We all get busy. . . but the World does not slow down.

Leaving the Ohio State Fair after a very successful run

Whoa!  Wait a minute!  What happened to summer?  My girls just began their summer break.  I had plans.  After softball was over I wanted to take a family vacation.  But, somehow 4-H and summer fairs and shows took over our lives.  Now the fairs are over.  The next show is in November.  Art Camp starts tomorrow.  And, I have open house information for my girls' Back-To-School nights.  Seriously?  Back-To-School?  Already?  I am ready for the girls to go back, I think. . .  But, I still have so much planned for the summer!  I guess our summer vacation will have to be reworked into a mid-fall retreat.  Does anyone else feel the way I do?

The Fairs are over. . .

It is late Saturday night, and all is quiet in the Headings house.  The sheep are all tucked back into their pens.  The heifer is going to spend the winter at my cousin's farm.  And, we are sitting around talking about next year.  NEXT YEAR?  Just three short hours ago, my girls were tired.  They were crying.  Life is not fair!  Why do we have to show animals anyway.  But, we are home now.  Everyone has showered.  And, we are admiring the ribbons.  Ah, yes, the ribbons.  But I am sure that our reward was far greater than those ribbons.

We are reminiscing over our successes, our learning experiences, learning how to work together.  We learned how to arrange scrapbooks, we learned how to shoot bows.  We learned how to show lambs.  We ALL learned how to fit lambs for show.  We learned how to show cows.

Only Madeline was in 4-H, but we all learned a lot from 4-H this year.  From lamb camps, to actual 4-H camp, all four of my girls (and my dear husband) pitched in to make this year's summer a success in the show ring.  We all realized that Madeline might be WHO was showing the animals, but we all saw that it was OUR farm that was being represented.  We learned that it takes all of us working together to achieve success!


So, now that we are clean, our truck is unloaded, our lambs are sleeping, we have decided to plan for next year.  And, the girls are begging for a chance to show at Louisville this fall.  Our feet and arms ache, but the drive to succeed is greater than our weariness.  We are looking at farm catalogs to see what equipment will make it onto our Christmas lists.  What child wants a livestock blower for Christmas?  Well, if Santa gets these lists, he might think we need four blowers!  I have also seen hydraulic blocking stands and top line bushes on the lists.  And, my husband, ever the diligent tailor, is working on sheep blankets in the kitchen.

Even as we are exhausted, we have our eyes on next year.  As my youngest daughter likes to remind us, we have our eyes on the roses! Go TEAM HEADINGS

AgriPOWER Class VI is in session

In April, I was honored to be selected a member of the Ohio Farm Bureau's AgriPOWER Institute, Class VI.  This is a year long leadership seminar that is conducted in monthly sessions.  The focus is to create leaders in the agriculture field while teaching participants about issues facing agriculture at the local, state, national, and international levels.  There are twenty members of the current class.  For more information, check out http://ofbf.org/get-involved/agripower/

Members of the class came from all over Ohio for their first session July 18. After brief introductory comments from state Farm Bureau staff, the class members introduced themselves to each other via PowerPoint and Prezi presentations. Pictures and publicity photos followed.

Over lunch, members of the class received introductory remarks from Nationwide and the various departments of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. And, then we got down to finding our strengths as individuals and leaders with John Torres from the American Farm Bureau Federation. Some of us found the results to be eerily accurate! I really learned a lot about myself. I was particularly interested in the concept of focusing on one’s strengths and not the weaknesses. I think this will help me both as a leader and a mother. Why focus on improving weaknesses that will always be weaknesses when our potentials can best be met in focusing on our strengths?

After dinner, we adjourned to the suite where we continued to build friendships and learn about each other as classmates. We all spent time getting to know our fellow classmates. Quite a few of us also took this opportunity to call home to check on families and farming operations.

The first evening we enjoyed a formal dinner and etiquette training with Katy Endsley. I am sure we all learned many interesting tips that will help us fine tune our fine dining habits in the future. I personally found the custom of breaking off only the amount of bread intended to eat to butter to be very interesting. We all learned tips that will help us at future dinner events.

The next morning we were up and back in session before 8. John Torres continued with a personality workshop. It was fascinating to see how the results measured up to what we already knew about our classmates. Knowing the personality traits of our class members is helping us to understand how to best communicate with each other. Going forward, this will also help us in our daily lives as we return to our jobs and families. Now, I find myself analyzing my daughters, trying to figure out how to best interact with them.

We then adjourned for a tour of the North Market. Our hosts were Davis family members from the Blues Creek Meat Farm near Marysville, Ohio. They discussed their niche in agriculture and how they have tailored their business toward meeting the demands and needs of their customers. I farm near this business, and I hope to begin to market meat through them in the future! What a great opportunity to network with a neighbor! After our brief tour, we were dismissed for lunch on our own and to return to our homes.

Sleepy in Chuckery

A late night storm rolling across the Darby Plains

I love to listen to storms roll in. I like the rumble of the thunder in the distance. I think lightning is beautiful when it lights up the night sky. But, I draw the line at wind. However, that is another story for another day.

