Let our minds wander in a sense of wonder...

When is the point in life when people seem to give up their innocent curiosity? Allow me to explain...

There are so many reasons to stand in awesome wonder...

Just the other morning, Ben was explaining to Rose (4) what the entire process will be like when we fly for our upcoming vacation. He started with the check-in and security, added details like which luggage we'll keep with us and what we'll do with the rest of it, and described how we might fly through and above the clouds.

Rose listened, learned and asked questions. This is a pretty common type of discussion in our house. Obviously she's still exploring life, so it's natural for her to be curious about such things. However, she also asks questions that I never really think twice about. On different occasions, we have watched YouTube videos about how they make crayons and had discussions about how exactly the music gets to our radio.

That same day of the flying explanation, I was updating my Amazon Subscribe and Save diaper size (full disclosure here!) and started wondering how Amazon works. Maybe you already know (surely there's been some sort of documentary-type show on it), but that was the first time I really thought about it. Do they have enormous warehouses somewhere? How many people do they employ solely dedicated to website design and functionality? Do they have some kind of special relationship with the major shipping companies to make sure they can fulfill all their orders? How did it all get started? And the most important question of all, does anyone remember what life was like without Amazon?

Let's be honest, adults have mostly lost this sense of wonder - probably in the clutter of junkmail and other useless stuff we accumulate. Instead, we are information interceptors. If there's a show on about how things are done, we'll watch and absorb. Or how many blog posts or articles do we read each day because they're trending on Facebook or have a catchy title. We find it truly interesting, but would we have sought the knowledge if it hadn't shown up on our tv or computer screens? And a lot of the information we seek isn't exactly out of "innocent curiosity." It's oftentimes driven by fear or desire to back up our existing opinions.

I recently observed the flip side - cynicism. A barn burnt down at a nearby poultry farm recently. When I saw nearby, I mean we could see the fire from our house, and we used to do some farm business with them - we sold them corn and they applied their chicken manure on our fields. Anyway, the Milwaukee news posted the breaking news to Facebook a couple times that night, and I was appalled by the mean comments some people had posted. Comments assuming that it was arson, comments that the farm must be horrible based on the number of animals, etc. One commenter defended them, saying that her dad was an employee. Just think of that daughter, and any other owners and employees who might have read those insults. Those words were stinging salt in the already deep wounds.

Why do we do that? Why have we become so judgmental, particularly of agriculture? Stereotypes are generally frowned upon in most of our society. But when it comes to agriculture, we take direct aim at our targets: big corporate farmers, red-neck farmers, hippy organic farmers, subsidy-taking farmers, evil Monsanto, Franken-food. Why can't we stop to realize that there are real people on the other side. Real people who are flawed like everyone else, but they try their hardest and they believe in what they're doing. Why can't we come to the table (how's that for a perfect pun?) with a truly innocent curiosity? 

Let's try to reconnect with our sense of wonder - our innocent curiosity. When we find it, we'll probably also stumble upon greater peace, love and gratitude...

Moving out of the backseat.

What a busy six weeks! Christmas included seven celebrations - with about 9 hours in the car - all packed into a six-day stretch, then Ben's birthday was Dec. 30, we were very happy to have a "boring" New Year's Eve, and we are in the midst of celebrating Rose's 4th birthday this week, hosting about 40 people for a party on Sunday that will celebrate five family birthdays that all fall during January.

I can't let the month slip by without recognizing a HUGE celebration - the one-year anniversary of Ben and I starting our own farm business.

One year ago, Ben and I were walking into our bank to set up a business checking account. We hemmed and hawed over the name of our farm, but time ran out before we could come up with anything good. BN Acres...or was it B&N Acres? No really, we mix it up all the time. We set it up as BN Acres because it was easier to say, but B&N Acres makes more sense so that's how a lot of our vendors set our accounts up. Fancy name, huh? (B=Ben and N=Nicole)

Our humble beginning includes borrowing money to start the checking account and for all of our input costs. We borrowed...and borrowed...and borrowed some more. Six figures by the time we had all of our expenses for the year.

We spent over $100,000 without making even a dime until 11 months later. Most people would call that stupid. We call it farming. We also lovingly refer to it as monopoly.

I know that money is all a matter of perspective - what seems like a lot to some might be pocket change to others. To us, the financial investment this year has been a game-changer. It used to be easy to be a backseat driver for the farm, but it's much more humbling to make these farming decisions when its our future hanging in the balance. Will the new technique we're considering actually work? Will we be able to pay all the farm debts? Will we have enough to support our family? We know we're feeding a lot people with our crops, and the four of us holding hands around the table to say grace is our daily reminder of that.

We grew up a lot this year. One more big step in adulthood.

Jump already!

I've had this blog going for over a month now, but still haven't "launched" it. I admit that I'm chicken. I use the excuse of having way too much going on, so how am I ever going to keep up with a blog (which is true!). The bigger reason is that I'm not a very public person, so the idea of putting myself out there gets my stomach churning a bit.

