Spring Already?

Well the beginning of March has came and it feels like winter has really left us. Back home on the farm for spring break last week and it was a blizzard, now this week it feels as if springs upon us. Many people know what spring brings about.

Well my spring means its almost time for springs work. Above I posted a video of how a corn planter works because this is what part of our springs work consists of. March this year has been a good month to get all the equipment out and ready for springs field work, as well as, planting.

Corn is becoming a really well grown crop around North Dakota. It used to be just for states such as Wisconsin but now with knew varieties it is a great row crop for our state. With the flood last year there was quiet a few farmers who did not even get their crops planted. Lets hope this year springs work works better for our state.

The first 2 months of spring are crutial for farmers, this determines the rest of the season for them. If a farmer doesn't get their crops in on time, harvest will not be as early and then they have to deal with the unpredicatable winter weather that seems to come at any time. I know many farmers are hoping for this beautiful spring like weather to stay! I am!

What's the Epidemic?

This week’s blog really does not have anything to do with being a North Dakota farm girl except for the fact when I was younger, I do not remember a day where I would not have some sort of physical activity. This is about the youth of today, the thoughts being brought about of how much less active children are. After watching state wrestling this weekend, I began to think of the overweight students who do not participate in sports, I then decided to do some research. There is some really startling information that I found.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, since 1970, the fraction of children that are overweight has nearly quadrupled among 6 to 11 year olds and more than doubled among 12 to 19 year olds. These are very disturbing numbers. Could you imagine what these numbers will be like in 20 even 30 years if they keep going at this rate? What has changed to make this happen besides the typical response of video games? The same site also stated, “One possible contributing factor to the rise in youth overweight is decreased physical education (PE) in schools. For example, the percentage of high school students enrolled in daily PE classes fell from 42% to 28% between 1991 and 2003.

Fox News also did a report on physical education in schools. They found that most school PE was an elective and not required. They also found that if it was required there was no required amount of time to be active.

Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, put it best on what we are trying to encourage. “The increasing number of exemptions and waivers — some for personal reasons, others because a child participates in another activity, like band — may hurt the schools' ability to teach children how to be healthy. PE doesn't have to be "calisthenics, mindless exercise and contests that favored the most athletic kids," but can be tailored to all types of children.”

To me these numbers are startling. Some say it's because of America and how we are that the youth is now mainly obese. What can we do to change this? In North Dakota we sometimes feel as if we are immune to many things that happen throughout the country. This obesity issue however is not one of them, what happened to goo old fashioned PE? Where when it was nice out students would beg the teacher to go outside and play kickball. Today there seems to be no begging to be active, which is being blamed on the schools like in the facts I found above, but really is it the schools fault, or should parents be pushing their children to make better decisions and get out and really play actively?

Home

Dierks Bentley has a way to make one really feel what he is singing. This song is no exception, I am biased in this blog to North Dakota but any American may be touched deeply by this video.

In last week’s blog I stated how proud I am to call North Dakota my home; well this week expanding on "home" is my intention.

Some people may not have a place to call home, we are so lucky to have that place here in North Dakota. I believe we sometimes take for granted just how much our home does for us. The security of our jobs that we have with our state is unknown in others. The safeness we feel when we close our eyes at night, is a long distant memory for some states. That our crime rate is low and many do not fear for their children's lives every day is a gift that fewer are having. The golden rule is a distant past, but we still have people who believe in it. However many are wondering, will this leave North Dakota now that we have all these people coming to our state for the money of the oilfield?

The crime rate is going up; we are seeing less moral values than before the oil boom. Is our state going to lose what we as North Dakotans cherish the most. Why we, despite the weather, do not leave this state. Why many love raising a family here. Why in many situations, people leave but always return.

Like Dierks said, we must never lose sight of who we are. No matter what happens with our state we must believe in and call it our home.

You Know Your From North Dakota...

Being the true blonde that I am I forgot to click the Post button for last weeks blog so here it is...

There are so many sayings out there that start with you know your from ________ when. Well through some research and asked some true North Dakotans, what they believed were the most true. Here comes the list.

You know your from North Dakota when...

