Going dark for awhile

I'm "going dark" for awhile to spend some quality holiday time with my family. Actually, we will be rushing around getting those last-minute gifts, and baking some killer cookies for Santa.

My daughter decided we needed to make Santa some special cookies, so she drew a picture of what she is expecting from our baking extravaganza. I hope they come close to her expectations. I've never decorated a cookie in my life! I figured as long as I baked them, that was good enough!





















I can do this, right?

Wish me luck!

And Merry Christmas to you all! Back again in 2010!!

Dawn

And then there was light

Today at 11:47 a.m. Central Standard Time, the Winter Solstice occurred, at least according to this website. That means our daylight hours will begin to increase again.

Shortly thereafter, I learned that my niece, who shattered her L1 vertebrae in a car accident yesterday, and could not feel anything from her knees down, could wiggle her toes.

It's a ray of light in an otherwise cloudy, snow-filled day. But you know what? Even the snow looks a little brighter right now.

Hope your days are filled with light, whether it is cloudy or sunny.

Dawn

Christmas memories

A colleague from Texas Farm Bureau recently wrote about his memories of Christmas growing up on a farm. The thing that really stuck with him was their yearly trek into the Piney Woods to find their very own Christmas tree.

Maybe it's a communications thing, but that's what I remember most about our Christmases too. Except, where I grew up, we had a little town not too far away that had a tree farm. So although we did cut down a tree from our shelterbelt one year (at least I can only remember doing it one year), most years we traveled the few miles to the edge of Esmond and walked up and down the rows to find our perfect Christmas tree.

The tree farm is long gone, and my mom and dad have an artificial tree now. I don't doubt for a minute that the tradition of going to the tree farm and finding a real tree was for us kids. That's probably why we have a real tree at our house.

Although the search for a tree doesn't take us into the woods, or to a tree farm, but rather to a local store, it's fun for the kids and hopefully provides them with a Christmas memory of their own.

Happy memory-making!

Dawn

Hair-raising: Three hours in the chair

In honor of my 200th blog post (have I really had that much to say?) I am going to share with you why I am a do-it-yourselfer.

You know how some women say they deserve to be pampered sometimes, so they go to a salon or get a massage. Well, I'm not dissing anyone who does, I'm just saying that, that kind of "pampering" never works out for me.

I get a massage, and I'm miserable the whole time because it hurts, and I'm actually more tense than when I went there. So I paid someone to make me more tense.

My last hair coloring experience has also sworn me off that little personal indulgence. I went in to get highlights and came out....

Wait, let's go back a little ways.

This past summer, I had highlights put in my hair, and it looked pretty cool. I was totally impressed. So when it came time to redo the 'do, I figured I'd come out looking pretty much the way I came out looking this past summer.

But, somewhere along the line, I misinterpreted a statement made by the stylist. She said, "How 'bout some red highlights too?"

Now, I'm thinking, "Oooh. A little auburn would really be a nice touch."

Auburn, it was not.

Think "clown red."

After three hours in the chair, and too many dollars to mention, I had red streaks in my hair that illicited this response from my children: "Mom. Why do you have pink hair?"

Why DO I have pink hair? Because what was red in my head, was not red in the stylist's head.

So after a bajillion dollars and three hours, what did I do? I went to the store, bought a bottle of over-the-counter haircolor, and dyed over my expensive, time-consuming hair job.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that I am not meant for a "pampered" existence. I'm a do-it-yourselfer and I just need to come to terms with that.

Happy do-it-yourselfing!

Dawn

Weather as allegory

October was cold, but then November was unusually warm. Now December is colder than....well, double-digit below zero cold (at least this morning it was that cold).

But the weather dudes are saying that by Thursday, we could be in the 20s. That's the plus-20s.

How can you not get excited about that?

Other people might think we're just silly for being excited about temperatures in the 20s, but I think it's good to not always have it easy. When you have it easy, you expect it to be easy all the time, and life just isn't like that.

Kind of like all the freedoms we have in this country. Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech. Freedom to buy a big-old gas guzzling vehicle, if you want. And the personal responsibility to make the best choices possible with those freedoms.

