Dinosaur Quarry trip with the YF&R

We woke up Saturday to a winter wonderland.
The first of October.
Yuck.

Well we went to our Young Farmer and Rancher Social.
Not many showed up, just us die hard's.

We went to the Dinosaur Quarry to see the bones in the hillside.
It's been quite a while since I've been up to the quarry, sad since my parents live around the bend from it basically.

Well, and it's been closed for the past five years.
It is now opened again after renovations, so admission was free for the past few weeks.

So here are some fun pictures from our visit!
Yes I realize that all the snow is melted in the pictures...but believe me it covered everything, until it melted.
I'm thinking we need to go and visit the field house soon.

 The girls would love that!

Quilting and Facebook

 Last Thursday and Friday my mom and I went out to the big city of our state to help quilt the yearly Farm Bureau quilt of the counties. Each year there is a quilt block given to each county womens chair to be emborderd within that years theme. The blocks are then all collected and sewn into a quilt. The state womens committee then gets together to hand quilt it.

 This was my first try at hand quilting and it was fun. The one thing I really enjoyed about it was all the conversation that went on. Now I totally understand why past generations of women all got together to quilt. It makes a tedious chore go by quickly. The only difference between what we did and the women of the past, (well besides the air conditioned building, and a bunch of other stuff...) Is how one lady had to keep checking her facebook page and telling us all about what was going on there... Wouldn't those pioneers be SHOCKED?

Now here comes the kicker I was the youngest lady there, then my mom who is fifty...all the other women were older then mom by at least ten years is not twenty to thirty...now that's funny, they having to check their FB page! Or I think so. Makes me wonder what does the future hold facebook wise and quilting wise?

I wonder which will phase out first.
I put my money on facebook.
What do you think?
Me, a facebooking quilting kinda girl...or at least when I'm on break from being mom...is that possible?

From the Farm to your Table

One of the most discouraging misconceptions about agriculture that I come across is the lack of knowledge people have about the food on their table and where it comes from. Here's some facts you can bank on.

Milk comes from cows, which live on farms.
In fact all food stuffs have their beginning on somebody's farm.
As do most non-food items... Go figure.

97% of farms are all family owned and operated. Some are large scale and some are small scale.
US farmers produce the safest food worldwide.
The USA is a major global food resource.

As the future of the world-growing- and farming-shrinking- stand...do you really think Americans want to get rid of the farmers?
Food is one of the components of basic survival and farmers provide it for us.

NPR (National Public Radio) summed it up great "To many (Americans) this is what the future should be-fruits and veggies grown on small farms, nearby the city. But, get over it. This isn't the future-not if we want to feed everyone." (Quote found in Utah Farm Bureau News, article; When did food become so complicated?)

So please support the farmers and agriculture, they provide us with the safest food in the world.
Me, a farming advocate.

Sorry no pictures...I'm committing to doing better.

The Little Red Barn

I'm getting geared up to go and volunteer at the Little Red Barn on Friday and Saturday.

This is an exhibit that is all hands on and its free. Kids get to find out what life is like on the farm, as they plant a garden, feed cows and chickens, haul hay, pick an apple, then trade their produce in at the farmers market, and head to the grocery story to trade their money in for their food.

Because of liabilty issues all the hands on (like milking the cows) is all pretend, but they get the main idea. And ole' Festues is a lot easier to milk compared to ole' One Eyed Sally at home, no worries about getting kicked or swatted in the eye. There is real animals to look at though, chickens, a lamb, and some bull calves. It is a lot of fun and the kids love it. Check out pictures from last year here. This is put on by the Uintah County Farm Bureau and the Uintah High FFA.

It is a lot of fun plus I get to put in my volunteer hours :). Come see me I'll be there Friday from 11-1 and Saturday 12-2.

Stop by the indoor arena onThursday, July 29th 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Friday, July 30th 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. or Saturday, July 31st 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Insurance

Oh man have I had a day! I've been going to get quotes from all these different insurance places just to find out if I can get something lower etc. We've been insured through Farm Bureau and I knew they was on the high end of the spectrum but wow, what I have learned.

First off I am a Farm Bureau member and I believe the organization is wonderful and does a lot of good to help protect our agriculture needs. But the insurance is RIDICULOUS!!!!

Finally today I went to five different places to get quotes, only two gave me automatic quotes on my trucks and one place for everything. They all had to sit back a momement and think about it since we have a farm and mobile home (guess its unique) so most said they'd call me, since they have to have someone higher up do the farm stuff.

Well just from the two places that gave me info on my truck insurance I can save $1,000 a year! (actually a bit more but about that). I was flabbergasted! The place that quoted me the farm and house insurance already was still competive but was still $60 less then FB. I'm shocked, so we'll see how the other places compare, but one thing is for sure I'm changing companies, I have to save money where ever I can.

I've told my dad about the difference and hopefully he can help get FB insurance more competitive (he's on UT State board of dirctores so he can hopefully get the ball rolling) and maybe one day we'll go back.