National Ag Day!

Today is National Ag Day! Ag Day was founded in 1973 to recognize and celebrate American agriculture. Here's a little info....

What Is Ag Day?

It's a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Every year, producers, agricultural associations, corporations, universities, government agencies and countless others across America join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture.

What Is Ag Day All About?

Ag Day is about recognizing - and celebrating - the contribution of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program encourages every American to:

• Understand how food and fiber products are produced.
• Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy.
• Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.

So many more facts about Ag Day can be found here. I really encourage you to go check out their site!

We won't be doing too much to celebrate here at Sethian Farm but carrying on as business as usual. It's pretty chilly and Bug isn't feeling great to begin with so I think we'll spend our time inside today. Of course S will be out there milking, feeding, fetching hay, and doing whatever else he needs to get done today. Please do whatever you can to celebrate and promote Agriculture today!

Super Bowl Commercial

I know your probably sick of all the facebook posts and tweets regarding the Super Bowl but I had to write about this. I really didn't care much about the game since my team wasn't in it, but I do still enjoy watching a good game and that one certainly had a good second half. I also enjoy the commercials and always look forward to the Budweiser commercials with the Clydesdales. Last night however there was one particular commercial that moved me, quite honestly it brought tears to my eyes. That would be the Ram Trucks commercial featuring Paul Harveys FFA speech "So God Made A Farmer".

If you haven't seen it, please watch it: So God Made A Farmer

Now this isn't the first time I've heard Mr. Harvey's speech (and it certainly won't be the last), but every time I hear it it brings tears to my eyes and gives me goosebumps. Sometimes I feel that people have no idea what my husband does and other farmers too. The blood sweat and tears they pour out every day to keep our cows fed, the milk coming, food on the table, fields plowed, corn growing, and fences mended. They put all of themselves and everything they have into their farms.

I beg of you, thank a farmer today. They work sun up until sun down (and sometimes beyond), they give everything they have, so thank them. The next time you get stuck on a back road behind a slow moving tractor, don't flip off the farmer, blare your horn or go blowing past them at a high rate of speed, just give him a minute. Odds are if the farmer can, he'll wave you around when it's safe or move over to the side if he can. Be courteous, be respectful, and be thankful for the hard work he or she did that day so you could have milk with your dinner. Thank a farmer.

Okay, I'll step down off my soapbox now! :)

Field Widow

It's that time a year again, the time of year that only another farm wife could truly relate to... the time when you become a "Field Widow". What is a Field Widow you ask?

Well it's a phenomenon that occurs three times of year when the crops are grown and ready to come off the fields. Also known as first cutting (hay), second cutting, and chopping of the corn. Why would this make me a widow? Well, my husband starts his day at 5am every morning, he has a cup of coffee and then heads down to the barn, milks the ladies cows, and spreads the manure. At this point it's about 10am. I may or may not see him for a short breakfast, when that's over it's a kiss for me and a snuggle and some kisses for K then he's back on his way out the door. At that point he'll be in the field all day, mowing/raking/baling/wrapping. If I'm around I'll take him a sandwich and some fresh water for lunch and get to spend about 15 minutes with him. About 4:45pm he'll come back in the door, wash his hands and face shovel dinner in his mouth, kiss K and I again and back out the door he goes for night milking. This usually takes until about 8pm. Sometimes this is the end of his day but if Mother Nature is calling for bad weather the next day, then sometimes he's back out in the fields again til dark getting the last of the hay cut/baled/wrapped!

This ladies and gentlemen, sucks! He's exhausted, stinky and sunburned when I finally see him at night. I have grown to accept it and move on because I know that it only lasts a short while (well at least until second cutting, oh yeah and when it's time to chop corn...). I will have my normal husband back eventually, but I do miss him terribly when he's gone and I know K does too! Oh well, just another part of being the farmers wife!

Ten Commandments of a Farmers Wife

Ten Commandments of a Farmers Wife!

1. Thou shall love the aroma of newly mowed hay and the smell of cows!
2. Thou shall live closely with God.
3. Thou shall cook meals that can be served 30 minutes early or two hours late. 
4. Thou shall learn to keep farm records.
5. Thou shall be inspired to see the sun rise and relieved to see it set. 
6. Thou shall learn to open gates and guard gates.
7. Thou shall thrill at the sight of  new tractor and the birth of a new calf. 
8. Thou shall cherish meals together, long waits for the vet to arrive and decisions about when to plow the fields.
9. Thou shall not sort calves with your hands in your pockets.
10. Thou shall love lunchtime when the smell of the farmer can be stronger than the smell of food on the table.

S showed this to me the other day out of a magazine he was reading. It cracked me up because all of it is so true and full of the many things I've had to learn since becoming a farmers wife!