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Showing posts from March, 2013

Be the Momma. It Matters

I read this and thought it inspiring so I wanted to share it with you. Elizabeth George said,  "Moses' mother gave her time and her soul to her children...and in doing so gave God and the world, Moses, Aaron and Miriam. These three led God's people out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land." Wow, being a momma mattered. Just think by giving our time and our lives to our children we're giving great things to the world!! It could be as simple as waking them with gentleness or making a cup of hot chocolate. You might decide to let something go today so you can listen to them. It might be a little gift or a compliment. It might mean you need to say that hard thing you've been putting off. You might need to be a little more consistent. Or it could be a back rub or their favorite meal. How will you purposely plan to give your time and life to being a Momma today? Remember, it matters.... and remember even when it doesn't fe

Send the Nanny Home

You know that show, "The Nanny?" Well, it makes me crazy. So today I found a show called the "Nanny" something. I can't remember what it's called for sure but she goes around and basically teaches people how to have supper. I liked the show, the lady seemed nice but in the end it made me crazy too. Or maybe I'm not crazy, maybe I'm bewildered. Maybe I'm sad. It all makes me think if we need Nannies for everything maybe we're a nation that never grew up. It makes me think we need to put Home EC. back in the schools. It makes me think when we all thought the only career that mattered was a paid one the family paid a high price. We all have to be taught to be family. In the Bible the Apostle  Paul told the older women to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children. So there's nothing wrong with being taught the problem is no one is teaching. The home has taken a backseat in the education department. Ab

Some of My Favorite Things About the Farm

In honor of National Ag Day I thought I would simply blog about the simple things I love about the farm. 1. Finding new kittens in the barn. 2. The contented sound a sow makes as she lets her milk down to feed her babies. 4. The way the barn smells when the cows are feeding. 5. Dogs in the back of a pick-up truck 6. The smell of hay and the view from the loft. 7. Watching a couple of men stand in the middle of a field talking then bending down to get a handful of soil, standing back up and letting it slowly sift through their hands back to the ground. 8. When you top a hill along the road just as the crops are popping up and the rows are so green and straight and distinct. 9. The smell of the dirt in the air. 10. Giving dirty little  kids who have played outside pushing trucks and tractors in that bare spot in the yard a bath at night and finding a little shiny nose underneath all those smudges. 11. Combines and semi's in the fields at harvest time. 12 The way

Produce, It's Who We Are And What We Do

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I've had several questions about the greenhouse side of our life so I thought I'd devote a blog to it. Now for some of you you've heard all this before so I promise there won't be any hurt feelings if you just skip over this post. Mark's family has raised produce for as long as anyone can remember. I'll go back to the 1800's when Marks great grandparents were farming in Polk Township, Washington County, Indiana. They of course raised produce in the fields with their focus on tomatoes. Mark setting this years plants. Grandpa Herman often shared stories with us about taking the tomatoes by wagon to Louisville, Kentucky to sell at the market there. This was before the bridges were built and they ferried across. Sometimes they would stay the night in the wagon  along the road. When Grandpa Herman grew up he married Ruby Fisher, Grandma Gray and they bought a farm in Pierce Township but still in Washington County. They raised eight children

Satellite TV, Tom Cruise and Dusty Furniture

Those of you who know us are not going to believe this. The Mark Gray Family will be getting Dish as of today. As you know I'm the woman who didn't want a TV in her living room. We do have a TV we even have more than one TV, I just didn't want one in the living room. I have never been a big TV or movie person, as a matter of fact if Tom Cruise, ( whose name I've heard) walked up on the porch, knocked on the door and asked me how to get to town I wouldn't even know who he was. So dish for me is a big deal. Mark likes TV better than me but he likes money better than TV. The idea of paying money to watch TV has never appealed to him.  So what happened, why the big change? I have no idea. I was looking around for a different Internet service and of course got satellite info along with it. The girls asked me to ask their dad if we could get it. I knew he would say no, they had asked before, this horse had already been rode. They wanted me call h

