Trip to Minneapolis!

Today, I have for you a review of my trip to Minneapolis with Jeff about a week ago, but FIRST--

I understand some people have had issues getting my blog to "show up" on their RSS feeds, such as Feedly or BlogLovin'. I think I finally have the tech side of this figured out so you could find Prairie Sun Life on your blog feeds. Try copy/pasting this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePrairieSunLife   It seems to be working so far. If you continue to have trouble, please let me know! I don't want to miss anyone!

Now, on to the Minneapolis trip!

As I mentioned in my most recent Weekly Review post, Jeff and I traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the National Farmers Union Convention. The Convention was held March 4-8 at the Radisson Blu- Mall of America hotel and convention center. We had a nice trip getting together with Farmers Union friends and colleagues. We also saw a lot of the Mall of America, and I had a chance to meet up with a blogging friend, Jessie. Read on for the details!

The convention was held at the Radisson Blu- MOA. This was a really nice hotel, and very modern in aesthetic. It was also attached to the Mall via skyway. It was a nice host site in that it was big enough and had many nice amenities. Personally, I would have actually preferred not to be attached to MOA and to have had more opportunity to be outside. The Mall of America "experience" wore off quickly. It is still just a mall...

My friend Tom lounges in one of these suspended pods they had in the lobby of the hotel. Very modern, indeed!

Anyway, the committee that I am on- Next Generation Advisory Council- presented our Strategic Plan to the NFU Board of Directors on Saturday morning. We have spent about a year working on this and had some really great suggestions for moving NFU forward with the "next generation" of farmers, ranchers, and consumers. Our ideas fell into three main themes: Membership, Leadership, and Mentorship. As a Council, we were all very pleased to see and experience positive reactions from the Board after our presentation.

I wore this necklace that I made for my presentation. Each tab has one of the brands that have been used on our family farm over time. I wanted a reminder to myself that it's not without respect to the past that we move forward.

I had a few other meetings throughout the weekend and enjoyed some of the keynote speakers and fundraising events before flying out on Monday. Jeff was elected as a Delegate to represent Montana Farmers Union, so he stayed on for the policy portion of the Convention. It sounds like there were a lot of differing opinions about policy and proposed changes. Ultimately, one thing I really love about Farmers Union on a State and National level is that we as members have the opportunity to argue policy and use a truly democratic process to build our position and give voice to the whole. I am really glad Jeff had the opportunity to serve as a Delegate and represent our State. I know he did a good job, even if I wasn't there to see it in person.

There were many speakers at Convention that addressed the gathering before policy began. I was sure to catch Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speak. I may break down some of what he spoke about in a separate post because there was a lot that is very relevant to Agriculture, obviously. I always enjoy hearing what Secretary Vilsack has to say and I appreciate the work he has done as our Secretary of Ag.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addresses the Convention.

A major highlight of the trip for me was simply gathering and getting together with some of our Farmers Union friends, from near and far. A group of us shared several meals and lots of free time together and it was just wonderful to be together. Several times I remarked that I hadn't laughed that much in a long, long time. To me, that's another aspect of what makes Farmers Union special- you become family with these people over time. I know that, even though some of my friends live in separate states, they will be there for me for years to come, and vice versa.

Two of our close friends, Bryan and Jennifer, are from Minnesota and took us out to some fun Minneapolis restaurants while we were there. One being Spoon and Stable, which was sort of a fine dining restaurant with innovative menu. We sampled a wide variety of dishes from their menu and shared them all among the table. My favorite out of everything was a dessert item called Honey and Cream Cake-- sooooooo good! Some of their menu can be pricey, but you could always go just for dessert and drinks if you're in the area. Make sure you call ahead for a reservation, though!

The other restaurant they took us to was a Thai restaurant called Sen Yai Sen Lek. This restaurant is part of the Minnesota Cooks: Food From The Farm collective. The Thai food was really good-- exactly what one wants from a Thai restaurant. We shared some spring rolls and each ordered our own lunch plates. I had a dish called Pad Bai Gra Prow with chicken. It was like a Thai spiced ground chicken with vegetables over rice, and the entire thing was topped with a fried egg. Soooooo delicious! This restaurant was also very affordable. I'd highly recommend it if you are in the Cities and hankering for some Thai! Plus, you know that anything from the Minnesota Cooks group is going to be really good farm to table food.

Another major highlight of the trip for me was meeting a fellow blogger- Jessie from The Right Fits. We have been following each others blogs for a long time, so it was really great to meet in person! Jessie is also a runner (she runs much more than I do!) and has a vizsla!! We met up for a walk near downtown Minneapolis, together with her dog Matilda the vizsla. It was so great to meet, get to know one another, get some exercise, get out of MOA, learn about and see Minneapolis from a local, and to see a beautiful Vizsla!!! Thanks, Jessie, for the meet up! You are the embodiment of "Minnesota Nice!" Readers, if you like reading about running, the Twin Cities, and/or Vizslas, definitely check out The Right Fits! Jessie does a really wonderful job!

