take it off when society tells them a wedding ring is a safety hazard. A dairy farmers hands hold the weight of the world and for a brief moment more than one dairy farmer held my baby girls world.

“Don’t you see them they are right there.  Come here little guy.  Mom, I’ll show you how to feed them just like this.  See he ate the grass.  He really likes grass.  We better back up his mom is looking for him.”

The Elephants are right there! Don’t you see them?

Everett’s imagination, If I could I would bottle it up.  I would bottle it up so when I feel depleted I could take a sample.  I could save it.  I would be able to remember exactly these moments.  The never ending chores of the day:  dishes, laundry, cooking, bookwork and then the never ending list for outside, feeding cows, milking cows, fixing fence, mowing grass, weeding the days seem to go on and on with never enough time to get it all done.  The words, “Not now.” “Hurry up.”  “What are you doing?”  “In a minute!” “What are you doing now!?”  are so easy to come out of our mouths.  There are days that these words come out of my mouth more than I wish.  I catch myself and think yes I can take literally a minute and listen to the words that are so important that he needs to tell me.  Yes, his words are very important because he is important.  His opinion does matter.  He is special to me.  So we take the time and feed Elephants in the grass as we are feeding the real calves in the shed.  I watch him plant corn in the carpet as I am nursing Vivian in the living room.  I noticed him knock on the gnome door in the garden as I am grilling supper in the backyard.  He comes running to me and says no one moved into the gnome hut yet.  I smile when I see him only in his shorts, rubber boots and a motorcycle helmet because he goes so fast on his bike he is worried a pigeon might fly and hit him in the head.  When bath time is almost over I listen to him tell me how he saw sharks at the bottom of the bath tub.  Good thing he had his goggles on so he could see them.  I try and not lose my temper when he uses the duster like a Teenage Mutant Turtle would. Yes, there are Foot soldiers ascending into the living room.  I shake my head when I find his dump trucks in my flower beds.  I know for a short time elephants are living by the calf shed in the grass.  I know for only a short time they eat grass out of Everett’s hands.

This spring we were invited by one of our local FFA Chapters to participate in their Petting Zoo that they were sponsoring for their school.  Of course I said we have the perfect cow for that!  304 loves attention and she is great with kids and Everett loves to show her off.  The morning of the petting zoo it was pouring rain outside.  304 still needed to get a bath because no one wants to pet a dirty cow.  Nathan was in charge of giving 304 a bath and I loaded up the trailer and truck.  When 304 was shiny and clean, she was loaded on the trailer.  Everett, Vivian and I were off like a herd of turtles.

When we got to the community center we had to get 304 all settled in.  We had to make sure that 304 had plenty to eat and plenty of fresh water.  Cows drink a lot of water so we had to haul pails and pails of water into her water tub to make sure she had enough for the day.

Making Sure 304 Has Everything she needs

It was awesome to see Everett so excited to show off his cow.  When there would be a little bit of a lull in between classes coming into the petting zoo 304 would get her drink of water eat some food and then she would stand by the gate and wait, waiting……  She would wait for another group of kids to come.  Wait, she would stand by the gate and wait.

Waiting….

When the kids would come around the pen 304 was ready to be loved up.  Everett would hand out the brushes to the kids so they were able to give 304 a good brushing.  The second best thing about the day was of course the Morrison County Dairy Princesses handing out ice cream cones!

Vivian getting pointers from the Dairy Princesses

The last week of school is always an exciting time, but for Everett it was really exciting!  He was able to take his cow to school! How many kids get to do that? 

Everett was so proud to be able to lead her off the trailer and tell his classmates all about 304.  The Dairy Princesses even stopped by to read to the kids about a dairy farm.

Dairy Princesses at Everett’s School

After all the kids were able to enjoy 304 they all got to have a cheese stick with the dairy princesses.  I don’t think the reaction kids have seeing a cow that close up will ever get old, especially when it is a celebrity like 304.

