Family Farm Friday #65: A Tobacco Lesson

"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness." ~ Letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Washington (1787)

As I promised last Friday after my discussion of experiencing agriculture on the west coast, today I've got a little post about agriculture on the east coast. Tobacco farms in Tennessee.

You might remember that at the beginning of September I headed to Tennessee to spent a few days with Cousin Swiss Mister and the family after the Southern Santa passed away. I hadn't been there for 24 hours before I got a text from Little Brother saying, "Take me a picture of a tobacco field." Apparently this loving agriculture thing is genetic.

My family lives about an hour from Nashville in the hills down a bunch of windey back roads surrounded by farmland and old barns. (No, I didn't get car sick, thanks to my magic car sickness pills!) It was the perfect place to check out farming. So here are a couple of shots of tobacco fields in Tennessee.
You can recognize a tobacco plant buy the big green leaves.

You guys may not know this, but those old barns that you see in the south? A lot of them are tobacco barns--meaning that they are (or were) used for curing tobacco. Once tobacco is harvested, the stems (with leaves still on them) are hung from poles inside the barn. The purpose here is to dry the tobacco leaves. As drying occurs, the leaves will change color from green to yellow and then to brown.
Some farmers use heat to help with the drying process, so lots of older tobacco barns will be stained black from the smoke from fires that helped with drying. When tobacco is fire cured, it takes between 3 days and 10 weeks, depending on the type. During this time hardwood fires are continuously smoldering in the barns. Chewing tobacco is usually fire cured.

Like I said last week, agriculture is such a diverse industry that I'm constantly amazed at the different crops, techniques and farmers involved. And I'm always up for learning a little something about life on a farm elsewhere (although, I'll admit, ours remains my favorite!)

Letters to Mr. Right: Letter #3

“I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.” ~Thomas A. Edison

Dear Mr. Right,

I worry sometimes about how you're going to react to my guy friends.


Because I'm just going to tell you now that while I've been waiting on you to show up, they've really taken care of me.

They listen to my problems and always respond accordingly--by either letting me cry or telling me to stop being a girl. They send me flowers to celebrate the Day After Valentine's Day. They've danced with me at weddings so I would not be alone. They've shown up with Oreo ice cream and two spoons when the situation called for it. I've been inspired and encouraged and (only sometimes) annoyed to the point where I want to shake them. They've cooked me dinner on birthdays and bad days and on regular days. They've made me laugh until I've literally sprayed my drink all over everyone at the table, and at other times have held my hand and let me cry. They've told me to ignore people who were rude or stupid or just plain mean. And they assured me that you would come, and that when you did, they would probably not think you were good enough.

But you'll prove them wrong on that last point.

Waiting for that day,

Me

Are You The Person?

I love it when I read things that really get me thinking. That happened recenty and I thought that I'd share. It all started when this blog asked the question: "Are you who the person you are looking for is looking for?" (Read it again and take it piece by piece if you're confused...I had to read it like 5 times.)

Well, that sort of stopped me dead in my tracks. I think that as single ladies, we focus a lot on finding Mr. Right and on the kind of person that he should be. You know....a good dancer, tall, broad shoulders, really funny, good with money, better with kids and animals and willing to propose surrounded by cows. (I realize your list may be slightly different...particularly if you're not a farm girl!)

But this question made me realize, "Holy cow...I need to be worrying about the kind of person that I should be too!" I barely even have time to fix my hair in the mornings or get my dishes washed at night....let's add another thing to the list!

Seriously though, it's not that I don't generally think about the kind of person that I am, but I had never thought about that in a relationship context. If I know the kind of person that I hope Mr. Right will be, am I the kind of person that he would be looking for?

I hope that Mr. Right is the kind of guy who looking for a girl who is kind and compassionate, who is loving and smart, who is responsible but fun. A girl who wants to know where she's going and what she is meant to do and focuses the difference she wants to make. And you know, sometimes (maybe a lot of the time) I don't fit into these categories. And maybe that's why Mr. Right hasn't appeared from the forest yet....because until I'm the person he's looking for and he's the person I'm looking for, it's not the right time for us to run into each other.

I know I say this a lot, but I really do believe that God uses this single time in our lives to make us into the right person for our spouse. But I think that we've got to work with Him here. We have to do our part. It's up to us to become the person that we're meant to be in order for this little puzzle to all fit together. And so I'm thankful for this time. Thankful to have the opportunity to figure out who it is that God is calling me to be--and thankful to know that once I do that, Mr. Right will be just around the corner and we ride off into the sunset and our future front porch swing.