Matilda, Jessie, and me over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis!
Thanks, Jessie, for sharing this photo with me!

While Harvey couldn't come to Minneapolis to meet Jessie and Matilda, he did send his love in the form of a gift. Harvey picked out a toy from his favorite made in Montana dog toy company- West Paw Designs. It's a grizzly bear. I delivered it to Matilda when I saw her. It looks like she likes it!

Matilda enjoys her new dog toy, from Harvey.
Photo credit to Jessie from The Right Fits. 

Well, it was a really great trip to Minneapolis and I hope to make it back there sometime soon. It's an easy city to fly to from Great Falls as we actually have a direct flight! I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about what we did on our trip. Have you ever traveled to the Twin Cities?

Barley Harvest 2015

Hey everyone!

Yes, we are still in the midst of harvest around here, although it has been somewhat disjointed. We've had a lot of stop and go with harvest this year, largely because the crops are all ripening at different times. Even within the barley harvest, we had a few days break between cutting barley at Tom and Carol's and cutting the barley that Jeff and I raised. At this point our barley harvest is more or less finished, so I thought I'd give you all a brief wrap-up of that. If you want to go back and read up on how our winter wheat harvest went, you can do that by CLICKING HERE. The winter wheat post was one of my most-clicked posts of the summer, so that tells me that people must be enjoying the farm-related posts and hopefully learning something, too! 

So. Barley. 

When barley is ripe, the heads bow down.

 We raise what's called 2-Row Barley. That means that the grain head itself has two rows of seeds. There are other types of barley, such as 6-Row. In Montana, most everyone raises 2-Row. Our friends in North Dakota raise 6-Row. From what I gleaned from Jeff's explanation, it sounds like 6-Row barley produces a higher yield. Makes sense-- more rows, more seeds. But 2-Row barley may have better, more consistent malting qualities, and that's the desired end-use for the barley we raise.

So, what happens during harvest is we cut the barley and send a sample to the malt plant with whom we have contracted our grain. They will test the sample to see if the grain we raised is sufficient for malting. They have a lot of stipulations, including test-weight, protein, moisture, plump vs. thin kernel size, germination... on and on. Jeff just showed me the list and after reading through it, I began to wonder how anyone makes malt grade, ever. But, I guess demand for beer doesn't go down, so sometimes the malt companies will be a little more lenient. Actually, it seems like you're less likely to get docked by the malt company than you are by the wheat buyers. So, there's that.

Something else I learned as I was doing a little research for this post is that malt is made from germinated barley kernels. So, at the malt plant, they soak the kernels in water so they germinate, then they dry them out with hot air. Something happens within the seed during germination process that makes it sweeter. When the malted grain reaches the desired dryness and color, it's ready to go.

We are at the point where almost all of our barley has been cut, but we're not sure if it will make malt grade yet. We have to send our samples in and then wait and see. If it doesn't make malt, then it'll be sold (for a lesser price, most likely) and used in animal feed. We hope that's not what happens.

I don't have a ton of photos from barley harvest because anyone who knows anything about barley kind of tries to stay away if they don't have to be involved. Barley dust is really itchy. It's kind of a burny, stingy itch that gets in the sweaty areas at the back of the neck or in the inside of the elbows and doesn't go away until you take a shower. This year, some of the barley cutting days were in the upper 90s, so that means more sweat and worse barley itch.

There was also the day that the air-conditioners broke. Our friend Brett helped us cut barley this year because we were planning on baling the barley straw and his combine makes a better straw-row than ours does. One day, both combines had been running hard all day long on a hot, hot day and then, oddly, around 7 p.m., the air-conditioners quit in both of them. Being in the glass-walled cab of a combine is like being an ant under a magnifying glass- it's hot! And there's no opening windows when you're cutting itchy barley. There was no going on that evening without the A.C. Honestly, I don't think anyone minded the early quitting time that day, though!

In this photo, Jeff is driving combine and Tom is in the truck, just across the road from Tom and Carol's house.
Taken on the first day of Barley harvest, July 31.

Right now, we are in another one of the harvest pauses that seem to be the norm this year as we've been working on other projects and waiting for the spring wheat to finish ripening. Once we get rolling on the spring wheat, probably by Thursday, I'm hoping we can just cut through it without any more multi-day pauses. I think everyone is ready to put the bookends on this harvest and move on. Stay tuned for more harvest posts as we plow ahead! 

Starting Harvest

It is *officially* harvest!

We started cutting winter wheat on Monday afternoon. That morning, I helped Jeff quite a bit with all the very-last-minute preparations. We cleaned out a grain bin and swept out a truck. I washed all the windows on the combine, even the ones inside the hopper. 

