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Showing posts from 2014

Don't Believe Everything You See or Hear About Farming.

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Do you remember on a lot of the old movies or tv shows they would show life out west or on a farm and one of the points would be learning to deal with life? A pet, or livestock might get hurt, become diseased,need to be sold or butchered and the difficulty of that was portrayed in the movie and the point was made that the child or the adult had to rise above it and do what had to be done when it needed done and it was always considered a noble thing. We would watch stuff like that and hope our kids will have that kind of grit when they had to. Things on the farm haven't  changed. Farming gets you as close to the truth about life as almost any job can. If you raise hogs, sometimes there will be birth defects that means the piglet will have to be put down, The same is true for chickens, cows etc. Disease control and medication will sometimes be needed. A man can't always reason with a 1500 or 1800 pound cow, sometimes he has to help her see what needs to happen. Abuse, n

What Not To Buy Your Children For Christmas

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I know we haven't had Thanksgiving yet but I also know the reality of it is many are already doing their Christmas shopping. After watching television for a little bit I had a thought, I thought about the things we shouldn't buy our kids for Christmas. Have you noticed the toy or educational commercials lately? Have you really listened to or looked at them? I  am always struck with the picture they give. Now first of all don't read what I'm not saying, I don't think there is a thing wrong with a child being able to entertain themselves, I think it is an important thing to learn but I also think as humans we are prone to go to far one way or the other. We all have to agree we live in a time that is different from any in history. We spend less time with our children than any parents before us. Truth is that means we have less time to speak into their lives than any parents before us. We have done this so long we have lost sight of what we are doing.

When The Preacher Comes To Dinner

The preacher was coming to dinner and so I was up early preparing the meal and doing last minute things. I had a couple of things to put away but being in  a hurry I just threw them in our bedroom on the bed. When I got ready to dry my hair I was in a hurry so I just threw the wet towel on the bed. I dressed, left the room and shut the door. I wasn't worried, I mean who would be in there anyway. So after church I  went home before Mark so I could get things on the table and when Mark and the preacher, we'll call him Frank got here we sat down to eat. This was back when Lucas had his long hair,  so Frank was at one end of the table and Lucas was at the other. Frank  asked Lucas if he had ever considered going to Bible College, Lucas looked at him, looked at the bowl of mashed potatoes he was passing, flipped his head to shake the hair out of his eyes and said, "No." I cleared my throat and asked if anyone needed more gravy. Then Mark said

RHONDA'S TWINKIE CAKE

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Sometimes you just need a simple, quick dessert and this is one that works every time. I got this recipe out of our family cookbook. Rhonda Albertson, my cousin, I won't get into the once or twice removed stuff I'll just say my dad and Rhonda's mom, Regina are first cousins. When I was a girl Rhonda was already married and lived across the field from us. We spent a lot of time at her house and one of my favorite memories of her is the bike rides she would take us on. We would start out from home there on Bear Creek, go to Martinsburg, down Dutch Creek Road, be on the highway for just a few feet and then turn onto Old Palmyra Road. We finished the ride by stopping at Frank and Regina's,  that's Rhonda's folks. Which is worthy of a whole other blog, Frank and Regina's house was used as a stop off during the days of the underground railroad. I remember going down in the basement and seeing the place it had long been walled up but you could still s

I Knew I Didn't Like Him

Several of you have asked about Mark and I and how we met. I know I've told some of it before but I'll share in this blog some of how we came to be. To start with we rode the same school bus. I can still see Mark, his twin brother Mike and their sister Karen waiting at the end of the lane when the bus pulled up. I didn't like him,  I never did. I had an assigned seat with his sister Karen and that was the year a lot of people from New Albany starting moving out to the eastern part of the county and our bus got really overcrowded So it was Mark's sister, Karen, another girl and two kindergartner girls.  Someone had to hold the two little ones on their lap, Karen was the oldest so she said she wasn't going to do it so the other girl and I did. This still makes me laugh because if you know Karen you know she is just one of the most giving sweet people you would ever want to meet yet she made us hold those girls and one of them wet on me. No kidding. Bu

We're A Family Farm, Not A Company Farm

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I've been asked if we are a company farm several times so I thought I would just take this opportunity to say, No, we are not a company farm. We grow chickens, broilers, for Tyson. We are with the Corydon, Indiana complex, one of the top complexes in the country. Now it is true that several years ago Tyson had company farms, there were some near us. A company farm meant Tyson owned the land, the barns, and the chickens and they would hire someone to take care of the farm, often times it would be a family. Well it didn't take Tyson long to know what most of us already know, a company owned farm just doesn't produce as well. When they compared the company farms to the family farms the family farms by and large out preformed the company farms in both the quality of birds and the upkeep of the farm. So they did away with all of the company farms and now all of their producers are family farms. Well, in our area that's the way it is anyway. What does it mean

