Happy 1 year Anniversary!!!

Photo Credit

A year ago, to the day, I sat down at my computer and created this blog. I never thought of how this little blog could change my life. Through writing on this little blog and following many others I have made connections and friends all over the world and have learned so much about myself and about things I could only dream about. You all have been there through the sad times and the happy times and I can't thank you enough for your feedback and friendships this past year. As of right now 32 people follow my blog on blogger, I have 143 likes on Facebook, and have had over 8000 views. It may not seem like a lot compared to other blogs but this just amazes me and I can't thank you enough!

This brings me to a kind of sad part. A couple of days ago I had every intention of shutting down this blog. But after a couple of talks with some friends I've decided to keep it going. At this point in my life my plate is more than full it's absolutely spilling over. With nursing school, work, and about a million other things I am totally overwhelmed and barely have a single second to breathe. Ever since August I have had no time to put any sort of effort into blogging. I also feel as if I have nothing of any true value to offer anymore. I read so many beautiful blogs and I feel like I can't compete with them. I didn't grow up on a 1,000 acre row crop farm or on the back of a horse on a ranch, I don't travel the country as an advocate for agriculture, I'm not a mom, professional photographer, master crafter, writer, a marathon runner,or really anything special that people seem to want out of a blogger.

Who knows some day down the road I may be one of those things but today is not that day. I'm really at a point in my life where i'm still figuring that stuff out and who I want to be and where I want to go. I will try my hardest to keep this little blog going but don't expect posts every day!! 

So thank you all for sticking with me this past year. It's a year I will never forget. I look forward to seeing where the next year takes us and all the new friends that join in.

God Bless you all and I wish you the very best and again THANK YOU!

Erin 

A Walk Down the Dirt Road with......Elizabeth from Circle the Wagons

Hello everyone, for this "A Walk Down the Dirt Road" I am featuring Elizabeth Martin from Circle the Wagons. She is a fellow AG blogger from the great state of Missouri!! She was one of the first bloggers I followed and one of the first people to follow me! I hope you enjoy learning more about her and then go check out her blog! She takes some great pictures, is an amazingly talented painter, and knows a lot about agriculture!
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Elizabeth and her husband

Photo Credit Elizabeth 

Tell us about yourself, your family, and your farming/agriculture background:

I am the oldest daughter of a family of 6. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest.  My family raises row crops and has a small cow/calf operation.  There was a time when I was little that we raised hogs on dirt from farrow to finish – which is something you don’t find very often.
Currently my husband and I live on a farm where our primary chore is to care for our landlord’s cattle and general upkeep of the place.  This experience has taught us a lot!
We have gotten our toes wet in the world of production agriculture. We own 4 Hereford heifers (soon to be mama cows), 2 horses and 2 Australian Shepherds.  We are quite the motley crew. It is our goal to have our own operation in the future which is something my husband and I are working towards one day and dollar at a time!

Photo Credit Elizabeth

Why did you start your blog?

I have always read blogs and at the time I was living in an apartment in a larger town. One of those places that’s too small to be called a city but too big to be a town.  Not a lot to do after work. What’s a farm kid to do in a place like that? So I began to write about agriculture and my experiences.  I really like the sense of community in the ‘ag’ blog work and frankly I am hooked!

Photo Credit Elizabeth

What do you love most about living in Missouri?

The weather. Just kidding…I really enjoy the people – we are friendly folk.

What are some of your hobbies?

Painting, riding horses, taking photos, cooking, and gardens.  I am learning to rope and have aspirations to train my Aussies to be working dogs.  I am well on my way to be a jack of all trades; master of none.

What is your favorite part of being involved with agriculture?

I like the sense of accomplishment there is a day of hard work on the farm.  I work in an office and sometimes there isn’t a whole lot of satisfaction in pushing papers.  I like getting out and helping work the calves, learning to drive the tractor and getting my hands dirty.

Elizabeth's Husband

Photo Credit Elizabeth

What are the names of some of your favorite blogs to follow?

Heels and Shotgun Shells, Double H Photography, Diaries of the Dirt Road, This Uncharted Rhoade, Buckaroo Barbie, CountryLinked, Faces of Agriculture, Ramblins from a Ranch Wife WestEastern, The Smith Scoop, The Ranch Wife Chronicles and soooo many others. I have a long list I try to keep on with on the side banner on my blog.  So many awesome people out there.

