What am I supposed to do with my life?

The common, "What am I supposed to do with my life?" question has been ringing in my head like the headaches that arrived on Fridays in college. I thought maybe it was just me, but in the last 48 hours I've heard 4 other people ask me the same question. My friend numbers in the 262 are pretty low, so I'd say that's about 75% of the people I've talked to in the last two days. 

It seems like a ginormous daunting task to plan out my life at 23. Heck that sounds terrible at 50. Half of your life is still left! But we constantly feel like we need to be planning for the next thing, our next move, our next step in success to get to that end goal that we have no clue what it is. 

Often I ask myself questions that I'm sure many of you have before to try and figure out exactly what I'm supposed to be doing in life:

• Where do you want to be in 20 years?
• What do you want your life to look like?
• What do you enjoy doing?
• What would make you happy?

So, here's what I'm struggling with. All of those questions focus on me, but this life isn't about me. Am I saying you should be miserable you're whole life? No. I'm saying, you weren't put on this earth to live your life for you. God put you here to serve other people, to make the world a better place, to be his disciples, using the strengths HE gave you. 

What I'm saying is we all need to quit our jobs and become missionaries and monks and all the world's problems would be solved. Insert a high level of sarcasm.

For me, it's a constant struggle of not giving back to the world enough. Especially when there are 18 year olds starting their own business and donating half their profits to a charity over seas. I feel like I should volunteer more or do this or that. A constant need to fill my life with more activities. When instead, maybe that isn't at all how God needs me right now.

Instead of trying to plan out our lives for the next 40+ years asking the questions above, let's change the question. Maybe it's a matter of asking, "Where does God want me now?" Maybe it's trusting that he has you right where he wants you at this very moment in time and when HE is ready, he'll open the next door for you. Maybe it's realizing He is preparing you for something in the near or far off future. My question is, "Will you be ready?" Will you be ready to take that leap of faith and change course when He calls you?

Or maybe, just maybe, where you're at isn't about you at all, but helping somebody else. 

Sometimes, just being a friend, making somebody laugh, or reminding a colleague just how much they are appreciated is all God wants from you today. He never told us we need to change the world, but you darn well better make today count because you are never guaranteed a tomorrow.

"Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. you have enough to worry about today." Matthew 6:34

Revamp

If you've been following along, you know two things:

1.) I suck at blogging regularly

2.) I wrote about life on the farm

Both of those are ch-ch-changing! I'm no longer a 40 hours before Thursday, resting on rainy days, eating whatever I want, dairy farmer anymore, I've become a grocery shopping, apartment living, running for exercise, paying bills, city gal. 

I'm officially #thatgirl in that awkward phase of life...well the one after middle school...you know, early twenties and half of your friends are getting married and having babies and the other half are still celebrating Thirsty Thursday.

• I have to watch what I eat - college beer and pizza don't count as breakfast, lunch or supper anymore. Oh and Coldstone misses my loyalty points.
• I pay for a gym membership - I've considered VOLUNTEERING to help throw small squares of straw just to get the workout I used to on the farm. 
• I Run for fun - Not just when the cows get out

• I work 40 hours a week (at a pretty shnazzy ag/food marketing agency) - not 40 before morning milking on Wednesday
• I started cooking and baking, I was pretty spoiled with Ma and Grandma's cooking. Although, I'm getting pretty good at my their recipes! For evidence, refer back to point #2.

• I get confused when I walk into a grocery store - yes, the farmer's daughter has to ask her best friend what head of lettuce to buy because the display is 20' long and it is completely overwhelming.

You know what's scary about that? I grew up living and breathing agriculture. Mom gardened, canned and cooked everything from scratch. Our meat (pork and beef) were raised at home, the chicken was raised and butchered by our neighbors and our milk was from the bulk tank freshly squeezed by yours truly. 

If I can't figure out which head of lettuce is healthiest, how to tell which avocado is ripe or decipher chocolate milk from imitation chocolate milk, then why do we expect the average customer to? Before I moved away from the farm, I didn't know diets were not just a fad, but the way people live! Whole30, Paleo and countless others control shopping habits. Diets aren't just for those that want to lose weight anymore. It's a constant battle of what's worse for you: fat or carbs. 

I'm not entirely sure where this blog is going to go, but I'm wondering if there is a different approach to connecting farmers and their customers; consumers and their farmers. What if instead of the farmers trying to tell their story, they listened to the consumer's? 

Ramblings of a 23 year old..