I've Been Trying To Decide What Kind Of Farm Wife I Am

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I've' been trying to decide what type of farm wife I am. I used to never even think about it. I was just what I was. Since I've joined the facebook and blogging community I've found out it isn't that simple. Some farm wives are very active in sharing news about farm bills and defending us against all the wrong information that is being delivered via the social media, television and so on. That's wonderful and I applaud them and enjoy reading their work and learning from them. Some are very involved in farm bills and laws. I am so impressed with them and their knowledge. We are so in need of women like them. Truth be told in the day and time we live in we couldn't hold on without them. So that got me to thinking about myself and the kind of farm wife I am. I will have to admit I felt  a little depressed when I starting looking at myself. I thought I never went to college, I don't have  a "real" career, I've never trav

An Accidental Preachers Wife

You know how I love the Pioneer Woman. Remember how when the show comes on  one of the ways she describes herself is as, "an accidental country girl." Accidental leads us to believe she hadn't planned on it. I'm often asked by others about being a "preachers wife" and it occurred to me that I'm an "Accidental Preachers Wife." I hadn't planned on it. I didn't sign up for it. I thought I was going to be a farmer's wife not a farmers/preacher's wife. Now one difference between the Pioneer Woman and this Preachers Wife is I think that while she hadn't planned to be a country girl she was okay with it. I on the other hand became a preachers wife kicking and screaming the whole way. I didn't want it. I was afraid of the whole thing. I didn't know how to do it and I didn't want to learn how to do it. I wanted to do the things I had always done because it's what I did, not because I was the pr

Crunchy Romaine Toss with Sweet and Sour Dressing

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Here's the salad I told you I would post. Crunchy Mix 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil 3-ounce package Ramen noodles, any flavor (broken up and uncooked) 2 cups walnuts, chopped 1 tsp. pepper 1/4 tsp sugar, ( I upped this a little bit) 1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the walnuts and the broken Ramen noodles. 2. Sprinkle the pepper and sugar over the nuts and noodles and stir to combine. Toast the crunchy mixture for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the mixture begins to burn before time is up, reduce the heat to low. Makes 3 cups crunchy mix store in air-tight container for up to 1 week. Salad 3 cups Romaine Lettuce 1 red pepper, cored and sliced into thin strips 1/4 cup red onion strips which is about 1/2 of  a small red onion 1 cup broccoli florets 4 TBSP Parmesan cheese. Sweet and Sour Dressing 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup white vinegar 2 tsp soy sauce. To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients and blen

Summertime is Hay Time

Summertime  is hay time.   The old saying, "Make hay while the sun shines" is certainly true isn't it?   All else goes on the back burner when the hay is ready.   Our very first wedding anniversary supper was put on hold because there was hay down and it looked like rain.   Usually the first cutting is before school gets out.   The weather is watched morning, noon and night and when it looks like it's going to be dry the hay comes down.   There is almost no better smell than hay drying in the fields.   We don't see as many square bales as we used to.   It's hard to get the help. Someone to drive the tractor, someone to stack and  someone to pick-up, ideally two to stack and at least a couple of others walking the field but when that can't be pulling the baler with a wagon behind and a man on the wagon will get the job done.   It's a big job to stack a load of hay. There is a right way to do it, a safe way to do it

Bible Nugget: Rahab a Picture of Salvation

This Bible Nugget is just a reminder of how God carries the theme of salvation through each part of his word. It's like a thread that runs all the way through his word from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. Think about the story of Rahab in Joshua chapter two. Think about how Rahab grew up in a place where the people were far from God. A place where they loved everything God was against and hated what God was for. Did you notice what she said to the spies? She said, " I know" she said "We have heard"  what does that mean? It means she heard about God and when she heard it she knew it to be true. She believed on Him. Romans ten verse seventeen says faith comes from hearing so we see that Rahab heard the word and she believed or had faith in the word. Then what did she do? She admitted she believed it. She confessed that she had heard and she had faith in what she heard and what did that faith prompt her to do? She turned or you could

Bible Nugget on Rahab

Bible Nugget: We're going to be in the book of Joshua chapter two. We're going to learn from Rahab. Rahab was a women of as they used to say, "ill repute." She was a prostitute. She lived in Jericho. The Amorites or as the Bible also refers to them the Canaanites' of which she was one lived there. The Amorites were against everything God was for and for everything he was against. They were a wick ... ed people. This is the kind of place Rahab was raised. She wasn't raised in a godly atmosphere. But when the Holy Spirit came looking for her, even in this sin filled place called Jericho, she heard him. More importantly she listened. So we learn it doesn't matter where we come from it matters where we are going. God is working in places we might least expect. He is always drawing people to himself. Most won't listen or respond but some will and Rahab did. Look at what verse ten says, "We have heard how the LORD dried up the wate

