A Walk Down the Dirt Road with....Brandi from In John Deere Green

This week's is a little late but I really wanted to get Brandi from In John Deere Green on because she was part of the reason I started doing this. She mentioned a while back that I should do a feature on my blog. She and I have a lot in common we both are/want to be nurses, we both love Ag, and we love small-town life!! So everyone I would like to introduce you to Brandi. PS Go and check her blog out she has some great posts!! 
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Tell us a little about yourself: My name is Brandi, I blog over at In John Deere Green. I’m just a small-town farm girl from Iowa. I turn 22 on July 22! I graduated with my Associates Degree in nursing last July. I moved in with my wonderful boyfriend, Kyle, a little over a year ago. So we've been working on fixing up our house. We also adopted a little black lab/mix and named her Jules. I’m a part time RN and secretary at my boyfriend’s family’s Ag repair shop. My boyfriend is an Ag mechanic. My boyfriend’s family is part of a 5500+ acre corn & soybean farming operation, & hog building operation. So since dating him, my life has become much more agriculture filled.

Photo Credit Brandi

Why did you start your blog? The main reason I started a blog was so that I could have an outlet to blog about anything & everything I wanted. I also started one to find people who had common interests and that I could relate to. Agriculture and nursing both have an impact on my life. I’m also an advocate for both agriculture and health, so a blog is a good way to reach people. It’s just something I made in my free time to have fun and hopefully make some friends!

Photo Credit Brandi

What is your farm like? My boyfriend is part of a 5500+ acre farming operation so there’s a lot of land! We (Ha Ha we joke I’m already part of the family) mainly plant corn, occasionally soybeans. This year we did end up planting more soybeans because of the long winter then crazy wet spring. My boyfriend recently bought an acreage & we rent out the little farm-able acres we have. There is an 80-acre field that surrounds our house but the man that owned our farm before us put it in a 20 year trust; meaning it cannot be sold for 20 years & that it could only be rented to ‘small’ farmers – so we were out on that. We have two grain bins, a machine shed, a converted corn crib-to-auto body repair building (previously done), and a detached garage/storage building on our property.  We recently purchased a 50 x 60 building that will be put up in a month or so. This will be a shop for my boyfriend to work on tractors, trucks, etc.

Photo Credit Brandi

What do you enjoy most about life in Iowa? I enjoy the small-town life. Everyone knows who you are (good & bad, ha). When you pass someone on the road, they’ll wave. Strangers will help you out. Generally everyone is nice! And that’s great – I've been to big cities in other states and people are just flat out rude.

Talk about your job as a nurse: I work in long-term care. I do enjoy LTC because you are really able to get to know the residents and they almost become family. I am a Charge Nurse, so I don't pass medications. I take care of all admissions, deaths, falls, assessments, phone calls, neuros, etc. Because I love to get out there and do stuff (and to help out) I also do all of the blood sugar checks and feeding tubes. If a resident is sick it's my responsibility to assess them and call doctor for orders if needed, and to assign follow up care as needed. It's a little nerve-racking to be in charge of the whole building! I work 2nd shift so the DON and Administrator aren't around. And from 10-11 p.m. I am the only nurse in the building.

What are some of your hobbies? Tractor pulls, going to the movies, spending time with Kyle, family, and friends, going out for dinner, diesel trucks, tractors, blogging, playing with the dog, farming, being outside.

Since it is summertime what summer activities do you most enjoy? Being able to spend more time outside! During the summer I attend A LOT of tractor pulls and the county fair is always a blast.

What’s the most rewarding part of being involved with agriculture? I think it’s rewarding knowing that you are part of the driving force of the US. Without farmers/agriculture there would be no food.  It’s also great because it’s allows people to stay in touch with their roots. Agriculture is one of the most time consuming but rewarding industries out there.

What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you? I tried really hard to think of one specific piece of advice that someone has told me, but I honestly couldn't think of one! My grandpa is very important to me and has given me such great advice throughout the years so I’d like to give a shout out to him. Also my mom and Kyle have given me great advice as well.

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Thank You Brandi for doing this feature! It was so great to get to learn more about you! If you would like to be featured on here email me at diariesfromthedirtroad@gmail.com I would love to have you on!