Earth Day
Earth, our fragile island home,
Is in need of saving, that is known.
Millenniums of humans have taken a toll
So now we must fix the wrong we doled.
Earth Day reminds us of that time we borrowed.
Recycling and conserving are more imperative than ever to secure a tomorrow!
Ashley Grace
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My beautiful poet…
A towering tree and skier speckle Mt. Werner
Loom over a pretty slope side corner.
Rivers cut through snowy scenes
Like icy cold ribbon seams.
Squirrels and magpies chatter nonstop
Until deer hooves go clip, clop.
The trees are covered in ice and snow
And in the moonlight they seem to glow.
Children laugh and throw snowballs
Then come inside to warm and get snow in the halls.
If you look hard enough, you may see
Moose eating down by the stream.
As a careful skier picks their way downhill,
A snow boarder whizzes past showing off mad skill.
Cozy little cabins with white snow trim
Say that our chances of wanting to come home are slim.
The beautiful mountains…
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A striking Wyoming mountain scene…
My parents bought a cabin in northwestern Wyoming about 10 years ago. My dad’s lifelong dream was to retire to the trout streams of the Rocky Mountains, and this cabin made that dream a reality. The laid back western pace and the neighborly community attitude are an added bonus to the many trout that my parents search for during the summer months.
Passing the dream down to future generations…
The girls and I go visit every summer, as I too feel the call of the beautiful Wyoming mountains. We ride horses, hike trails, and fly fish for those elusive little creatures that live amongst the sparkling streams. It is a time of joy for all of us as we experience the nature of our neighbors to the west.
The thrill of the catch…
The feel of fall and winter is in the Nebraska air. We have already had our first snow, and Ashley Grace and I exercised calves and checked cattle last Sunday with a dawn temperature of 17 degrees. In honor of the passing season of summer, I want to share a poem that Ashley Grace wrote about Wyoming.
Inspiring beauty…
This mountain’s floor
is heaven’s door
with pretty flowers
and nice rain showers
a bubbling brook
runs through a nook
of a mountain scene
that could be a dream.
My fledgling poet…
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In the spring we plant the seed with the hope of moisture, sun light and growth…
With a bit of grace from God, combined with a bit of help to control the weeds…
It grows through the summer months…
We water it with sprinklers when the rains do not come…
Or on some fields we use gravity flow irrigation through pipes instead…
All while protecting our natural resources so that they can provide for our family and for you…
It grows to be taller than my “Ivy League Farmer”, and makes seeds and fiber which will nourish both us and our animals…
In the fall, the plant dies and we harvest its spoils…
The Golden Jewel of the Midwest…
A combine harvests the Jewel…
Tall, Strong, Golden
They sway,
in the wind.
Farmer’s pride
Combine time
harvest season is here.
The corn is picked
leaving bare, desolate fields.
Until next summer,
I bid you well, O Corn
the Midwest’s Jewel.
Poem by Ashley Grace
Filed under Ashley Grace's Corner, Farming, General
I love youth sports. I especially love Cross Country.
The focus, the intensity, the determination…
I love my community–its youth, its spirit, and most especially its camaraderie.
The bond that is established in the search for victory…
I love it when youth work hard, establish goals, and realize their dreams.
Basking in the glow of the realization of a goal—obtaining a 3rd place finish at the Conference Championships—while also sharing the joy with a new friend and competitor…
I love it when I can share even just a small part of that beautiful accomplishment.
The 2012 High School Girls Southwest Conference Championships…
I know that what these dedicated kids learn on the Cross Country course will help them to be successful contributors to the country that I love so much…
The drive to work hard for both personal and team success is a critical life skill.
Thursday night, I proudly watched my favorite team place all varsity runners in the Top 15, with every one of those runners receiving ALL CONFERENCE honors. I watched my daughter lead the Junior High team to score three runners in the top 10. I watched a team of more than 40 Junior High and High School kids push themselves to realize success…
AG strode ahead to beat both of these girls—despite the untied shoe that threatened to fall off…
Today I am proud and my heart is full. Although Ashley Grace’s 7th grade Junior High season has come to the end, both of us are looking forward to traveling to Ogallala to watch the high school varsity runners continue the proud tradition that Coaches Dustin and Alisa Favinger have helped the Haymaker CC athletes to build.
Sharing the dream—making memories to last a lifetime…
Today I am thankful to every one of these athletes for bringing joy to my life, and I look forward to many more proud and happy moments as I cheer on my favorite Haymaker Cross Country team!
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Fueled by beef, determination, and hundreds of miles of running my favorite 7th grade cross country runner brought home her first Junior High Cross Country victory Tuesday evening. The course was hilly and the temperature was in the 90′s but she demonstrated a toughness that made her Mama proud.
Striding to the finish in 1st place…
She laughs that it was her “good luck shorts” that brought on the victory, but we both know that she won this race with each one of the miles of practice that she put in this summer. The euphoria of victory is so much sweeter when it comes with the realization that the best things don’t come easy.
Every 6:30 am run this summer brought her one step closer to victory…
In her Mama’s eyes, she attained victory before the race even began. Victory occurred when she learned to set goals and self-motivate to achieve them. Victory came with the realization that having a passion for something and working hard to full fill that passion is what life is all about.
