First day of Fall

2015 calf crop post weaning

Tuff and the pumpkins he helped herd in 2015

Today is the first official day of fall!! For those of us involved in agriculture, fall is so much more than football games and pumpkin spice lattes.  

Load up the car and take a drive in the country – you will see changing leaves, corn and bean fields drying up, milo fields turning that pretty shade of burgundy, and big calves hanging out with their mommas for just a few more days.

I know that here in Tripp County, farmers and ranchers are busy giving calves fall shots, hauling hay home, getting combines ready for fall harvest and making plans to wean and sell calves. This is one of our busiest seasons, and can be the most rewarding. You get to see that all the hard work you put in is worth it when the combines are rolling through the fields, or when you contemplate all the hay bales you have to haul in. I

t makes the days you spent during calving wondering if your toes were frozen feel insignificant when those same calves run across the scale on weaning day.

Hopefully all that hard work pays off with decent commodity prices and a good day at the sale barn when you sell calves.

Happy harvest– and folks, if you are following farm equipment, semi-trucks, or cattle down the road drive smart so we all get home safe.

 

 

DIY things that we did!

Awhile back I wrote about why you don't have to make it all yourself for your wedding - today I am going to hit on the things we did do ourselves!

The pretty little ring box that sat on the altar was made by my grandpa Jim. He had some health problems this spring and I felt very blessed that he was able to be there. The ring box was just the icing on the cake!!  It was turned on a wood lathe using three different types of wood

I am a very crafty person, but florist I am not (My attempts at bridesmaid bouquets were a very sad and epic fail). My mom on the other hand has a knack for making flowers look pretty. She filled all of the cream cans at the lodge and made them look really nice! We borrowed most of them from friends and family - and some came from the lodge. They were filled with dried millet, hydrangeas, wheat and fake flowers. Mom also decorated the makeshift altar that was at the lodge with a little help from Jay. They made everything look great!

Mom had the horseshoe cross made by a guy over in Platte. It was really unique and looked great up at the front on the altar. Jay and I own purebred Herefords and wanted a way to incorporate our hide into the decorations - so we put it up front! It looks really neat in the photos. We also designed our own programs and had them printed at the local print shop. I made all of our boutonnieres and corsages from dried flowers to fit the fall theme (but failed at bouquets.)

I had two big DIY projects I did for our wedding  - designing and making the jewelry for my bridesmaids and for myself. I had a blast with my bridesmaid jewelry, customizing each piece to fit my friends' style. I finished their jewelry in June. 

The jewelry I made for myself was a little more nerve-racking. While I wanted to wear turquoise, I didn't want the jewelry to take away from my dress. My dress was delayed in getting here, so I wasn't able to really envision what I wanted until the beginning of September. As soon as it arrived, mom and I picked it up and brought it home ( I had a local lady do the alterations. She did an awesome job and was way cheaper than doing them in store! She also remade my mom's veil for me to wear) After that I hustled up and made my jewelry the week of our wedding!! 

I couldn't resist sharing this picture of my dress and jewelry! I think it all fell together pretty well!! 

Happy New Year folks!! 

Engaged? Enjoy it.

(This was supposed to post on 12/22 and blogger didn't post it....so will post it now!


We got engaged a year ago last week! It seems like it just happened, yet so much has gone on in the last year!! I'm taking the week off from Western Wedding Wednesday, but have a quick post to share.

A dear friend of my mom's also lost her daughter to a car accident a year ago - the day before Jay proposed to me. Watching what that family has been through in the last year has reminded me to make every moment with my loved ones count - from going to visit, to picking up the phone to call Grandma once a week. You never know how short life is or how long you will have together. I always remind myself that everyone is fighting some kind of battle, so a warm smile or just a message to let them know your thinking of them can make someones day.



For those of you who are newly engaged - remember and revel in this moment. Be excited about being engaged, be excited that you have each other for the rest of your lives - because the rest of your life can end anytime. So take a deep breath and slow down. Slow down before you jump into wedding planning. Spend the holidays with your loved ones and make them one to remember. Wedding planning can wait till after the holidays.