This is what the inside of a grain truck looks like. 

 The sky was a bit broody on Monday, but no storms that night. This year, we grew winter wheat, yellow peas, spring wheat, and barley. After we finish cutting the winter wheat, we'll probably move on to barley, and then finish on spring wheat. We're actually not cutting our peas at all this year, but that's a topic for a separate post.

Each morning, to start the day, the combine is serviced and gassed-up, and the windows are washed. This is just to hopefully maintain smooth operating with this beast of a machine. Daily greasing and cleaning keeps it running as efficiently as possible.

Jeff gets into one of the hard-to-reach places on the combine with a grease gun, while Harvey looks on.

 Also, just because it's harvest doesn't mean that other farm work can be completely neglected. Jeff has been getting up very early every morning to spray while the wind is down. Then, he'll spend a full day on the combine or driving truck. He had been spraying our peas (again, it's a long story for another post, perhaps), and then this morning began spraying the fallow fields. I could probably do an entire post just about spraying-- why we do it, pros and cons, etc. So, that's another one that could be coming down the pike sometime, folks! But this post is about harvest kicking off, so let's continue with that!

I took a break from cleaning the windows and mirrors for a photo op. 

 Harvest is easily the busiest time of year for us. Remember that we spend an entire year planning and working just for this season, to harvest our grain. A significant portion of our income is based solely on how the crop does. I always like to make the analogy that harvest for us is like tax season for an accountant, or like Black Friday in retail. This is when you hope to make it into the black, so to speak.

I'll be doing several more posts as harvest continues on about how it's going, so stay tuned for that. I also want to give a big shout out to my friend Christy. She lives and works on a big beef ranch and dryland farm, similar to our operation only they're bigger on cows and less on crops while we're heavier on crops and less on cows. Christy is a very active member of Team Beef Montana and has a great running blog with many, many followers. We met in person at the Montana Farmer's Union Women's Conference last spring and she stood up during a goal-making session and said she'd like to spend more time on her running blog educating her readers about her farming and ranching lifestyle. She is definitely making her goal a reality! She has a really fantastic post today about her family's wheat harvest, which is also underway, and I highly recommend you check it out: You Like to Eat, Right? Learn A Bit About Your Food!

Golden winter wheat under that big Montana sky!

Happy harvesting, everyone!
If you are a farmer, how does harvest typically go for you?
If you're not a farmer, what would you say is your busiest, most important time of the year?

Thankful Thursday ~ State of the Farm

Hey Everyone!

Happy Thursday ! 

Things have been busy around here lately. Jeff and I were on vacation visiting family in Iowa, which you can read a bit about in my previous Thankful Thursday post. Then, we were home for a few days before some great friends of mine came from Seattle for a visit of about four days. I'll write a bit more about that soon, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, for the most part it has continued to be dry, dry, dry with the weather. Jeff just showed me the drought report put out by our local tv news station...

We are located near Havre on that map, in the peachy-tan colored section. So, we're not as bad as some parts of the state, but we're still pretty bad. We have not had much rain at all this year, which makes it pretty difficult to grow crops.

Then, on July 4th we had some "fireworks," brought to us by Mother Nature by way of a severe thunderstorm with rain and the four-letter H word. Yep, you guessed it.. hail. There was actually a tornado warning issued for part of our county. 

To add insult to injury in a dry, dry growing season, we then were hit with sideways hail. On the land that Jeff and I farm, we received hail damage to some extent on 100% of our crops. Tom (Jeff's Dad) had hail damage on some of his land, too. Both farms were reeling from droughthy weather. Some of our neighbors literally have no crop left standing in the field. With harvest just around the corner, their crops are completely totaled out already. 

You can see how the wheat is literally laying down.
The power of strong wind and hail.

So why do I bring all of this up? There are a fair number of friends and family who read this blog because they like to know what is going on here on the farm. Now you know. I'm not writing about this to gain sympathy or to share a sob story. It's simply statement of fact as to how the year is going. I.e. not very well. 

But what we must do, despite everything, or rather, IN SPITE of it all, is try to remain positive and thankful for what we do have. In agriculture, we are completely at the mercy of the weather. We cannot control it. We can do everything we can to plan and prepare for how we expect weather conditions to unfold according to typical weather patterns for our area, but when we have an off-year, that's just how it is. Not every year is going to be tremendous. Most will be average. When bad years or bad things happen, we have to learn from it, if possible, and move on. 

And just to lighten the mood while emphasizing my point, please watch this video from The Lion King:

"It doesn't matter-- it's in the past!"

What happens, happens. And, it really DOESN'T matter, because it's in the past! We can't change the past. What we can control is our own behaviors and actions in the moment and going forward.

