Fair week - kids learning to work on the farm called abuse?

Pat reported that Simon was looking more confident walking his calf last night... it is his first year in 4H and he will be showing his calf alone - without his dad or mom holding onto the halter with him.  In discovery the parent walks in the ring with their child, but once you graduate 3rd grade you are big enough to start doing it on your own.  A big step for the 9 year olds!  Mary is just a year behind Simon and is ready to be in his shoes next year!  I came across an article in Beef Daily about whether making kids work on the farm/ranch is a form of child abuse...
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2726930373631457509#editor/target=post;postID=6542486921811535247

Ruth walking the other calf out - she along with her 3 sisters and brother all showed beef at the fair during many years in 4H and now the grandkids are involved.  They all felt that showing and learning to do  the work on the animals with their farmer dad has been very positive in their development and work ethic.  Here is part of a blog post shared in this article...
Jackson responded with a very good blog post entitled, “Farms: The Abuse Of Children.” Here is an excerpt:

• The daunting task of feeding calves EVERY SINGLE night taught me responsibility. 
• The unforgiving smell of manure on my tennis shoes in math class taught me humility.
• The field full of hay bales that had to be loaded on a trailer then unloaded in a barn taught me work ethic.
• The stubbornness of cattle not wanting to move pens taught me the value of team work.
• Newborn calves born in the snow who just didn't want to eat taught me gentle patience.
• Sorting 2,000-lb. bulls before I got into kindergarten taught me courage.
• And, at the end of the day, the sunset beaming streams of warmth down on a green field full of cows taught me happiness.

After mass on Sunday putting the calves in the barn and then walking the pigs. 

There is a lot of stress these last weeks before the fair, and at times it seems to be more than we can handle with all the haying and everything else that needs to be done on the farm this time of year.  Yet, this is the time when the kids are really involved and learn so much about the animals on the farm and all they need to provide food for the world.  I am very excited that my oldest daughter, Ruth, has a blog promoting the farm and understanding the truth about this big and complicated LIFE that we live here.

http://familyfarmexperience.blogspot.com/

I borrowed this great picture of the oldest 3 walking their pigs.  Imagine the exercise, visiting and learning they are doing through their times out feeding, caring for and walking their pigs and calves.  Mary doesn't want to stop there... they have egg laying chickens and she wants to get into rabbits too! 

It will be a new fair for me... I have shown endless pictures over the years in open class, and I know that surprises no one that knows me.  This year Ruth is showing and she has a beautiful camera and blows me out of the water.  I am showing only 2 pictures and she is showing "in most every category."  Times they are a changing for the better!  This is one of hers' that I borrowed from her blog today... so good!  Simon's cute face full of concentration and the alert and sweet face of the calf... so special through her beautiful lens! 

Running pigs, smiling kids and sticks to try to keep them out of the corn or under the fence, and grandpa and daddy there to share the fun.... we have a new appreciation for the pig project.
That joyful element is so big in making the work on the farm a shared family time that can be enjoyed and learned from.  Even when it is tense with the working with lose large cattle... it builds character and work ethic.  I thought that the blogger shared some very special and important values she gained from sharing work on the farm as a family.  It certainly was embraced by both Ruth and Paul, who now have the life they grew up with in their own family.  To me that it the height of a compliment to us, their parents!  "They must have thought it was a good life... to want it for their family now!"

Luke watching and learning in his mom's arms.
The Gospel today is the faith of a mustard seed... a tiny seed/apparent meagerness and nothingness of our life becomes a tree/bush that birds can rest in.  "When we obey God's words, we come to realize that in divine providence nothing is 'good for nothing.'  We become 'his people, his renown, his praise, his beauty.'" Jeremiah 13 - the first reading from mass today
Our faith needs to grow and grow from our nothingness tiny seed of saying yes in our humble and small way.  Baby steps of faith in the right direction can get us down the narrow path carrying The Most Cherished Cross!  Last night at mass we read about the Kingdom of God and selling our all to possess that Pearl of great price!  How do we give our all?  On the Cross as Jesus showed us and then asked us to do likewise!  This really struck me when we sang this amazing song during the presentation of the gifts - Lead me to the Cross!

Lead me to the Cross by Francesca Basttistelli
This sounds hard and scary and makes us want to run, but after experiencing the hardships of life day to day we realize that in humbly accepting them we go forward into the LOVE/LIFE/LIGHT of our journey!

Pat and I shared a most wonderful wedding this weekend... a mom with her 3 kids joined the farm world/life!  It truly was a testament to the power of prayer and healing!  Hearing the stories of how the kids love the farmlife they have found through their new dad, Bruce.  I know that many prayers have been answered in a most wonderful way! 

Congratulations Bruce and Kristen and family - welcome to farm life and much happy years ahead sharing not a job but a life - Faith/Family/Farm!  Sharing with a friend at the wedding..."To me Faith and Family are so close that they cannot be separated.  Yes, faith is first and foremost, but family is so intertwined that they cannot be separated!" 
Jesus, we adore you and thank you for the Cross and how it is truly the tree of LIFE filled with such glorious fruit and flowers and all LIFE that is wondrous and beautiful!  We see over and over again how the Most Cherished Cross brings us LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT!  We need only turn to you in our weak and lowliness and you are there to comfort and make our yoke easy and light!  When we are too weak to walk on our own - you carry us in your arms as the Good Shepherd.  If we only allow the smallest seed of faith - it can become  large enough to share and give shelter to others in our domestic Church/family.  Jesus, we trust in you.  Amen and Hallelujah

I can find peace and prayer as I put clothes on the line and pick up bales - rosary in hand and Mary always taking me to her Son!  Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
"By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies." Isaiah 30:15
"I would carry two pails one on either side and my two younger brothers would help me.. one on each side of me.  This was how we would help feed the chickens - sharing the work as little boys."  Pat Verly  One of the most precious pictures I can imagine of Pat's early farm life.  The 3 little boys carrying 2 pails.

Danielle Rose - The Saint that is just me

How this man will be missed!!!!  Bobby, you showed us how to give without counting the cost!  You will be missed!