7 Things You Don’t Know About Me … Farming Edition

I usually don’t jump on these internet things, but I thought I would give it a whirl if I could giving it a “Beginning Farmer” theme. So, the question then becomes … What sort of farming things don’t you know about a guy who blogs about farming things six days a week? Well, I have tried to scour the depths of my mind to come up with seven things that readers may not know. Here goes nothing…

1. As a child my family raised quite a few pigs from feeder to finish. We didn’t have a confinement building as such, but pretty much every building on the farm had pigs in it … and in between all the buildings. Spending time on the farm was a lot of fun for a young boy. So much fun in fact that you could create fun games for yourself (I was an only child). One of my favorite games was an obstacle course that I set up around the farm. One portion of the obstacle course included a flying leap off of a pile of dry manure across a pond of not-dry manure. Things went well all weekend long and my times were getting better until that untimely slip … straight into the not-dry manure! I’m pretty sure I smelled for an entire week and I still can vividly remember in slow motion the moment I realized I was headed for the abyss.
2. On a separate occasion on the farm I had spent the day getting sweaty and dirty as any boy should, but when it came time to clean up for church the next morning I refused to take a bath. I am ashamed to admit that I was stubborn to the point of throwing a fit … so, my dad took me outside (in the fall) and just plain hosed me off (clothes and all). So, I guess you can say that I was hosed down literally.
3. We have always had horses on the family farm and for a while we were part of a saddle club that had regular competitions. At one of those horse shows I placed second in the western pleasure competition and third in walk/trot (I think that is what it was). It was pretty cool be cause I received trophies and everything!
4. At the same horse club (different event) I was competing in the Texas Flag Race. In this event you grab a flag out of a bucket of sand race around a barrel (it is set up like a barrel race) and place the flag in a second bucket. I was riding my pony Star … who like all ponies was rather stubborn … and when we made it to the second bucket Star just stopped. Dead in her tracks stopped and wouldn’t move for anything. The problem was that she stopped next to the bucket, but out of reach as I was sitting in the saddle. So I was stretching and reaching … and then … plop! I just slid off the saddle and she took off out of the ring. I’m pretty sure even the announcer was laughing over the PA … maybe that is why I’m in no hurry to get horses.
5. I purchased my pony Star (mentioned above) with the money made from selling a pen of feeder pigs. My dad helped me raise them and feed them and I learned about selling at the auction and all of that good stuff. In fact we did so well with them that I was able to get a saddle also. The only downside was that we built a nice wood plank feeding floor for them that I used as a basketball court until the piggies showed up … the piggies did a number on that court!
6. This just came to my mind … really doesn’t have much to do about me except for the fact that I witnessed it. On the old home place where we lived for a while there was a nice wide well pit on the other side of the fence from the horses. One day a horse decided to find out whether or not he could jump the fence … well, come to find out he could jump the fence, but he landed right on top of the plywood covering the well (probably not the best cover) and broke though falling into the well! He was stuck to say the least! But, never fret, because a John Deere 4020 can do many things … including lifting a horse out of a well! Everyone was okay, and now I have a story to tell.
7. Okay, this last one really doesn’t have anything to do with me. But, it is a bit of useless knowledge that I have been storing up in my brain only to use on rare occasions. If you have been reading this blog recently you know that it is illegal to have chickens in Knoxville. But, did you know that in the state of Minnesota it is illegal to enter Wisconsin with a chicken on your head! I guess they didn’t want people in Wisconsin thinking that those Minnesotians were crazy…

So, there you have it. Six things that you may not have known about me and one little bit of useless legal information. Come to think of it I have a friend who is in Minnesota right now studying to become a lawyer … maybe I’ll have to talk with him about that law!