1. The wind is faster than your truck.
2. You leave your keys in the car and the next morning it's still there.
3. You break down on the highway and somebody actually stops to help you.
4. You can see the stars at night.
5. People drive 200 miles to shop in a real mall.
6. The meat in your freezer is mostly deer.
7. A rodeo is more popular than a rock concert.
8. A yellow light means "Follow the car in front of you, no matter what."
9. You wave to someone on the highway because you recognize his/her truck.
10. Your definition of a small town is one that has only one bar.
11. You expect to be excused from school for deer hunting season and harvesting.
12. You lie awake thinking of uses for leafy spurge.
13. You have attended a formal affair in your best dress, wearing your best jewelry and your snowboots.
14. You know what's high by the 4th of July.
15. Your vacation means spending the week at the state fair showing livestock.

Yep, these are all so true. Even though most of these saying are pointed toward rural North Dakota there are many interesting things about our more populated areas of the state, here is a few facts about our state. These facts were taken from 50states.com.

1. The town of Rugby is the geographical center of North America. A rock obelisk about 15 feet tall, flanked by poles flying the United States and Canadian flags marks the location.
2. North Dakota passed a bill in 1987 making English the official state language.
3. Geologically speaking Hillsboro is located in a large, flat, and ancient dried lake bottom surrounded by some of the most fertile farmland in the world.
4. Milk is the official state beverage.
5. Westhope located on U.S. Highway 83 is a Port-of-Entry into Canada. Each year more than 72,000 vehicles cross the border at this point.
6. An attempt to drop the word North from the state name was defeated by the 1947 Legislative Assembly. Again in 1989 the Legislature rejected two resolutions intended to rename the state Dakota.
7. When Dakota Territory was created in 1861 it was named for the Dakota Indian tribe. Dakota is a Sioux word meaning friends or allies.
8. Dakota Gasification Company in Beulah is the nation's only synthetic natural gas producer.
9. Bottineau is the southwestern gateway to the Turtle Mountains, Lake Metigoshe and the International Peace Garden.
10. Petroglyphs carved into two granite boulders give Writing Rock State Historic Site near Grenora its name. Though their origins are obscure, the drawings probably represent the Thunderbird, a mythological figure sacred to Late Prehistoric Plains Indians. Outlines of the bird, showing its wings extended and surrounded by abstract designs, appear on both boulders.
11. The Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba on the north, Minnesota on the east, South Dakota to the south, and Montana as its western neighbor border North Dakota.
12. Max G. Taubert of Casselton built a 50 foot high pyramid of empty oil cans. It is believed to be the highest oil can structure in the world.
13. Devils Lake is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota. Devils Lake derives its name from the Native American name Miniwaukan. Early explorers incorrectly translated the word to mean Bad Spirit. Bolstered by the many legends of drowned warriors and lake monsters the name evolved into Devils Lake. This very fertile prairie lake grows large numbers of the fish known as walleye, northern pike, and white bass. The lake has earned the reputation of being the Perch Capital of the World.
14. This name Roughrider State originated in a state-supported tourism promotion of the 1960s and 70s. It refers to the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry that Theodore Roosevelt organized to fight in the Spanish-American War.
15. The Dakota Dinosaur Museum in Dickinson houses twelve full scale dinosaurs, thousands of rock, mineral and fossil specimens and a complete real Triceratops and Edmontosaurus.

Being a rural state has its advantages and disadvantages but many feel great about being from North Dakota, a place where many call home. I'm proud to call North Dakota my home.

Greatest Holiday Includes... Guts?

Yes, it's all in the title. Where I come from what is considered to be the greatest holiday, besides Christmas, is Rifle Deer Season. This wonderful holiday starts on what is known as Opening Weekend. Most of the time, this holiday starts on the first Friday of November at noon. It is not uncommon for everyone who is from my surrounding area, to have this Friday as a sick or vacation day from work, play hooky from school day, or completely blow off anything else that has been planned for that Friday. More people come home for the opening weekend of Deer Season in my area than any other holiday.

Some may ask, well what does this have to do with guts? The guts aspect comes into play if and when one gets/tags that deer. After the deer is down and tagged, one must degut the deer. This is to remove the internal organs from the buck or doe.

Who does this degutting? I would hope to believe that whoever tags that deer gets to do the honors of degutting it. Well this is what I hope but it not what happens with my family. Our family usually has a large group that all go out together on opening weekend so we can walk and cover more ground to kick up the deer. Out of a large group one would expect that the men would do the degutting, so not true! There are people who cannot handle or even handle watching this process. I usually being only one of the few girls, who hunt with our crew, am one of the few who can handle and properly do the gutting process.