Is it easy to let go? Hell no! Does it still suck when bad things happen? Absolutely. But I believe that a person can recognize, acknowledge, and give some weight to the negative emotions we feel due to bad circumstances, learn from them, and then let go and move forward. Try to make the best of what's still here to work with.

Rather timely, I'd add, another blog that I follow posted this article this week: Things You Gain When You Let Go Of Control. It's all about letting go of what you can't control, giving space to those things, and relishing what you can control, which is really only yourself. When you do that, you find that you're more able to recognize the good and the peace in what is all around you, and in yourself. I think the best quote of the entire article is this: "If you want to control your cows, give them a bigger pasture." Ponder that one for a while. :)

And so, even as the summer drags on, with whatever mixed bag of tricks Mother Nature still has in store for us, I remind myself of some of the many reasons I still am glad to be here. What we do on our farm helps feed a hungry world. Today's modern agricultural practices feed more people than ever before, and we are part of that. Every bit of grain we will harvest in the coming weeks, even though it's less than we originally thought we would have, helps to serve others. That's something to be proud of and to be thankful for.

I'll leave you with this Wendell Berry excerpt. There's a lot in there that rings true.


Happy Thursday, everyone! 
What are you thankful for this week?

Calving 2015 Update

I feel like I've barely been home lately between going to Chico for the MFU Women's Conference and then on to Wichita for the NFU Convention. This past weekend I was ACTUALLY HOME. Aside from heading to town Saturday morning for track practice, I didn't leave the farm. It was nice to spend some time with my husband, get some housework done, and spend some time with the cows and calves. Today's post is going to be pretty photo oriented, with lots of images of cute animals, including Harvey the vizsla, and lots of cows and calves. I hope you can handle this!

Benjamin!

Let's start with this guy and just get him right out there. He's a gorgeous, throwback Simmental calf- splotchy red and white. He's actually pretty big for being only a few days old, too. Now's the test to see how observant you are. It's hard to see, but he actually has a cast on his back left leg. In the first day of his life, he accidentally got stepped on by a cow and his lower leg broke. Tom took him to the vet in Havre where they gave him a cast. Then, to keep it waterproof, Tom and Jeff improvised by covering it with a plastic grocery sack and securing it into place with electrical tape.

While at the vet, the vet assistant thought the calf was pretty darn cute, which he is, and decided that his name should be Benjamin. Needless to say, it stuck. He's already pretty used to people and loves to be scratched on his neck. He's our pal. He's doing great and we expect that his broken leg will heal quickly. He already hops around pretty well, just like a normal, healthy calf.

Here's a cute, healthy little guy!

With the weather as nice as it has been pretty much all throughout calving, the process has been going very well. Everyone is staying healthy, and cows and calves are all happy. They are really loving basking in the warm sunshine! 

The calves are particularly curious and really can't figure out what to make of Harvey. They love to get close to him and try to see what he's all about. Harvey, for his part, is cautious around the larger animals but feels safer around calves, for the most part. Here, you can see him close to Carol, with another calf getting close to check him out. 

Harvey sticks close to Carol, while she takes a photo. 

This is a photo Carol took of the calf coming up to get a look at Harv. 

 Harvey definitely feels safer when he's near a human...

Another calf comes up to check out Harvey, while a cow looks on from behind Carol.

Here, Harvey is anchored to my knee.

 As of this morning, we had 67 calves born and about thirty cows yet to calve. At this point, they'll continue to sort of taper off. Today and tomorrow the weather is supposed to be cooler and rainy, so we'll see if the pressure change causes more cows to go into labor, as sometimes happens.

Here's Jeff and Harvey kneeling down to let some calves approach.

More calves! The little one curled up on the left side of the image was so content to lay in the sunshine! 

 When we had walked out to check out the cows and calves, we noticed right away that one cow was in the beginning stages of labor. We left her alone for a little while, and when we checked back later, it looked like she was struggling. Sometimes the hips of the calf sort of get stuck inside and the mama needs a little assistance. At this point, if the calf is still encased in fluid, he can actually suffocate. Jeff watched pretty close and at one point helped pull the calf just a little bit with his bare hands. The mama took a short rest and then gave one last push and the calf was freed. Just in time. But, Jeff was prepared with the pulling straps, if they were needed.

It's pretty cool to watch the miracle of birth. I know that it may not be for everyone, but I think it's pretty neat. Carol actually took video of the whole thing, but we agreed that it may be too graphic to post on the blog. What do you think, readers? Is that a video you'd like to see, or would it be too much?

We left the new pair alone for a while more so they could bond and the mama could clean her calf.  Below was the scene a little while later:

Cows bond initially with their calves by licking and cleaning them. 

I know I've said this before, but it's so great to live and work on a family ranch. Jeff and I are so lucky to contribute to agriculture in this way and to carry on a family tradition. There's nothing like calving time to feel the rewards of hard work.