304 is in that sea of kids

This starts out kind of sad but I promise it will end happy.  I lost my mom to breast cancer in 2001.  I was 20.  I lost her before I was really interested in dating anyone special.  I was enjoying time with my friends.  The thought of having my own children were the very last thing on my mind.  Let alone marriage, I had lots of time to talk and ask my mom about that later.  I lost her before I had a chance to call her from my own house, I was still living at home when she passed.  Going on outings with my children and my mom is not a reality of mine.  I lost her before my first date with Nate.  I lost her before Nate asked me to be his wife and I said, “Yes” and then “I Do”.  My brothers and I never saw her face when she would have been told she would be a grandma for the very first time.  She was not there to call or to come visit when adjusting to marriage life and motherhood were not what I thought I had signed up for.  She was not there when the thought of Everett starting school terrified me to death.  My mom was not the first person I called when the doctors told me they were going to have to take my new baby girl to the NICU.  When early stages of pregnancy would wreck my body my husband would ask me what he could do and all I did was burst into tears, “I want my mom…..”  She was not there to console me when I thought a second miscarriage was to much to bear. There are so many things that she was not there for and that she will continue not to be there for as our lives continue without her.  I think of Mother’s Day differently now, not because I have no mom or that I am a mom myself but all the strong women I surround myself with that help me be the best mom that I can be.  I think of all and each one that helps me be that mom.  I have aunts who love my children unconditionally, console me when I think life is just to hard, go shopping with, sew with, but more importantly laugh with.  I have my best friend that knew my mom and I can laugh with her and cry with her, she has always kept me grounded.  There is my very dear friend who also lost her mom and we can talk how hard it is sometimes not having our own mom and how it will just sneak up on you how much you miss her.  I have friends that never knew me before I was married and I just met after being a mom who I navigate motherhood with.  There are my mom’s friends who gush over my children.  My cousins are my constant rock, some have children and some do not.  There is the complete stranger at the grocery store who told my son he has a good mom because I said no to him when he asked to get a Mountain Dew at the checkout counter.  I have my dairy moms close and far that encourage me when being a dairy mom is just plain hard.  My mother-in-law, sister-in-laws, mentor moms and the one my son calls auntie  I have Everett’s kindergarten teacher who made his first year of school a great year.   There are such strong wonderful beautiful women in my life that help me each step and stage of my life.  I take bits and pieces of each and every person.  All of those pieces put together make up a mom for me today.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day 2015

Today is Arbor Day.  Have you planted a tree?

This spring we have been doing some planting.  Not corn yet but trees.  Along the road we planted 20 flowering crab trees.  In the yard, we planted one apple tree and four lilac bushes (I love Lilacs!!)  I am looking forward to looking out my window and seeing the pink and red flowering crab trees between the road and the field.  On Palm Sunday afternoon, we had gone to pick out our flowering crab trees.

Everett helped me pick out some Lilac bushes. I love Lilacs!

We were all ready to do some planting when we got home.  Nate went down with the skid loader and Everett, Vivian and I went down with the trees.  Everett had to sit in the trailer with the trees.

Everett telling me to keep going.

Nate started digging with the skid loader and then thump,  What?   The ground is still froze!  No planting trees today.  Nate scrapped the grass out of the way where each tree will be planted.  Hopefully in the next couple of days the sun will warm it up and we will be able to continue with our project.

Yep, its Frozen Dad!

Back to the yard we go with the trees.

A couple of days later, ready to plant some trees.  But now the sun is back behind the clouds and now it is cold out!  A mix between snow and rain was gracing their presence.  Oh and did I mention the wind.  Yuck!

The next couple of days we were able to finish planting the trees.  But now where to put the apple tree.  How do you haul an apple tree when you are five?  With a dump truck of course.

  Everett yells to Nate, “Dad wait I need to get my digger!”  Everett hauls his digger all over the yard, he has a lot of digging to do in his sand box and even in my flowers beds.

Every new tree needs a good drink.

  Happy Arbor Day!!

As farmers we are stewards of the land.  What does that exactly mean though?  We are on a huge scale responsible for a lot of black dirt.  Think about your backyard garden and how you tend it and care for it, every seed that you place in the ground you check and recheck and then…. it happens.  Each seed is finally breaking their way through the top soil to reach for the sun and stretch for the sky.  What a great feeling!!  Now imagine acres and acres that are emerging stretching for the sky.  Corn rows are in perfect lines.  Some are short rows, some are long rows, some bend and follow the tree line.  What a beautiful sight.

