BBR- Levi's Lost Calf

I started a series called the Book Barn Review last Spring and then Flat Aggie took over my life and I forgot about books.  I promise to start doing a better job at telling you what books are out there that tell some pretty good stories about farm and ranch life. 

Levi’s Lost Calf by Amanda Radke

Illustrated by Michelle Weber

My boys love books about farms and ranches.  They especially like ones that could very well be about them and their life on the farm.  A few years back I found the book Levi’s Lost Calf.  When my oldest son was finished reading it, he looked up at me and said that it was the best book he had ever read! Believe me, he has read a lot of books, so this was a HUGE compliment to the author.

Levi is much like my boys and helps out on the ranch.  The family is gathering cattle and his favorite heifer is missing.  As he, on horseback, along with his stock dog look for the calf they find a wide variety of wildlife and show the reader the sites of a typical farm.  

My boys loved seeing the wildlife on the ranch located in South Dakota which is a bit different from Southeast Kansas...we don't see pheasants every day!

Radke even does a great job of bringing a prayer into the end of the book.  A great way to end a bedtime story.  I love a book that leads the prayer for the kids.

Ya’ll know how much I love to cook.  There is a recipe I am going to have to try out in the back of the book for Hungry Cowboy Tin Foil dinners and a dessert option as well.  If it is too good to keep a secret, you know I will share it or some variation of it in my What's For Dinner Wednesday collection (with Amanda's permission of course).

I also like that there is a glossary of terms just like in Cowboy Small for those not accustomed to our vocabulary.  Us farmers and rancher speak a different language sometimes.  It is always good to go back a remind ourselves that we are only 2% of the population and not everyone talks like we do or understands what we are talking about at times.

I may be partial to this book because just as Amanda did I grew up showing Limousin cattle.  Although, I have never met Amanda it amazes me how many things we were both involved in just a decade or so apart.

You can find Amanda online at the Beef Daily Blog.  Follow her on Twitter.  If you are looking to buy a copy of the book, check out Cowgirl Crush, which happens to be an online store owned by Amanda's sister.

-A Kansas Farm Mom

 Check out the rest of my 30 days of Blogging and the other farm bloggers joining me.

What A Kansas Farm Mom Does when She Isn't Farming

I was recently asked to do a post on what farmers do when they aren’t farming.  Well, I couldn’t answer that in just one post it was going to take at least two.  Since I am a farm wife, what I do on the farm when we aren’t "farming" is different than what my husband, The Farmer, is doing when we aren't "farming." 

First post, the Farm Wife:

Clean House-After long hours in the field, alongside my husband and with 2 boys living in the house, my house can look like a tornado ran through it.  Most of the time it is just dishes, laundry and sorting through a mountain of mail.  Which brings us to the next item…


Pay Bills and update the accounting software. I have found if I keep up on things all year it makes the tax season much less painful.

Volunteer for community activities

• I am co-chairman for the PTO Book Fair.  We have a great time raising funds to buy new books for the libraries at our school.

• I serve on the Imagination Library Board of Directors locally.  This is a great program for pre-school kids.  Check out the link and consider starting a fundraising drive in your area.  

• My fellow farm wives joined me last week in a fundraiser for our hospital foundation where we answered questions about ag.

 

I cook often when I am not in the field.  As you can tell on my recipe page, I love to have food in the freezer that is ready to be thawed out and eaten.  When I get home at 9 pm, the last thing I want to do is cook a meal.  At least if I have things in the freezer, even The Farmer can warm up supper for the boys if he beats me home.

Youth Program Leaders-  I am by no means an expert in Geology, but due to my son’s interest in rocks and fossils I am the county leader for Geology.  I have learned right alongside my son, but to the kids in our county I am a “Rock Star.”

Yard Maintenance-  I am always ashamed at how my yard, flower beds, and gardens look especially after wheat harvest.  I know several farm wives that have gorgeous flower beds that are maintained a little bit every day in between running for their husbands-maybe when I don’t have kids to keep me busy.  I know I will miss these days and my yard can look lovely when the boys are too busy for me.

The flower bed the boys and I planted this spring with plants I have found over the years at plant exchanges.

Youth Education-  I love to go to the school and talk about farming and ranching.  The kids love to see the a baby calf that is only a few hours old.  I just love to do the Kindergarten Farm Day.

Projects with the kids-  My boys are in 4-H, so we always have something going on: trying a new recipe, identifying fossils, preparing a new speech for competition, the list could go on and on.

It took me quite a while to come up with this list.  I never really thought about what I do when I am not farming. It is a fabulous life and I wouldn’t change one thing about it and I feel blessed to raise my kids with me at my job as A Kansas Farm Mom.

My youngest trying to avoid a nap by playing on his DS in the combine.

Have a great week everyone!  -A Kansas Farm Mom