Thanks to Carol for the photo!

 I've always wanted to do a sort of tongue-in-cheek Farm Girl Fashion post on the blog. It would be modeled after a high fashion post that fashion divas do on their fashion blogs, only it'd be about what we farm girls wear to be practical when working outside. I think my outfit above embodies that spirit! haha! You just have to love the Carhartt Jacket, old jeans, and mucky overshoes look!

Photo by Carol.

 And now a short infographic on beef, thanks to Ryan Goodman at Agriculture Proud.  He has a pretty well-written blog and an interesting point of view on agriculture and particularly on ranching. If you like ag blogs, definitely stop by. He actually had this image posted on his Agriculture Proud FB page the other day. He and I are both members of Team Beef Montana (although we've never run in the same race. Montana is a big state), which is a group of ranchers and beef producers who also run and race as a way to stay in shape. As a Team Beef member, I am enthusiastic that lean beef is a quality energy source that helps fuel my run and recovery. When Ryan posted this graphic, I wanted to share it with my readers.

On our ranch, we sell our calves in the fall and they are typically finished on grain. The animals that we keep to finish for ourselves are also finished on grain. There is a growing market for grass fed and I would be interested in pursuing this. I'd also love to pursue more direct marketing of our beef, or selling directly to consumers. Lots to think about for the future on that topic. 

Regardless, our animals are treated very well and we really do love our cows and calves. They have unlimited pasture to graze on and always have access to clean, fresh running water. I'm proud of the work we do with our small herd of cattle. 

I'm also proud of our dog, and he is quite pleased to be himself, as you can see below...

Harvey is guarding the porch! You may not cross unless you pet him first!

I hope you enjoyed the photos! Have a great week, everyone!

Thankful Thursday (On a Friday) ~ Thanks Farmers!

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by today's Thankful Thursday post on my blog!

Yes, you read that right, and no, today is not Thursday. It is actually Friday today; I'm in delay for posting my weekly Thankful Thursday post. I spent the better portion of the last seven days away from home out of my normal routine while in Wichita, KS at the National Farmers Union Convention. I did arrive back home on Wednesday afternoon, but everyone knows the first day after returning from a trip is mostly a waste. Hence the delay in blog posts.

Anyway, let's get to the matter at hand, which is this week's Thankful Thursday topic.

Did you know that March is National Agriculture Appreciation Month? Wednesday, March 18 was National Agriculture Day, in fact! You probably saw little memes and posts on the internet and social media telling you to thank a farmer and appreciate the Ag lifestyle. I'm going to continue that theme today, and I'm going to build it around some of the comments that our Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, gave in his speech at the NFU Convention earlier this week.

Some of you probably already know that I am a huge fan of Secretary Vilsack. He's from Iowa, as am I, and was fairly popular as a Governor there before moving on to become Secretary of Ag. What I really like about him is that he is genuinely concerned with finding solutions that bring people together, and also in helping people. He also states things as he sees them and doesn't come off as a phony politician. This is a characteristic I can appreciate, especially in today's political climate.

US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addresses the National Farmers Union Convention.
Photo by Minnesota Farmers Union.

Secretary Vilsack offered many words of wisdom to the convention audience, but something he said early in his speech rang very true to me: "If you're not a farmer, you're delegating the responsibility of feeding your family to someone else." He went on to explain that this is a freedom and a liberty that we have in the US that many others worldwide do not enjoy. If you're not a farmer, you are counting on those of us who are farmers, fishers, and ranchers to provide sustenance for you and your family. That's a pretty big deal. If you eat, you depend on farmers. Secretary Vilsack also pointed out that in the United States, we spend about ten percent of our paycheck on food. In other countries, that percentage is much, much higher. Obviously, these are aggregate statistics and not the reality for every American household, but on the whole, to spend only 10% of our budget on food is really very good. We live in a great country and we have an outstanding agricultural system, filled with variety of producers, methods, and foodstuffs produced, and we should be thankful for that. We are lucky. 

Here's another reason to thank a farmer or rancher. American agriculture is a JOB CREATOR. Ag producers are directly influencing the economic growth rate in our nation and especially in rebuilding the rural economy. According to Secretary Vilsack's speech, the United States has seen sixty consecutive months of private sector job growth, which is an unprecedented stretch in our history. Can you think of any farmer who moved back home to a rural area in the past five years? I count myself in that demographic, in fact. Jeff and I are contributing to growing our rural economy, if for no other reason than simply existing and continuing to farm our land. I'm sure all of you can think of people who have taken up farming or gone back to farming in the past five years. Give them a pat on the back for helping with our nation's job growth!

