Keeping America Beautiful.....

I haven't done any posts on monthly holidays lately, so I thought maybe I should look up and see what was I might have missed for April.  I found that April is "Keep America Beautiful" month, which I do have to be careful, because while I love this earth we love on and want to keep it beautiful, I have a hard time with extremist organizations that think that keeping it beautiful means 100% 'green.'

Green is actually my favorite color, and the sign of life, living and growing, and when you are a raised in agriculture, I think that there is nothing more beautiful and amazing than the green of spring, of fields changing daily from brown to green and the sound of sprinklers chugging through those fields.

So, as we finish up this last week of April, I wanted to acknowledge the Farmers and Producers of American Agriculture that do so much to keep America Beautiful and Green.


April is also National Garden Month.....BIG SIGH!  Is it time already?  Well, with the weather we have had this last week, it sure feels that way, but the snow the week before still makes me doubt 'weather' or not we will be planting on time this year or not--the last two years have been later and later for planting, so we shall see, but it is still time to start thinking about it!

'Spring' Cleaning....

Every year the Panaca Spring is drained for week.  It is usually around Spring Break, which means it isn't always warm, and it is usually always windy.  This year, it was GORGEOUS weather.  Which means a few hours each for a couple of days were spent catching frogs and fish and crawdads by my kids.  They enjoy this one week almost as much as they enjoy the swimming the rest of the year--maybe more because it only comes once and because it isn't always nice enough to play in it some years.  

Bryson looking for frogs for two straight hours.

The mud around some of the edges is GROSS and extremely deep, I didn't get pictures the next day, but Trevin had mud clear up his neck and onto his hair, his clothes were black, and it's a good thing he cleaned off or I might have left 'swamp thing' in the swamp.

My little princess looking for her prince? 

 Yep, pink and bejeweled, or mud-covered and frog-catching, she is my little princess.

Today was pretty quiet, there were a few other friends around, but the next day there were lots of people out and we came back after we finished branding cows to let cousin Deegan check it out.  Some people showed up to swim and were absolutely shocked to find it almost empty, once I explained to them that it was normal and temporary, they climbed on in and mentioned at one point that 'it is almost more fun this way!"

The Panaca Spring, looks almost like a river here, and all of that water is springing up from the ground within just a small area.  About 10 million gallons a day of water that averages a temperature of 78 degrees.  In the hot sun you think you'll be cooling off your feet by sticking them in there.  Nope, usually you just get a surprise that the water is about as warm as the air around you.  It also provides not only the town and those with water shares a great source of water, but most of the farmers through the valley have shares.  It is piped out of the spring in a couple of spots and the water and it's warmth travels through them, leaving stripes of green on the dirt above, or paths of thawed snow during the winter.  An oasis in the desert, it was once used as the towns water supply and no swimming was allowed, but that was when my grandparents were younger.  Now, it is the swimming hole for the town, along with many who come from out of town, or out of state to experience it.

A Day (or a few) at the Fair....

So, for all my stressing, worrying, and more stressing, the Fair is over and ALL IS WELL!!  I can say that this was actually a really good experience and the whole week ended up working out well--I managed to find baby-sitters, make it to doctor's appointments, be at the shows, have a fun time with the kids on the rides even in the blustery and sometimes drippy weather.  And while my oldest was selling his lamb, the next two were winning their final gold medals of the wrestling season at a benefit tournament, and learning how to help others that had fallen on hard times, at the same time.  But, I am glad it is over--no more lambs, no more wrestling, no spring sports, just weeds and watering and homework and a few more weeks of school!

So, Here is my oldest in his first stock show, taking fourth place.  The 1st and 2nd  place lambs there to the right also went on to win Grand and Reserve, so it was a tight class and I was pretty darn proud of how well he did.  It is a neat thing when your kids get to enjoy something that you enjoyed so much when you were young, too.