Equal Doesn't Always Mean the Same

Equal doesn't have to mean same. Two things can be equal but very different. Take men and women for an example. Men and women are equal, yet they are not the same, they're very different. You often hear people say Christianity and the Bible look down on women. They say Christians hold women down. All one need do is read God's Word to find that isn't true. It is true in the Old Testament women were treated badly. That was never God's plan. In the New Testament men were treating their wives badly, leaving them for any reason. Jesus told them to stop it. He told them to love their wives, to take care of their wives, honor their vows and give their life if need be for their wives. Remember in the beginning when God created man? He said man needed a helper. What does the word helper imply? It implies there where things he couldn't get done on his own. You see, Adam was created perfectly, just as the woman was, but he was created perfec

You Know What You Know

You know how I've said before, "you know what you know."  Well all you have to do is watch television to see the truth of that statement. Have you ever noticed on commercials or TV shows how they throw the hay bales? Have you noticed the way they lift and throw feed sacks? If you've ever done that type of thing you know they aren't really throwing hay bales and there is more than likely just stuffing in those sacks. You can tell by the way they throw them and by how the sack acts when they get a hold of it. I've always thought this but yesterday I was watching Bonanza.  Ben and Hos were getting a heavy trunk loaded with money out of the back of the wagon. While they acted like it was heavy they forgot to walk with their arm out for leverage like you do when you are carrying something heavy. You know what I mean, like how you do when you're carrying a five gallon bucket full of water or feed. If you know that kind of life and the things

You Always Know

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Today's blog is about Mark and how much I appreciate him. This isn't some syrupy kind of post, it's real. Real in the fact that Mark and I have worked side by side everyday for the 25 years we've lived here. We spend a lot of time together and we daily get on each others nerves. I think it safe to say we argue once a day. I'll think one thing, he'll think another or sometimes just the way he eats his toast makes me crazy and I have to go in the bedroom until he's done with breakfast. Come on be honest, if you are my age that has happened to you.  I think it's a hormonal thing. The good thing is even though we bug each other at least once a day, we always get over it. As mad as I get and I do get mad and same for him, I couldn't imagine life without him. Yesterday for the first time in a long time Mark took off early, Jacob went home and Mark came in to just relax for a little while. And a very little while it turned out to be. I

You Never Know

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You remember Dolly and Joey don't you? Dolly is in the front and Joey is in the back. Yesterday I was on my way to the greenhouses and spotted Dolly in the field alone. I thought it strange since almost always she and Joey are together but once in a while they'll find themselves in different fields and spend most of the day trying to figure out how to get back together. When I came back out of the greenhouse's and was almost back to the house Dolly started to neigh. I turned around and looked but everything seemed okay so I kept going. Later that night  I asked Liv if she had seen Joey and she said no. She called her dad since he was still out working and asked if he had seen him. Mark found him down by the chicken houses with wire wrapped around his leg. Olivia hurried down there and I hurried to worry. Joey is not the most pleasant horse, if I wasn't trying to be polite here on my blog I would say he was down right hard to get along with. So th

I Just Love Them

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When they were small they were always near. I was always watching, always listening. A mother has that constant need to protect and nurture her little ones. Where I went they went. What I did they did. They were my career of choice. They were my babies. In my heart they still are. But something has changed. They've turned into these beautiful grown up people. But what's changed the most is now they are always watching and listening. They think I shouldn't be out without a cell phone. They think I shouldn't be out late at night because there are things that go on at night I don't know about. They look at my facebook page and see I have friends they don't know and become concerned. They talk to me about the dangers of social media. I love being the mother of grown children. I love how they love me. I love how they are watching and listening I love how they are protecting and nurturing. But most of all I just love them. I kn

Don't Be Afraid to Veer Off From the Herd

It's that time of year when everyone is thinking soccer and baseball sign-ups. I'm glad we have so many sports and so many ways for our kids to participate. Since most people no longer farm or have chores for their children, sports help to keep them active and busy. So while I think sports are great for our kids, I don't know that we need to start them in organized sports as quickly as society tells us we do. I mean stop, slow down for a few minutes and really think about it. Most children today start day-care when they are six weeks old. They are around a lot of children early on. Truth be told, they are around children and their caregivers more of their waking hours than at home with family. So if we say they need sports for interaction, socialization and such that really isn't the case. But what do they need at that age? They need lots of mom and dad. They need lots of home time. They need lots of free time to explore, to build, to create, to