When you take things you have for granted, you don't really realize what a gift they are.

We're lucky, people!

Dawn

Merry Christmas

Dawn

This worries me

I received an editorial today from John Hart, director of news services for American Farm Bureau and in it, he said:

The negative impact of climate change on food production has been little noticed by much of the media or by policy makers in Washington, which is a travesty because all of us are impacted when food costs climb.

However in early December, a House Agriculture subcommittee held hearings on the economic impact of pending climate change legislation. For people who love to eat, the troubling news was confirmed: food production will drop and food costs will climb. This sobering outlook was presented by one of agriculture’s most respected economic experts, Joe Glauber, the chief economist at the Agriculture Department.

As noted in Dr. Glauber’s testimony, cap-and-trade will increase the consumer price index by nearly 5 percent by 2050. A USDA analysis of the House-passed climate change bill shows hog production would drop a staggering 23 percent by 2050 while beef production would fall 10 percent and dairy production would drop 17 percent.

The bill calls for incentives for farmers to plant trees rather than crops. If the House bill becomes law, AFBF estimates that as many as 70 million acres of cropland and pastures would be taken out of production to be planted to trees as a means to reduce greenhouse gases. This shift in land use will hurt consumers at the grocery store. Food costs would rise by an estimated $33 billion annually in 2020 and up to $51 billion annually by 2030.

According to the United Nations, farmers will need to produce 70 percent more food for an additional 2.3 billion people worldwide by 2050. Clearly, the world will need the bounty of America’s farmers and ranchers more than ever. Any measure that limits U.S. farm productivity would likely reduce U.S. food exports to countries that most need it. The U.S. will be reducing the number of people it can feed as agricultural land is pulled out of food production.

Setting American agriculture back so that we can no longer afford to feed ourselves, much less other countries, is troublesome. Does that worry you? It sure worries me.

Dawn

The real Farmville

Those online farming games are very popular, but some might get the idea that farming and ranching is a lot easier than it really is.

That's why the Animal Agriculture Alliance has posted this short YouTube video about real farms and ranches. It's definitely worth a minute of your time....

The Real Farmville

Happy farming!

Dawn

Better than I could say it today

These folks said what has been on my mind lately better than I could say it myself, so I'm sharing a couple of links today:

AgriNews - Opinions: Pay attention to those representing you

Posted using ShareThis

AgriNews - Livestock: HSUS combines animals, politics and religion into campaign

Posted using ShareThis

Happy sharing and linking!

Dawn

Karl in the snow

I looked out my window yesterday and noticed that my Karl Foerster was looking pretty "cool" out there in the snow. (Or perhaps I should have said, "looking pretty cold").

So I took a picture to share. : )

Happy "cool" days!

Dawn

988 feed more than 153,000

I received an e-mail from a coworker, Sarah Wilson, this afternoon about Stutsman County Farm Bureau's Holiday Dazzle Parade float. She also sent a picture and the script the announcer read about the float, and I thought the way one of the statistics presented was thought-provoking, so I'm sharing it with you.

"In 1940, each American farmer fed 19 people. Today each farmer feeds 155 people! This means that Stutsman County’s 988 farmers fed over 153,000 people this year!"

In other words, the farmers in Stutsman County fed nearly all the people living in Bismarck and Fargo, combined.

Compare that with a statistic N.D. Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring presented at the NDFB Convention in November: Depending on the country, European countries import between 40 and 60 percent of their food.

When you think about it, the strides American farmers and ranchers have made are pretty amazing. They couldn't have done that without technology and innovation and all those things that really flourish in a free-market society.

Just some food for thought on Monday afternoon!

Dawn

The toaster chronicles

While deleting files on my computer yesterday, because I had relatively little memory left (Don't you wish you could delete the clutter from your own brain, sometimes? I do!), I ran across this item I saved from last year's NDSU Extension news releases:

With the holiday season upon us, many people plan to purchase new appliances or electronics.

