MOTIVATION - Road Quotes and Pictures

“There's more to getting to where you're going then just knowing there's a road.” 
― Joan Lowery Nixon

“If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.” 
― David Livingstone

Summer is here - finally!

Summer is here finally.  We celebrated with one of our favorite summer activities, Jake likes to call it Road Farmin'.

There are only a few simple rules for Road Farmin'

1. You need snacks.  We like to find new/old/interesting ice cream places.

The girls want me to post they were posing like the Statue of Liberty.  But, you probably already guessed that.

 2. You should probably also fill your tank up with fuel.  Unless of course your kids aren't with you and then like Brad Paisley says "on second thought forget it, that one turns out kinda cool".

3. The next rule of the game is to try to get lost.  While you are lost, let the kids decide if you should turn left or right.  They will think it matters, and we let them believe it does. It is important to explore new roads, especially the ones that have no names.

4. Make sure you bring a camera and find the most majestic places to picture.

Zoo times two!

I have had the opportunity to attend two field trips for the girls to the Good Zoo.  When I was in Kindergarden I was supposed to go to the zoo, but got the chicken pox the night before and was unable to attend.  I wish these trips could have made up for it, however somewhere the magic was lost.

The bus ride that the students seem to really enjoy, lost it's fun as an adult.

Although I didn't enjoy the super awesome veterinary clinic just inside the zoo as much as the kids, it was well thought out and educational.

The "Up Close With The Animals" workshop was very interesting. However the difference between now and when I would have went to the zoo in 1983 was that before the kids pet the animals they want a pic with their ipod. 

Of course exploring the zoo was enjoyable for everyone.

 Although these trips were not exactly the same as being able to go with your friends when you are five, they were enjoyable. 

Ag Gag Bill

I like to read about politics and sometimes I will follow interesting political stories.  Unfortunately I find it difficult to find credible sources that don't become so extreme in their opinions and the swaying of the public.  I hope that one day we will see the media trust Americans again. I believe when I see this trust it will look like facts being presented with the intent to trust Americans' intelligence enough to understand the right and wrong.  It will be like heaven if we also at the same time were able to elect politicians that were able to do their jobs with their full intent to do the right thing, instead of what benefits them. It would be so much easier to understand politics if we knew that politicians never did anything, but what benefited the people.

These thoughts lead me feeling "more confused than cows on astro turf", while studying politics. 

picture from a google search

The Ag Gag Bill that is being introduced into state legislatures across the country. North Dakota, Kansas and Montana already have similar wording in the books.  Utah and Iowa have recently passed legislation which will give people taping or photographing animal cruelty 24-48 hours to turn these pictures and videos to authorities and subsequently reporting the matter.  This would then end the ability of the animal activist groups to be hired to work with animals undercover to collect videos and pictures and then edit them to create news worthy pieces to try to end livestock production.  The question remains in my mind of why you would watch animals being abused and continue taping it sometimes for weeks and never turn them in? 

I believe most farmers and ranchers are open to sharing their stories, farms, ranches, feedyards, when asked.  I hope that more media will help to share the positive stories of the humane treatment of livestock for the use of feeding the world. 

The enemy is blooming.

Sometime in the 1800's apparently someone thought it was a good idea to bring this plant to America.  

The Russian Olive

Historically these plants have been used for erosion control, strip mine reclamation, wildlife habitat, and in landscaping. Regrettably these bushes have erosion around them.

The Russian-olive are an invasive, deciduous shrub or small tree that grows to 20 feet tall.  It has yellow flowers and dry yellow mealy fruit. Silver scales occur on the underside of the leaves. The twigs of Russian-olive are typically covered with thorns. These shrubs begin to flower and fruit annually after 3 years. An individual plant can produce 8 pounds of fruit each year. Currently these flowers are blooming and from all research they would call them fragrant.  However with so many of these blooming around the pastures and the fact that I believe fragrant to be a positive term, I find this a false statement.  These plants stink really bad.  I am wondering how long this "fragrant" blooming will go on.

Some of the problems or benefits, of the  Russian-olive are that they have nitrogen-fixing root nodules which allows them to adapt to many poor soil types. They are found in areas such as pastures and fields, grasslands and sparse woodlands. The grow aggressively  and take over native plants and shrubs. They grow rapidly and re-sprout heavily after cutting or burning.   

To make a longer story short, these shrubs are a nuisance like with most non-native species they don't do what they were intended to do.  The thorns that cover the shrubs/trees do not allow you to maneuver through them to find cows or calves.  I believe the cows are aware of the thorns and purposely hide in the Russian Olives.  They do not stop all erosion. They are unmanageable and cause a great deal of expense.  Oh and did I mention they smell bad. They smell like the enemy.

May is Beef Month - Happy Grilling

May is a month to celebrate beef. This is the beginning of the grilling season.  Have you used your grill yet? One of the challenges I have with butchering our own beef is, you get what you get and you don't through a fit.  Therefore if you want filet but you only have sirloin, you make the sirloin.  I have always struggled with cooking sirloin properly and getting it tender enough to enjoy chewing it.  I have found the answer.  I am sharing this marinade choice with you as a tip for Beef Month. What is your favorite cut to cook? If you butcher your own beef, how do you cook your less favorite cuts?  

Also as part of the celebration of beef month, please check out this Beef website for all of your questions about the beef industry.  There are nutrition, cooking, production, animal care and environmental facts and information.  Please share how you plan to celebrate Beef Month.

Beautiful day for a beautiful celebration.

Although I was secretly praying for rain for Jacie First Communion Celebration, it turned out to be a beautiful day for a beautiful celebration.

Jacie was making her first communion and since planting season is behind schedule I was sure if it didn't rain we would have a poor turnout.  However, to my surprise my brother left the tractor seat and planting to attend his Goddaughter's special day.  May God Bless his crop and give him plenty of sun to keep on planting this week. Aunt Katy, Jacie's Godmother was able to bring her brand new daughter for her first road trip to the special event and along with her came Aunt Leslie and Payton in order for Uncle Andy to stay home at the Wolfinger Farm to keep the tractor wheels turning.

My parents along with Jake's parents also made the trip leaving the farm behind.  My cousins Jamie and Julie who I spent many church hours with also came with Bryer, Kinnley and Luke (for their second church service of the day).  My sister Jenny made the four hour trip one way with her two boys for the celebration.

We appreciate all of the support and the celebration that you each brought to Jacie's First Communion.

Jacie has learned so many wonderful things about her faith and continues to teach me.  She had a remarkable teacher with years of experience preparing students for First Communion.  Jacie came home the other day telling stories about being very careful with the "body of Christ" or the hosts.  She said, Mrs. DeVendra told them a story about a "communion helper" that tripped and dropped the hosts.  She then said, "Mrs. DeVendra told them, you can't just through Jesus away".  No Jacie you can't just through Jesus away that is for sure.  A special thank you to Mrs. DeVendra for continuing leading Jacie to Jesus and teaching her so many things this year about her faith and being a good person.

  
After leaving the church with our family we enjoyed some great food, farm talk and a ride through the cows with everyone under the age of nine and a few chaperones (thanks Aunt Leslie).