How is this done? The process of gutting or field dressing a deer depends on the type of deer and if it's male or female. In our area we have Whitetail deer. After one has downed a deer you must approach the deer cautiously in case one did not have a kill shot (the deer did not die from the shot). It is important to know whether or not the deer is dead, if it is just having muscle contractions after the kill or if it is just wounded. If the deer is only wounded approach the deer on the opposite side from the legs and hooves, as well as, the head in case the deer decides to thrash or ram at one. Once in a close safe zone, fire the rifle again, either towards the heart, or head. Once one is assured the deer is dead attach the tag.


Now on to the actual process. When about to gut a deer one must make sure that they are visible to other hunters, while gutting a deer one may have to get lower so be sure to be in an open visible area. Then make sure you have a recently sharpened knife, a bone saw, and if desired, gloves. One can either use rope to tie the legs apart or have one's hunting partners spread the legs apart. The first step then is to locate the sternum and insert the knife at the lower end of the sternum. One must be sure to keep the blade cutting upwards too not damage the internal organs. After the first incision use the free hand to pull up the hide and guide the knife along down the body towards the penis or udder. Then cut around the penis or udder being careful to cut the urinary bladder (or one will have a huge mess). After this one must reach inside the body and cut the base of the penis and testicles to remove them. For a doe cut around the udder, and remove it. Next, cut deeply around the anus of a buck or vagina and anus of a doe, in a circular manner, between the rectum and the pelvic bone. Then pull the rectum to one side and cut around it on the outside of it. Some may not break or split the pelvic bone at this time, but I find it much easier to finish gutting due to my lack of muscle. Use the bone saw to cut through the pelvis from the upper to lower. Now one may pull the rectum and reproductive tract out of the deer. Next is to remove the urinary bladder, find the end and pinch it with one's free hand while cutting the other end away. It is very important to not let the urinary bladder leak or break into the carcass because it can contaminate the meat. Now one can pull or roll the organs out of the cavity. If one has enough strength no cutting may be required. Then cut the diaphragm on both sides of the deer. Following this step reach as far into the deer as possible up the esophagus, and then cut through the windpipe and esophagus. Pull the windpipe downward, while cutting any attachments to the back of the carcass. Roll the deer on its side to empty the heart and lungs from the chest cavity. One has now degutted a deer!

 This is how guts play into one of North Dakota's greatest holidays.

Winter 2012 Global Warming? North Dakota?

January 14th, 2012 it was the first birthday I have ever had without an abundance of snow. 48 degrees and sunny, a sweatshirt and jeans was suffiecient to wear outside and be comfortable. Being from North Dakota this is a very unordinary typical day in January. One knows that even though this is not typical it can change in an instant. As of today, January 16th, the temperature remains in the single digit temperature. Yet again according to weather.com the temperature is supposed to be back up in the 40's by this weekend. Is this what will make North Dakotans believe in global warming? It sure as hell wasn't the last 3 winters that would make us think its really occuring.

After the flooding that accured from the major amount of accumulated snow as well as the endless rain this spring and the cold temps that made it seem like summer would never come. Few North Dakotans believe in what is called Global Warming, will this years weather change their minds?

As a rural farm girl walking across the big campus of U of Mary, :) many times I tend to not notice how cold the weather becomes, but how warm it actually is. The cold winters have seemed to adapt to my body well because of all the outdoor work that must be done everyday outside, whether its 40 degrees or 40 below zero. The cattle and horses must be fed so the cold weather seems to numb the body and being out everyday I got used to that feeling. However watching others walk across campus, it seems to be a different story for sum. As of this last month with what I believe to be an amazing winter, others are bundled up in coats, hats, gloves, scarves. Look around while walking around your campus and I bet many would be able to pick out who is originally from this state and who isn't.

What to believe in and what not to? Is Global Warming for real?

Where I come from?

My name is Abigail Ann, I am from an extremely small town in central North Dakota. I live in the rural area and the nearest town has approximately 73 people. Hobbies are more of a life in my area. The hobbies of my life are horseback riding, dancing, hunting, snowmobiling, 4wheeling, and well its not really a hobby its a job/lifestyle is farming.


This blog is about the real farm life. The few who can relate to growing up on a farm and everyone else will learn and realize just what this farm life is all about. For myself I do not believe that if I would not have been raised on a farm that my life would be completely different. The person I have become today I do not believe would have been as self motivated and driven if I had grown up anywhere else.


What do people really think of the lyrics behind those country songs? To me it can mean everything and describes exactly what farm/country life really feels like. Think about it!