Planning a wedding is stressful. Remember how excited you are to marry that man, remember the flutters in your stomach when you look down at that big sparkly ring, and remember to call your grandma after he proposes! When your stressed about planning, look at the big picture - it might not be worth that fight with your mom over something small, or forcing your fiance to do something he doesn't want to. At the end of the day, your getting married to the man you want to spend the rest of your life with - in front of God and your friends and family. And that is what matters the most.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!


Jay and Sarah Myers

You don't have to make your decorations!

Early on in the wedding planning process you have to pick out colors and a general theme. With a early fall/late summer wedding, I knew I wanted turquoise, but didn't want to pair it with brown or coral. I saw some pictures of a turquoise and orange wedding on pinterest and decided to roll with it!

Obviously we were going to for a rustic feel, which, according to pinterest, can go several ways. Some different things I saw were chalkboard, burlap and lace, mason jar, barb wire, lanterns, real flowers, dried flowers, wine bottles, hay bales, old windows...the list goes on and on. Pinterest can get you into trouble if your not careful!!


I originally planned to make the decorations myself - I had thrift store vases that I was going to paint to match our colors and then put babies breath and wheat in them, was going to paint cowbells and wrap wine bottles in rope.


Then I found these super cute bells on the rruffledblog.com/recycleyourwedding for like $12. (That site is really great for finding anything wedding related - from decorations to dresses and everything in between!)


I found 25 jars with barbed wire in them for $25 on Facebook. (see top photo) The horseshoe candle holder jars I found on Craigslist for cheaper than we could make them before investing our time. Our table runners, backdrop and table skirt all came from people on different Facebook groups.



Another place I found some of our decorations was Etsy (it's addicting. Just search wedding) My garter, the cake topper, the pretty Bride hanger, our invitations and all of our dried flowers came from various Etsy shops. I picked up all the metal letters we used at Hobby Lobby on sale. Most of our chalkboard signs were dollar store frames that we painted with chalkboard paint, and one of Jay's sisters wrote them for us.





Life lesson learned? You don't have to DIY your wedding decorations, but they don't have to be a huge part of your budget. It takes a lot of time to make them all and can get expensive - and chances are someone else already made the decoration you want or something similar and wants to part with it! (Since we had a set budget, it was important to me to not break the bank decorating). I sold most of our decorations within a month after the wedding for what we paid for them, and put that money away to spend on our honeymoon. I think by the time all was said and done, we spent maybe $300 on decorations for the wedding and reception, and got most of that back selling things after the wedding.

We did DIY some parts of our wedding - and will blog about that later!! Did you find it easier to DIY or buy for your wedding??




. 

Things they don't tell you about wedding dress shopping.

the dress I had saved on Pinterest 

February

I was excited to try on wedding dresses, but I was also nervous. I am not a dress girl. I am a jeans, boots and a hoodie girl. But like most 20-something women who have Pinterest, I had a dream wedding dress picked out - which cost WAY more than I was willing to spend.


So off we went dress shopping, with a dream in mind, and mom, one of my bridesmaids, my little sister and my grandma in tow, on a Saturday in February.


While the shop was very busy, our saleslady was pretty attentive (I had to wait for dresses/for her to help me for longer than I liked a few times). First she brought out a dress that was exactly like what I wanted, but was a little out of the price range we wanted to stay in. and I loved it. After that,  I tried on what felt like fifty different dresses, some in different styles, some just for fun, and some I think the saleslady (or my friends) just wanted to torture me in. When every dress started to look the same, I called it quits. I knew which ones were my favorites, so I decided to come back later and pick out my favorite.


Things I learned wedding dress shopping-
1. February happens to be prom season. Saturdays are when high school girls go prom dress shopping. If you don't like shopping, that is probably not the time to be dress shopping as stores will be crowded and you will have to wait for sales people.


2. Don't try on too many dresses. I got very overwhelmed by the end of the appointment because I tried on so many different dresses - while it was fun most of the day, by the end I was sick of white and crawling in and out of them! ( I really wanted to have pictures of some of the funny ones I tried on but apparently they got deleted from my phone :( )


3. Take the right people along. I was very glad that I had only four people along. They were the ones whose opinion mattered most to me!


