Crystal Blin blogs about her life as a farm girl and everything that comes with it.  That means if the cattle must fed but she has a wedding to attend, she just might wear a dress and heels while doing chores.  After all, a girl’s gotta do what has to be done!

“Cattle are my first love, and they still touch every part of my life,” says Crystal, who grew up raising purebred Simmental cattle in Breton, Alberta, Canada, with her parents and younger sister.  A livestock judging scholarship took her to Butler Community College in El Dorago, Kansas.  She later transferred to Kansas State University where she double-majored in Animal Science and Ag Communications. Upon graduation, Crystal became the assistant director of communications for the American Angus Association in St. Joseph, Missouri.

“I started blogging to help eliminate some of the distance between me and my family,” explains Crystal, who launched her Crystal Cattle blog in 2009.  “I thought it would be a good way to stay in touch and give them a glimpse of my life here.”

What she learned is that a blog gave her a platform to promote her passions.  The turning point came when Crystal posted a response on her blog to an article that the Kansas State campus newspaper had published, promoting vegetarianism, veganism and animal rights.

“If that was happening on a campus where there is such an ag focus, I couldn’t imagine what was happening in less ag-focused areas,” says Crystal.  “I had to refute some of the claims being made.  When I got so many responses to that particular blog posts, I realized the impact my blog could have on helping others understand agriculture and farming practices.”

Today Crystal continues to advocate from her home on a northeastern Iowa farm with her husband, Jon. They couple met in 2010 at the National Western Livestock Show in Denver.  Now they’re building their own herd of purebred Herefords, which is the breed Jon grew up raising and showing.  In addition to raising stock and heifers that become show prospects for junior members, Jon and Crystal sell freezer beef.

Marrying an Iowa farmer meant Crystal had to relocate once again.  So how did this native Canadian feel about that?  “The transition to Iowa was easier because I was involved in agriculture,” says Crystal, who feels fortunate to be able to office from home doing a job she loves.  She’s responsible for the sales and marketing of a livestock vitamin and mineral supplement called VitaFerm, which keeps her on the road about one-third of the year.

“Agriculture is really one big family no matter where you are.  The people you meet in ag always have their arms and homes open, so you never really feel like you’ve met a stranger.  Even if you’re with a new group of farmers, you’ll find something in common.”

Crystal also seeks for common interests among non-farmers as a way to build relationships and bridge gaps.  That’s why she blogs about more than agriculture.

“I love MAC makeup, clothes and interior design,” says Crystal.  “I’ve formed a lot of great online relationships with other non-farmers who share these interests.  As a result, these consumers have started to ask me questions about farming.  I’d rather have them ask me instead of Google for an answer.  Online engagement helps consumers understand that farmers are real people.  I want to help them get an accurate portrayal of farm life.”

Turquoise Thursday and Watching Corn Grow are regular features on Crystla’s blog.  She also covers “tough subjects” like why they give cows antibiotics when they’re sick.  In addition, she promotes the livestock industry and beef production by sharing recipes on Hunk of Meat Mondays.  A little “consumer education” occurs with the recipes Crystal posts like this one for Flat Iron Steak with Green Peppers: “Flat Iron steak is one of the 29 lean cuts of beef.  It’s the second most tender cut of beef and is pretty reasonably priced. You could also use a flank steak or round steak for this recipe.”

Today Crystal is sharing another one of her go-to recipes with us.  She shares my desire to make homemade, wholesome and delicious meals in a matter of minutes.  I’m looking forward to giving this recipe for Baked Tacos a try!  How about you? 

“Musings of a Pig Farmer” by Larry Sailer

Since this is November and folks on social media platforms are sharing #thanks, I’d like to say how thankful I am to have a chance to share my thoughts weekly on TheFieldPosition.

This past week I posted a comment on Facebook for the purpose of seeing how closely it would be read. I wrote: “Spending so much time in the fields this fall, I have given this a lot of thought, and decided I should say, something profound…”

The placement of a comma can be overlooked so easily. I know many really were in suspense, waiting for what I had to say.  Others caught it right away!

This brings up a point I often make about how we must listen first before determining what another person is trying to say.  I made this statement in Michele Payn-Knoper’s book, No More Food Fight, “A conversation must include listening. I need to know the concerns of people and to learn how they view what I do. I don’t live on Old McDonald’s Farm anymore and my farm animals are not the same as the cartoon characters you see on TV.”

The difficult part for me is that too many conversations are one sided.  For example, the anti-GMO crowd has what seems to be an unending list of talking point.  Emotion rules with talk of Agent Orange and fears that mutinational corporations are taking over our food supply.  The real clear and present Danger is opposing GMOs.  There have been so many good points made about GMOs that the debate should be over, but emotion rules!