Yesterday was a wake-up call though. There was a video of animal abuse that made the news. It hit too close to home - literally and figuratively. The farm was relatively close to where I grew up and my dad has actually sold some feed to them years ago. Figuratively, there's such a need for me to speak up at a time like this. The thing that really gave me the push was my dad saying that "we" (all farmers) need more people to share the real story. And he didn't even know that I had started a blog...

So here I go! Jump!

What have you been wanting to do, but need the extra push to do it? Maybe that should be your New Year's resolution. I'm not big on setting them, but I think a lot of us just need a specific date as the goal of when we're going to really commit to something. In that case, let's start setting resolutions for each month!

(Dairy Carrie did a great job of reacting to yesterday's news. Read her post!)

Month of Gratitude

It's the last day of November and we're enjoying a relaxing, family-filled Thanksgiving holiday weekend at my mom and dad's house. I love how people have used Facebook to declare their gratitude for various things. I also love how they've expanded it from one Thanksgiving post to a whole month's worth of posts.

I admit that I haven't joined the masses in posting my list of things I'm thankful for. And I feel guilty about it. However, I know that my heart is filled overflowing with appreciation. In fact, that's probably the reason I don't post about it on Facebook - it's too hard to find the words to capture it all. I do have a couple highlights though.

This year, I'm especially thankful for babies. My own sweet little one (who's sleeping peacefully in my mom's arms right now!), my two new nieces and 2nd cousin who were all born within the past year (bringing our total niece/nephew count to 13!) and new babies to come during the coming year.

I'm also thankful for my new work position. I still get to work with FFA and do projects that I really enjoy, while being able to more time and attention to our family and farm. It's exactly the balance I was hoping to achieve!

I'm thankful for this fall's harvest. After the disheartening yields last year due to the drought, this year was especially appreciated! I'm also grateful for a husband who is continually trying to improve and find better techniques. And I loved being a contributing member of the fieldwork this year.

Now onward to December...the month when we celebrate the One who gave it all!

Family Time

I cherish my childhood memories of riding in the tractor with my dad. Even though that includes many times of banging my head against the window repeatedly (that explains a lot...!). It's a lot of fun now to see my girls create those same memories.

Rose really loves her time riding along. She gets quality daddy and papa time, which is tons of fun for her! She takes her Elmo binoculars in case they see any deer, make mustaches with electrical tape, sing songs and tell stories, eating lots of candy and even some fun learning mixed in that she doesn't notice is happening.

This year, she rode in the combine three or four different times, ranging from 2-5 hours! She also got to ride in the combine with her other papa (my dad).

Molly got to have her "ceremonious" first ride this year. She seemed to be taking it all in!

Getting the picture

Working with your family or friends always poses some unique challenges. It's something my Ben and his dad - like most farmers - have dealt with all their lives, so they are sort of used to it.

Ben and his dad have very different work styles. Ben is very precise and gives a lot of attention to detail, even if it's something where detail might not matter. His dad is more about getting the job done quickly and efficiently, even when it's something that requires exactness. See how problems might arise? They complement one another well, but they both admit that it drives them crazy at times.

A recent situation demonstrates it well. Ben got a nice buck the other day. Like any proud hunter, he wanted a good picture with it. By the time he found it and dragged it out, it was already poor lighting for our smartphone cameras. So he set it up the next day to take some, except the only person available to take the picture was his dad.

Let me tell you, I've come to learn how Ben likes his "trophy" pictures taken - have to be able to see each tine separately from each other and from the background, deer has to look "presentable" (no tongue hanging out, etc.) and he usually likes his bow displayed....and last on the list is that he should look decent.

I can just imagine both of their frustration. His dad took rapid-fire pictures and declared that one of them must be good. Ben looked through and found the obvious faults of each. In the end, it always seems to work out.

The winning picture!

More than weather

My Facebook newsfeed had two themes this morning - Veteran's Day and the first snowfall in southeast Wisconsin. The first theme is very well-deserved - there should always be this many accolades shared for the men and women who have served and are currently serving.

As for the second theme, it made me realize how differently farmers react to the weather as compared to the average person. Today's dusting of snow meant the combines sat idle again today. This is about five days now of being "shut down" during corn harvest because of precipitation. While it won't affect the corn much, it will delay the fall plowing. On our farm, we only have Ben, his dad and a little bit of seasonal help. That means that they can only really focus on one "task" at a time and obviously harvesting the corn is top priority. However, fall plowing is still a crucial task to prepare the soil for spring planting. What does or doesn't happen right now will have a big impact on next year's crop yields.

So the clock is ticking against the invisible wall when the soil will freeze too deep to plow. The little bit of rain the past couple of weeks, snow today and rain again in Friday's forecast are so much more than hot topics of conversation for us. It directly impacts crop yields a full year from now.

Don't get me wrong. We still have those same distain and delight at certain weather, but it usually comes second to reacting through the farm perspective. Through it all though, we are grateful that we trust in the One who controls the weather. What a beautiful day He gave us today!