"Every appliance or electronic device you purchase has two prices associated with it: the original purchase price and the price of operating the device," says Carl Pedersen, North Dakota State University Extension Service energy educator. "Many people shop for the lowest-priced item but do not take into account how much that particular appliance or electronic device could cost them each year in utility costs."

All I could think about after reading that was how much in "emotional utilities" my newly purchased, fancy-looking-piece-of-junk toaster is costing. I purchased the offending appliance to replace the industrial toaster we had before it finally flamed out one day not long ago.

We have white appliances; white coffee maker, white fridge, white oven. So I bought the only white toaster they had. It looked pretty fancy. A button for bagels, another for frozen stuff (my kids like frozen waffles in the mornings, sometimes) and a cancel button.

In hindsight, I shoulda' cancelled the toaster purchase! Fancy buttons do not necessarily a reliable product make.

I push down the lever to toast the toast. It pops back up. I push it down again. It pops up again. I push it down. It pops up. It push it down....I think you get the picture.

And in the standard operating procedure of my life, it didn't get pop-happy until AFTER I threw away the receipt!

So, my fancy white, push-button toaster is not long for this world. As soon as I find a plain, white, industrial toaster, this one is gonna swim with the fishes! Or at least park itself by the the flamed-out one sitting in the garage.

Happy toasting!

Dawn

You know that old saying...

..."Some days I'm the bug and some days I'm the windshield"?















I spent most of the day deleting files on my computer because I was almost out of space on my hard drive. I feel like the bug!

But tomorrow is another day.

Dawn

A duly employed employee of Farm Bureau

In accordance with the rules that I just happened to read about the other day, bloggers must disclose if they are getting paid by an "entity" to blog stuff. Well, I can't say that blogging was in my initial job description, but as a North Farm Bureau employee, this blog was started as a function of my job, to help further messages about agriculture and the values we hold as Farm Bureau members -- and stop me if I get too confusing -- through our social network called North Dakota Values.

North Dakota Values is a social network for people who like living in North Dakota for its wide open spaces, and believe in values like responsibility and hard work.

To quote one of the paragraphs of Farm Bureau's beliefs: "We believe in the right of every person to choose an occupation; to be rewarded according to his/her contributions to society; to save, invest or spend; and to convey his/her property to heirs. Each person has the responsibility to meet financial obligations incurred."

So, as a duly employed employee of Farm Bureau, I hereby disclose that I do this blog from my North Dakota Farm Bureau office as part of a North Dakota Farm Bureau-sponsored social network, as part of North Dakota Farm Bureau's communications division.

There. I feel all legal now. And hopefully you aren't confused.

Happy disclosing!

Dawn

A moose on my desk and ag in my heart

I have a moose on my desk, and it is actually quite comforting. He's a floppy, beanie-type moose, called Chocolate, at least that's the name on the tag. But I don't know if that's my daughter's name for him or not. (Or is it a her? I forget.)

Today is a stuffed moose. Tomorrow might be a stuffed puppy or a stuffed lion. But the point is, my daughter shares her stuffed animals with me to take to work every day and "Chocolate" makes me smile and reminds me why I'm doing what I'm doing.

I work for farmers and ranchers because I believe in their spirit, their initiative and their unbelievable strength and resilience and their unrelenting desire to do what they do. In an era when many people change jobs over and over, farmers and ranchers are in it for the long haul, because they love it and because they know they are providing us all with an essential service. What is more noble than that?

William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) said, "Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic, but destroy our farms and grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country."

I believe that with all my heart, and I want to teach my children the same. In fact, I work for farmers and ranchers because I want a lot of people to understand how important farmers and ranchers are to all of us.

We can't afford to regulate or tax farmers and ranchers out of existence, or make it more and more difficult for young people to get into farming.

And as I was writing this, I noticed a "tweet" from a colleague in Texas who posted a link to Monsanto's new America's Farmers website. So I stopped writing and checked it out. It's definitely worth a look:

Monsanto ~ America's Farmers.

And take a moment to check out one of the blogs....

Farmer in Northwest Iowa.

It's beautifully written, and hopefully makes people think twice -- positively -- about farmers and ranchers.

Happy ag learning!

Dawn