We have been busy enough that I’ve lost track of time. Somehow, it’s time to begin gardening (I’ve been on a garden kick lately), planting crops, and turning the cattle out to bigger pasture. While we are still waiting on a heifer to calve (any day now), it’s been such a blast watching the mamas and their babies enjoy the beautiful weather we’ve been having here in Iowa. A joyous attitude is contagious, all the calves at our place show us that. When the calves start running and bucking- or doing whatever baby calves do- the mothers sometimes join in. If they were pregnant mamas I’d be running ..read more

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. This is a hefty post, but rich with information. I was excited to garden, but was thoroughly thrilled that I hadn’t begun yet when I woke up to snow…in Iowa…on April 15th. I’m not surprised. I could easily go through several vegetables and fruits and offer my opinion on which varieties are the best. However, let’s consider several factors you should take into account before deciding ‘This’ or ‘That’ of the many varieties. Hardiness Zone I’ve talked about this in the previous gardening blogs, but this is key. Growing seasons are different among the zones and ..read more

There are a few things that limit what we grow in our garden. The first limitation is the space requirement. Knowing that garden crops will grow best in north and south rows and perpendicular to our hill to prevent major soil erosion, we have to plan ahead of time what we will plant where. Our garden isn’t huge, so space availability is a limiting factor. The second limitation is the time I have to care for the garden. Weeds grow, they just do. However, after having children I’ve determined that when weeds are taken care of early in the growing season they are much more manageable later in mid ..read more

As I sit here on this Saturday eve before Easter, I have a whorl of thoughts running through my mind. The first one is SNOW??? Someone said part of Iowa could get up to eight inches. I mean, I admitted on Wednesday when the wind was wicked that it’s what we get for living in Iowa. It is spring, it’s supposed to be windy. But who made mother nature mad enough to send us eight inches of snow on Easter?! I guess it could always be worse. That leads me to the farmers who decide to calve later in the spring to hopefully miss tromple-ing in the mud and snow. That thought typically ends up quite vain ..read more

If you haven’t yet read the post Tools to Help you Budget for a Farm it may serve as a nice prelude to what we’re about to discuss. Simply put, realtor websites are convenient, up-to-date, and offer easy searches for land/ranches/properties for sale. However, I can guarantee that the best ground in our area doesn’t always sell on realtor websites. This may also be true in the area you live. A person has to “be in the know”. Whether it be at coffee time with the old-timers, picking the brains of the locals, or even potentially somehow being in relation with the person selling the land, you migh ..read more

Friends, I’m not one that likes to give recognition to the negatives of our world, country, society. In the times we are currently living, my best encouragement is this: God is in control. My mom sent her daily calendar devotion that read this written by Billy Graham “We do not understand the intricate pattern of the stars in their courses, but we know that He who created them does, and that just as surely as He guides them, He is charting a safe course for us”. The rare occasion that I sit down in a day is to eat with our son or to give our baby a bottle. I’ve begun a much better habit of lea ..read more

With the beautiful days we’ve been having in Iowa these past couple days, I’m eager to get in the garden. Our kids’ playset is by the garden, so when we meandered up there yesterday (after spending most of our time walking around the tractors…our boy loves tractors) I got antsy to get the garden tilled. My husband is going to get super busy with his work soon, so I’m hoping I can talk him into tilling the garden here within the next couple days. Otherwise, I’ll end up doing it the day I plant…haha! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our previous post on fertilizing the garden in prep ..read more

Whether you garden for profit or for hobby, it’s time to start thinking about your garden plans. For our family, it’s been wonderful having home grown corn, green beans, carrots, potatoes, peppers, and dried herbs throughout the winter. Not to mention the money our garden and own labor has saved us at the grocery store. This particular post is specific to those who garden as a hobby or for small profit. I hope to have a post discussing for-profit gardening soon! MAP and Pot-Ash If you haven’t already fertilized your garden, now is a good time. In the past, we have spread MAP (for phosphorus) a ..read more

Trees. I cannot express enough how much I’ve come to appreciate trees. I used to have a very strong dislike for trees because I had to mow around so many of them when our family moved to the country. My mom planted trees, and even if we mowed them over, she’d plant more. I think my sister mowed over more than I ever did, but the majority of mine were accident! My dad also didn’t care much for trees as he feared they would eventually topple over on top of the house amidst a windy day or strong storm. Trees, however, can be beneficial to a farm in many ways. Once again, I’m going to bring up a r ..read more

It is estimated that there are 25 million entrepreneurs in the U.S.1 If my math is correct, which suggests that about 8% of American’s run their own business. This is not meant to be a daunting statistic, but a rather encouraging one. The pessimist can look at the statistics of start-up businesses and see an opportunity that may quickly fade for many reasons. The optimist can look at the statistics and believe that they can become one of the 8%. Which one are you? Though many of the business plan components I will mention from here on out can be tailored to many business types, I’m going to ke ..read more