Blogs

Just outside of Clovis, New Mexico, is a “lighthouse in the desert.” While not an actual lighthouse, it serves as a beacon of hope and service in eastern New Mexico for those in need. 

Growth in export markets has long been lauded as the measure of success in American agriculture. Last year, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue credited exports for being a “major driver of the rural economy, generating 20 percent of U.S. farm income and supporting more than a million U.S. jobs.”

As I typed the title to this blog, I could actually see Tim Gunn from Project Runway nodding his approval. Make it work. As farmers, we’re pretty inventive. I’ve never met a farmer who couldn’t make something out of nothing to finish a milking or to be able to make the last round in a field. We’ve become MacGyvers when it comes to the quick fix just to get the job done.

Well, it’s the nearly the end of summer. It’s been hot, a little stressful, and you can’t wait for your kids to return to the free babysitting we call school. I’d like to take y’all away from the farm for a couple of minutes and share a couple of stories recently in the news.

I started drinking coffee and milking cows at the age of 12. They probably came hand in hand, if not from the early mornings then as markers of entering an adulthood of sorts. Following the example of my father, I would have the first cup in the house and then bring the second one to the parlor.

Other people: What is it like be married to a farmer?

Me: I don’t know. Ask my husband.