“Love your little ones and share the dream with them.” – Anne Burkholder
Both my husband and I grew up in rural communities with agriculture as our livelihood. We both got to go along with our parents to do chores, and were assigned our own responsibilities as well. In addition, we both participated in 4-H where we had to pull our weight to take care of our animals and other projects. We have always felt extremely fortunate to have grown up that way. It taught us valuable lessons and ignited a passion for cattle and raising beef.
Nearly four years ago we welcomed our son and just two years later his spunky little sister. Our kids have been our greatest blessing. They make us laugh, try our patience, and teach us every day. It is our mission to instill in them the same values we learned growing up in agriculture, so, more often than not they come along to do the daily ranch chores.
Over the past few months, they have gone from being content with just riding along to getting down right distraught if they can’t help (safety being of utmost importance, there are some jobs they aren’t allowed to help with). It makes me proud and sad all at the same time. They are growing up WAY too fast!
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| Equipped with his pliers and gloves, he’s off to replace that staple. |
Last week, Tom put a pair of broken fencing pliers back together and gave them to our son Tripp. He was elated and couldn’t wait to use them. The next day, the kids and I were headed out to fix fence, and we could not leave without Tripp’s fencing pliers and gloves. He was determined to help me mend fence, but he fell asleep about two minutes into the trip and slept through most of the job. He woke up just as I was getting done, and he was mad. “Mom, I wanted to go fencin’ with you!” He was genuinely upset that he missed out on all the work, so, I “found” a staple that needed replaced and he got to try out his new pliers.
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| Helping put mineral out for the cows. |
For both of our kids, outside is where they are the happiest. This especially true of our daughter Tenley. Prior to moving to the ranch nine months ago, she was most definitely a “mommy’s girl.” She would only go with her dad against her will and earned the nickname “Shorty” because of her short temper. Now, Shorty and her dad are best buds. She enjoys being outside doing chores with him, and if Tom goes outside without her she stands at the door crying until he either comes back for her, or I distract her with food (another thing that makes her happy).
Each day Tom and I strive to show our son and daughter love and share our dream with them. I can see our values and a passion for what we do growing in our kids through their actions, in the choices they make, and in the way their faces light up with excitement when we are working together on the ranch. If one day their dreams differ from ours, we will be proud of them just the same, knowing that we have instilled in them good values and feeling blessed to have been able to share the dream.
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| Working together to get some new fence built. |
Hello! I’m Terryn – the wife, mother, food safety enthusiast, Stormy Kromer fanatic who has slightly (okay, a lot) random tendencies, dabbles in photography, and shares (maybe a little too much) here at FFB.