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When The Colonel Came To Visit And Stayed
2/13/12
On a cold January day, my dog, which I had rescued from the local shelter and instantly became a member of the family for over 13 years, became severely ill and in a great deal of pain. The doctors had done the best they could do to help our dog, but the time had come for us to say good-bye.
For over two years I had lived without a pet, that is until this past summer. Due to the “kindness” of some unkind individual, I was left a rather large, yellow tomcat on my farm. I know, if you don’t want to keep an animal, don’t feed it and I still didn’t have a real likeness for cats. But on the Read farm nothing goes hungry and this cat was very thin plus hard to get close to, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to give it a little feed every now and then. It even liked my Hamburger Hinder.
Everything seemed to be going fairly well for a while. We both kept our distance and I just thought I had a stray cat to watch over the barn. That was until one Saturday morning I was awakened by a strange scratching noise at the backdoor. Not knowing what it was, I get up to find the yellow tomcat was scratching on the backdoor demanding his breakfast. He had taken up residence on the deck chairs and made himself at home. Of course, I fed him, and the rest has become history. Colonel Mustard, his new name, now meets me when I come in from work and walks right in front of my feet all the way to the door.
Read Full ArticleTaters Come From The Freezer And Not The Ground For Today’s Kids
2/6/12
“Trends around this country continue to indicate that we Americans are buying more expensive convenience food items for preparation at home, as well as more food away from home.”
An economist made that comment during a special session on nutrition at a Farm Bureau convention awhile back. I hadn’t really thought that much about it until recently when I was standing in line at a local grocery store behind a young father with two small children. The items they were going to consume in a future meal could only work in a microwave.
Read Full ArticlePeer Pressure Helped Inoculations
1/30/12Recently, while eating lunch at a local sandwich place, where if you eat their sandwiches you are supposed to get skinny, I overheard a group of homeroom mothers discussing their children’s school vaccinations at a table behind me. Stories about kids hiding under tables and doctors getting bit seemed to be very funny to that group, but having been a kid myself about 50 years ago and experiencing some of those same traumatic events, I was glad I had finished my weight reducing sandwich as I reflected back on my days when the health department nurse would show up at school.
Read Full ArticleThe Ag Census Is Coming
1/23/12It is really easy to confuse a lot of us with certain terminology, and just the other night as I opened my mail, I found a very government looking piece that had the look of “confusion” written all over it. It was from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service and contained a cellophane window in it with my name on the inside. Fearing the worst, I laid it aside and pulled a Scarlet O’Hara from “Gone With The Wind” and said, “I’ll do that tomorrow.”
Tomorrow finally arrived two days later and I opened the envelope to find a set of forms containing questions concerning our farm and just what goes on in a general manner. They were asking me questions about the number of acres, employees, amount of crops sold, income, number of animals and mainly trying to find out if the farm was still being farmed or not. The forms were fact finders for the upcoming 2012 Census of Agriculture, which will be conducted later in 2012 and into 2013
Read Full ArticleFarm Bureau Policy Redirects Farm Bill
1/16/12During the 93rd Annual Convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation held recently, Tennessee’s voting delegates to the event had an opportunity to help make changes in the organization’s national farm policy resolutions.
Read Full ArticleForget The Cold And Grow A Garden
1/9/12
As the first of the year settles in and the celebrations subside, it is now that time of the season to turn our attention to what is really important. This year we elect a president of this country once again and the state caucuses across the land are becoming a “you said/he said” sort of affair. They are important, but not what we all really wish to talk about at the beginning of January. It’s not like we haven’t heard all of this discussion since last summer and it is becoming somewhat the same old thing.
The really important item of discussion this time of the year is something much more important than an election. It is the first thing uttered from a visitor’s mouth and the main topic at the country store. Bankers say it in conversations, preachers include it in sermons, farmers don’t like it, kids ignore it, old folks dread it, wood cutters work for it and the list could go on for a good length when you try to define the first extreme winter cold snap of the year.
Read Full ArticleGood Luck For The New Year
1/2/12With Tennessee involved in the Civil War Sesquicentennial, or in other words taking a 150-year look back at some of the major battles that occurred here, it reminded me of the traditional New Year’s celebration at Uncle Sid and Aunt Sadie’s. Black-eyed peas and hog jowls for “good luck” are a must at their house on New Year’s.
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