One of these days I am going to teach him how to smile for a camera--but in 9 years of trying, I am still struggling--maybe it's just a 'guy' thing and mom's aren't supposed to understand it!  ;)

In other areas, the Fair was a great success.  I heard today that there were 61,000 people that attended.  The Clark County Farm Bureau does an excellent job with their Ag displays and support of FFA and 4-H kids.  Their newest addition to the Fair is their milk cow--Bessy.  You can see the kids lined up to milk her.  She has a system of water lines that run through her--the kids milk her and the water sprays into a bucket where it circulates back through for a continual cycle.  Fortunately, she does not come with flies or tail whipping, either, or they might not have enjoyed it as much.  

My kids loved it.  My Daughter talked about it over and over.  My hubby would like to see them milking the real thing, in our back yard--Maybe when fuel prices get a bit higher and we can't ever leave home again, then maybe will I agree, but just finding someone to feed calves and horses and chickens is enough of a trial when leaving for a day or two, let alone finding someone to milk a cow.  I know, I know, keep a calf on her, but still , I'm holding out for now.

And here is our Media Director for the Nevada Farm Bureau, Zach Allen, working hard at the Farm Bureau booth--he stayed busy all week and did a great job promoting Ag in our state.  Nice booth with great Ag products from all over the state!

And here are the great women of Farm Bureau with fun facts and games!!  Cindy Hardy, Irene Barlow, Stephanie Bunker, all worked hard for Clark County Farm Bureau, while our Field Representative for the State, Stephanie Licht, is always busy and hard at work!

Clark County also sponsored a dinner for their YF&R, with incoming Chair, Micah Leatham working hard at recruiting several new members.  Then it was off to the rodeo for the evening.  So, THANK YOU to Jim Hardy for his work on the evening and efforts to bring it together and THANK YOU to Clark County Farm Bureau for sponsoring it.  THANK YOU to Blake Stratton for the past few years he has spent as the Chair of YF&R in their county and the time and effort he has put in there.  Keep up the good work down there, Clark County, we are proud of your time and efforts that make this such a great fair for so many that might not get a taste of Farm life otherwise.  

4-H and Nevada Dairy Council always had great informative Ag booths.  Of course, my oldest and little sis were enjoy the butter-carving (playing) contest.  At least until mom dragged them off for the livestock sell.

And the show is done, the sell is over, we rode the rides, saw the booths, had lots of fun, but a big sigh of relief comes at the end.  So, one last thank you to Uncle Al for all his great help at the show and all his dedicated years of service to the 4-H and FFA kids his has helped, from his own family, to many, many more.  

Hope you all enjoyed the fair, and if you missed it--well, maybe we will see you there next year!!

Last Minute to Prepare for the Fair.....

So, tomorrow the big event arrives--the Clark County Fair opens up.  Today I sent my oldest to weigh-in his lamb for his very first livestock show.  This last week has been a rush of getting ready.  I had forgotten how much time and effort went into the Clark County Junior Livestock Show, but of course, I only showed there once, my senior year--and that's been a few years.  I am hoping this will be a good experience for him, but by the time we finished all of his recordbook, and I have finagled how to get down there and where to stay, and what to do with the other three for a day while dad is still at work, I was ready to pull my hair out!

My boys have been working with their lambs since the beginning of October--only one is old enough to show, but he had an alternate lamb, so his little brother was there helping for all those months--which does not make him very happy since he doesn't get to actually do any showing.  The thing is, he is a natural, and I am just hoping we don't wear him out before he is old enough to actually show.  The age limits frustrate me a bit.  I started showing when I was 8 years old.  I remember very well, because I had two older siblings showing that I couldn't wait to join.  Now they have to be 9 by January first.  I spent the majority of my years showing at the Southwest Utah Show, or occasionally at a Beaver County Fair.  We usually each had two lambs and my brother always had a steer--I often wonder how my parents kept up with it all--of course, that show was several days shorter and more condensed--not to mention we usually had lambs donated from my Grandpa, so we didn't have the added cost of buying the lamb.  It was always one of my favorite events of the year, even if it meant lots of walking of lambs even when we didn't want to.  Now, other rules have changed and we aren't able to compete at both shows, the Southwest Utah and the Clark, which is another frustration for the few family's who work so hard to support their kids in these endeavors--it is a long way and a lot of work to get  to either of these, let alone to go further, so it is sad that there aren't more options.  