I learned a new word today, palaver, as in The Vatican Enters a GMO “Palaver.”   I’ll admit that I had no idea what this word meant before I read this Agri-Pulse headline.  I looked it up to find palaver means “a patient and thorough exploration of a major problem.”  The word I key in on here is “patient,” and I take this to mean to listen!

Just think the progress that could be made if we had a palaver on the Farm Bill right now!  An article by Brigitte McMinn explains how regulations are paved with good intentions, but it questions what good our government regulations really accomplish and at what cost.  This article takes on the SNAP program and how it became connected to the Farm Bill.  It also digs in to a part of the bill pushed by HSUS to more regulate animal welfare.  There’s a really important call to action at the end, so please read it!

I know getting involved takes time and effort, but keep in mind my new word for the week – palaver!  Tomorrow on #AgChat, there will be discussions on ag legislation and the Farm Bill.  Hopefully, you can join the conversation between 8-10 p.m. EST.  Remember, your voice can’t be heard if you don’t speak up for agriculture!

Click Here for the full Blog

Today is Day 1 of a 30-day blogging series initiated by Holly Spangler of Wallaces Farmer / Farm Progress magazines to help create understanding between farmers and non-farmers.  Holly will be blogging about 30 Days of Five Things.  For example: Five Things an Honest Farmwife Admits. Five Things You Need to Know at the Grocery Story. Five Things to Tell Your Friends about GMOs. The list just goes on…

Sounds like a blog worth reading, right?  I’m looking forward to it.  And I’ll admit, my own desire to create blog posts that people want to read every day is causing me a little anxiety.  I tried brainstorming a list of topics.  I’ve fretted about unique story ideas, but I finally decided that I’m simply going to write about 30 Days of Farming, Food & Family – because that’s what we do on TheFieldPosition.com.

Each Tuesday we’ll continue to post Larry Sailer’s “Musings of a Pig Farmer.”  Now that harvest is wrapping up across Latham Country, we’ll replace our Wednesday Crop Report feature with an (Almost) Wordless Wednesday post to describe our soybean production process.  Throwback Thursdays will give you a look into the Latham archives as we show how our seed company, as well as farming in general, have changed over the past 65 years.  Each Friday we’ll continue to feature a farm family and a favorite recipe.

Since it’s the first Friday of November, I’m pleased to feature one of the farming community’s leading bloggers.  Judi Graff, aka FARMnWIFE (@farmnwife on Twitter), describes herself as “a wife who farms in the middle of the Midwest. I love to show farmers and ag businesses how to make a website work for them. From simply telling your farm story to creating new business opportunities, it’s amazing where a website can take you.”

Oh, the places Judi has gone!  She first launched a website in 2007 to show her three kids showing their cattle.  Since her children are homeschooled, many visitors to her Kids Cattle website were others whom homeschool their children but aren’t familiar with farming.  These “city moms” saw Judi’s posts about cattle shows and started asking questions about farming, which led Judi to start blogging in 2007.

Then in 2009, Judi started the “Big Green Combine” blog about the purchase of a pre-owned John Deere combine after her family had harvested for 15 years with red ones.  That blog documented the harvest season, which turned out to be one of the most challenging seasons. Rains fell frequently that fall and harvest wasn’t complete until Dec. 13, after the ground had frozen, and they could reenter the fields.  The “Big Green Combine” blog became a written history of the Graff family farm and will provide insight into the family’s heritage for generations to come.

A short time later, Judi started another site for her family’s farming operation.  Because it became extremely challenging to keep all blogs current, she joined them together.  Now all past and current posts may be viewed at Graff Land and Livestock.

“My focus for blogging is really on telling our farming story and recording events for generations to come.  It’s our family’s heritage, and if we don’t record it, it will be lost,” says Judi.  “If I can do some advocating along the way, even better.  Blog on, baby!”

Due to her experience with most blogging platforms, other farmers began asking Judi how they could get started.  That led her to create FARMnWIFE, where she helps farmers and ag business owners make their sites productive.  She also gives presentations to social media and ag organizations like #140conference and AgChat.  I had the pleasure of meeting Judi at one of these gatherings, and today I’m honored that she is sharing one of her family’s favorite recipes with us on TheFieldPosition.

“This recipe is always requested at family gatherings. It’s so silly how easy it is, but everyone loves it!” says Judi.

Simple and delicious…  That’s my mantra in the kitchen.  You can bet I’ll be whipping up this casserole for our family’s Thanksgiving potluck.  Thanks again for sharing, Judi!