By Brad Forkner on
News From The Coffee Shop
June 17, 2013 at 8:49 AM
Our family approach to all holiday’s is that we will try to get together sometime during that timeframe. With extended relatives spread out across multiple states and children at every stage of activity, planning an exact gathering is a real challenge. One of the things we learn growing up in agriculture is that holidays can be celebrated in segments over more than one day when necessary.
Animals and sometimes crops need attention that takes precedence over our personal wishes for a day off. Checking feeders, the hand delivered portions of meals for animals not on free choice full feed and always dairy and farrowing are not only every day, but multiple times a day activities. Fathers celebrate occasions, but they also nurture, their children and their livestock. Perfect training for the next generation.
My father was an excellent example of getting out making sure cows and pigs were in the right pens and pastures before we eventually moved most pigs to confinement to avoid the mud and diseases that could accumulate. Fresh feed, clean water and bedding were twice a day in the farrowing houses and the grinder usually ran birthday or Memorial Day.
My two boys that live in driving distance celebrated Father’s Day with me on Saturday because that is when it fit the best this year. Early meeting for breakfast to watch the weather radar and decide if a bit of rain would actually impair our sub-par golfing expertise. On the way to meet them I saw a boy and his father jogging together, I saw a girl and her dad riding bicycles for exercise maybe, but mostly for time to be with each other. There was a father son trying to get some corn side dressed before the next storm, grass being trimmed for the family gathering and grocery store parking lots and gas stations crowded with a flurry of activities.
What a great breakfast where the owner takes time to stop by the table to see how your boys are doing and share about his own children with a gleam in his eye and pride in his voice, because real fathers are nurturers.
Off to the local golf course where we show up once or twice a year and although it is not open, there are carts with keys to allow you to play now and pay before you go home, because this owner/father is a nurturer who accommodates others. No need to keep score on the card, because this day on the course is not about competition, bocce ball is where you keep score, and that comes after lunch!! Spring rains have germinated hundreds of mushrooms that look a lot like golf balls on the fairway until you realize you have been tricked by your eyes, and you all laugh when you hear the distinct crack of your ball crashing through trees never to be seen again. Today is for nurturing and building memories.
Lunch at the Mongolian Grill and then on to bocce, foosball, and a quick game of cards before each boy heads back to their own home at the end of the afternoon. Fun and memories made for this generation on Saturday made it possible for my older boy to be at his house on Sunday. Jed has a daughter almost two years old to spend Sunday with. Jed also is a dad and Father’s Day is for nurturing……
Respectfully,
Brad Forkner, Owner
Nutrient Management Specialists, LLC
Home of Solid-Solutions for Livestock
P.O.Box 303
614 E Cherry Ave.
Cherry, IL 61317
815-257-8463
brad@nutrientmanagementspecialists.com
http://www.nutrientmanagementspecialists.com/
Skype: brad.forkner1
Twitter: @BradForkner
From Field To Feed To Food, To Field and Back To Food
No comments:
Post a Comment