The Secretary also spoke on some of my favorite USDA programs and intiatives, including SNAP benefits, the dietary guidelines, and many other topics. But, the line that stuck with me the most from his entire speech actually came about during the question period at the end. The general topic of conversation was about the diversity of agricultural styles and production methods in the US. Sometimes there is a tendency for ag producers to squabble with each other over who has the best methods, who is doing the most-right thing for the planet, who is feeding the most people, etc. Secretary Vilsack himself gave a line which, to me, was the overarching message of the entire convention: "Every minute we are fighting among our selves about agriculture is one minute we lose to advocate for agriculture to the public." Pretty big, right? In the end, we can and should all focus on what we have in common rather than how to hurt one another. What tools will help all of us. Leave your bias hats at the door and come to the table with ideas and solutions to work together.

There is a lot of negativity about agriculture in the media today. As we know, the media tends to focus on the negative instead of what we are doing right. Part of the mission of this blog is to continue to spread the positive messages of agriculture to my readers and hopefully beyond. If you are a farmer, thank another farmer for the work he or she does. If you're not a farmer, find one, and say thank you. Let's all say thank you and continue to work together to find ways to keep the American agricultural sector strong. 

Stay tuned to my blog for a few more posts pertaining to the NFU Convention over the next few days! :)

Next Generation Advisory Council

I have some exciting news to start this post: I applied for and was selected to be on a committee through National Farmers Union called the Next Generation Advisory Council. My friend Jennifer encouraged me to apply along with her and we both made the cut! The two of us, along with five others from around the country will be serving on the council. The mission of the council is as follows:

(The council) will serve in an advisory capacity. They will be called upon as a focus group to provide feedback on current programs and outreach, as well as proposed ideas for the future. For example, the Council could offer feedback on convention speakers, breakout sessions, brochure content, etc. to ensure that we are speaking to the "next generation" of Farmers Union members. 

So, with that brief explanation, I now enlist YOUR HELP, dear readers! I would love input from YOU as to what this Next Generation Advisory Council should try to accomplish, in your opinion. If you are involved in farming or agriculture, please consider what you would be looking for in an advocacy organization. If you're not involved directly in agriculture, but, say, you love food and you love supporting people who grow food, think about how you as a consumer could better interface with people who produce food. Here are a few questions to get you thinking and hopefully responding:

What are the best ways an organization can communicate with you?

What do you want an organization, particularly an Ag organization, to do for you?

What are some ways that people involved in agriculture can better connect with consumers?

As a consumer, what do you want to know about your food and your farmer?

When considering joining a new organization (of any kind), what are the biggest draws? biggest deterrents? 

What do you feel is the "next generation" of agriculture?

What do you think is the future of food and food advocacy?  Who are the producers and who are the consumers?

What is your overall opinion of farmers and agriculture? 

Where do you get information about farmers and agriculture?

Thinking specifically about National Farmers Union or Montana Farmers Union, what are some reasons you like the organization? What are some reasons you dislike the organization?

I would really LOVE to hear from any of you on these topics! Or, if you have anything else to say that I didn't specifically address above, please let me know! Feel free to comment here on the blog, comment in Facebook, or even email me at katie (dot) r (dot) adam (at) gmail (dot) com. My first meeting with this group is this Sunday morning as part of the National Farmers Union Convention in Wichita, KS. I can't wait to read your feedback!

D.C. Fly-In, Part One: The Legislative Experience

I have a lot of photos and a lot to process and write about our Washington D.C. trip. I'm going to have to break it down into several posts. After going through my photos, I think the best way to organize the trip into blog posts is into three segments: Legislative Experience, Tourist Experience, and Art and Design Experience.

I'll start with the Legislative Experience.

But first, let me back up a bit and remind everyone why we came to be in D.C. in the first place!

The D.C. Fly-In was the culmination of our Farmers Union Enterprises (FUE) Leadership Couples training experience that has lasted for about the past 18 months. If you can't remember what FUE or the program we were participating in was all about, check out THIS POST. Basically, we spent the past year or so attending Farmers Union conferences and events and participating in leadership training seminars along with three other couples-- one each from Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Walking in front of the Department of Agriculture building with some of our FUE friends.

The Department of Agriculture is a HUGE building.
I liked that they had corn planted out front! 

The Fly-In itself was National Farmers Union's annual lobbying event in Washington D.C. Farmers Union members and representatives from all 28 states where Farmers Union has a presence were in Washington for the Fly-In. Our group arrived a few days early for about a day and a half of more leadership training and informational meetings. Then, the last two and a half days were dedicated to the legislative process and how it pertains to agriculture and Farmers Union issues. The last day and a half specifically were spent actually meeting with representatives of Congress and the Senate (or their staff!) to advocate directly for issues affecting family farms across the country.

