Mommin' Through Life

Born in the frigid winters, dairy-loving state of Wisconsin, my passion for the dairy industry and dairy cattle was born there.  Spending only a short time of my life there, a little less than the first year of my life, I still feel like I'm at home whenever I travel to Wisconsin.  Speaking of the feeling of being at home, I recently traveled to Wisconsin for the World Dairy Expo and in a couple weeks will leave the states for the FIRST time and travel to The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto.  I'm not sure if I will enjoy my trip out of the states, but am certainly looking forward to this new adventure for me.  I'm not sure I'll feel like I'm at home when I am in Toronto! It is silly sometimes, I refer to my college apartment as home. It seems like home at times...I mean I only spend 4.5 days a week at it, the rest of the week I either travel to Illinois to work or the place where I truly feel at home.  But, at times I catch myself and think...hmmm...

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be (possibly your roommate, neighbor, co-worker, longest friend, lover, or even a complete stranger) but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way. Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.  Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints in our hearts, and we are never, ever the same. And sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized y...

"God doesn't let bad things happen for no reason...something GOOD will come out of it."  Hearing that on the radio the other day, I realized that in life things happen and we never know why.  Some things are worse than others, yet we feel there is no hope and no love at times.  Life is full of obstacles and usually one failure leads to a great success or blessing. Recently going through an extremely challenging time in my life, I have been challenged by God to find His peace and love.  It is so easy for us to get wrapped up in the worldly things and put our hope, love and trust in them...but in the end they all will parish.  I constantly think of those individuals who seem to think that their world is perfect....but they don't have God in their lives.  I don't know how they survive each day or each hardship they endure.  Then you seem to hear them grumble about all that has went wrong in their lives! Crazy!  Sometimes I feel like saying to the...

As my family embarks on a new chapter in our life life, our faith and love for God has never been stronger.   Moving to Plymouth, Indiana in 1994 was an exciting year not only because of a new sister on the way, but a new chapter of life my family would be starting. Settling into my great-grandparent's house and farm we began a journey raising dairy cattle.   We knew that this journey would be filled with joys and sorrows, laughter and tears, heartache and pride yet we continued to begin this journey.   Sixteen years later, living through a tornado, deaths of cattle, riding the milk price roller coaster and watching feed prices sky rocket and hit bottom, this fun, wild and blessed dream my parents had been living for sixteen years was coming to an end for a number of reasons.  As the tears of sadness fell as cows and heifers were loaded on trailers heading to their new homes, we knew that the love and passion we had for these beautiful bovine creatures did n...

Finally having the opportunity to sit down and blog, I find myself in amazement at how incredibly fast the summer has went!  Beginning my summer in May and ending in late August, I thought for sure summer would last way too long.  To my amazement, the Indiana State Fair is now here, which means school is soon to follow. The year 2010 for me has some important dates for my life.  July 19, I finally became an "adult," turning 21.  This birthday also means it is my last year as a national junior member where I will finish my "junior days" of showing at World Dairy Expo (WDE) and the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE).  This year also marked some other special events in my life, but these two are the most pertinent right now. This age change also means I will no longer be on the Indiana Junior Holstein board. Having served for the past 5 years on the board, as Secretary/Treasure and Reporter, interacting with the junior members will defini...

As the school year comes to an end, it is time for me once again to pack up and move back home to the farm for the summer.  As I have continued my education at Purdue University another year, I have learned that the city life is not for me.  I love the country and everything about it. I will miss the great friends I have, but they will still be around next year upon return to Purdue.    Driving on back country roads, getting stuck behind a tractor...driving fifteen miles per hour, does not bother me one bit!  Getting up in the wee hours of the morning to check a cow that may be calving, receiving a knock on the door from a police officer telling us we have cattle that got out and are out on the road, to staying up late finishing milking due to complications on the farm earlier in the day are all just a few memorable moments I know that I will experience this summer.   What I long for the most this summer, is to spend time with my family, whether at co...

The Culver Young Farmers provided their Farmer’s Share Breakfast, Saturday April 3, 2010 at the First United Methodist Church in Plymouth.   A very small cost of, $.49, to enjoy a hot and satisfying breakfast was served to approximately 200 people Saturday morning.   The breakfast was held to educate the community on the price difference of commodities from the producer to the retailer.   The low-priced cost of, $.49, is the amount the farmer earns for the sausage, scrambled eggs, toast, potatoes, and biscuits and gravy that was served at the breakfast.   The rest of the money that consumers pay to purchase their groceries at the store goes to the middle man and the retailer, not all to the producer. Not only did many community guests attend this breakfast, but Congressman, Joe Donnelly, State Representative, Nancy Dembowski   and State Senator, Ed Charbonneau were also in attendance.   “ F armers feed us. With that , our world is expecting to double its...