'Where the Filed Things Are' - or, Accidentally Washing Your Hair with Placenta

My book is done!  Where the Filed Things Are is available on Amazon in paperback or for Kindle.

It's a compilation of stories I've written down - and then stashed in various places - for the last thirteen years.  It begins when I was starting my career, to buying the farm, to finding honey dripping down my house's walls ... and remember when I accidentally washed my hair with placenta?  That one's in there.  Enjoy!

Happy spring!

My mom took this picture for a friend in a warm climate ... our spring day equals mud, clouds, and broken trees.

I didn't feel winter today, though!  This morning when I walked outside, it smelled like mud, the birds were building nests, and I COMPLETELY ignored the dusting of snow on the ground.

Happy spring!

Not at all cheesy

I went to the boys' school two days last week to talk about dairy farming.  I took the Farm Bureau book barn, which is full of agricultural books the kids can check out.    

During their library time, I read books to each class about how milk gets from the cow to them, like Extra Cheese, Please: Mozzarella's Journey from Cow to Pizza.   

You can tell they go to a country school.  When I asked each class how many of them had been to a dairy farm or milked a cow, it was a strong 75%.  While there were no other kids who live on dairy farms, many of them had parents who worked on one or had cattle or worked for some aspect of farming, like driving a milk truck or working at the grain elevator.   

The kids eagerly did the United Dairy Industry of Michigan activity book, ate string cheese, wore their Got Chocolate Milk slap bracelets, unfurled their posters, and were generally super interested and engaged!  I really like my kids' school and really enjoyed my time there.  The kids told me they liked it, too.  

Favorite things kids said to me:

"My mom gets to feed the baby calves."  (Gets to.  Like her job is the best ever.) 

"We get cheese?!  You rock!"  (Yes.  Food is super cool.)

"Ty and Cole's mom?  Can we take these books home?"  (This is the only name kids in their class call me.)

"We already know all about cow stomachs!  Our teacher read us that book last week!"  (Yay!)

A second grader after I said a kid on a tour thought chocolate milk came from brown cows - "Yeah.  I used to think that when I was a kid." 

Wintertime, wintertime, win win wintertime

On Monday morning I walked outside to get the paper at about 6:00 a.m.  (Yes, we get a newspaper.  Two in fact!  I realize how old-school this is, but I love them.  Don't tell the internet generation ... I'll get kicked out.)  It seemed pretty nice outside.

I walked inside and checked the outdoor thermometer reading.  It was -16. 

So, after a super cold winter, -16 just seems regular.  It doesn't even seem extreme.  It's funny what you can get used to after awhile.

But that morning on the farm ...

The tractor had a flat tire.
The skid steer had a flat tire.
A hydraulic line blew in the wheel loader.
The molasses pump blew a hose fitting.

So, the cold is still affecting machines, if not people.  Don't look for any newspaper articles about it.  It's old news now.  Spring starts in 15 days!