4. Go with your gut. I knew the dress I bought was THE DRESS the first time I tried it on. It was the only one that gave me goosebumps and made me tear up.

At the end, I was very glad I only went one store to try on wedding dresses - Sandra Rose in Tyndall, SD.  I found the perfect dress there and didn't have to deal with the hustle and bustle of dress shopping in Sioux Falls, plus I really wanted to support a local business. 

It ended up being April 1st before I made it back to the dress store - between calving, work and the weather it just didn't work to go back any earlier. This time I just took my maid of honor with me (she hadn't come the previous time) I tried on my two favorites - and knew right away which one was the winner!!



Check back next week to learn about picking out decorations and bridesmaid gear!!

Pastors, Photographers and Music Masters

January

Once we had the date picked and the place picked out, we had to double check with the church to make sure we had a pastor – which was slightly nerve racking! While the church had the weekend open, there was the smallest issue – our pastor was leaving in May, and they weren’t sure if we would have another by September 19^th!! The interim assured me that if they didn’t have a new pastor in Kimball by then, he could come back and perform the ceremony. (My mom’s friends with the mayor of a nearby tiny town, Reliance – and in SD she could legally perform the ceremony. Back up plan? Check.)

Right after we got engaged, I asked a buddy of mine to DJ. He originally told me that he didn’t want to DJ friend’s weddings anymore (he wanted to be able to enjoy them instead)– two days later, he texted me that he would do it(they had several requests for that date)! I was ecstatic – not only is he an outstanding DJ, but he is married to an excellent photographer! We were pretty excited about their package deal, and booked them right away!  You can check them out  at http://www.dacmusicproductions.com/ and http://3cordphotography.com/ 

(If you book them, tell them you heard about them from Sarah and Jay!!)







Erin and Drysen were very easy to work with and made our entire experience personalized from start to finish. Our engagement photo session was out at Jay's family ranch in June. The pictures Erin took turned out amazing - and she made Jay and I super comfortable in front of the camera; plus she was willing to go along with all our crazy ideas - and had some of her own! It was very important to me to have a professional photographer with wedding experience that would take awesome pictures while making the picture process fun - and Erin blew all of our expectations out of the water! 

In early January, I made my first wedding related purchase. It wasn't decorations, a dress or anything of that nature... I bought myself the boots I had been eyeballing for almost a year!! I always knew I wanted to wear boots with my wedding dress - I can't walk in heels to save my life! (and let's be real ladies, who doesn't want new boots!!) I bought a pair of gorgeous Corral's in cognac and turquoise - we had already decided on turquoise for one of our wedding colors, and these boots are just too pretty not to use for a wedding! 

My boots!! 

Some more of our pretty engagement pictures! 

Two of the things that mean the most to me - My Engagement ring and my saddle!! 

Stay tuned - Next week I am blogging about wedding dress shopping!!

Western Wedding Wednesday!

Western Wedding Wednesday

Jay boy and I got married over two months ago – eek!! Since then, many friends, family and people I don’t even know have asked about our wedding day, planning and how we pulled it all off – so I decided to start a Wedding Wednesday section of my blog (which I realize has been non-existent for like a year - !!)  So I will go all the way back and start at the beginning J Enjoy!

My pretty engagement ring with our new brand! 

It was December 22^nd – a Monday. I had been out of town for two weeks, working in Storm Lake IA. I was ready for a break, and was going to spend the whole week with my fiance and family. Jay had been acting goofy for a few days, but I figured that he had some big joke planned or something along those lines (he tends to be onrey like that), but when he left one morning without saying goodbye, I was slightly sad. Later that day, when we got home from doing chores out at the farm, he told me that he had to do some stuff in his pickup and I should just carry all his stuff up for him. I hardly noticed – I had rearranged that morning and was all excited to show him, so I didn’t pay much attention to him. I was bouncing around, all excited to show what I had accomplished – until he grabbed me around the waist, and was whispering sweet stuff in my ear, being all cute – then he popped the question!! 