I had one of those moments this weekend when I turned 23, ya know, the one most people get when they turn 30, 40, 50; I haven't hit 90 yet, but maybe my grandma thinks the same thing..."What have I done with my life?"

I realized I've soon been out of school for 2 year and I feel like I have nothing to show for it. While my other friends are out buying houses, getting married and being promoted, I'm over here like, "Ughh I have to learn to cook?"

To give you a little background, this was where my skills started...

Okay, so they have improved a little, but not enough to warranty 2 years of accomplishments!...

Homemade chocolate chip cookies-recipe to come in another post!

I started thinking, what have I done to contribute to this world? How have I made an impact? I feel like I've been busy...

But I have nothing to show for it! Then my next thought came (I know that was a long thought, but I'm a girl and we ramble..but I digress).."Okay, so what is my purpose on this earth and where do I want to go from here."

Here's the best part, "I HAVE NO FREAKEN CLUE!!!"

What I do know is this: I make people happy, I'm great at making people laugh and feel more confident about themselves. I may never win a Nobel Peace Prize, I'll never run a marathon, to be honest folks, I'm going to be lucky if I can ever cook an 3 course meal! But maybe that isn't God's plan for me, maybe I was put here to simply make other people's lives better and help them enjoy their life a little more.

So, that's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to keep on living life, making other people smile and in the meantime I'll figure out my life goal....or how to cook. One or the other.

What am I?

Am I a farmer?

I used to say I was without a doubt. Now, I'm not so sure. My lifestyle has changed a bit. I moved 300 miles away from my dairy farm and work full time. What classifies you as a farmer?

I went to fill out a form the other day and it stated, “You must be a farmer/rancher to win.” Well, do I qualify? Does my first source of income have to be from the farm to be a farmer? Is it enough to be involved remotely on my family farm and help a neighbor on theirs?

Is it a money commitment? Time commitment? Or is the status of being a farmer driven by passion or personal belief?

I still do the record keeping back home in Minnesota. (Not my family records, cow records; Lord knows I don’t want to know my family tree!) I also milk cows at a local farm. When I take time off from my full time job, it isn’t to go hiking through the mountains or lay on a beach, it’s to go home and help on the farm, show my cows or help at the county fair. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t have a “cow conversation.” Now, that might include an actual full conversation with a cow, but don't judge, they are good listeners.

My PTO: Showing Raisa :)

I work full time at an agricultural marketing agency because my passion is in connecting people to their food. To do that effectively, I think you have to be both a producer and consumer. My main income isn’t from the farm, heck it hasn’t been in the 22 years I’ve been alive. Actually, for the first 20 I counted it as volunteer work on my resume! (Insert dad quote about instilling values through hard work and not cash payment...) In a world where people are so many things at once, can a girl not have a city job and be a farmer?

Team motto: #listentothestadick. By the way..these are my awesome co-workers.

I’m an employee on a dairy farm because I miss the cow connection. I’m a teacher because I inform people about dairy farms. I’m a listener because I want to improve our farm. I am the person who will connect consumer's with their food, and farmer’s with their buyers. Does that make me a farmer?

Shout out to Cows on the Concourse for allowing me to listen to consumers! Oh and spend a whole day with baby calves :)

Third Times the Charm?

Third time is the charm right? I hope so, because this is the third time I've tried to start and keep this blog going...

Now that I've moved away from the farm and am working for an ag marketing agency, I thought it would only be appropriate for my first blog post to be about the similarities and differences between my life now and what it was on the farm.

Similarities:

1. I still get up before dawn...but now instead of easing into the morning milking, I go to the gym and pretend I'm throwing hay bales (or that's what it feels like....)
2. I still milk cows. Let's be real, we all knew I couldn't give that up!
3. I still talk a lot. Most of my conversations are just with myself now that I live on my own. Mom always said it's fine to talk to yourself. You don't have to worry until you start a conversation with yourself.
4. My neighbor is still 5 feet from my door...it just isn't my grandma or a cow fence anymore.
5. Finally, I'm still doing something I'm incredibly passionate about.

Differences:

1. I can make it to the 8am Sunday service instead of rushing to the 10:30am.
2. I have A LOT of me time. I still prefer the cow time.
3. I milk Brown Swiss not my Holsteins. That's enough said for now...
4. I can bike to the grocery store, work and gas station. No more of the 60 min drive to Coldstone. It is less than 10 miles people!!! :)
5. My self discipline has increased greatly (refer to Coldstone comment.)

Well folks, hopefully this is the first post of many more to come. Although, I'm not sure what I will be writing about yet since it used to revolve around farm activities. Any ideas, shoot them my way!