What is the best piece of advice anyone has given you?

Such a good and tough question!!! I have thought long and hard and have yet to come up with a great piece of advice – however I do have a quote I would like to share… “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” ― Mae West

Where has been the coolest place you’ve been to for vacation?


Arizona was Amazing!!!  It was part of our honeymoon roadtrip.  We started in Flagstaff and drove to Tucson taking in sites like San Xavier del Bac – an ol Spanish Misson and finally ending in  Tombstone -we are western movie buffs so it was pretty cool walking down Allen Street and standing under the OK Corral sign. 

Call me Crazy!

 

 

 

For many years I have told people some day I would be famous, for what I don't know that yet but I always wanted to be famous. Hopefully not a bad type of famous where the paparazzi is following me around 24-7 but a famous where people see me on the street and want an autograph! How cool would that be! I remember many times where I would sign my name on a piece of paper and give it to people and tell them "hey one day this will be worth millions of dollars!" Yes they thought I was crazy but that just fueled the fire and now I want to prove them wrong! I think one of my teachers told me that she kept the paper I signed. At least one person has hope in me! Like I said I don't know what I will be famous for yet weather it be Bucking bulls, bees, pies, or who knows what but you watch out I'm out to do great things!!

2014 Missouri Honey Princess!!

This weekend was the start to an amazing year as the Missouri Honey Princess. Friday night I got crowned by the 2012-2013 Honey queen. She was the person who inspired me to become the honey princess. I had gotten to travel with her and see her speak at different occasions and it really sparked an interest in me. After myself and the new queen got crowned we had to give a short presentation introducing ourselves and what we looked forward to in the upcoming year. I think my presentation went great. I had a power point with pictures of me with my bees and doing talks. After the crowing ceremony we had a reception where we got to meet and talk with people. After the banquet and reception myself and the new queen got to go make little favors for a veteran's presentation the following morning. This made for a very late night and let me tell you the sun came early!! The next day we attended the different presentations put on by some very knowledgeable beekeepers.

Photo Taken by Eugene Makovec 

Our conference was located in the Lake of the Ozarks at the Lodge of Four Seasons hotel and resort. It was a pretty fancy and neat place to stay at. I played my part as the average tourist with the camera around my neck snapping pictures of the gardens, the beautiful view of the lake, and the interesting wood art around the hotel.

The Japanese Garden (below)

Even the ashtrays are fancy :)

A cool wood carving in the Lobby

A real fire right in the center of the Lobby the smell was heavenly

Yes there was a 3+ story water fall in the middle of the hotel!!! 

View from our room balcony. 

A beautiful Russian beehive. Instead of having multiple layer's of boxes they have bigger frames and are all in one box. Very interesting and beautiful. 

Now it's off to Louisville to get my American Degree!!!! Post will be up soon about that :)

Did You Know??????

I mentioned on Facebook the other day that the next 2 weekends are going to be pretty exciting for me. This weekend I'm getting crowned as the Missouri Honey Princess and the following weekend I will be receiving my American FFA Degree in Louisville, Kentucky. Becoming the honey princess means that I will be representing the Missouri State Beekeepers Association and promoting honey throughout the state of Missouri. I am super excited for this opportunity. I love beekeeping and have enjoyed previous opportunities of teaching people about my hobby. So I thought I would post some interesting facts about bees and beekeeping that you may or may not know. Hopefully this weekend I will get a post up about how the state meeting went and a picture of my tiara and sash.....yes I said tiara and sash. Never thought those things would be apart of my life. It's funny how things in life work out!! I hope you enjoy and if you ever need someone to speak about bees/honey to an organization call me up :) 

• Honey is the only food, humans consume, that is made by an insect.

• Bees contribute over 14 million dollars to the value of U.S. crop production. 

• A beehive is made up of almost all females. The workers and queens are all girls. The drones are the only males.

• Bees must visit approximately 2 million flowers to produce 1 pound of honey.

• Bees have been producing honey for at least 150 million years

• An average worker bee will only produce 1/12 teaspoon in her lifetime

• Honey has natural preservatives so that it won't EVER go bad.

• Honey contains all the substances needed to sustain life, enzymes, water, minerals, and vitamins. 