It's Time to Grow Up and Become Parents The Future of Our Children Depends On It

It's time to call it like it is and stop living in a dream world. It's time to grow up and understand once we decide to have children or even if we didn't decide once we have them we are parents and that means we act like it. Did you see the article in the Advantage this week? It's entitled,  "Many babies are missing out on bonding, crucial to success." It made me crazy when I read that. Are we really so simple minded or is it we're so selfish that we have to have a study and then have it printed in the paper to tell us that? Can we really believe we can take a six week old infant, wake them up at five o'clock in the morning, take them out of their home and leave them with people we may not have even known six weeks ago, not come back to get them until nine or twelve hours later then maybe leave them to go to the store or movies or friends night out and think that won't effect them? Can we really believe that? Or is it we just want

Strawberry Season

It's strawberry time again. While I love strawberries I admit I hate strawberry patches. I don't like picking berries. I don't like weeding berries. I don't like strawing berries. I don't like spraying berries after a frost. I don't like stemming berries or slicing berries or putting them in bags. I sort of like making jam but other than eating them or giving them away that's about all I like about berry season. Mark has an obsession with strawberry patches. He always wants them and he always wants them bigger than they currently are. He always wants me to want them bigger than they currently are and he always wants me to help make them bigger. He wants me to make shortcake by making crust, I want to make shortcake by baking a cake. I think you are beginning to see the problem aren't you? We're not compatible when it comes to Strawberries. This is a point of  contention in our marriage every spring. Thankfully it only la

The Making of a Farmhouse

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Did you ever stop and wonder why a farmhouse is called a farmhouse? It has to mean more than just a house on a farm, I think it means farm in a house. If you currently farm or have farmed in the past I think you'll agree. I mean what other kind of house save a farm house has had several baby calves come in to get warm by the wood stove a time or two. Baby pigs in a box with a heat lamp, you know the ones that decide to be born on the coldest night of the year. What about those new baby chicks you picked up at the post office if you went big time and ordered them from McMurry or even if you just picked a few up at the local Tractor Supply or hardware store. Did you put them in  a washtub or large box with a heat lamp and sugar water right there in the kitchen or living room? Did you listen to them peep all night and everyone gather around to look at them in the morning? Are there various animal medicines in your refrigerator right now? Do you have syringes and dispen

Mushroom Time... The Time When You Find Out Who Your Friends Are

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Well, it's mushroom time in our area. I feel like I should capitalize the word mushroom in order to give it the respect it deserves. Mushrooms here are a huge deal. It's the time when you find out who your real friends are. If you know where the mushrooms are,  you never tell anyone. People sneak into other peoples woods under the cover of darkness to get them. When you find some you often sneak them home as if they were some type of illegal drug and don't tell a soul you have them until after you have already fried them up and had supper. To tell to soon would put you in a position of having to share and that can never be. The local jeweler even has a sign up that they will trade jewelry for mushrooms.  Now that is serious. I was raised to soak mushrooms over night in salt water to rid them of any little critters that might be hiding in them. Mark believes a man should eat them as soon as he gets back from the woods and any extra protein in them is jus

Sometimes We Just Need To Be Still

Sometimes we just need to be still. Why do we sometimes think we have to say what we think and tell what we feel? Why do we think we need to tell what others have done or what others have not done? Why do we think we need to tell  everyone? I think the reason is we think to highly of ourselves. If I really love you like I'm supposed to I will seek to protect you as much as I seek to protect myself. I wouldn't get with my friends or on facebook and tell all about how I had done others wrong or how I had offended them. So why do we do it to others? Do we really think others don't hear us or look at what we said and think something negative about us? I heard a story about  a person once who was offended by someone. She made it a point to tell everyone she could about how this person had offended her and her family. Once when she was telling about it a lady asked her why she thought she needed to tell  her that, she  asked her why she felt she had to tell

Springtime on the Farm

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What do I love about Spring?   The real question is what do I love about springtime on the farm or maybe the even bigger question is what is there not to love about springtime on the farm?   Just today as I was standing at the sink washing the breakfast dishes I noticed the lilies coming up around the clothesline posts in the backyard.   The Robins are bobbin all over the front yard and I can hear the birds singing.   The field across from the house has a wet spot in it and the geese make it a stopping point every year on their return north.   If you step out on the porch just as the daylight is coming you will hear them really carrying on over there. That always gets our farm dogs, Noah and Runt worked up and barking and brings a quick end to any hopes I may have had of sleeping in.   The fields are dotted with new calves, sometimes they are lying in the sun beside their mommas others times they are running and bucking through the field.   While I'm gettin

Study to Show Yourself Approved.

