Good morning, we are blowing off the hill here on the Knolltop. It’s windy and cold…well it wouldn’t be too cold if it weren’t windy…but anyway…it’s cold.

Yesterday I spent an interesting day away from the farm at the Michigan Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids. After getting up and doing my calf chores, which was all I had time for, I headed west and 2.5 hours later I was in big G.R. sliding in just in time to drop my coat in the media room and head to the first discussion.

It was held at the Amway Grand Hotel….probably the most impressive part of the day was that I could park in a parking structure a block away from the convention center and I didn’t have to walk in the cold to get to the hotel…it was all enclosed in a skywalk. Yes, this country girl is easily impressed! I also love escalators and revolving doors, those are just so much fun!

Anyway…about the meeting…it was a fun day of visiting with people and taking pictures and listening to the discussion meet competition and the most important…eating lunch and dinner that I didn’t have to cook! Easily amused…I know.

I was able to spend a few minutes listening to the delegates make policy and that was interesting in itself. I enjoyed watching the big organization discuss the policies and how it all worked.

I also enjoyed listening to young farmers compete as they discussed many hot topics. But my favorite part of the day was listening to Dr. Wes Jamison reveal some facts about animal welfare issues that we really didn’t want to hear but needed to listen to.

What made the biggest impact on me was that we as farmers want to stand up to the attacks from PETA and the Humane Society of the United States(which, by the way, has nothing to do with and is completely different from your local human society or animal shelter) with the wrong argument. When animal activists attack us and our animal husbandry practices we fight back with research and economics. When in all reality, their attack has nothing to do with sound science and good economics, but everything to do with emotion and morality. They think we are immoral to raise animals for human consumption. It doesn’t matter to them that we do it efficiently and safely, they don’t want us doing it at all. Period. End of discussion.

Dr. Jamison made it clear that we need a different approach to our fight. He said we need to stop being ashamed at our husbandry practices and stand up and say, “Yes, we use farrowing crates so the sows don’t kill their babies…and yes, I have a free stall barn so our cows are comfortable….and yes, we harvest meat from our steers so we can have protein to eat and not get DEPRESSED!”

There’s so much more…I’m going to have to write a column on this topic….it’s fun to write about this kind of stuff.

Bacon and pancakes are ready!

Yes, that’s right, we are still cheering this morning as we celebrate the boys win last night over Jackson Christian and my beloved Pastor Mike.

I know I may sound like I’m a bit overboard…that’s because I am! The boys beat the Royals 31-26 in a very sloppy game. Our boys didn’t look all that great but they kept chipping away and after the first quarter were never behind again.

It’s very strange for me to listen to a wonderful man preach great sermons Sunday after Sunday and then have a burning desire to beat his team on a Monday night. I guess that’s because I’ve never had a pastor who also coached a team…which is really kind of cool in my book.

After the game I took my green North Adams shirt and rubbed it all over Pastor Mike and even offered to get one for him so he could wear it next Sunday to preach in. He declined my offer and we had a great time sparring over the game…all in fun.

But the parents of his team didn’t see as much humor in our victory and the fun we were having. I guess they don’t realize that our families (the Lee’s and us) go a long way back and they are very precious friends to us. They probably also don’t realize that our friendship goes so deep that when Jake had his accident, from Kentucky the Lee’s gathered people around them to pray for our son while we waited to hear if he would live or die. They also don’t know how much we treasure their friendship and what a fine example of Christian servants they’ve been to us. I could write on and on and on what the Lee family means to us, but I don’t want Pastor Mike to read this and then get too proud of himself….he has a tendency to do that…get all puffed up and proud….but this week, we have knocked the wind out of his sails and he will have to find another way to navigate his way to another mark in the win column.

It’s chilly this morning on the Knolltop and the snow is still here…we had a nice batch of snow yesterday…it makes things seem more festive.

Well the coffee is perking…better get on the day!

It’s been a long weekend around here. Not only because of the holiday, but because I must have eaten too much pie or turkey or cranberry relish or something, but I haven’t felt well all weekend. But I’m back among the living and ready to head into another busy week.

It’s another chilly morning here on the Knolltop, actually it snowed last night and is kind of foggy now….very strange weather we’re having.

Okay, now pardon me while I talk about sports for a few minutes. Tonight Luke’s undefeated 8th grade basketball team will take on one of the toughest rivals in the league….Jackson Christian. They are a private school, but then again, you could tell that by the name….anyway….they have a reputation for having a great basketball program.

Last year their Varsity team was in the semi finals and beat Redford Covenant Christian…why is that team important? Because Durell Sommers was on that team and Durell is now playing for Michigan State, he promised himself to Tom Izzo when he was a sophomore, so you get the picture…he was flat out good. And Jackson Christian beat his team…so now you know they were good too.

