I ran across an interesting blog when getting information on comfey, an herb that can be used on the farm for lots of things. Interesting philosophy the writers of the blog have. There blog is called Not Dabbling in Normal

'We are a collection of writers, discovering life without adhering to society’s definition of normal. We strive to educate ourselves, learn from others, and share our experiences with not dabbling in normal. We are committed to creating lives of our own making and by our own definition, we know we are not alone and look forward to using this forum as a means to meet other folks who refuse to dabble in normal.'

The Sacremento Bee has an editorial on it's opinion page today in response to our Governor's radio ad in California that business there should move to Texas. It is worth reading.

Texas on the Brink issues a report that puts it all in perspective.

On February 5th, I blogged about the Dodge Super Bowl ad honoring the "American Farmer". A few days ago while driving and lisiting to XM radio I heard one of those "talking heads" on a 24 hour news channels bash the ad. This lady, that probably does not know the difference in a turnip and a bull's balls, said with great authority that the American farmer does not exist. That 70% of or farmer's are Mexican. She then castagaed this group into some sub class of people.

I know that 95% of what you see on CNN, Fox and MSNBC news channel on a 24 hour period is 10% real news and 90% entertainment present ednot by real news reporters, but hired actors who are presenters playing the role fo a reporter. To make matters worse, they generally cast their own opionion on every story they report as if it matters, and then turn to a pannel of "want to be" distinguished experts to spew more meanless words on the subject. So it was with the story on the American farmer.

I can tell you about a few "American farmers" in my family that might be classed by that person as not being American.

A few nights ago, in the rain, my wife Eva was out in the dark catching chickens that were new to the egg mobil one-by-one and putting them in the hen house for evening safety. Some were in trees, some in bushes and some roosting under the house. She might not be called an American as she is naturalized having been born in Central America. But, she is an American farmer.

My grandfather Kafer was raised in Russia in a German ethnic community. Without any visa or documents, he came to the United States to farm.Today he would be classified as undoumented or illegal by many. It took him over 35 years to get naturalization. He raised nine children in the dust bowl farming on poor land with little water. But, he was an American farmer.

My grandmother Edomndson was born in Indian Territory Oklahoma to an European father running a general store and a "mixed breed" American Indian what was part white and part nartive American. She worked side-by-side with her family and lived on what they raised. The surplus they sold to feed the city folks. My grandmother was an American farmer too.

I really think the person on the news program was really trying to make the point that persons of non-white color are now the majority of America's farmers and casting some dispersion on this as if they are not good enough. It was clearly a racist comment and none on the panel offered any different opinion.

The U. S. Department of Labor issues an excellent report on farming demographics. As you can see in the chart below, the American farmer is not what you might expect. While the average age of the farm land owners is in their late 50's, the average age of the famers's working the land is 35.



I guess my point is that our 24 hours news cycle reports little real news and even less factual, intellegent news analysis (watch or listen to the BBS if you want news), it pissed me off when this "news person" made such a racist comment and that was not challenged by anyone.

As for our farm, depending on who is here from the family and near family to work on any given day, we are born in Arkansas, Texas, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Madagaascar, Mexico and Belize. It's a diverse family I know, but we live in America and when we work on our farm, WE ARE American farmers too!

Raising cattle is a challenge, but also something that I very much enjoy. Last June, this photo was taken of several of our mature cows. They were very happy eating lush grass when we called and all three looked at us at the same time.

These are the factory on our farm for the wonderful grass-fed beef we sell. Some years they have a hiefer calf that goes back into the herd, or is sold as breeding stock to another farm, and other times it's a bull calf and we make a decision to keep it as a bull or make it a steer and sell the beef. In any case, its a cycle that has gone on on ranches and farms for as long as there have been domestic cattle.

For us, more often than not, a bull has less value than a steer or heifer. For some reason, no one can explain, most cattlemen in Texas refuse to pay a premium price for a good bull. This is not just a Texas thing, but Oklahoma and all points east in the southern states. Only the well run farms and ranches buy good bulls of outcrossed blood lines so their cattle herd is enhanced. If you wonder why, as you drive across the country, you see seedy herds of mixed color cattle in a pasture in poor condition it's a sign of mismanagement and poor bull selection. These farms and ranches wonder at the end fo the year when they dump a load of skinny calves at the sale barn why they are losing money or making little. In the cattle business, you get what you pay for.

On this particular day, these cows could have cared less about what cycle they were in or who is buying bulls. They just wanted to keep on eating.

Last night was the final one Eva and I had with our wonderful Pepe. For a decade, he has been part of our family. Dropped off as a young dog at our gate, we adopted him. His disposition was quiet and he was a great friend. We have many memories of Pepe on the farm. For some time, he has not been feeling good and we feared this may happen. When he stood at the door last night to go outside as he does every other night, he did not return. I checked on him in an hour and he was laying in his favorite spot in the yard not moving. A pleasant way to pass to the other side. Just lay where you are comfortable and go to sleep. Life will go on for us, but there is a big empty spot in our hearts. Pepe, we miss you.