I remember someone asking Mark what he thought about the future of the church and how he would help get it there. He said, "The future of the church is in the past." There is so much truth in that. Not truth that in that we only sing traditional hymns, throw out the power points and sound systems but truth in that we have got to get back to the Book. We don't have to stop reading Christian books but we have got to stop reading them at the expense of reading our Bibles. We need to be careful that our Bible study groups are not so busy studying Bible study books that the Bible can be left at home. It's easy to go to studies now and never even have to open your Bible. We have got to be careful that our Adult Sunday School classes don't turn in to a devotional time with just a snippet of scripture that we jump around with every week. None of this is meant to be legalistic but instead it should be lovalistic. We should so love the Word of God that we d

The Farmer and How He Knows What He Knows

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With the kind of winter most of us have had and from following as many farm pages and blogs as I do and after being raised the daughter/granddaughter and now a wife of a farmer I'm more convinced than ever there isn't much a farmer doesn't know. Now I'm not saying he is an expert at everything and I'm not saying he never has to call in the professionals, I mean Mark has Dale Weller and Leonard's Electric's phone numbers seared into his brain. Still though most things a farmer can take care of on his own or at least he will give it a good run for the money before he calls for help. When does he learn it? How does it happen? He can probably tell you a few things he remembers learning but most of it just sort of happened. Most of it he learned by doing life and by trial and error or because he had to right quick. Maybe it was when his dad needed him to get up on that tractor and drive or when he had to crawl over a gate and get in that pen and hel

The Comfort of a Bible

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My two favorite Bibles. The green one has my heart but when the pages starting falling out I got the pink one and now it's stealing my heart. Marybeth lost her mother recently and posted on my facebook page how she had been having  sad dreams about her mother and when she told her husband about it he said she should place her Bible under her pillow. She said she did and it helped. Once I was at Bible study with my friend Bobby and she told of a time earlier in her life when she was going through a hard experience. She said she would just lie in bed at night holding her Bible to her chest. She just needed to feel it close to her. I knew just what she was talking about. I love my Bible and often have found myself just needing to hold it close. I've always been impressed with all the pretty Bible covers or jackets I see so many have. They look so nice and organized and so I've bought a couple different ones and attempted to use them. Needless to say I nev

Facing Your Limits

Today's topic is boundaries. Boundaries can be a unit of measure. They tell us how far we can go, how much of something we can have or can do. We all have boundaries, we may not respect them but we have them. They're for our protection. When we have land boundaries it lets everyone know where they belong and where they don't belong, what they are responsible for and what they aren't responsible for. It's the same way in life. Sometimes we cross our boundaries and we know it right away. The stress is overwhelming. The alarms sound. Sometimes they don't. Or maybe they do but we're in so deep we can't hear them. We cross our boundaries and fail to hear the alarm when we over commit or take on to much but somehow get it all done. Everyone is proud of us and talks about how much we do and we think everything is okay. We think we got by with it. We think we've done it all. But is it really okay, did we really do it all? Did we

Hey Farmers We Want To Feature Your Family Farm!!!

Everyone knows this blog and our family page is about promoting God, the family and farming. So I want to promote you and your family and your farm. I'm going to be featuring one farm family a week. If you are interested in sharing your story with us please message me or leave a comment and I'll get back with you. If you are interested it would mean telling the story of your farm, has it been in the family for years or are you first generation farmers. What do you raise, grain, livestock, produce, poultry whatever it is we want to hear about it. Pictures of your family and the farm would be wonderful. Maybe you grew up on a farm and no longer live there but have fond memories, that's good too we want to hear them. I can't wait to hear from you as we get the word out about the farmers and the wonderful job they do feeding not only America but the world.

My Dad

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Our focus has been on mom this last week and that's as it should be with all that has been going on with her but today my dad is on my heart and in my mind. While my brothers and I were growing up dad was a quiet man. He didn't talk a lot but mostly stood back and listened as others talked. As he has gotten older that's changed. Now he is a talker. Now he actually goes up and starts conversations with people he doesn't even know. Our dad was like a lot of your dads were at the time. They worked long hours and you didn't spend as much time with them as you did with your mom. Dad often worked twelve hour days at his public job then came home worked on his own farm plus almost daily worked on his fathers farm. I know my dad didn't like his public job, he was glad to have it of course but I'm sure there were days he didn't want to go. I don't think my brothers and I understood that until we were older because Dad never complained. He provid