Planting 2014

Stewards of the land isn’t just watching corn grow it is so much more.  So much more.  We farmers are constantly looking at ways that we can better the land that we have been given to take care of either by ownership or rent.  How can we ensure the ground will be able to grow another season of crop land.   How can we better the quality of each acre of earth that will provide for our cows and for our family.  What we take out of the Earth we put back.  How to ensure that every thousands of seeds that are placed in the earth are going to reach their full potential.  We care for our fields, our lives literally depend on it.  Nathan and I need to plant enough corn in one growing season to feed our cows for an entire year, this is the same for every dairy farmer regardless of their size, big or small.  We need to take care of our fields and our cows because then they will take care of us.  We depend on them for everything.  They give us the ability for Everett to have new shoes for school, Vivian to have diapers and food to ensure the growth of our children.  What a wonderful gift we have as farmers to see this unfold before our eyes each season first hand on such a large scale.  Nathan and I know and understand that our time as dairy farmers is a drop in the bucket of the big picture. Our decisions that we make today will effect Everett and Vivian in 10, 15 20 years even our grandchildren will be effected by the choices that we make on our farm today.  How we care for our land today will determine the outcome for next year.  It is our responsibility to ensure the quality of our land.  It is our responsibility to be good stewards of the land.  Nathan is a 5th generation farmer on the same exact farm that his great-great grandfather would plant his corn to provide for his family and cows.  We are stewards of the land.

Everett opening up a seed corn bag-Plant 2014

Everett has a cow, 304.  He loves 304.  One of my favorite things is to watch Everett and 304.  They have a very special bond.  She is not, by dairy judging standards a high scoring cow but what she lacks in looks she makes up in trusting Everett and Everett trusting her.  She will follow him around anywhere he wants to go.  When she was a calf and we were halter breaking her, she would not lead for Nate and I.  Everett would barely touch the lead rope and she would follow him anywhere.  She is the best cow to teach Everett showmanship and skills that will always help him succeed in life.

Everett & 304
Summer 2014

Last night we were getting ready to go outside for evening chores when Nate called my cell phone, “Tell Everett to get out to the calving shed right away!”  I yell from the laundry room, “Everett!  Dad said to get outside to the calving shed right away!”  Everett’s response, “Do I have to change?”  No you can wear what you have on but make sure you put on your rubber boots.  Everett ran out to the calving shed.  I wondered what was the big hurry.  Maybe one of the cows had twins?  Vivian and I followed with the stroller.  “Mom! 304 is having a baby!!  I hope it is a girl so then I can take her to the fair!”  Everett said with excitement.  Nate, Vivian and I went to the barn to start evening milking while Everett stayed with 304 and waited……..  As Nate and I were in the barn he suggested that Everett should have a chair outside because it might be awhile.  I went out to check on Everett and 304.  As I walked out of the milking barn I could see Everett standing guard over 304.  He would shoo other dry cows away from her to give her space.

Everett & Eva standing guard

As I got closer I stopped,  Everett loves 304 so much and she loves him.  When I got to Everett he told me to be quiet and he began to whisper to me.  304 moved around, then she laid down.  I waited for a little bit.  Then it was happening, her water broke.  It is getting closer.  “You can do it 304!”  Everett would say to his favorite animal.  “Come on girl, you can do it.” He repeated.  Everett loves her.  We waited….. She began to push and Everett would again give her encouragement.  “It is going to be a red one, I hope it is a girl!”  Everett was so excited.  Out the calf came, I jumped in pulled the calf to 304’s head and she began licking the calf off.  We were so excited we forgot to look right away what the calf was….It’s a boy!  Ah man.  It’s even a red one.  This is 304’s second calf, both have been red and both have been bulls. It’s so wonderful to have a little boy with so much love and gratitude for what he has.  He loves 304 so much!

Everett, 304 & new baby