Once we settled down from the excitement of getting engaged and Christmas celebrations, it was time to start planning. The first topic of discussion was when and where – we figured that September would work best as it fell between wheat and corn harvest (#truckerprobs), and that we wanted to have it in my hometown of Kimball. Both of us feel more connected to God when we are outside, so we wanted an outdoor wedding, and we really would like an outdoor reception too. Our list included – near town, so our friends and family wouldn’t have far to drive; a pretty setting; and a place for our wedding party to sleep – and the easiest place to pick was the Konechne’s Red Barn Hunting Retreats!

Photo cred: 3 Cord Photography

This lodge is located near Kimball, SD and is owned by the Konechne family in the middle of pheasant country. This barn was brought in during the 1990s and was renovated into a lodge. It features 10 rooms with 33 beds, a full kitchen and dining area, and all sorts of space for pheasant hunting. The rustic feel was felt perfect for our wedding day! For more info on the lodge, visit redbarnhunting.com or facebook.com/redbarnhunting.

 (I'm only going to let you see one wedding picture this week. My friends and family have seen them. Everyone else has to wait!!)

Photo Cred: 3 Cord Photography

Oh South Dakota...

I get to travel quite a bit for my job as a crop adjuster. In the last 6 months I have seen almost every corner of our beautiful state - from Buffalo to Yankton and Pine Ridge to Aberdeen. I've seen almost every crop, every type of livestock - even a camel staring at a dino over by 1880 town! But what I really love about my job is the farmers and ranchers I meet and work with on a daily basis - they are the nicest, most down to earth people and they all have their own story - and something to teach me.

somewhere in south west SD  - green grass galore!

North of Faith SD 

my favorite view - the drive home!

But I haven't just been here at home - I've been sent to ND, NE, WI and will be heading to Iowa here in January. While I wasn't the biggest fan of my time in North Dakota (that might just be a SD thing ;)) I really did enjoy my three weeks in Wisconsin - I met some of the most interesting farmers, shimmed up a bunch of grain bins, saw some pretty country, looked at lots of dairy cows (made me miss my beef cows!) and gained a new appreciation for South Dakota's wide open spaces, straight roads, and a speed limit over 45!!

Happy Herefords!

A happy momma cow!

I've always liked cows. When J-Boy and I started dating, one of the things I fell in love with was how passionate he was about cattle - particularly his Herefords. J-Boy and his family raise Hereford replacement heifers and quality bulls that they market to other purebred and commercial producers. Most of their customers use the bulls they buy to breed to black or red cattle, and raise black or red white face calves. 

(Side note - these pictures were taken last fall - South Dakota is a LOT greener now!!)

Grazing by the pasture

In the past year, I have gone to Hereford meetings, Hereford sales, helped with branding, sorting, acquired a Hereford necklace and learned more about this breed than I ever thought I would need to know. And I have to admit - they are some of the cutest calves and quietest, kindest cows I have worked with. I have also enjoyed taking pictures of his especially photogenic cows!!

For more information on Myers Herefords, contact Jay Myers at 605-842-6771 (and tell him Sarah sent you!)

-

Aren't they pretty?

A bull prospect 

J-Boy and his heifers during 2012 drought

New Job, New Faces, New Places!!

Well its been a while since I last posted here on a Sample of SD Life!! In the past year, I have gone many places and done many things - including graduating from SDSU and taking a full time position with Rural Community Insurance Services as a Crop Adjuster. Because of this, I have moved across the state from Brookings to Pierre, South Dakota's Capitol. I am still in training, and really enjoy my job!

My new goal is to update my blog once a week about various agriculture related topics that am interested in, so stay tuned!

101 in 1001

So last summer I started 101 in 1001 list - and have been working on it on and off ever since. The items in red are done - and for every item I don't accomplish I will donate $10 to Western Wishes. 