Test day=cookie dough

Well folks, it has been two months since I've written a post. For all of my followers, (let me pretend I have some) I am very sorry! Life got away from me, as it does with all of us at some point.

While I was away dealing with life, I had the opportunity to work at the Minnesota Farm Bureau building at the State Fair. One of the best experiences of my life. I talked with hundreds of fair goers which also happen to be consumers. Strange huh?

So, thank those folks for this wonderful blog post because all of them were fascinated by the detail and care that goes into producing their milk, even old farmers that don't want to learn anything new because they did it for 60 years and there is nothing they don't know....

The milk truck comes to our house every other day to pick up our milk. Before he puts it in the tank, he takes a sample. This sample tells us and the milk plant: 

Fat % in the milk

Protein % in the milk

White blood cell count in the milk

Freezing temperature of the milk (so they know we are producing milk and not water:)

Other solid levels (the other essential nutrients in milk!)

To ensure no antibiotics are in the milk (If the test comes back positive for antibiotics, the whole truck load is dumped down the drain.)

This sample is taken every other day on our farm, before it even gets on the truck. 

Tests are also taken when it gets to the milk plant before it is unloaded off of the truck, because our milk is combined with many other farm's.

We (dairy farmers) hire someone to come and test our milk every month for each individual cow. Each cow has a lifelong record of, well, anything that happens to them. Kind of like your medical record when you go to the doc. When we look at these tests we can see how productive the cow is, how healthy she is in general and if she has any metabolic issues going on. 

Each cow gets a little sample bottle all to their self :)

These are the meters that tell us how much each cow is producing. 

So much is deposited into the meter for every pound the cow produces..it's math stuff.

They are pretty nifty and accurate! 

And...I hate testing days because it takes longer to switch out each meter for each cow. It also means a triple check on our on the farm record keeping.

On the plus side, the lady that brings the meters and returns the samples for testing brings cookie dough for me :)

Build a Foundation, Plant the Seed, Nurture and Love

Things needed for a relationship with God. 

Life lessons.

and lastly, how to grow vegetables!!

Sorry folks, I know it has been a very long time since my last post. I have 0 excuses except that I just haven't felt like writing. But I'm back in action!

Back in June I took on the responsibility of building the Vacation Bible School (VBS) Community Garden. So, after four weeks of doing no planning and three days before it started I decided how I was going to make it all work!

1.) I wanted to try out my friend's & co-worker's pallet garden. I thought what a great opportunity, small, not a lot of weeding, and if it fails and nothing grows oh well!

2.) My goal-this kids that planted everything will harvest in the fall (Sunday School time) and then give the veggies to our wonderful community elders. 

3.) Now, here is where it got tricky...I had to do something....

The night before Mom and I assembled these soon to be gardens (sorry no pictures, I was too busy working and hurrying to go to bed). We stapled the cloth liner, ya know that stuff that doesn't let weeds through, on 3 sides of the pallet. Mostly though, we just fought with the stapler for 2 hours. 

Anyhow, this was our finished product the next day. Mom (ever so kindly) loaded up dirt and the other supplies and met me @ church. 

Besides only a few kids showing up and starting 15 minutes later than normal and not having any help or knowing what I was doing, it all went good!

Here is what we learned:

Day 1: Fill the pallet with soil: Start with a solid foundation

In order to love and have a relationship with God, we need to be ready and willing. At first the kids were a little hesitant to get dirty, but after a few started in they realized how much fun it really was. Relating it back...sometimes we have to go out of our comfort zone, take a risk, and just watch what beautiful things can grow from that

 

 Day 2: Plant the plants/seeds: Take the first step

Some things start as small as seeds, others are ready to be put in the garden as plants, already nurtured by someone else. We each have our own relationship with God, whether we know it has started or not...someone had to get the seed in the packet didn't they? Take the first step and plant your own piece of God in your heart. Maybe it is attending church, maybe it's talking with a friend about a problem you haven't admitted to. 

Day 3: Water plants: Continue to build and nurture your relationship

It isn't a one time deal. Plants don't grow without care. Yeah, it's okay to miss a day of watering (sshhh..I may have missed a couple :/), but as long as you keep coming back, they will continue to grow. Just like God will always be there no matter how many times you continue to mess up and you keep coming back for your drink of water. 

The kids had a blast, I learned something new and the plants are still growing a month later! :) PS this is the first garden I have ever grown!!!! And yes, I know, it needs to be weeded :(