So with that part of the picture painted, let me go further in telling you that we belong to a church in Jackson called Grace Church and the senior pastor just so happens to be the 8th grade basketball coach at Jackson Christian. So now…do you get the picture? Luke will be playing against his pastor’s team.

While Pastor Mike is a great guy and a wonderful preacher, he is also very competitive. His children all played basketball and he has a son on the varsity team at J.C. Mike stood in church a couple of weeks ago and in front of 600 people started talkin’ smack to Luke. He told Luke that Jackson Christian was going to take North Adams down. Now “them’s fightin’ words!” Really, putting this into context he was actually illustrating a point in his sermon, but “them still fightin’ words”

So now, we will be headed to Jackson tonight all prayed up, yes I prayed that we would win…and don’t think Pastor Mike hasn’t been sittin’ at the throne of Grace asking for a win too and I hope this one time God has more mercy on us than him because I want Luke’s team to win.

And if we do end up beating them we will all sit in the front row of church next Sunday with our green and white North Adams shirts “talkin’ smack” without saying a word.

It was a chilly 20 degrees this morning when we walked over to milk. My hands stay cold the whole time I milked. That moon was so bright and beautiful this morning, it was amazing how it lit up the whole farm.

While others are out shopping this morning, I’m in my nice warm house fixing blueberry pancakes, sausage and perked coffee. After I enjoy that we will all head back out to the barn to finish up chores and wash the rest of the windows on the east side of the barn. Bobby is on a cleaning kick in the barn, last Saturday he and the boys washed the pipeline and swept down cobwebs. He also washed all the windows on the west side of the barn….I think there are 15. Then tomorrow we will curry the cows off and wash tails….we classify in a week and we want the cows to look nice. Yes they will get dirty in a week, but next week we won’t have as much washing to do if we take the first few layers of manure off this week.

I don’t think I’ll get much shopping done this weekend, instead I think Sarah and I will make some garlands for the porches. We’ve got some cedar trees and lots of bushes we can cut greenery to decorate with. I also have a grape arbor I think I might trim up and use the vine for something. I also have to put up the lites around the little oil shed across the road….that is the only place I put outdoor lights. The building is small so I can put the lites up easily and I’ve stored them right there in the shed. I guess I really don’t have time to shop even if I wanted to!

JW and Luke have to work today and tomorrow JW and Luke have basketball practice.

It’s snowcovered here on the Knolltop. When we went across to the barn this morning we were bucking the wind and snow. I had to move fast to keep warm, but once I got in the barn, the girls kept us warm with all their body heat.

A first happened last evening…Jake made his first batch of brownies. He wanted something chocolate and so he decided to make some all by himself. I was looking at all the shopping flyers that came in the mail and I heard SArah and her friend Sidney giving him pointers. When I went out there to check on him, he had all the ingredients dumped in the bowl and was ready to mix. Not your conventional way of making browines…but they were delicious as we enjoyed them at 9:30 pm…not the best time to be partaking in such a treat.

Time to go make the breakfast…this morning we’ll have biscuits and gravy and blueberry pancakes and bacon. I hope you all have a great thanksgiving!

This weather is crazy! Yesterday I milked in my long underwear…this morning just a turtleneck and I was warming up fast. It’s 54 out and foggy this morning on the Knolltop. I like the fact that we can’t change the weather…that’s one thing we aren’t in control of..although the Al Gore would like us to think we are….with all his global warming rhetoric.

Anyway… I made one mention of spoiled Americans and did I get the email. Boy…you people really want to hear about how spoiled you are!

Here it goes….after visiting with our friends the Tingleys who are home for a visit from Indonesia, we were awakened to their way of life. We had just a small taste of what it must be like down there. The first tidbit was when their ten year old daughter looked a the bowl of grapes on our table and said, “Mom….look..it’s grapes!” She was honestly excited about having grapes because they don’t have grapes in Indonesia.

As we began to talk, I found out they don’t have beef…just water buffalo, which aren’t as tasty they say, plus they don’t have many dairy products. They have to drink milk that’s on the shelf, not refrigerated, they don’t have access to cheese, they have to make their own yogurt from a powder mix and I didn’t even ask about ice cream.

When we began discussing the safety of their food supply, Marc’s response was, “America has the safest food supply and they don’t even realize it.” He went on to say that when they go back, they will get sick because their bodies will have to readjust to the food there. They will spend a few days being sick, then they will be fine and they will also have to take worm medicine.

When Christy wants to cook a meal she has to make everything from scratch even down to going to the market and buying the live chicken. Actually she sends a native, otherwise she would be taken advantage of and have to spend more than it’s actually worth. It will take her at least three hours to cook a meal because everything is so different. No opening a bag of salad and pouring into a bowl, no taking the chicken breast out of the freezer and putting it in the oven to cook. She has an oven but it’s very temperamental and small. No opening a can of corn or peas or going to the freezer and taking out what she was able to freeze over the summer. No going to the pantry and getting a jar of applesauce that she made during the fall apple harvest. No ordering pizza on a busy night, no drive through meals, no picking up pot roast with all the fixin’s already in the package and baking it up in a snap. And that’s just the cooking. I haven’t even covered the fact that their mattresses are about 2 inches thick and they are one of the lucky ones who have indoor plumbing.