• If the honey bee became extinct the world would no longer have almonds.

• Honey bees are assigned their jobs based on their age.

For more facts and information about beekeeping check out the following sites:

American Bee Federation

Missouri State Beekeepers

National Honey Board

Leave My Town Alone

The past week the state and national news has descended upon my town. I wish I could say it's for a good thing like someone winning the lottery or finding a UFO but no it was for something bad that happened. At first it was surreal and kind of interesting that our little town was featured on even the Kansas City news but then when CNN had a story on their home page of their website and their truck showed up in town that really became kind of crazy. Now if you were to Google Maryville, MO you will see articles from the Miami Herald, LA Times, USA Today, CBS and NBC news.

Some of the news vehicles in town.

The truly sad part about this whole thing is that this Anonymous group posted this very creepy video and has basically threatened our town because they didn't accuse the boys who committed the crime.

 A quote from them:

"If Maryville won't defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them," Anonymous said on a YouTube video."Mayor Jim Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us"

SCARY RIGHT?!?!?! I don't know if the video is still up but all it is, is the mask (below) and a computer generated voice talking.

 Now because of this the news and social media has blown this whole thing out of proportion. I would tell you to read one of the stories but I honestly don't want you to because they are full of lies and exaggerations and it breaks my heart to see them try and destroy our town. People from different states are posting on social media sites like they know what happened. YOU DON'T LIVE HERE SO PLEASE SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND QUIT SPREADING LIES!!!!!!!! A girl in my nursing class said on FB the other day she was interviewed for one of the KC news channels. It truly pissed me off because she is from some other town and wasn't even living here at the time and had know clue what happened until now.

Next Tuesday the Anonymous group had said at first they were coming to protest on our courthouse lawn but as of today they have changed it to Tuesday night and instead of a protest it will be a vigil. I'm not looking forward to being in Maryville then because every freaking news person in the country will be there. They were there yesterday for a press conference and it was crazy then. But it also has an element of scary associated with it because what if they do something bad while they are here you never know with people today. I just wish that it would all go away and we could go back to being some little town known by few.

Tonight my mom was reading on FB where the Volleyball team in Maryville was wearing all pink to the game tonight to support a woman in the community who had breast cancer. There were comments on that post of people saying bad things about the other thing that was going on. They can't even let something good happen in our town without bashing it.

So please, please, please pray for my town and for everyone in the community. Please pray for people to stop spreading lies. Please pray for people to stop threatening our citizens. Please pray for the officials who have to deal with the ridicule. Please just pray for peace.

Weird, Unique, Special

Yesterday Liz from Buckaroo Barbie posted a post titled Weird and she described several things that she enjoyed or that made her unique! She encouraged everyone to write about their oddities. So I thought i'd give this a shot. I wrote a similar post awhile back where I listed thing that make me happy. (Here) I encourage all of you to share what makes you different and unique!!! I'd love to hear them. If you do it please put the link to your post in the comments section and I'll check them out!!

I absolutely with the biggest passion in the world hate sweet or hot tea. I can't stomach the stuff. Unsweetened Ice tea on the other hand I could live off of.

Some days when I'm in class and feeling stressed out, instead of listening to the teacher, I scan the internet for recipes and blogs about baking and dream about opening a bakery where I make cookies, pies, and cupcakes all day!

In tough situations I tend to psych myself out and think about the worst possible thing that can happen.

With everything in the world going on today, I find myself thinking many times a day how nice it would be to own a big chuck of land somewhere in the middle of nowhere and just be alone..... or maybe with a cute cowboy :)

I always regret watching Junk Gypsies!!! It makes me CRAZY!! I just want to go out and buy lots and lots of junk and do cool things with them :( I WISH I HAD MY OWN HOUSE TO DECORATE!!!!!!

I would rather spend my money on a new shot gun and ammunition than makeup and Sperry's.

I'm in love with and wish I grew up in the 50's. The colors, the cars, the music, the clothes, and the kitchens just make me swoon.

I collect cookbooks. The older and more worn out the better :) I already have around 40.

If you were to follow me in my car you would see me stop along side the road in many places. I try to take my camera everywhere and so I stop and take pictures of things all the time.

These are only a few things that makes me weird or unique :) I do hope you all share some of your oddities.