1.        Go on the Zipper with Rebecca at State Fair

2.       Get  back stage passes to an ERIC CHURCH concert

3.       Give blood 4x

4.       Seriously beef up my Spanish speaking skills

5.       Learn Portuguese

6.       Go to Brazil to visit Algardo

7.       Go on the Argentina trip

8.       Climb Harney Peak

9.       Run a 5k.

10.   Visit a Winery with mom

11.   Speak at a conference

12.   Go snowboarding

13.   Go skydiving

14.   Learn to swim for real – so I can …

15.   Go down the super cool slide at the Terrace park pool

16.   Make Grandpas stuff pork chops for my roomies

17.   Cook lamb for my friends.

18.   Get my MBA.

19.   Workout 4x a week.

20.   Go to a Eric Church concert with the girls

21.   Go to a NFL game!

22.   Drive in Minneapolis or Kansas City

23.   Apply for the AFA Leadership Team!

24.   Visit DC again.

25.   Go white water rafting

26.   Compete in the Cody Night Rodeo

27.   Go to Cheyenne for Frontier Days.

28.   Have a picture published in a magazine or book or something..

29.   Get paid to write something

30.   Make the Dean’s List again.

31.   Climb to the top of the Rock Wall in the Wellness Center.

32.   Give Shelby riding lessons

33.   Enter Sparky in a big barrel race or futurity.

34.   Volunteer for SD 4-H as a judge or project leader

35.    Buy a new vehicle.

36.   Shoot a pheasant.

37.   Highlight or perm my hair

38.   Write at least 1 agvocate blog a month

39.   Join a intramural team

40.   Buy a fancy camera

41.   Go camping just to go camping

42.   Go to National FFA for Ag Bio Ambassadors

43.   Cheer for Becca at National FFA!!

44.   Learn to play a real song on the piano

45.   Read Smart Women Finish Rich

46.   Read 1 book a month

47.   Go to Vegas for the NFR

48.   Go to the Pendleton Roundup

49.   Go to Calgary

50.   Go to a away Jacks game…or rodeo

51.   Go to more club meetings.

52.    Get my Ambo jacket in first semester

53.   Give my agvocate speech as a workshop to a class or club

54.   Stop judging people

55.   Go to Oasis once a month,

56.   Try Sushi

57.   Finish my scrapbooks!

58.   Make and donate 5 things to a fundraiser

59.   Make friends that aren’t aggies

60.   Write and receive a letter (5xtimes)

61.   Show  a bull at Little I 

62.   Read the Bible.

63.   Go sledding on Larsons Hill

64.   GO on a road trip

65.    Help Drysen DJ at a dance

66.   Give my parents the vacation they deserve by doing chores and taking care of the munchkins

67.   Call my grandpa, just to chat. (1x/month)

68.   Go to Denver Stock Show, just for fun!

69.   Visit the American Lamb Board HQ.

70.   Learn to golf.

71.   Read How to win Friends and Influence People

72.   Stop drinking pop

73.   Ride a motorcycle..all by myself.

74.   Volunteer at STARS in Brookings 1x/month

75.   Volunteer at the Brookings Humane Society 1x/month

76.   Learn to weld.

77.   Learn to play with the plasma cutter J Look out RANDY!!

78.   Thank someone for influencing my life (5x)

79.   Delete all the duplicates and songs I don’t like on my ipod

80.   Sell 10 belts/beaded things

81.   Spend a day at the horse races

82.   Bond with friends at the lawn mower races

83.   Buy a Brule CD

84.   Put videos of our farm on Youtube for the world to see

85.   Try out for a play 

86.   Keep my room clean.

87.   Have a job I love .

88.   Do all the chores at our farm in one day – with mixer wagon, mixer/grinder and bale processor.

89.   Teach a class

90.   Take the felting class at the art museum!!

91.   Build a coffee table to match my end tables.

92.   Turn a bowl and a box on the lathe!

93.   Finish my box of unfinished projects.

94.   Donate school supplies and books

95.   Ride in a Buck Clinic

96.   Invest money in something

97.   Finish 1 major and 2 minors in 4 years!

98.   Be a better big sister

99.   Own Buck the Movie

100.                        Train Harley to ride

My hero in agriculture

One super hot July day...2 people fell in love

My role model in agriculture and in life are the exact same person. My mom wasn't born on a farm - she was born into a family that was passionate about the showing and rodeo with their horses. The closest she ever came to having farm animals was having roping calves and tying goats. It wasn't until I was 8 that she met and married my step-dad, a dairy farmer that also had about 50 head of beef cattle. 

