Twine and duct tape are farm staples
Necessity is the mother of invention. No one knows that more than the American farmer. One day recently, my son put on an old pair of his dad's coveralls and was frustrated when he realized one of the lower leg zippers was broken, leaving the leg flapping open in the breeze.
Snow days aren’t all child’s play
You have no idea how many times I have thanked the good Lord for creating me in this century. He, in his infinite wisdom, knew exactly what he was doing when he put me in a time period blessed with hot running water and warm toasty furnaces.
Getting Up-Close-and-Personal with Our Schools
This is Kathie's first year of high school. She's always done well in school. This year she involved herself in several extra activities, so I knew keeping up with homework might take extra effort.
Have you ever seen boiling manure?
We needed frozen ground. Mud was getting old. Nonfarm types complained about the cold, those whose manure storages were over-full were glad to see sustained temps below freezing.
Farm bill is a wobbly effort at best
When longtime Texas congressman "Cotton" Charlie Stenholm got bushwhacked for re-election by colleague Tom DeLay's infamous Texas redistricting plan in 2004, most ag policy hands lamented that much of the House Agriculture Committee's farm bill experience went down with him.
Good life takes hard work done well
How does one define a life well lived? There are many people who would base this answer on the amount of money one has in the bank, or the vehicles parked in the garage or the number of vacations a fellow can afford in a year.
Hindsight is 20/20, a good 20 years later
I have never been terribly good at punctuality. I'm generally late for just about everything. Granted, I was born early, but that may, in fact, be the very last time I was even remotely on time.
Charged on Chocolate
Though humans have been enjoying chocolate en masse for a relatively short time, the cacao bean has been around for centuries.
Labor: You’ll get what you pay for
Payday! Who doesn't get a good feeling knowing that a paycheck or direct deposit awaits them in an envelope or in the bank as a result of their work? I cut paychecks for our dairy's part-time employees every other Thursday night.
Millions of reasons for lobbying reform
By Capitol Hill standards, $95.5 million is chicken feed; but even chicken feed has a purpose: fatter broilers, happier hens, more eggs.
