Well, the holidays are over and the new year is already well underway. We’re still not exactly sure what this blog will bring in the coming weeks, but to start us, off we’d like to share a little ‘slice of life’ from one of our readers we really enjoyed.

Jayne K from New York state tells us a bit about how she got involved in the forage industry. She writes:

I came to farming late in life. My husband knew he wanted to be a farmer when he was a young boy, and now at age 64, he’s still doing what he loves best. I met him at church a few years ago, and prior to that I had never even been on a farm.

Our first date was a trip in his 18-wheeler to buy a load of dry hay and our second date was to the New York Farm show in Syracuse. And I was hooked! We were married in August of 2013.

I baled hay the day before my wedding and the day after, but I drew the line at working on our wedding day. It was a wonderful, casual time spent with good friends and chicken BBQ. Then we spent our honeymoon day at the Empire Farm Days Show.

We farm 2,000 acres of dry hay and package it into large square bales. Since I work with learning disabled children at an elementary school, it gives me summers off to work on the farm. I dearly love my big, old John Deere tractor and never could have imagined I’d drive the machinery I have or see the wonders that nature provides.

Thank you for that little glimpse into your life, Jayne! It’s always so fun to hear stories like this!

What about you? How did you become involved in agriculture? Did you grow up on the farm? Or were you lucky enough to ‘stumble’ into the lifestyle like Jayne?