Tag: farmer

Farmer, Farmwife – What’s the Big Deal?

We live in a time where consideration for the power of words and the implication of those word choices influence the way we communicate daily. The titles or labels we put on others in public forums also contain more weight as they give the larger audience an idea of how to feel about the subject.

This past week I had the honor of participating in the Marshall Area Chamber’s State of Ag event by sitting on a panel with fellow farmers. They are my peers, and they treat me as such. Our local newspaper, however, didn’t. The three gentlemen on the panel had their farm names listed or were called farmers. The description used for me was “Cottonwood area farmwife and Vice-President of the Minnesota Farm Bureau.”

Some may not see that as a big deal, but others will understand the underlying connotation of not recognizing my role on our farm. Jonathan and I farm in partnership. We make decisions together, we work in the fields, and our income depends on how the growing season and our choices affect the crop. It’s not that much different from other family members farming together.

When a woman with an active role in agriculture is not recognized beyond her farm gate like her male counterparts, that sends a message to other women in agriculture that they are not taken seriously or only provide a supporting role.

Look at the makeup of 4-H youth leaders, FFA officers at all levels, and people enrolled in agriculture-related majors in college. You will see a continued increase in females in all those areas. Agriculture in all avenues remains strong because young women have stepped into leadership positions.

Media plays a significant role in shaping perceptions. How women in agriculture are portrayed in print or video contributes to how the general public perceives them. When a woman sits on a panel as an expert, don’t discount her knowledge by not recognizing her role in her field. If we want to see agriculture thrive in the future, we need to positively recognize women’s roles in agriculture, helping to encourage the next generation and the impact they will make on the industry.

30 Things I Love: Dairy

Dairy

When I say I love Dairy…I’m totally serious. Take a look at the tray above. Those are the dairy items I have purchased in the last 10 days.

As you can see, we eat a wide variety of dairy foods at my house. Sometimes brands change, depending on what my grocery store has in stock, but this is pretty typical. You may also notice that I have a Lactaid milk in the group. That would be mine. I became lactose intolerant in 2008. I figured that out when my niece had a soft serve ice cream machine at her graduation party. Let’s just say, I had a lot of alone time at my sister’s house that weekend.

In the last six years, I have come to know what I can and cannot handle dairy-wise. Unfortunately, I have had to give up ice cream. That was difficult. The good news is, I have found that most types of cheese (aged is better), milk, yogurt, and butter are all okay if I take a Lactaid supplement. I love the lactose free milk, because it is so convenient to be able to pour that over my cereal or in my coffee instead of needing to take a pill.

For me, giving up dairy was not an option. I love cheese, milk, and butter too much! I also need the calcium and vitamin D…more than what I can get from non-dairy sources. I’m pretty convinced that the reason I haven’t broken any bones, even with a couple of really great bone bruises, is due to my dairy consumption, and the running I’ve attempted to do when not healing from the bone bruises. Being Lactose Intolerant can stink (really), but we are fortunate that we live in a time where medicine has figured out how to keep dairy in our diets.

The National Dairy Council has some awesome resources on dairy and bone health, as well as the general health benefits of consuming dairy.  Both resources are very helpful in understanding the importance of dairy in our diet…especially for women, who may be prone to osteoporosis.

Since I am not a dairy farmer, I need good farmer resources when I have a question. One of those resources is Carrie Mess. She is also known as Dairy Carrie. She blogs at The Adventures of Dairy Carrie, and can be found on Facebook at Dairy Carrie, or Twitter @DairyCarrie.

I also turn to Tim and Emily Zweber when I have questions about organic dairy farming. They can be found on Facebook at Zweber Farms LLC, on Twitter @ZweberFarms and @EZweber, or you can go to their farm’s website at Zweber Farms.

There are many dairy farmers on social media who would love to answer your questions about dairy farming. Who are your top two trusted resources for agriculture questions?

 

Day 1: Pizza

Day 2: Shoes

Day 3: Shout Stain Remover

Day 4: The Ability to Vote

Day 5: My Heritage

Day 6: NASCAR

Day 7: Black Velvet for Photography

Day 8: Strong Coffee and Strong Hairspray

Day 9: Peacefulness

Day 10: Winter’s First Snow

Day 11: Freedom

Day 12: Dairy

Click here to go to Holly Spangler’s blog, and see the link for other 30 Day Challenge Bloggers

 

 

 

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday – Good Communication…

Last night I had the chance to connect with Bret, from Bret’s Table; Taylor, from Greens & Chocolate; Anna, from Garnish with Lemon; and Dr Laura Dalquist from the Swine Vet Center. Our roundtable discussion was moderated by Leah Beyer, who I was excited to finally meet in real life. The conversation was so good, that I had no problems with my 2 1/2 hour drive home from Bloomington. I arrived home just before the stroke of midnight, yet couldn’t fall asleep for a couple more hours. As I was going through different parts of our conversation (which you’ll hear more about later), this quote kept running through my mind…

CarolynCares Good Communication

Don’t Be a Pringle – The Importance of Individuality in American Agriculture

We all read comments about how farming should be as it was in “grandpa’s” day. We need to look a certain way, or raise a variety of animals in order to be a “real family farm”.  They want us all to look the same…like Pringles.

