No I am not talking about the methane that the cows produce. Although that can be a long discussion as to who or what is to blame for global warming. No the natural gas that I speak of is thousands of feet below our farm. If you are not from Northeastern Pennsylvania and you want to learn more about the subject, than just stop at the local diner and you will soon be filled in on leases being flipped, contaminated drinking water, lawsuits, geophysical work, large royalty checks etc.
We were one of the poor fools that signed in May of 2006. This is before anyone in our area knew anything about the cash that we were sitting upon. It was amid another year of poor milk prices and we were getting behind on our bills. So when someone says that they will give you some cash and all you have to do is sign on the dotted line. What can be the harm? But what we didn't know was that the company we signed with was just a land agent for a gas storage company. That's right, gas storage. Now where do you think they store that gas. Well to find out look on their website www.ecorpusa.com. Would it surprise you to find out that one of the places gas is stored is in the aquifer? On their own website it says that one of the disadvantages is "Higher potential for water supply contamination".
Now seriously folks, would you knowingly agree to give up your drinking water for less than $14,000? If our water is contaminated than we are out of business. Could a family of 7 survive on $14,000 for the rest of their lives. Hahahahahahhaha.
So the reason this is showing up on my blog now is they want to run all through our corn field laying cables and setting off explosives for geophysical seismic operations. Now they are threatening us that they are going to do it anyway. Our farm and the surrounding are is forever changed. When a farmer gets a big royalty check, the cows go down the road. The farmers are retiring. But for now we are still holdin on.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Billy Goat Gruff
My daughter is having a problem with her goat herd. This is the story of how you end up with too many goats.
My children have all been members of 4-H. It is a great club for children to keep them busy during the summer months. It starts with picking a project. Hmmmm..... What is the child going to study. Cake decorating, photography, stamp collecting, how about American Sign Language. Noooo. Those would be to easy. Lets pick a project that will really keep them busy - GOATS.
So it starts with one cute, small, long eared, baby that calls out to you "mmmaaaaaa". What could be cuter? So it starts. This baby grows with daily care but is lonely, so you have to get another goat as a companion. As the summer comes to a close your child takes their goat(s) to the County Fair to show off their hard work. This is what seals the deal. The week they are at the fair they and their animal get lots of attention and in their spare time get to run all over the fair grounds while having a free pass to neglect their chores on the farm.
Then comes the 4-H round-up show and the Open fair show. This is the parental conflict. A ribbon or no ribbon. If they don't get a ribbon or trophy you will have tears the rest of the week. If they do get a ribbon, you better add on to the barn. Well lets just say, we have ribbons and trophies.
Now to show the goat as a 2 year old, it has to be in milk. Which requires it to give birth. To give birth you need a "daddy goat" or as we call them a buck. The romance is short and five months later you have more cute adorable baby goats. I forgot to mention earlier in the blog to be careful in choosing your breed of goat. They may look the same, but they do not all procreate the same. Nubian's, which are excellent milkers also can give birth to as many as four kids at one time. So in two years our herd has grown from 3 to 11 goats. But you only need one buck so now we have two extra bucks that have to be kept separate from their sisters. We tried putting them in the same pen with "daddy", but it is getting close to mating season and he considers sonny to be a rival for the ladies attention. So if you are in need of a cute 8 month old ADGA registered billy goat that was bottle fed, write. PLEASE. Daddy billy goat is getting GRUFF.
My children have all been members of 4-H. It is a great club for children to keep them busy during the summer months. It starts with picking a project. Hmmmm..... What is the child going to study. Cake decorating, photography, stamp collecting, how about American Sign Language. Noooo. Those would be to easy. Lets pick a project that will really keep them busy - GOATS.
So it starts with one cute, small, long eared, baby that calls out to you "mmmaaaaaa". What could be cuter? So it starts. This baby grows with daily care but is lonely, so you have to get another goat as a companion. As the summer comes to a close your child takes their goat(s) to the County Fair to show off their hard work. This is what seals the deal. The week they are at the fair they and their animal get lots of attention and in their spare time get to run all over the fair grounds while having a free pass to neglect their chores on the farm.
Then comes the 4-H round-up show and the Open fair show. This is the parental conflict. A ribbon or no ribbon. If they don't get a ribbon or trophy you will have tears the rest of the week. If they do get a ribbon, you better add on to the barn. Well lets just say, we have ribbons and trophies.
