What a whirl wind week!  It started out with a presentation I had been asked to give to the Chuckwagon Cowbelles, then there was my day job, night schooling some FFA kids in veterinary science, homeschool duties, and lastly a ranch sleepover for Dalli’s classmates!

I hope I’m not too tired to continue typing!  Creating the Cowbelle presentation was difficult.  Usually when I create a presentation, I just put up impressive ranch views, tell about my hour commute (with no traffic), throw in a little veterinary medicine, of course a pinch of humor, and the crowd goes wild.  However, with many of these women living on ranches with similar views, I had to dig deep!

So, I focused on some of the problems plaguing (not plaquing for those of you who know my spelling is bad) our beautiful state, but more over our Nation.  The one that bothers me the most is that only 1.5 percent of us help feed this nation.  This is a profound fact.  Depending on what source you use, estimates will go as high as 2 percent of Americans are directly involved in food production for the rest of the country!  I knew we were a minority, but we are down right endangered.

I tell the girls all the time that their dad has the VERY important job of feeding America. She (America) may starve without us!   Ironically, 1.5% of us don’t mind the burden that we are faced with, we are quite passionate about it!  It is easy to become reactive and emotional when we are consistently being attacked by something my friend Rodney calls the “ethics of the affluent”.  If more Americans were involved in agriculture and had to worry about where their next meal came from it wouldn’t matter if it was grass fed or not.   In other countries, like Nigeria up to 88% of their populations are involved in producing the food that feeds their nation.

There are many romantic notions around what we do everyday (Holidays too!) but the reality is, it is hard work to feed America.   As people become more removed from agriculture (and hard work) it shows up in many different ways.  In my practice, I often see adults who have extreme difficulty coping with life and death.  Life and death is part of ranching.   Responsibility and consequences for your actions are mandatory components that seem to be lacking in our big cities.  We probably do not have to worry about Bernie Sanders redistributing the 1.5 “percenters” more evenly because the rest of the nation doesn’t want to work as hard as we do.

Appreciate the American Farmer and Rancher (the 1.5 percenters) we are working hard to feed you, doing the work that you don’t want to do.  Off to make eggs for a group of giggly girls, beef for lunch, popcorn later, and milkshakes last night!  We are doing our part to “Eat American” How about you?