Royal Wedding-Fashion Friday

I have been watching the Royal Wedding off and on today. I would have to say that my favorite part were all of the hats. Yep you guessed it, I'm going to talk about hats again today.
Hat facts and history:

• Apostle Paul decreed that women needed to cover their heads while attending church. The Catholic Church dropped this decree in 1967. During the Middle Ages it was deemed inappropriate for a woman to be bareheaded in public. Most women observed this until the 1960s.

·         Today technically a hatmaker makes hats for men while a milliner makes hats for women.

• Feather workshops are called plumassiers. THis is where they make boas and dyed feathers for hats.

 I like to keep my posts short, so check this out for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat

Here are a few of my favorites.

Not sure if you can consider the one on the right a "hat"

I think its the whole outfit that makes it!

And of course, be ready for next Friday as we prepare for the Kentucky Derby!

TWINS!

I hope I get more sleep tonight than I did one week ago! We had an older cow that we were keeping in the barn since she was having trouble being able to get up on her feet. I thought she seemed larger than usual during her pregnancy and I was correct! She had twins and thankful is up on her feet now. I guess it is similar to women needing bed rest, she just couldn't handle the weight.

So a week ago, my Granpa went to the bar to check her one last time before he went to bed and called me about 10pm and said she had twins and needed help my help. (Excited about the twins, but already on my way to bed.) I grabbed by jeans and pulled on my boots and headed to the barn.


About 1 hour old.

We needed to make sure that the calves got the colostrum (the first milk a cow gives, consisting of important nutrients) It turns out the cow was not producing milk, so we had to mix "formula."  I ended up being awake till about 2am, but it was worth every minute of it.  I could go on about the details of caring for these 2, but lets get to the pictures!

A week later! The mother has started producing some milk, but not enough. We are bottle feeding.
Ribeye on the left (she chugs  a bottle in about 3min) T-Bone on the right (he is kinda slow, about 10min)

Tex-Mex and Potatoes

1 lb ground beef
1 medium red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pkg taco seasoning
1/2 c water
4 c frozen hash browns (cubed, but I used shredded)
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen corn
1/2 lb (8 oz) Velveeta cheese, cut up

1.) Preheat oven to 350*.  Brown meat with peppers and onions in skillet on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally; drain.  Return meat mixture to skillet.

2.) Add taco seasoning mix and water, stir until well blended.  Stir in potatoes, corn, and Velveeta.  Spoon into a 13X9-inch glass baking dish; cover with foil.

3.) Bake 20 minutes.  Uncover; stir gently.  Bake uncovered, an additional 15 minutes or until heated through.

Makes 6 servings, about 1 1/3 c each.

From my good friend Alison!

The Easter Bonnet

The Easter Bonnet tradition wasn’t started by my Great-Grandma Erma, though she did start the tradition for me. GG as I called her always wore a hat on Easter and often would wear one on Sundays. As long as I can remember I have worn an Easter Bonnet and haven’t missed an Easter Sunday. My mother made my bonnets when I was younger, but as I grew we purchased them and now I always keep an eye out for hats at malls, yard sales, thrift stores, and more.  I love hats in general and feel like I was born 100 years too late. It doesn’t have to be Easter to wear a hat, but it seems like I stand out a little less. On my “bucket list” is the Kentucky Derby, another great reason to wear a hat. The brighter, bigger, and fancier the better.

 A little history lesson:
 The first Easter bonnets were worn before we even started celebrating Easter. The first bonnets were not even bonnets but were a circle or wreath of leaves and flowers to celebrate the coming of spring.
The custom of new clothes for Easter goes back to early Christianity and what was known as white week. White week was a time that newly baptized Christian wore white linen robes for a whole week to symbolize their rebirth and new lifeAn Easter Bonnet represents the tail-end of a tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter, in harmony with the renewal of the year and the promise of spiritual renewal and redemption. 1870 was the start of the modern Easter Bonnet Tradition. Easter Bonnets are becoming harder to find, as fewer and fewer women bother with the tradition.

I hope each and every one of you has a blessed Easter!

 Oh to be the Queen of England and wear a matching hat everyday!

The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas

Ellsworth that is!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit EW and made it my goal to visit some of the local monuments and notable attractions ( I think my good friend Abby was an influence with that!)

Ellsworth was once called "The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas." A few names you might recognize are Wyatt Earp & Wild Bill Hickok, both spent a short time in Ellsworth.

The first, was Paden's Place, know for their Chicken Fried Steak. I didn't know this until after I ordered my hashbrowns with WHITE GRAVY!!

                                                            Haystack Mountain

 Some of the carvings dated back to 1912

                                         

Next Up, Mushroom Rock State Park:

                               Took this picture for my mom     

                     

                                                            

Then:

                                                    Notice the shape of the sign!



Me & Sora



                                                

And finally Shipley's Rock's (kinda wondering if my guide didn't make this one up)

                                              

I challenge you to go off the beaten path next time you visit a new place, who knows what you will find!

Earth Day

What is going green mean to you? Why just celebrate Earth Day one day a year? The way many families are going green is by doing the little things; turn off the lights when leaving a room, recycle their aluminum cans, minimize the water usage while brushing our teeth. Well, this is just a few of the simple ways many people help conserve resources. Let’s look at something a little more overlooked-farming and ranching.

Many people might not realize that America’s farmers and ranchers were the first environmentalist. Famers and ranchers usually have a genuine love for the land they own and work.  One fact to consider; Raising and grazing cattle more than doubles the usability of grass lands. I could go on and on about the numersous ways farmers and ranchers positively impact our environment. A site with a few facts from university studies: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/CollegeRelations/AGRICU.htm

 When people are looking at a way to impact the environment, why not look to those who advocating for the land.Buying locally produced food from  farmers that live in your community not only supports them, but also helps to feed the local economy.

We not do not look out for the environment one day, we support it 365 days a year.

So, to celebrate Earth Day-Thank a farmer!

Home on the Range Exchange!

Well I guess my first post with be an introduction and of course some ramblings. I am pursuing my Masters in Agriculture Education with an emphasis in Extension. I want to tailor my MS to include 3 areas that I enjoy and feel passionate about; Agriculture, Outreach/ Education, and Women being involved with those two. I also want to put in a little event planning while I’m at it.  I hope that this blog will not only be enjoyable to the reader but also informative. The hopes are also to use the blog to help with research for my MS.  The main drawbacks seem to be my lack of time, my lacking knowledge of technology, and then of course those 4 years of HS  and 2 years of college English that taught me well…….not much. Don’t they say practice makes perfect, so if I write, write, write, it will get better as it goes, Hang in there with me.

Besides the educational side of this venture, I guess I too am jumping on that bandwagon of bloggers. (My competitive nature might be a factor here) It seems like each time something happens in my life I start something new, better than getting a tattoo for every accomplishment or heartbreak!

You are asking, "Where did this title come from and what can I expect?" Well lets look at it from a few differnt views. Home on the Range is the Kansas state song. Range can not only be for grazing cattle but for cooking them (beef on the stove), the kitchen is a central location for many homes and where some of the most important decisions are made. In our family kitchen we have had baby chicks, craft projects, crying sessions, rekindling of friendships, and so so much more! I could ramble on about the various meanings of the title, so just sit back and be ready for recipes, craft projects, random Kansas scenery and fact, agriculture news, event planning, and of course just the daily updates about me and my wonderful family!