Now to show the goat as a 2 year old, it has to be in milk. Which requires it to give birth. To give birth you need a "daddy goat" or as we call them a buck. The romance is short and five months later you have more cute adorable baby goats. I forgot to mention earlier in the blog to be careful in choosing your breed of goat. They may look the same, but they do not all procreate the same. Nubian's, which are excellent milkers also can give birth to as many as four kids at one time. So in two years our herd has grown from 3 to 11 goats. But you only need one buck so now we have two extra bucks that have to be kept separate from their sisters. We tried putting them in the same pen with "daddy", but it is getting close to mating season and he considers sonny to be a rival for the ladies attention. So if you are in need of a cute 8 month old ADGA registered billy goat that was bottle fed, write. PLEASE. Daddy billy goat is getting GRUFF.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Immigration -vs- food
I know that illegal immigrants are a hot topic in this country. From the beginning of immigration to the United States (before there was a United States), the current residents always had a problem with those moving in on their "turf". Just ask the Native Americans. They certainly did not want "white faces" living and working next to them.
With each new wave of immigrants the last group that was percecuted became the next group to percecute. Be it the Polish, Irish, Italians, Jews, Japenese, etc. each group was percecuted by the last. Yet each group has added to the United States in some way. The Hispanics add to this by harvesting food that everyone of you eat.
On our dairy farm, we have put many people to work. My husbands family has had this farm for generations. There used to always be someone looking for a job, or someone looking for extra money during haying season. In the past 10 years we have had very few Angol Americans looking for work. When there is a need to replace a worker we used to sort through applications, then it turned into going into the community to look for someone that might need a job. Now we have to go to an agency in another state that supplies Hispanic employees. You hear about high unemployment but no one is looking to work on dairy farms. If it wasn't for the Hispanics that work for us, we would not be able to supply the milk that we do to feed Americans.
It is the American culture that is at fault. We all want our children to be doctors and lawyers. When was the last time you heard someone say that they wanted their children to grow up to shovel manure and work 70 to 80 hours a week without a day off, for little or no pay. At my daughters high school graduation last year, we as farmers were dumb-founded when there were 5 students that listed their future ambitions as "farming". Why? We don't want our children to grow up to be farmers for little pay and no respect.
As for the Hispanics stealing our jobs, there is no one else to do this job. As for the Hispanics not paying taxes, all of our employees pay taxes. As for them committing crimes, our employees only leave the farm when I take them shopping and they are good respectful people that know that you can ask them to leave at any time. As for them becoming citizens, they just want to earn enough money to send home to support their families and children that they haven't seen in years. They love their native country and they plan to return to their home country.
So in conclusion, this is a battle that has been going on since Columbus sailed the ocean blue. It is nothing new. But the respect that you show everyone around you tells a lot about who you are and where you came from. God Bless everyone.
With each new wave of immigrants the last group that was percecuted became the next group to percecute. Be it the Polish, Irish, Italians, Jews, Japenese, etc. each group was percecuted by the last. Yet each group has added to the United States in some way. The Hispanics add to this by harvesting food that everyone of you eat.
On our dairy farm, we have put many people to work. My husbands family has had this farm for generations. There used to always be someone looking for a job, or someone looking for extra money during haying season. In the past 10 years we have had very few Angol Americans looking for work. When there is a need to replace a worker we used to sort through applications, then it turned into going into the community to look for someone that might need a job. Now we have to go to an agency in another state that supplies Hispanic employees. You hear about high unemployment but no one is looking to work on dairy farms. If it wasn't for the Hispanics that work for us, we would not be able to supply the milk that we do to feed Americans.
It is the American culture that is at fault. We all want our children to be doctors and lawyers. When was the last time you heard someone say that they wanted their children to grow up to shovel manure and work 70 to 80 hours a week without a day off, for little or no pay. At my daughters high school graduation last year, we as farmers were dumb-founded when there were 5 students that listed their future ambitions as "farming". Why? We don't want our children to grow up to be farmers for little pay and no respect.
As for the Hispanics stealing our jobs, there is no one else to do this job. As for the Hispanics not paying taxes, all of our employees pay taxes. As for them committing crimes, our employees only leave the farm when I take them shopping and they are good respectful people that know that you can ask them to leave at any time. As for them becoming citizens, they just want to earn enough money to send home to support their families and children that they haven't seen in years. They love their native country and they plan to return to their home country.
So in conclusion, this is a battle that has been going on since Columbus sailed the ocean blue. It is nothing new. But the respect that you show everyone around you tells a lot about who you are and where you came from. God Bless everyone.
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