Farm facts

Last night Kris and I had our county's annual Farm Bureau meeting, where we vote on everything that needs voting on - like policy resolutions and board members. The great meal, awards, door prizes, seeing friends, and ice cream bar were all just a bonus.

At our table we had a brochure with some fun farming facts! Are you ready?!

- There are 1,231 farms in Clinton County.

No wonder I never thought being from a farm was anything special. When I went to college and people were always surprised I was from a farm ... I was surprised right back! Obviously, a lot of farms in my county.

- 86% of Clinton County is farmland.

Again, that doesn't leave a lot of room for skyscrapers. UNLESS you count silos as skyscrapers.

- There are 83 counties in Michigan. Clinton County ranks #2 for milk and other dairy products from cows.

Yes, that's right! We're #2! We're #2! The unfortunate side of that is land is hard to come by. But we have lots of dairy people around to support us!

- My door prize was ear protection, which I was excited about. Kris always gives his to our boys when he's doing something loud, leaving his older ears unprotected.

It was encased in that super-hard plastic, and there was a hole where you would hang it in a store. I stuck my thumb through it as we were standing around talking to people. After awhile, I realized I could not get it back through. There were two sharp points, so pulling the thumb backward was impossible. I was laughing at my situation and Kris said, "Just find someone with a jack knife. Probably 2/3 of the people in here have one on them."

It was true. A nice woman cut my thumb free. And that stat wasn't even in the brochure.