3 generations on the way to George Strait! 

Now we have 1100 head of ewes and about 150 cows. The dairy cattle have long since gone. In the last 12 years, mom has learned everything about the sheep industry, and spends long hours working in the lambing barns when she gets home from her 'real' job. She even wants to learn to drive tractor. My mom is my role model in agriculture because she was willing to learn, willing to change and willing to love the land and life her husband led. She now helps make management decisions, can run the lambing barns on her own, helps work cows and sheep while still getting dinner for 5 or more on the table. My mom is my best friend and my role model, and always will be. 

in her element...

Turkey Thoughts!

I was born and raised involved in agriculture. The picture that comes to my mind when the word farm is said is one of cows and crops, but recently I have been thinking about other types of farming there are in here in the US. My family was sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner last week, and my little sister said the prayer. The words that stick with me are “Bless this food, and the hands that raised it.” My brother asked who shot the turkey, and I corrected him -  Our turkey came from the grocery store, but before that, it was raised on a farm, one that raises turkeys in its barns. Minnesota is number one in the US for turkey production, with approximately 250 farm families raising 45 million turkeys annually. There are other types of farmers that your family might support during the holidays – potato farmers, fruit farmers, vegetable farmers, and vineyards just to name a few.

Another type of farm I rarely think about is one that is currently decorating and perfuming the Union – that’s right, Christmas Tree farms. According to University of Illinois, there are more than 21,000 Christmas Tree Growers here in the US. These trees take approximately 7-10 years to mature, and are grown in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. 98% of Christmas trees are grown on farms and 73 million trees will be planted in the next year. This is a ‘green’ farming practice – one acre of trees provides enough oxygen for 18 people a year!  

Next time you hear the word farm, go ahead and think about cows and corn fields. But remember there’s other types of agriculture out there that aren’t as common! 

~*~ Remember to thank a farmer for all they do to feed the world! ~*~

Things to be thankful for

This week, I participated in my first ever Rockin Rural Women Chat on Twitter. The topic? #FoodThanks. I think this is an important topic, especially because this time of year, many people don't take the time to stop and think about where that beautiful, tender, juicy, delicious piece of (insert favorite meat cut here) came from, or the people it went through to get to the table.

So I give #FoodThanks now and every day. When I wake up and when I go to bed at night, I thank God that I am involved in American Agriculture, and for the opportunities I have recieved in this industry. I encourage everyone to be thankful for farmers - be they vegans or meat eaters because everyone MUST eat to survive.

So to give thanks for food every day, I eat. I support American Farmers by buying and eating American products like American Lamb, and I enjoy a glass of South Dakota wine with my mom. I celebrate by helping my family raise over 1300 head of lambs that become someone else's delisious entree, or by working calves that move onto a feedlot to feed someone else a nice juicy steak or yummy piece of prime rib. I spend some hours driving grain cart, knowing that our corn goes into ethanol and that some comes back to a farm as DDGS to be fed to our sheep and cattle. I celebrate Food Day when I fill by car with ethanol, grab a bag of sunflower seeds and bottle of Coke to drive home to the farm, headed back to my favorite place in the world, thankful that I am part of American Agriculture.

I am thankful that I can get up every day and do the things I love to do in this great country of ours, like riding my horses, attending college and spending time with the people I choose to do so with. I am thankful that my family can grow the crops and livestock we want to, that we live where we do and that I get to say I am a farmer.

Your Piece. Your Place. Our Future

Rebecca and I prior to the Leader in Agriculture Award Dinner

Your Piece. Your Place. Our Future. Everyone has a place in this world, and contribute their own piece of the puzzle that forms life as we know it - the puzzle pieces determine our future. Many ag-majoring college students struggle to find their place in the puzzle that makes up American agriculture, but last week at the Ag Future of America confrence, over 500 of these students learned more about how to find their piece in this puzzle. AFA programming centers around the principles of being personally aware and the ability to self-assess, communicate, manage change and be a lifelong learner.

