I was standing at the Farm King checkout, waiting for my husband to pay for our Plan B attack on a mounding mole problem, when a farm magazine with colorful cauliflower on the cover persuaded me to pick it up. No grocery store tabloid tempts me to the point of touching, but I’m a sucker for anything about farms and gardening.

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First and foremost, I am a northsider.  I was born and bred to be a Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks, and Bulls fan.  I was born in Evanston and raised in Des Plaines.  I love deep-dish pizza with a sausage patty from Gino’s East, although I would never turn down Lou’s, either!  My farmer husband, John, grew up on the farm where we live and raise our three children, Bella, Mae, and Nolan.  We currently own and operate a 9,600 head pig facility, and raise corn and soybeans.  Through watching my husband work, reading farming magazines, and attempting to “help”, I have learned many things.  Here are a few of the things that I have taken to heart:

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It's days like today that make me dread the rain.  It is about 33 degrees rainy, misty and windy.  Days like these make it hard on our outdoor livestock.  It is easy to get wet and chilled and like humans, that makes your immune system work harder.  It is muddy and sloppy, one degree colder and at least things would be frozen.  Now on the other hand, our wells are really low from lack of rain throughout the summer and fall.  That means any moisture we get is a blessing, so I shouldn’t complain!  Easier said than done.

The hoop!

Today I am thankful that a few years back we built a large hoop building to feed cattle in.

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I am not a coupon-savvy shopper by any means, but I usually go for “store brand” items most of the time.  Recently, I was able to take my time and double-check prices and brands on milk.  I've always said that "milk is milk is milk", regardless of the label.  It is all safe and nutritious, and you can take your pick in the dairy case of whatever suits you and your family.

There is a really cool trick you can try at home with your milk.  Go to:  www.whereismymilkfrom.com, and type in a 4 or 5 digit code that is printed on every dairy product, next to the "use by date" info.

 

 

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Family farmers take great care to provide safe, healthy food for consumers. As you can see our Illinois farms come in many shapes and sizes, and 94 percent are family owned and operated. Learn more about the reasons why family farms grow, some of their challenges, and how farms are preserved for the next generation.

Here’s the farmers’ take:  
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We received a question from one of our visitors asking, “What differentiates a family farm from an industrial farm?” Since 94 percent of Illinois farms are family farms, we opened up the question to our Illinois farmers. We’ll share more farmer perspectives next week; and in the meantime, we invite you to share your view in the comment area below.

Here’s the take:
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Before the question was even asked by the fourth grade class my husband and I adopted through the Adopt-A-Classroom program with the Illinois Ag in the Classroom, I took it upon myself to explain what a farmer does during the winter months.  Contrary to popular belief and children’s books, winter duties do not include darning socks, housing livestock in the kitchen, or falling into a deep Rumplestilskin-type sleep, although that does sound rather enticing.

I explained the importance of book work and record keeping, equipment maintenance and general winter care of livestock.  We sent pictures of my husband and his brother hard at work in the shop welding, greasing, organizing and keeping busy while winter weather swirled outside.

What I neglected to write was that the busy work eventually runs out and soon the farmers – the active, outdoor, workaholics they are – come inside . . . bored to tears.

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This blog was written in direct response to one of your questions, "How do they keep little pigs warm when they are born during really cold weather?"  It’s a great question, and there is a very simple answer:  all of our hogs are raised inside heated buildings, so they are protected from the weather.

That would be a pretty short blog, so here’s some more background information.  On our hog farm, we specialize in one certain phase of pork production.  We breed the moms (sows), assist with birthing (farrowing), and care for the piglets only until weaning age, about three weeks.  At that time, the piglets are moved to a different location.  The sows are then bred again and the cycle continues.

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Most of my personal belongings have been in a livestock trailer while Grandpa’s cattle were still grazing the back pasture. Our couch, kitchen table, sock drawer and bath linens a couple times traveled in the vented shelter of a trailer designed to haul pigs and cattle.

One of the coolest things about living or working on a farm is access to stuff. A backhoe to plant trees in our yard. A flatbed trailer to haul lumber for a house project. Farmers are known to give equipment multiple roles on the farm. As a child, Mom swam in a large, round livestock water tank, which served the cattle when she and her brothers were done with it. Old tractor tires became sandboxes. The hayrack was a float in the homecoming parade. We even used the machine shed for our wedding reception.
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So we had a meet-up this past weekend with some of the farm moms downtown, and I had a blast!  Once again I was reminded of how lucky I am to be a field mom.  :o)

For some reason, almost all of my conversations that night centered around pork.  The pigs themselves, the process of farming them, stuff like that.  At one point Chris Gould, a farmer who operates just about 50 miles outside of the big city, was telling our table about a trip he took a while back.  During his travels he wound up at the Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota.

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