View From the Back Forty

We sat in our old pew today, after three months of not being able to attend church physically, because of the COVID-19 virus. It felt amazing to be back in our old pew, and I took a few moments to just feel all the emotions, and the blessings of being back in our usual spot on a Sunday morning. I embraced all the history our family has in our usual spot in church. The pew where we were newlyweds, full of hope and dreams, and waiting for our life to start. The pew where we became a family of three. The pew where I had an emotional breakdown during Easter service, after a miscarriage. The pew where we learned toys, crayons, and anything that could roll would roll all the way to the front of the sanctuary. The pew where we welcomed our second son and became our complete family. The pew with no padding, so any noise the boys made is heard across the sanctuary. The pew where I got a hug from the lovely woman in front of us, because I had a rough service with our wild child, who want...

In January of 2003, I was a 22-year-old college student who was looking forward to my last semester at college.  I had my plans lined up, and goals worked out.  But I got a call that changed my life forever! Oh! I was in the Army Reserve also; did I forget to mention that? Yes, so I got a call that said you have 24 hours to report to the reserve center with all your Army things and whatever else you think you might need for an indeterminate amount of time. What?  I cried all the way home, grieving the life I was leaving behind, having no idea if I would ever return or how life would be, if I returned. I dutifully packed my things and reported like a good soldier, and began my journey to Iraq.  A journey that would end up being a year and a half before returning home.  Life looked a lot different when I returned. A lot of my family and friends seemed very much the same, but I felt very different.  I was looking at life through a different lens, a lens s...

Governor Ricketts,  Thank you for your leadership during this global pandemic, I will never know the hard decisions that come across your desk everyday.  I have been a supporter of yours since your campaign in 2014.  However, I feel that there have been moments during this crises that you are missing what is important to our state.   Nebraska, is an agricultural state, which of course you know, but are you aware of how much farmers have been struggling the last few years.  The price of corn has not been great for awhile now, and many farmers are still recovering from the flooding of last year.  And now with the global pandemic, the market is at rock bottom. (I hope!)  All this stress is piling up on our farmers; physically, mentally, and financially.  And arguably rural Nebraska is the backbone of our great state.  I can not speak for all farmers of course, but some folks out in rural Nebraska feel that you may have forgotte...

The weather is cloudy, cold and most of us are stuck at home due to COVID-19 with the children.  The boys and I are so sick of being around the house, or in the house all the time because it is cold.  I looked out the window of the house the other day into the foggy, grey exterior and it made me wonder how the pioneer women(homesteaders), my ancestors made it through.  The homesteaders also had to deal with pandemics, keeping a household going, homeschooling their kids old school (literally). Miss Mary Longfellow holding down a claim west of Broken Bow, Nebraska, circa 1880s Courtesy  Nebraska State Historical Society , RG2608-1953-a The homesteading women lived with death, plagues of sickness or insects, poor living conditions and sanitation, etc.  I could go on and on about how their life was different and worse than ours.  They didn't have anything compared to what we have, and I don't say that so we feel guilty for our feelings of frustrat...

I love the song "Renegades" by X Ambassadors, I pretend that they wrote the song for our little family of renegades.  Now, I'm not completely delusional, I know that they did not write that song for a family of farmers in the middle of Nebraska.  But listening to the song makes me think about our lifestyle and how it is vastly different than most families.  And how we are not living all that different than our pioneer ancestors, other than the glut of technology that we have, you know other than that we are the same right?   This week National Agriculture day was celebrated.  This made me curious to know a little more about the number of farmers in the United States.  There was some good news and some not- so- great news about the farming forecast, at least according to the 2012 census.  I’m assuming the 2016 census isn’t available yet, but please correct me if I didn’t find it in my research.  By research I mean google search, lets be real...

I. Am. A. Runner.  I am not a fast runner, and I don’t win races.  But I am a runner.  I have completed 9 half marathons, 1 marathon, and many other small races.  I hope to increase my half marathon count by two more this year.  After finishing my last half marathon. I hear people say all the time that the only time they would run is to run away from something.  While I get that sentiment, I like to run through things.  I started running shortly after our oldest son was born.  A friend asked me to run a 5K, and I knew that I would have to practice a little to even be able to finish.  The next year the same friend asked if I would run a half marathon, I ran it not having a clue what I was doing.  After the race I thought I would never do that again, but I have been hooked on running ever since.  I have also struggled, at times, with my place in the running world knowing I am not likely to win a race in my running career, unt...

This week is the week of our anniversary, 10 years holy cow, where did the time go?  I thought it would be a good time to reminisce about what happened during harvest.  Hold on to your seats because, I drove the tractor!  Yes that's me in the rear view mirror, couldn't get better pictures, I was busy! I knew the day I married Farmer Brown that one day I would get “the call” the one asking me to come out and help for one reason or another.  That day came towards the end of harvest this year.  I had a day off, and FB called and in typical fashion asked if I was busy.  Well, again, yes I am doing something, sometimes I think he is just making sure I’m not slacking around the house!  In the end I told him I could come out and see what I could do. Essentially he gave me a 15 minute lesson on how to drive the tractor, work the grain cart, and catch from the combine on the fly.  And in the mix we had issues with the grain cart so for awhile ...