I wish those who are complaining about the use or rBST, GMO corn, pesticides, fertilizers, bleached white flour and pasteurized milk would just spend a week down in Indonesia or another under developed country and maybe they’d come home more concerned about what they need to get rid of or maybe they’d think about how much money they could give to those who have given up the comforts of their own home and the conveniences of modern America to help others have a better life.

For that matter, do we really need to go south for this? No, we just need to visit our local food pantry, Salvation Army, homeless shelter and we’d realize most of us have our priorities all messed up. So I ask you…what in your life is necessary? What can you live without? How much can you give? And are you willing to forsake your own wants for the need of another?

Good Monday morning from the Knolltop. It’s a windy morning…I was chilly milking this morning in the barn. And I’m back to my long underwear…so it’s cold, in my book.

Recently we’ve had three first calf heifers freshen and they’ve all been great to get along with. I’m always a little apprehensive about these gals since they are just learning what it’s like to be a cow and the rigors of giving milk twice a day. It’s tough business eating all you want and laying around as much as you like and not having to go anywhere to use the restroom. Really the toughest job they have is standing still for about five minutes while we milk them….tough life.

One of the heifers is Miranda and she has been a dream. She’s giving 90 pounds and she’s just two weeks fresh….which is awesome in our book. But she has one problem…she lets her milk down quickly and it doesn’t take her long to milk out…BUT when she thinks she’s done she just lays down…..with the milker still attached! We have to stand and monitor her cause she will lay down as quick as anything if you don’t get that milker off. It’s so funny. In the past we’ve had cows lay down while being milk but it’s usually because they have a belly ache or a sore foot…but not because they think they’re done!

I told Bobby that if she doesn’t stop this I’m going to have to put a nail in my pocket and give her a poke when she decides she’s done…a clever trick I learned from the late Holstein enthusiast and the man who never endeared himself to anyone but we loved him in spite of himself….George Robb.

If I had more time…I’d vent a little about another subject…how spoiled we Americans are! But I’ll save that rant for another post.

Time to get on the day.

It’s rainy here on the Knolltop…and as I write, Ohio State is beating up on Michigan…this day couldn’t get any better!

Last night we had some friends join us at Luke’s game and then come over for some fellowship. First of all, Luke’s team won, I think the score was 55 – 11 or something like that. Anyway, we all came back here afterward and had chili, hotdogs, chips and homemade salsa, donuts, carmel corn and cookies. One of the couple’s was our Pastor and his wife and the other couple are some friends who used to go to church with us but now live in Indonesia, they are just home for a visit. These folks have three kids who are just a real blessing to be around. Of course one of the reasons I like them is because the oldest daughter is the who I have picked out for Luke. And as it turns out, the second oldest daughter now has her first crush on JW. When they were getting ready to leave, she asked if that “Tall Kid” could come live with them in Indonesia.

JW is ready to go…I think it would be a great awakening for all of my children to go somewhere where they have to kill their dinner, it takes three hours to cook a meal and indoor plumbing is a rarity.

We had a great time visiting and catching up….my motto still is: Sit long, talk much!

Good Morning from the kind of clear, but cool Knolltop.

I’m on an errand frenzy this morning which includes oil filters and groceries…I’m sure you can figure out which stores I’m headed to.

We had a very quiet night last evening..no games…no practices….just sitting at home eating popcorn. Although there was some controversy in the barn. Sarah has created a “Who has the cleanest heifer pen” contest between she and Jake. She has drawn up a chart on the white dry erase board in the barn, complete with a key for what all the symbols mean. I had to spend a day just learning the key and what I was supposed to put where.

At the end of chores I’m supposed to judge who has the best looking heifer pen. Each of the kids has a heifer pen they have to clean which includes scraping out the front of the pen where there is no bedding and then putting clean shavings on the bedding pack in the back of the pen. It doesn’t take very long and when it’s done each day we don’t have to clean calf pens that are 4 feet deep in manure…this way they are always clean.

Well, Jake got to his pen first and because he wanted his pen to look the best, he not only put shavings on the bedding pack in the back of the pen, he put shavings in the front of the pen so he had a nice blanket of clean shavings front to back. He also used up all the shavings so the other kids didn’t have any to use for their pens. While he stood around proud as a peacock over his pen, the other kids were screaming “Jake is disqualified! He used all the shavings!” Bobby and I just laughed. You have to laugh at these things….there’s no taking sides…we just laugh.

They were wanting to argue about it yet this morning over the breakfast table. I put an end to it when I began reading our morning devotions…which was about servanthood….something they could improve on!

Off to town!