Last night I knew I would probably be up around 1. I have been getting up regularly for the past week with little Stephenie as she struggles through cutting teeth. But, I was suprised at 2 when I found Dennis wandering around the house. He was unable to sleep and decided to play games on his iPad, while in bed. I had finally convinced him to put on ear phones when the storm hit at 2:30.

With a crash, thunder shook the house and lightning lit the darkened houese. I snuggled under my John Deere blanket, yearning to be back in dream land. And, then I heard Madeline and Julie yelling from their upstairs bedroom that they could not sleep.

I finally had everyone downstairs and situated by about 3:15. Everyone had gone to the bathroom. Everyone had their favorite cups on the table with water. Favorite blankets had been distributed. And, I decided to go back to bed. I climbed into bed and found Dennis sound asleep and snoring LOUDLY. I knew then and there my long night was not over.

So, dear world, I am now very Sleepy in Chuckery. Hopefully I will be able to get some rest tonight.

AgriPOWER Class VI

I have been selected for Class VI of the Ohio Farm Bureau's AgriPOWER program.  I am so excited!  I just returned home from our first session, and I am amazed by what I have learned about myself and my fellow classmates.  From learning about our leadership styles and personality types to an etiquette class and a tour of Columbus' North Market, our first session was very information packed!

So, while everything is still fresh in my mind, I thought I would think about what I would like to gain from my AgriPOWER experience.  I hope that I can become a better leader both in my agriculture community and the world community in general.  I hope to gain insight on how to better communicate my opinions to those around me.  And, I hope I can become a better listener.  I know that I need to be a listener if I am to learn anything.

I would also like to better understand American agriculture.  There are many types of farmers in the US.  Not every one fits the stereotype of "Old MacDonald" in bib-overalls.  When I stop and think about American Agriculture, I cannot help but feel great pride that I can consider myself to be a farmer. But, I know that there is a lot I do not know about this industry.  What a better place to learn than in a very diversified class of Ohio farmers!

Thank you, Ohio Farm Bureau and Madison County Farm Bureau for this opportunity!

There is just something women love about their minivans!

Our beloved truck behind our bus at Niagra, New York

For years and years and years, my husband has wanted a minivan. And, not just any minivan would do.  Dennis has had his heart set on a Honda Odyssey. So, when he decided he wanted to trade his Corvette in on an Odyssey in 2004, I was less than enthusiastic. Who in their right mind would trade a Corvette for a minivan? I guess Dennis was starting to realize his fatherly instinct. But, I soon convinced him we did not need a minivan. Somehow we decided to trade the Corvette in for a GMC Sierra 2500 HD special order truck. At the time it made perfect sense. But, little did I know that someday Dennis would still get his Odyssey.

Our Sierra has taken us many places. It has been to Silver Creek, Nebraska on three seperate occassions. It took us to the Presidential Inauguration in 2005. In 2006 it hauled a diesel engine to Reno, Nevada for Dennis' parents. They even took it off-road in the mountains and dessert. Dennis towed the truck to New Orleans in 2007 to assist with the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. In 2008, we towed the truck behind the bus to Georgia for my sister's wedding. And, in 2009, we towed the truck to Massachusetts for a family reunion. Yes, we have made a lot of memories with the truck. It has also brought three of our daughters home from the hospital. The truck would have brought Julie home, but it was in Reno!

I was content without a minivan. Dennis had nearly resigned himself to the fact that a van was more of a want than a need. We were truck and car people. Then, one day in the summer of 2009, a little surprise presented herself. . . we found out I was pregnant with daughter number four. Suddenly it was clear that we could not all fit in our Honda Accord. And, it would be a tight squeeze to get two adults and four car seats bearing children into the truck. So, Dennis began his search for a van. Ironically, it was me who found our Odyssey. . . on FaceBook, nonetheless!

A Back-to-School Tradition: A picture with the Odyssey

Our Honda Odyssey joined the family on Dennis' birthday in 2009. We soon found ourselves wondering how we lived without the van. With my pregnancy, and complications brought on by the H1N1 virus, I seldom drove the van until late November. But, whoever was watching my girls would drive the van. The Odyssey became a "community" vehicle.

The first long trip for our van was to Nebraska for my grandmother's nintieth birthday. The trip was rather unventful for the Odyssey until a deer jumped out in front of us near the Indiana-Illinois line. We assumed that the damage was minimal since the van was still drivable, but nearly $5000 in repairs later, we know now that the damage was substantial.  It was substantial enough to keep the van out of commission for quite a while!

We realized how much we missed the Odyssey when it was gone for two weeks for repairs. We have never had to use the truck as our primary vehicle since Stephenie was born. And, let me tell you that it is a real pain to climb in and out of a TALL truck to buckle in four little girls! Even more so if you are vertically challenged, like I am!

But, all is now well. The van is back home. The girls have all hugged their beloved Odyssey. I have danced my happy dance. And, Dennis has his vehicle back, er . . . uhm. . . did I mention that Dennis is now a pick up truck man?

Do you want to drive my tractor? (Frozen Parody) from Farmer Derek