So, I am anxious to see how my son does tomorrow in his Market Class.  I had hoped over the years that we would get to this point, but a few things in the past year made me wonder.  My Uncle Al Cox was always one of our biggest helps and supports getting ready for the shows in my youth, and since my boys have been tiny, him and my aunt Joyce have been waiting for them to be old enough to show.  Then, unexpectedly, my aunt Joyce passed away last summer.  I really thought that maybe without their support it would be too much to take on--I can handle my horses, cows and chickens, but I would definitely need help getting a lamb to the show.  I didn't know if Uncle Al would be up to it.  I should have known better.  He loves the lambs.  He LOVES the livestock show, the kids, and sure enough, by fall he came to us and asked if we were up for it. So, after My son committed, and my Hubby, too, he helped us find the lamb (s)--he couldn't choose just one. ;)  So, he has been there, teaching, helping, training,and I think that it has been a very good thing for him to do--to keep him busy and involved in a world that he loves.  That in itself makes the work and time very worth it, though I am still hoping that it is a good experience for my son--especially since he had to miss the county spelling bee in order to go--he has been in the top two or three of his grade every year for three years, so he was a bit devastated over missing that to show.  At the same time he has big dreams of showing a goat next year, maybe a pig, and definitely a steer sometime--okay, kid, give your mom a bit of a break!!

Dinner in Elko with Trent Loos, Radio Host

If you are in the area next week and looking for a great night out, here is your chance!!  This comes from Great Basin College:

Come one, come all! GBC Aggies Club and the Elko County Farm Bureau have teamed up to present Trent Loos on Saturday April 14th. The event starts with social hour at 5:00pm, a tri-tip dinner catered by Elko's newest restaurant McAdoo's at 6:00pm, and Trent's speech entitled "Producing Food in a You Tube Society."

The event is taking place in the GBC Solarium in Elko, Nevada. Dinner tickets are $25 per person or $20 for 4-H and FFA members. Please buy your dinner tickets by April 11th from the GBC controller's office, or RSVP to Tracy Shane (753-2344) by April 11th and purchase tickets at the door. During dinner, GBC students will be presenting the results of their research on various natural resources topics. GBC Aggies Club students will also be selling sweatshirts at the event.

If you don't want to join us for dinner, you can come for free at 7:00pm and be entertained and inspired by Trent. He'll be selling and signing his new book, "The Best of Trent." Mr. Loos was raised on a farm in Illinois where he got his start in raising hogs at a young age. He and his wife Kelli now own and operate a ranch in central Nebraska where they raise primarily purebred Limousin and Angus cattle, train horses, and raise enough hogs to be delivering some feeder pigs to the Ruby Mountain FFA chapter members. These pigs will be used in student's supervised agriculture experience projects and will be raised for the show and sale in July. Loos hosts a radio show called Loos Tales that airs on over 100 stations across the nation. If you haven't seen him in person before, most folks find that his sense of humor and interesting way of presenting facts will make you think differently about agriculture. We hope that you'll come join us for a night of learning and entertainment.

Please pass this on to anyone you think that might be interested,

Thanks,

Tracy

Tracy Shane
Agriculture Professor

BAIS Natural Resources Program Supervisor
Lundberg, Room 109B

Great Basin College
1500 College Parkway
Elko, NV 89801
775-753-2344
775-738-8771 fax
tracyb@gwmail.gbcnv.edu

http://www2.gbcnv.edu/agriculture/