White Water Rafting

"The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are." ~Lynn Noel

Okay, so I'm way behind on sharing some of the fun stuff I did this summer. So we're going to jump back to August for a day here to catch you up on my white water rafting trip! Y'all know I love me a good bucket list checkmark. Love it even more when it's free. :) Here's how it went down.

My law firm had a great retreat where they took us white water rafting on the Rio Grande and then had a fancy dinner and put us up at an amazing lodge in Santa Fe. Now I was stoked about white water rafting. This had been a bucket list item for quite some time and I was super excited to check it off! I also happened to know that my dad had really wanted to go white water rafting for a long time too and since he's my favorite boy anyway, he was my date for the rafting. I invited my mom, but she hates water, so she just met us for the fancy dinner and resort part later! So early on a Saturday morning we headed up to Taos to meet up with the rafting guides.

We broke up into groups of 5 or 6 in each raft. My dad and I knew we were definately going with my paralegal's husband, Ronnie, who was drinking a beer when we pulled up at 9:00 am. We're all about hanging with the fun crowd. Here we are getting ready to go.

What we did not expect was that we'd also get partnered up with....drumroll please.......the senior partner and his wife. Understand, this is the guy who signs my paycheck and is in charge basically of my whole career. I just prayed that we wouldn't somehow offend him or knock him out of the raft! Ha! (FYI--all went well. I am still employed.)
Anyway, we had about 6 rafts headed down the river. And I'll just say it, we were totally the best. Between my dad and Ronnie, we were hands down the fastest and they were the best at water fights. We may have spent more time splashing the crap out of all of the other rafts than actually paddling.... My dad is super competitive and hard core and he would literally get up onto his feet and shovel water like he was mucking out horse stalls or something. Can't beat a farm guy, ya know? He ended up being the center of attention, and I would have expected nothing less.
Anyway, after a day on the river, we headed back to a super fancy resort in Santa Fe for the evening. We had an open bar and fancy menu....which made my mom proclaim that she wished we were eating at Furr's Cafeteria. You can take the girl off the farm.....
Anyway, all in all it was a great weekend. I have a strong feeling that my dad and I will be hitting up the white water rafting thing again next summer. I also have a feeling that my mom could get used to fancy resort hotels in Santa Fe......stay tuned!

Meet the Cast Monday #35: Little Cowboy

So today y'all are going to get to get to enjoy my youngest member of Meet the Cast Mondays. You've seen lots of pictures of the Little Cowboy, and read about a great little lesson from him. I'm here to tell you, I think this is the funniest kid that I have ever met in my life. You literally never know what is going to come out of his mouth next. He's something else. Word on the street is that he's excited about his mom's engagement to my brother all because that means he gets an Aunt Tiff. Hard to argue with that logic.

So here we go....Meet Little Cowboy!

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A carpenter because I want to work on the base. {He had never said anything about to to me or even to his mom before...like I said...out of nowhere. I was sure his answer would be something about farming or roping.}
Tell us what happened to Mike (his imaginary friend).
He went to find the bad guys and then he came back.

Tell us what happened to Curly (another imaginary friend).
The good Curly got married and died {LOL...love this!} but the bad Curly is still here and he let all my dang horses out! {I have no idea?}
Have you had to shoot any bad guys lately?
Yes. 10 of them and I shot them because they were bad.

Do you wear cologne? Does it smell good?
Yes, and it smells so so so good, like I mean. {You should hear him say this in real life. You'll seriously about fall out of your chair.}
If you could go anywhere on a trip, where would you go?
I would go to Alaska, to hunt a grizzly bear so I will have something to eat while I’m on my trip. {He's practical. I like that.}

Do you have a girlfriend?
No. Because all my dang girlfriends are getting married! Rana and Callie are getting married so I can’t have them as my girldfriends anymore. {Apparently he got really mad while answering htis question and they had to take a break afterwards. Before these two--who are like 23 years old or so--got engaged, his answer was always that he had 8 girlfriends. But these dang engagements are apparently really hurting his game.}
How do you pick your girlfriends?
If I meet ‘em and they’re pretty and my moomoos {his mom} says it’s ok then I have to ask them to be my girlfriend. {Why isn't it this simple with boys my age?? Oh, and I'll save this for the day that comes when he decides he doesn't need moomoos approval!}

Who is your best friend?
PT and Little Brother. {Here are the three amigos in their Christmas card photo.}What is your favorite toy?
Woody and my two holster belt and my rifle gun and my reins.