While in Kansas City at AFA, I participated in Track 3 and met other college kids from across the country. Our days were spent listening to speakers talk about how to use our leadership skills,  life in the 'work world', participating in discussions about issues facing modern agriculture, and meeting potential employers through mocktails and the career fair. We were motivated and inspired by Captain Charlie Plumb, and greeted by my favorite voice on the air, Orion Samulson.  There were so many amazing presenters that took the time to talk to and motivate us that it was hard to not feel inspired and positive every day.



The SDSU Delegates

 Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed each and every part of the confrence, but my favorite would have to be the discussions about issues facing agriculture. These were issues that affected almost everyone in attendence, from family dynamics in farming to how most of American's are 2 generations removed from the farm, and therefore are uneducated about why we do what we do. We all talked about the importantance of using social media to tell the story of agriculture, and I made sure to challenge my group to follow through - with videos, blogs and getting on things like agchat via twitter.

At the end of the weekend, I think everyone was sad to return to their respective schools. The enviroment at AFA is one that I have rarely experienced before - there are 500 people all passionate about the same thing in one place, all positive thinking and willing to make as many new friends as possible. I came home from AFA motivated, postive and optimistic about my future - and about the future of agriculture. I think I am closer to knowing where my piece is in the puzzle of agriculture.

For more information about AFA and to apply for next year's confrence visit the AFA Website .

At the FAIR!!

Fair time is one of my favorite times of the year - friends, family, fair food and of course, showing livestock. This summer, I spent over 20 DAYS at fairs in South Dakota. Most of them were spent sitting at the Ag United informational booth, talking to people about ag.

My favorite part of all the days of the fair came at the South Dakota State Fair this week. Our sheep were stalled right by where people walked by. When I was fitting my ewes, several people would stop to pet them and ask about them - me and moms's favorite part of fair! We both love promoting the sheep and lamb industry, and the fair is a great opportunity to do so. Later, we walked the ewes to a different barn, and were stopped by several families that just wanted to pet the pretty sheep. It was so awesome to see the little kids faces when they realized how soft her wool is and how much she likes people.

Fair time always reminds me about how we can take advantage of everyday opportunities like showing our livestock to promote agriculture to consumers. It also serves as a wake up call to remind me about how many are removed from agriculture.

The Cattlemens Story

Recently at Mom's Day Out on the Farm, I took some video at the cattle stop, which was Doug VanDuyn's feedlot. He doesn't usually speak to groups of people, but he had me fooled - Doug is awesome at speaking about the beef industry!  I hope you enjoy - I know all the participants of Moms Day Out on the Farm did!

To learn more about Mom's Day Out on the Farm and other Ag United Events visit South Dakota Farm Families on Facebook, find us at @agunited4sd on Twitter or visit our website at http://www.agunited.org/

Almost the end....

It was with some sadness and some excitment that I realized next week, I move back to school. (ok more excitement than sadness!!)

Look out Brookings - I'm coming back!!

  

I was lucky enough to intern for a awesome place this summer, and got to live with my Grandparents, so I am sad that the summer is coming to a close.

As usual, I didn't accomplish half the things I wanted to - projects that are getting put on the snowy day list!

He's my baby. And he knows it.

  I did get to spend lots of time with the man in my life - the Sparkster himself.

Run Bunny Run!!

And I got to go barrel racing on Bunny! After a summer off, I realized how much I really do love can chasin.

Belt for the bestie!

I beaded like crazy when I wasn't doing homework. 2 belts, 2 hatbands, and some bracelets later - I have sore fingers. Now just to get the belts to the lady sewing them in and they will be alll done!! And pictures will be posted as soon as I get the belts back! I am taking orders, so if you want one, let me know!

I got to go to Jerrod Neiman with my best friend. We had a great time - much needed stress relief.

So now what? I have under a week of summer left, and have plans for everysingleday of it. At some point in time, I have to pack everything up into my car and haul it up to Brookings! And to put busy into perspective - I get to Brookings for work training Thrusday and Friday, move into the apartment Friday, have event for Ag United on Saturday, Mom brings my furniture and Gpa brings Sparky on Saturday and Sunday, start classes Monday and then its off to work State Fair for a week starting Wednesday!!