Monday's agriculture article: The Wife of a Dairyman

Ever curious what life is like for the wives and moms on a dairy farm? Look no further than the blog written by California dairy farm wife Nancy Grossi. Her blog, The Wife of a Dairyman, chronicles the farm and personal life of her family and its farm. Nancy shares lots of recipes, pictures of farm life, tips for moms, and most importantly, her heartfelt views on providing food for families. Nancy blogs frequently and is very good at interacting and answering questions from readers.

Happy Thanksgiving and giving #foodthanks

As we all sit down to our respective Thanksgiving Dinners today, I wanted to give #foodthanks for a few things.

1. Thank you to all the farmers that work 24/7/365. Farming isn't a job, it's a lifestyle.

2. Thank you to all those who choose to work in a place to allow me to get this food. Whether you're a trucker, grocer, or processor, thank you for helping to bring food to my table.

3. Thank you to the charities and organizations that make sure people around the world can avoid hunger.

4. Thank you to the people who teach others how to use food to their advantage by improving their health and well being.

5. Thank you for those that choose to make preparing food your profession, especially when you're one of my favorite eateries.

6. Thank you for those involved to help me get some of my favorite can't live without foods: any dairy product, coffee, chocolate, wine, fresh herbs, garlic, ripe tomatoes, and a really good filet.

7. Thanks to those who are producing technology to help provide food security for those around the world.

8. Thank you to wineries and Food Network television (and magazine!) for helping me to appreciate the art of food.

9. Thank you to those who lose sleep over keeping our food supply safe.

10. Thank you to the local farmers who sell at farmers' markets. Those relationships are such a wonderful things to have.

What are you giving #foodthanks for today?

A Masterpiece in the Making – All the Colors of the Countryside

Traditionally on Mondays, I share an agricultural website of interest. Today, I am posting an article written for the Cow Art and More blog Michelle Payn-Knoper (@mpaynknoper). Michelle is a speaking professional who works to motivate people within the agriculture community to connect with consumers. She blogs about her passion for agriculture at causematters.com.

Crayons, markers, pencils, clay, paper, chalk, beads and paints don’t stand a chance in our house. Our resident “Little Artist” (L.A.) dreams up creations not seen in the adult world. I shouldn't be surprised, given the fond memories I have of drawing and writing books in elementary school. But I do have to say that LA. takes imagination to a whole new level.

L.A. is inspired by animals and has discovered the beauty of nature. Horses are a favorite, much to the chagrin of Holstein breeder dad and mom. Cats and dogs are right behind – along with birds, plants, rainbows and insects. We take great pride in L.A.’s love of our rural world; it’s something we hope will be a foundation for life.

Our rural countryside doesn’t just provide inspiration for art - it provides lessons for life. Lessons that those animals we cherish in real life or in art are meant to live and die to give us food. Lessons that work ethic, honesty and dealing fairly with others bring great rewards. Lessons about perseverance and balance when given a load that seems too heavy to carry.

The lessons that are taught on a farm are irreplaceable. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer children are exposed to that as we see people 4-5 generations removed from the farm. Frankly, that scares me because I’ve seen the consequences of a society detached from where their food is produced.

L.A.’s friends’ attraction to the barn gives me hope; their favorite activities are learning about animals, playing for hours in the haymow and going on nature walks by our fence row. I only wish those activities would still be favorites when they’re 16! That likely won’t be the case, but I do hope they remember their times on the farm and that those pretty black and white cows are where milk comes from – not to mention cheese, ice cream and yogurt.

As an art community, I’d encourage you to get to know some of the beauty behind the animals and barns. If only more people would stop to reflect on the purpose of our farm animals and meaning of our countryside, we'd have a more realistic connection to food.

Farms are not just a pastoral scene, but also the home of people who produce our food. Farms are still tended by families, even when red wood barns have turned to white metal buildings and GPS auto-steer tractors have replaced antiques. Our countryside continues to change, just as we see progress in computers, schools and doctor’s offices.

L.A. reminds me that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I believe today’s modern family farms offer just as much beauty as those from Charlotte’s web. The beauty is in watching farmers tend to animals and land with great care – and appreciating the sacrifice involved to make food. Beauty can also be found in the consistent family values handed down through generations. Beauty is in the entrepreneurial creativity that it takes to make a farm work today. Beauty is in watching the next generation find their way…

There’s no telling if L.A. will find a way in agriculture, just as there’s no way of knowing where that wild imagination will lead. As a mom, I’ll encourage both. But at the end of the day, I know this is a masterpiece in the making - and we’re going to do everything we can to add as many colors of the countryside as possible. Are you doing the same with your masterpiece?