On the in-between-day on the Hill, as I'll call it, we as an entire National Farmers Union group, were addressed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Gina McCarthy, and a woman named Ann Alonzo, who is the head of the Agriculture Marketing Service, as well as by National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson.  President Johnson and his staff outlined the four main issues we'd be discussing in our lobbying efforts the next day before we heard from the other three. I found Secretary Vilsack's remarks to be appropriate and well-thought-out, and I enjoyed hearing him speak most of all. He's great. Administrator McCarthy was an engaging speaker as well.

NFU President Roger Johnson

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

Administrator McCarthy of the EPA

Ann Alonzo of the USDA

Moving on to the actual lobbying experience. Everyone with Farmers Union who was present for the Fly-In was divided into teams of 5 or so people, with each team assigned to several Senate/Congressional offices. We were to visit the offices and speak to the government official (or their staff) about our key issues, or drop off an informational hand-out if no one was available to meet with us.

We became very familiar with the Congress and Senate office buildings.

Jeff and I were in a small group with three other people from Montana including the Montana Farmers Union President, another Montana Farmers Union member from Great Falls, and a member of the Montana press (who was not a member of Farmers Union, just there to cover the story of our time in Washington.) We ended up visiting the offices of five different individuals-- a mix of Representatives and Senators. Of those five offices, the only time we met with an actual government official was when we visited the office of Senator Walsh of Montana. The rest of the time we spoke with office staff, usually the staffer responsible for Agriculture issues.

Jeff and I in the rotunda of the Longworth office building.

The issues we spoke about were identified and decided upon by the National Farmers Union board and included:

• COOL (Country of Origin Labeling)-- NFU is for keeping COOL laws as-is.
• RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard)-- NFU Is for maintaining status quo with RFS.
• TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership)-- NFU is skeptical of TPP in its current form.
• Rail Issues-- NFU is advocating on behalf of farmers for increased rail traffic for grain and for increased oversight from the STB (Surface Transportation Board) on the railroad. 

Throughout the process of meeting with the various offices and staff, and the Senator, it became apparent that Jeff has a real gift for leadership in these types of situations. He was very well-spoken and seemed really comfortable discussing the issues with anyone. As for myself, I was a little out of my comfort level, but with practice got better. I think my future with Farmers Union probably will not involve extensive lobbying in that form. Jeff rocked it though. 

Senate Hart Office Building.
Montana Senators Tester and Walsh both have their offices here.

Since we had a member of the local Montana Ag media in our group, Jeff and I did give a brief interview that was included in a few radio spots. Jeff was also interviewed by another person of the media and that story was released right after we got back. Hopefully everyone is happy with how we both answered our questions! I was a little nervous for the interview I did, even though it was brief! Did anyone catch any of our radio spots or the print interview anywhere?

One of the highlights for the business-side of the trip for me was attending the Golden Triangle Awards Ceremony on Tuesday evening of our trip. The Golden Triangle Awards are given by National Farmers Union to government officials who have done well to serve the Ag community in the past year. Many of the awards were handed out in person at the event. This meant we had a very front row view of many members of Congress and the Senate as they stopped by the party to receive their awards. I was most impressed with Nancy Pelosi (California), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), and of course, John Tester (Montana), our friend and neighbor. Jeff and I were also impressed with John Walsh (Montana) for the fact that he stayed at the party after giving his short acceptance speech and actually took some time to visit with people in the audience-- no one else had done that. Politics aside, he seemed like a nice and genuine man in-person.

Nancy Pelosi receives her Golden Triangle service award from NFU President Roger Johnson.

Sherrod Brown of Ohio about to receive his award.

Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota addresses the group.

There's so much more detail I could write about this trip and specifically about the legislative experience we had. I truly learned A LOT in-person about how government works. It was cool to be actively participating in democracy, advocating for family farms, and attempting to let our voices be heard. Even if I don't have a future in lobbying in this form, it was definitely worth the experience on many, many levels. I think Jeff and I both realized the potential for leadership that we have within this organization, which is overall, the ultimate goal of the entire experience.

Will either of us have a future in politics?!

Is It Ready Yet?

Well, it's still harvest time around here and looks like it will be for a while yet. Harvest this year has felt very disjointed as compared to previous years. At this point we are more or less half finished, maybe slightly less than half. We have Tom's winter wheat and barley cut as well as some re-crop spring wheat. I'm not sure, but I think each field has some pot-holes or patches left uncut that we'll have to go back for. 

Beautiful Spring Wheat!

Right now, we're waiting for things to dry up enough to be able to continue on. In the meantime, our crew has been helping a neighbor and dear friend of ours, Brett, with his harvest. My understanding is that his wheat will all be cut sometime yet today, then the plan is to move all the way up to some re-crop spring wheat that Jeff and I have on our leased ground way up north. 

Jeff is checking on some wheat near the only tree on our farm ground.