CarolynCares Pringle

I don’t know about you, but I think that is boring! I also think it is rather foolish to insist that all farms look the same, and grow or raise the same things. My farm in Minnesota is not able to grow oranges or grapefruit. Nor are we able to raise onions or cabbage in January. On the other hand, farms in southern Texas are not able to grow field corn like we can. Climate, soil types, and rainfall are all things that affect how well certain plants are able to grow in an area.

I like to think that American agriculture is a lot like a bag of potato chips…

CarolynCares OriginalChips

When you open a bag of potato chips, there are all different sizes and shapes. The same holds true for American farms and ranches. If you look closely at the bowl of chips, you will see some that are large, some small, and some that are unique. Even though they are very different, they all taste the same. They are, after all, basically the same thing. Original flavor potato chips.

If you look at these chips as farms, there are all different sizes and shapes of farms. Some are large, some are small, and some are unique. If you put all these farmers in a room (bowl) together, you have a bunch of farmers who are farming for basically the same reasons – they love the land, they love their animals, and they want to take care of both so that they are able to pass their farm or ranch on to the next generation.

When you cruise down the snack aisle of the grocery store, there are a lot of choices between flavors, cooking method, potato type, and brand. We can look at those as being different types of farms. There are dairy farms, vegetable farms, livestock farms, crop farms…you get the idea.

I asked each member of my family what their favorite flavor of potato chip was, and they were all different. I’m pretty sure that differences in opinion within a family on how to do things on a farm or ranch is not that uncommon, either.

CarolynCares Different Flavors

This may seem overly simplistic to some, but I hope you get the idea. We need the diversity in agriculture in order for us to have the opportunity to eat a well balanced diet. A well balanced diet meaning a variety of foods eaten in moderation, not meaning a potato chip in each hand. 🙂 We need the diversity in size, in management style, in location, and we need both vegetation (crops), and animals to make our food system work as a whole. There is no one right way to farm or ranch. That should be an individual decision made by the farmers and ranchers who are on their land and tending to their animals every day.

Suddenly, I’m hungry. I think I’ll go eat a Pringle. I just won’t be one!

30 Days of Thanksgiving – Day 7: Farmers

CarolynCares Farmer

I learned to be thankful for farmers by watching and listening to my grandpas. One was still actively farming with an uncle when I was growing up, and the others had retired. (I had three sets of grandparents, due to my birth mother’s death when I was 2.) Watching my one grandpa come in from feeding the animals in the morning, washing up with the Lava soap at the sink just inside the kitchen door before sitting down for breakfast, all with a smile, made a huge impression on me. We were given jobs to do when we stayed with grandpa and grandma, which helped to teach me a tiny bit of the work that goes into farming. Our jobs were easy at our grandparent’s, since we were from the city. We learned a little more about taking care of farm animals from our cousins who lived a couple of miles away. They had dairy cows for awhile, as well as pigs. We learned how to take care of calves, and how they milk the cows. I was always fascinated by that, and wanted to be able to take care of my own animals some day. That wish came true when we started raising pigs in 1989.

As an adult, I’ve learned that farmers come in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, religious, and political beliefs. Their farms are very diverse, growing everything from apples to zucchini.  The one thing they have in common, is an appreciation for the land and animals in their care. Some days the work is difficult, and some days pretty easy. Even with all of the uncertainty with weather and commodity prices, farmers are a pretty optimistic bunch. There’s always tomorrow (sorry if you are now thinking of the song from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), or there’s always next year are common phrases. I believe it is an attitude that is passed down through the generations. In the photo above, Jonathan’s great-grandfather, Daniel Olson, is working in the field. He moved his family up to our farm from Iowa in 1913. His wife and children probably had no idea what they were moving into. As we celebrated our farm’s 100th Anniversary this summer, we all were very thankful for that optimistic attitude that prompted them to seek a better farm.

In the 25 years I have lived and worked on the farm, I have learned how to communicate with other farmers. Many times, as I’m interacting with farmers from around the world through social media, I learn about a way of farming that I had never witnessed before. The food that they grow is one I like to cook or bake with, but had no idea how it was grown. I love when those farmers take the time to share their way of farming, and I am thankful that they care enough to share their stories.

To read more blogs written by farmers, check out Holly Spangler’s page, where she has compiled a list of other 30 day challenge bloggers.

Introduction to the 30 Day Challenge

Day 1: Family

Day 2: Harvest

Day 3: Music

Day 4: Bacon

Day 5: Flowers

Day 6: Coffee