The first crop of hay is done and it’s hard to believe that the second crop of hay is almost here. I’m always surprised by the passing of time. In my head it’s still the end of winter, then all of a sudden spring is gone and summer is here! Are we living on purpose or are we just passing the time? If I’m not careful, I can get into the endless rut of doing the daily … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Walk with Legends
I remember doing dumb things. The worst part is, at the time, they all seemed like great ideas! I don’t know if it’s true for most teenagers, but it seems that the majority of head-shaking ideas come from overly excited boys in the midst of development. One of my all-time favorite memes is of two young boys taking turns hitting each other in the forehead with a garbage can … [Read more...]
Butter and Mud
As I write this, I find myself skating across a thin layer of frozen mud, propelled by 3,500 gallons of manure. No, this is not an attempt at extreme sports; it’s just another day on the farm. Don’t try this at home, friends, but yes, I often write in the field, while driving a tractor and hauling manure. It’s one of the quirky perks of farm life – where multitasking is a … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – “Famous-er” Than Taylor Swift
I recently heard one of my daughters tell someone; “You’re famous-er than Taylor Swift!” What a crazy thought! It got me thinking about fame and things in my life that are most important. How would I act if I were to spend a day with someone who I admired and who was most famous to me? Sometimes we like to imagine what it would be like to host a famous person for a day. How … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Brain Rot
Well, we did it again! How are we doing here at the end of 2024? I heard that the Oxford word of the year is “brain rot.” If the infant world of 2024 would have made a destination plan I don’t know that brain rot would have been on the itinerary. However, if we look at the ingredients being poured into the pot, our educated guess should have been like my brother who always knew … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
My kids have already been counting down the days until Christmas for several months. There’s nothing quite like the allure of Christmas. Everything gets a new flavor! The music is different, houses change their appearance, the kitchen emits a festive smell, desserts are plentiful, and everyone is remembering the best Christmases “from long long ago.” It’s the most wonderful … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Smelling the Past
We stepped through the ancient door and were met with the unmistakable smell of the past. As we examined the coins from another century, gazed at the array of clothing from another era, and imagined the hands that wielded the impressive swords, we were sent through time in the presence of the well preserved antiques in the shop. As my kids and I walked around the dolls and … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – The Spa Life of Farming
I love to read books to my kids. It seems that a very common theme in children’s books is farming. It’s often a story about the farmer and his trusty tractor, or about how the blue truck and the farm animals save the day. Sometimes it’s counting veggies and learning shapes in the perfect garden, or one that I remember reading as a kid, the kitten who got lost and has an … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – It’s Safe as Long as You Remember it’s Dangerous
It was a perfect evening. You, dear reader, know what I’m talking about. There’s a certain feel in the air, a certain smell on the breeze, and the open space in your life has popped a little dream into your head. What is that dream? Maybe it’s a longing to go on a hike in the park, head to the fishing hole, or go out with friends. For me, it was to be soaring around the skies, … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Not on My Farm!
I recently saw someone talking about their food, saying, “Why do farmers need to spend so much time and effort when most people just get their food from the grocery store anyway?” Grocery stores must have a great big manufacturing facility somewhere that takes air and turns it into all the food that you eat. I imagine that a grocery store would be kind of like that … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Crunchy Parakeet?
Have you ever been to an ice cream shop with freezers as far as you can see and thought, “I wish there were more flavors of ice cream in this shop. These 47 options are not enough. I think they need just one more flavor and then I would be satisfied.” I’ve served ice cream when there is one flavor and I’ve served ice cream when people had to pick between 10 different flavors. … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Fifteen-year-old Cheese
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s June! Time flies by so quickly that it circles the earth and laps me in my floating, flying machine. June has got to be one of my favorite months of the year. First of all, it’s Dairy Month! There’s no better time to come visit the farm and get some milk than June dairy month! Driving through winding valleys, to the top of towering bluffs, is … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Making Magic
Feelings of excitement flash around me as I prepare to breach the laws of the physical world and make my neon green scarf vanish into thin air! From my 11-year-old vantage point, I see my audience is enthralled with my latest magic show given by me and my string puppet sidekick named Louie. Who doesn’t love a good physics-bending show and a two legged blue creature who sniffs … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer: A Tale of Two Seasons
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the spring of snow; it was the winter of mud. It is life in the temporary, it is life for the eternal. When the dark days of winter start to give way to the new days of spring, and the peepers are loud enough to sing me to sleep over the sound of my fan, “men with cadaverous faces emerge into the winter light from … [Read more...]
Your Flying Farmer – Come Chore With Me!
Every morning (Yes, you read that right, every morning), my alarm clock rings long before the sun says hello. I roll out of bed, stretch my stiff neck, whisper “I love you” to my wife, and sneak down the squeaky stairs. If I’m lucky, I trip on one of my kids who decided the floor next to my bed was the best place to be just because it was near me. That is the closest I’ll ever … [Read more...]