Monday's agriculture website of interest: LIST BY GUEST BLOGGER JANICE PERSON

*For today's post, I asked blogger Janice Person (@JPLovesCotton) to share some of her favorite agricultural websites. Janice was born and raised a "city girl" but ended up taking her first job within the agriculture industry after receiving a journalism degree. Her blog, jplovescotton.wordpress.com, details her adventures within the agriculture.*

It sounds like a simple question – what are your favorite agricultural websites / online resources? When Kathy asked if I’d write it, I thought that sounded fairly easy. Then I’ve given it more thought. And still more thought. There are so many great ones.

Luckily I was reminded there is no reason to wait for perfection in blogging but rather use it as a discussion so I’m sure I’ll remember some that I can’t believe I left out of here and other readers will have ideas to add… and through that process it will definitely get better.

I’ve decided to focus on blogs that tell the stories straight from the farm itself. No filter. And while I was asked for a top 10, there is absolutely no way to rank these. My post has a stream of consciousness version.

· Martin Family Farms – I have chatted with Doug Martin a couple of times on Twitter. His blog is a way to see what’s happening in a short, easy to access format. He routinely has taught me a simple fact or two. And since he puts an occasional photo of the family up as well, it helps remind you that there are real faces to the plate.

· Dust on the Dashboard – Kansas farmer Glenn Brunkow has a way of putting his thoughts together that grab my attention with virtually every post. He will write about the things you talk about when driving around a farm in a pickup or visiting at the tailgate.

· Pond Seed Company – Fred Pond was one of my early Twitter connections I made in real life and I love how he uses his company’s Facebook page to keep folks up-to-date with what’s happening in northwest Ohio. He combines field information from his farm with various resources he finds on the internet and passes things along to farmers in his area.

· Griggs, Dakota – Farm News From Our Family Fields – This blog is updated almost daily and almost always has great visuals. I think they may be the only farmers I know growing pinto beans on a broad scale. I’m intrigued to see what all they will have going on in the winter because if I was in North Dakota, I’d be a hermit, but I bet they are busy then too!

· Agriculture Proud is an effort by Ryan Goodman, a recent college graduate who’s working at a feedlot. Ryan started the project as a hashtag on Twitter so various folks could share their pride and it’s grown to include a blog and Facebook page. He does a great job of encouraging others to share.

· Wag’n Tails is a blog that Val Wagner launched September 1, 2010 after attending the AgChat Foundation’s first training conference. She’s got the innate ability to tell a story, draw pictures with words that you can’t learn at a conference but she says the how to & confidence building helped. Hearing or reading her stories of raising four boys on the family farm definitely helps me!

· FarmFresh is Kelly Whatley’s blog. While Kelly and I haven’t met, I feel like I know her. The biggest connection point is cotton but with a connection point like that, the connections grow! Yes, we know people in common, share the same excitement when pickers or planters begin to roll, etc.

· Weeks Enterprises, Inc. A Five Generation Family Farm – My friend Ryan Weeks keeps us up to date on what happens on his farm through Facebook. I love that he’s playing with video a little bit more and that you get to know his kids a bit too!

· I Love Farmers, They Feed My Soul – This was the first agricultural group I joined that grew virally and continues to grow at an incredible pace. The team – students and recent grads of Cal-Poly all of whom have an ag connection or interest – encourages people to share their stories on the page. I’ve got several of their t-shirts, etc and frequently post photos to share in the buzz of lovin’ farmers!

· Walking the Off-Beaten Path, Lana has great snippets and stories about life on the farm. She frequently will share a laugh with her readers, and is glad to have people laugh along with her as she learns a new lesson.

That’s 10 of the farmer-written or farmer-hosted pages I find interesting on a regular basis. I have a lot more and have posted a long list on my personal ag blog. If it’s okay, I’d also like to mention my company’s blog, Beyond the Rows, I contribute to on occasion.

Thanks Kathy for the chance to so this! I could go on and on about the farmers out here on the net having great conversations with other farmers and people like me who depend on them. I could go on for days!