There's been a lot of crop tours wherein we'll drive out to the fields, walk around looking at the wheat and assessing it's done-ness. Is it ready yet? Probably not. Jeff thinks the majority of our crop has probably another week-10 days to go. Maybe more. Hopefully we do get to try out the re-crop this evening and it will be cut-able. It would be nice to keep rolling along!

We have had a lot of humidity and rainy weather patterns this August, which is a big reason behind the slow cutting season. You can't cut wheat if it's too wet. It just doesn't go through the combine. All the moisture may not make good cutting weather, but it's great for the impending winter wheat seeding season, which will take place yet this fall. Always look at the bright side! 

Outstanding in our field.
The joke that never gets old!

Today was actually my first day back at my "normal job" at school. We had staff meetings today, then tomorrow is the actual first day of school. I've had a lot of mixed emotions about starting back. I feel bad that I'm not around the farm to help more, but also thankful that we have Stephanie here to help out. I also have some regret over not getting more done over the summer from some arbitrary mental list I created for myself back in May. Trying not to be too hard on myself, though, as we were nevertheless very busy this summer with travel. I did work some over the summer, too, with our Altacare Summer Program. Despite all of this, I am proud of myself for continuing on with running and fitness all summer long, which has been a challenge for me in the past. I feel stronger than I ever have, since high school, so that's good. I am excited for the kids to come back to school tomorrow and to see them all, which will make this wistful feeling of summer's end a little easier.

And, someday too, we'll be done with harvest. Just not anytime in the next couple weeks. We'll keep you posted!

Can you find Quincy, the cat?

Plows, Cows, and Snake #2

Lately, Jeff and I have been feeling a little bit like we've been running in every direction. It seems like everything has been happening, or needs to be happening at the same time. I decided the best way to organize things into a blog post would be to just put up a bunch of photos and then try to narrate in between.

OK.

Go.

Photo #1: Fix the Plow

 We have a piece of ground that came out of CRP last year, so we seeded it to winter wheat last fall. And... it didn't come up. We got it 100% adjusted out, which meant that we have had to control weeds in it all summer and get it ready to try and plant again. We have used a combination of methods to do this. First, we sprayed it out. Then, Jeff has been going over the land again and again with the plow to try to level it out a bit more. We have come to the conclusion that plows were built for the purpose of breaking down as it seems like nearly every evening we are out there fixing the dang thing.

Beyond that, I actually really like this photo for the repetition of line and form, and contrast of metal on rough earth. Also for the implied vanishing point.

Moving on.

With the heat, Harvey spends most of the day indoors or lounging in the shade. We go for walks, runs, or bike rides early in the morning or late in the evening when it's cool. The neighboring crop fields have reached their fullest height, which is just high enough to really obscure view of the dog. See Photo #2. If you read my previous post (and keep reading to the bottom of this one!) you know that rattlesnakes are in season around her, so the limited visibility of my dog makes me walking him feel a little more stressful, but as long as he doesn't get to far away and I can keep my eye on him relatively well, I feel better.

Photo #2: Who's Tail is That?

The next set of photos references our cow herd. We are nearing the end of the breeding season for the cows. The bull is still with them, but will be extricated later this week. On Monday, Jeff moved the group we have at our place from the farther-away pasture up to the one close to the house. I like seeing them every day as they explore this pasture. They look pretty good-- the summer has been good to them!

Photo #3: Hello, Cow!

Photo #4: Preparing to Bolt

They saw me walking toward them, so they all stood up and got ready to run... 

Photo #5: On the Run

The image looks blurry because they were moving and kicking up dust.
And because I took the photo on my phone. 

Last night was another exciting night around here that ties in a couple of the aforementioned subjects. Once again the blow was broke down. Jeff had called and informed me that he'd be coming back to the yard to get me and some supplies so we could go back up to the field and work on it. 

I started getting ready to go when I caught glimpse of Harvey out the window of our house-- looking like he was dodging away from something. I looked out the window and saw that he was about 6-8 feet away from a LARGE coiled rattlesnake, just behind one of our parked cars. I yelled to Harvey, "Harvey, NO! LEAVE IT!" And he cautiously trotted to the front door of the house, taking a very wide berth around the snake, and I let him in, making sure he hadn't been bit. Then, I called Jeff back and reported that we had another snake, this time very close to the house, then I went out and watched him until Jeff arrived and dispatched him. 

Not the world's greatest photo, but I wasn't interested in getting too much closer. 

This time, we kept the rattle, shown here with a fencing staple and a small rock. The rattle is about two inches long and includes eight rings, or whatever you want to call them. Needless to say, this was a big one. 

 So that's what's been happening around here. Second snake in less than a week right in the yard. I'm reasonably convinced that Harvey has learned to be very, very cautions around snakes and I feel fairly confident that he won't get bit again unless he is caught by surprise.

We continue to make progress in farming and ranching operations and are looking ahead to the start of Harvest, which will likely begin in a few weeks. :)