Photos of the Week: Week 41

Happy Sunday to everyone! I spent the day sleeping in and then going to church, doing a few things around the house, watching some Friends episodes (no comments on this, Word Up Bro!) and now I'm headed out for a nice evening run. In the next month or so, I'm only going to be home one weekend, so I soaked up the down time. Hope you all had a great weekend as well. With that, here are this week's photos. As always, I love hearing which are your favorites! :)

Theme: Burnt Orange (Project 64)

Ironic this was the theme the weekend that my OSU Cowboys beat the burnt orange boys of Texas...we're 6-0 baby! The game wasn't pretty, but we got the W and I guess that's what matters. Anyway, back to hte picture. I was driving down the street and saw this great little bin full of pumpkins in front of a store, so I pulled in and got this shot. Love that you can see the corn stalks in the background. to see the other entries, check out Project 64.

Theme: Anything (Wild Ginger)

After doing fall themes theme twice last week with hot air balloon pictures, I wanted to mix it up. Lucky for me, the trees around my house have turned this beautiful, bright shade of yellow! I absolutely love it when the leaves start to change. Yay for fall! To see the other entries, check out LEM on Wednesday!

Theme: Organic (Quotography)

I basically had no idea what to do for this theme. The only photos that I could think of were those that I took at the organic winery that we visited on our trip to Napa. So although the quote doesn't have to do with organic farming, the grapes are from an organic farm, so I figured I'd go with that. To see the other entries, check out My Perspective!

Theme: Show Off Your Shot

On Saturday night, I went to another high school football game with College Roomie and McCain's parents. I liked this shot of the field and the lights.....I'm calling it Friday Night Lights, even though it was on Saturday. Nothing like football games in the fall if you ask me! To see the other entries this week, check out And then she snapped on Wednesday!

Theme: Black and White

I know, I know...you guys are probably sick to death of balloon pictures. But I took so many that I liked, I have to keep using them for themes. Bear with me here! This wa sa shot of mass assention---love the ballons and the beautiful clouds in the sky!

Theme: Something Sweet

This week I'm participating on "A Photo Challenge." I was trying to go back through pictures to find a good fit for this theme, and then I came across this little guy and knew it was perfect. There is just nothing cuter than brand new baby farm animals! To see the other entires, visit Allie's blog!

Family Farm Friday #64: A Grape Lesson

"Grapes are the most noble and challenging of fruits." ~Malcolm Dunn, Head Gardener to the 7th Viscount Powerscourt

I've managed to get behind on some of my posts from the summer, including this one that I've been planning for a while. You might remember that back in August I went to Napa for a little wine tasting tour with my girls (and our fantastic new friends from Dubai who we met on the bus!)
Well, because once you're an ag girl, you're always an ag girl, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn a little bit about a totally different kind of agriculture....grapes! (Just a reminder in case you forgot, we raise cattle, sheep, alfalfa, wheat and sorghum.....nothing close to grapes!)
In addition to enjoying a variety of samples on our tour, we also got to tour a couple of vineyards and a wine making area. Loud Oklahoma Girl and I put our ag degrees to work and along with a very nice older man from Texas (who we learned worked for Farm Bureau....further evidence that I was right last week when I said I feel like I should be falling for a Texas boy) asked a few questions about the grape growing and wine making process.
First off, we talked to a farmer at an organic vineyard in Napa. He talked about the stringent regulations that they have to meet, and about how careful they have to be to ensure that their crops are protected. He told a story about a farmer in the area whose neighbor did not use organic production methods and somehow his herbicide spray ended up getting into the organic field, causing a big disaster for the organic farmer. This is a total different way of farming than what I'm used to, so it was interesting to hear their take on it.
Second, we learned about harvesting at the Sebastiani winery in Sonoma. All of the grapes there are harvested by hand, not by machine. I guess I had pictured something like a grape combine (it's because I'm a wheat girl!) that apparently doesn't exist.
Then we learned a little about the wine-making process. You know all the oak barrels that you see around a winery? They actually do hold wine while it ages. And the type of wine that you put into a particular barrel is really important because the type of wood will impact the flavor of the wine. So, for example, you don't put some some sweet white wine into a barrel made of a very strong flavored wood. Instead, that's where the red wine goes.
My favorite bit of grape-growing info? If you ever go to Napa (and you should!) you'll see beautiful rose bushes everywhere. They are at all of the vineyards. I thought it was just for looks and tourism. Turns out, the rose bushes serve as a "canary in a mine" for wineries. Just like mines used to use canaries to tell them if the air was bad, vineyards use the roses to tell them if any diseases or pests are going to infect the grapes. Apparently any type of disease or pest will first attak the rose bushes. So if the farmers see problems with the roses, they can quickly take action to protect the grapes. Pretty darn genius, right?

Agriculture is such a diverse industry that it's amazing to learn how things are done in other parts of the country. And if you're ever somewhere that you have the opportunity to ask questions...trust me when I tell you....farmers LOVE to talk about their operations. So ask away! Stay tuned next week for a quick chat about the tobacco farming I saw in Tennessee!