If you missed the precursor post regarding my daughter’s summer running “habit” click here:
http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/250-miles-stronger/
This is a very special medal, but the real prize is the work ethic that had to come first…
I tease her that it is her Mama’s home grown beef that makes her run so fast. She rolls her eyes and says, “Mother”…But, I would like to point out that the muscles that are clearly visible in the victory picture at the top of this post are the product of a good balanced diet that includes daily portions of beef. The girl’s got (ZincIronProtein) ZIP and holy smokes does she ever run fast!
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Like many avid football players and fans, my husband looks forward to the fall because of the ensuing college football season. Last fall, his eyes were opened to a new sport as our oldest daughter was introduced to running. A Cross Country course is a bit different from the football fields and 200 meter dashes that Matt was famous for during his athletic tenure, but watching our daughter over the past year has made him a believer.
Matt, his senior year in high school…
I have always loved Cross Country. There is just something about taking on the challenge of a running course with nothing but a stop watch, a pair of shoes, and your pride that makes me grin. While I have transitioned away from competitive athletics during my adult years, I still periodically search for that “runner’s high” on the roads that surround our farm.
I don’t run as fast anymore, but I still enjoy the journey…
Nothing in my decade long search for athletic excellence prepared me for the absolute joy of watching my daughter in her own athletic journey. It is fascinating to watch her learn to set goals, work toward them, and gain confidence as they are achieved.
Last fall was the beginning of a beautiful thing…I look forward to the years ahead!
This summer her coach challenged her to run 200 miles. The lure of the “200 mile club” sparked her competitive nature, and she came home and announced that she was going to do it. I helped her to develop weekly goals for the summer, and then turned her loose to see what she could accomplish.
The medal last fall that taught her that hard work led to success, and the coach that helped her to learn…
I spent the summer watching her gain confidence and pride with every run that she took. She and her loyal four legged running partner got up early each morning and ran in the relative coolness at dawn. While she certainly gained physical strength that will be greatly beneficial as she competes this fall, in reality she gained so much more than that…
The runner and her loyal sidekick…
At the end of the summer, armed with 250 miles and a smile, she is a proud member of the elusive “200 mile club”. She wore her shirt to the first day of 7th grade and talks excitedly about the plaque that she earned the right to have her name printed on. She comes home from practice talking about how it is important to always “work hard and finish strong”, and I find myself blinking back the tears as my heart swells with pride.
A special shirt on a very special young lady…
I have no idea what physical accomplishments this cross country season will bring—she has new goals for the season which include breaking a 5:45 mile and winning at least one race. As her mom and her biggest fan, I know that regardless of how fast she runs and how many medals she brings home that the life lessons that she picks up along the cross country course are invaluable.
I would like to send a huge thank you to Coaches Dustin and Alisa Favinger for inspiring my daughter to search for greatness in all that she does.
Go Haymakers!
Filed under Ashley Grace's Corner, Family, General
I asked my favorite 12 year old this question at swimming practice recently. You see, she is a talented runner with strong legs; however, she sometimes fails to see the need to use those legs to kick while swimming…As her coach, I consequently see the need to inspire her to use them so that she will swim faster!
My favorite 12 year old doing her favorite stroke…
My parents believed that participation in athletics as a child and young adult would instill good lifelong fitness habits in me as well as keeping me busy enough that I stayed out of trouble during those wonderful teenage years. My parents are very intelligent and insightful people. Inspiring me to be a life-long athlete was one of the greatest gifts that they gave to me. I am doing my best to give that same gift to my children.
Swimming meets are family affairs—Matt does a wonderful job of supporting his girls!
With the help of a couple of other coaches in town, my favorite 12 year old appears to be following in my adolescent footsteps. She gets up every morning at 6:30am to run three-four miles before the summer time heat sets in. She also has swimming practice every day. In addition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday’s she also has a team cross country run that she chooses to participate in.
Athletics teach her that the harder she works, the better she will become.
She is eating me out of house and home as my mother used to say to me, but her body is strong and lean. She is not only learning to train it to be stronger every day, but she is also learning how to fuel it so that she can be successful in her athletic endeavors.
Good eating habits revolve around understanding the balance of nutrients that the body needs to be successful…She learns that from her daddy and I—it is our job to teach her!
I ask my girls frequently to list out the foods that they eat during the day and also place them into the appropriate food group. Together, we analyze the balance of their daily food consumption in an effort for them to learn how to have a healthy diet. It seems as though I can frequently be heard saying, “It sounds like you owe me fruit”, but they are slowly getting better at identifying what their body needs relative to what they feed it…
I see this most especially with my oldest daughter as the increasing physical demands that she makes on her body mandates that she figure out how to properly fuel it. Protein, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are staples at our house. While she tends to prefer protein and whole grains over fruits and vegetables, she knows that a balance of all of them is important.
The animals that I grow and care for provide her with the important ZIP (zinc, iron,and protein) that her body needs to be strong…
Throughout her athletic career and far beyond it as she moves into adulthood, this lesson of good health will set her up for success. With every day that passes, she is learning that God gave her legs so that she could use them and a brain so that she can understand how best to fuel them! I am proud to say that she is fueled by the beef that her mama grows for her, and this summer will also be fueled by home grown vegetables that we are growing together.
Interestingly enough, she finds the same peace weeding our garden on a nice cool morning that she does running…She’s not likely to readily admit it, but she has an awful lot in common with her mama…
Filed under Ashley Grace's Corner, Family, General
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