Smithfield Livestock Auction

          Since I've been married, my husband has talked about going to the Smithfield Livestock Auction. When he was younger, he went all the time to go bid on cows.  I've never been to a livestock auction, or any type of auction, before.  The Smithfield Livestock Auction is held every Thursday at 10:30, so on July 31, my husband and I made the trip to Smithfield.  After researching about livestock auctions, and looking on the Smithfield's Livestock Auction website, I was surprised when I arrived.  Farmers and ranchers from all over the valley come to find the best prices on livestock animals.  Depending on the time of the year, people auction off different types of animals.  They auctioned off hundreds of animals.  At the auction I went to, they auctioned off dairy cows, beef steers, cow calf pairs, and horses.

Me at the auction (Photo credit Justin Howlett)

          Jay Rinderkinect, a frequent auction attender, explains "The auctions held every week and so lots of us come every week to get the best prices we can".  The auctions can go from 2 to 4 hours depending on the amount of livestock and the heated arguments.  While we arrived right as the auction was starting, the entire front row was filled with the 'usuals'.  "The same 5 or so people come down and never miss the auction.  Everyone knows all their names and all." (Rinderkinect).  As I watched the bidding, I noticed that the people in the front row didn't even need to lift their hand, but rather move their hat or barely raise their papers to signal their bid.  Because they come every week, the auctioneer easily recognizes their motions and doesn't even need to take down their name.

Livestock being auctioned (Photo credit: Me)

          Livestock Auctions are a vital part of the farming community.  It's an easy and convenient way to buy and sell livestock.  Sellers can easily choose which week the livestock is ready to be sold, and buyers can bid as to get the best price they can.  These livestock auctions are important because it allows many farmers to see a variety of livestock, and allows them to bid on the only ones they want.  When buying livestock outside of a livestock auction, farmers don't usually have the opportunity to view the cows before they are bought, or decide what price they want to pay.  Livestock auctions allow farmers and ranchers to view the cows beforehand, and only buy healthy cows at the price they're willing to pay.  It also allows interactions between farmers and ranchers.
          As I sat in the crowd, I noticed many of the people saying hello to fellow farmers and talking about their farms.  At the Smithfield Auction, there is even a small diner inside where people will grab a bite to eat and enjoy company of friends and neighbors.  These auctions bring about a sense of community and also provide sellers and buyers with great deals.

The Livestock Holding Pens (Photo credit: Me)

          Livestock auctions such as these are also a tradition.  In a FFA winning speech, given by David Macedo, he stressed the importance of livestock auctions and being able to continue the legacy of them.  His speech explains the auctioning process, the experience, and the importance of livestock auctions. This is the URL to watch his speech.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GglPGgRhqtI&feature=g-upl
          Livestock auctions have the unique ability to match livestock to a buyers needs.  These auctions also provide a great farming experience.  Even if you go just to enjoy the burgers at the diner, or hear the auctioneer speech a mile a minute, it's a great community experience.

Sources:
           Rinderkinect, Jay. Personal interview. 31 July 2014.

          "Smithfield Livestock Auction." Smithfield Livestock Auction. Web. 7 Aug. 2014. <http://www.smithfieldlivestock.com>.

          "Livestock Auction 101." LoudounCountyFair. Web. 7 Aug. 2014. <http://loudouncountyfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Auction101.pdf>.

           Macedo, David. "Livestock Marketing Industry." Kansas City. Youtube. Web. 7 Aug. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GglPGgRhqtI&feature=g-upl>.

Secret of the Hooey Sticks

          Folklore comes from all over the world.  It can be anything from songs or stories, to blankets and beliefs. Sometimes we aren't even aware of the folklore we all have around us.  After digging to find a piece of farm folklore that affects my life, I found an interesting, but obvious 'toy'.  The toy is called, by my family anyways, a Hooey Stick.

www.indiana.edu

          The Hooey Stick, also known as Hui Stick, Gee-Haw Whammy Diddle and several more, is a wooden stick toy.  The toy has a small wooden stick to go along with it.  The wooden stick is rubbed against the Hooey Stick, causing a propeller at the end of the stick to spin.  While there are several different ways to play with this toy, my family would ever so slightly move the rubbing stick to make the propeller change directions.  When the propeller changed directions, the possessor of the stick would scream "Hooey!". 

          Children would scratch their heads and try all day to make the hooey stick change directions.  My husbands great-grandfather made and gave away hundreds of hooey sticks.  It was one of the only toys the poor farm family could afford to give to their children and their grandchildren.  My husbands great-grandfather taught the magic of the Hooey Stick to his children, who taught it to their daughter who taught it to my husband.  

          The Hooey Stick folklore tradition was very popular among farmers.  The Hooey Stick was easy for people to handcraft, and very inexpensive.  Children enjoyed using the Hooey Stick, and when times got rough on the farm, the Hooey Stick provided for entertainment.  My Hooey Stick tradition started back on a farm several generations ago because when Fielding Winward (my husband's Great-grandfather) lost all but two of his fingers in a farming accident.  He couldn't do much but he could, and did, make Hooey Sticks.
          Like Fielding, many farmer families resorted to similar forms of entertainment when money was low and times were hard.  Many of these farming families passed on the simple trick of the Hooey Stick to their children and their children's children.  This tradition became more than a toy, but a symbol of simpler times.  The toy now came with stories about a farm several generations ago.  The Hooey Stick reminds us of our ancestors farming past.  It's a piece of folklore that will continue to be passed along to my children, and my grandchildren.          

http://www.creativecrafthouse.com/

Sources:

"The Hui Machine - Physics Explanation." The Hui Machine - Physics Explanation. Math Harvard, n.d. Web. 27 July 2012 

"The 'Hui' game." The 'Hui' game. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 July 2014. <http://woodgears.ca/hui/>. <http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/huimachine/index.html>.

Rural Development

The United States Government passes laws that affect us on a daily basis.  Some of these laws we never use, or even hear about.  Other laws are a part of our daily lives.  One law in particular, the Rural Development Act of 1972, has affected my family.  The Rural Development Act of 1972 states that "Congress commits itself to a sound balance between urban and rural America."  This balance between urban and rural America is "so essential to the peace, prosperity, and welfare of all our citizens that the highest priority must be given to the revitalization and development of rural areas."  In other words, the Government passed the Rural Development Act of 1972 so rural areas could be revitalized, and developed for more room for people to live.  Because of the Rural Development Act, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) makes specialized house loans for low-income families to build in rural areas.  While this Act doesn't affect many people, it has affected my family.

Brother-in-Law's House (USDA loaned)

My brother-in-law and his wife were able to build a house in a rural area around Logan, UT.  They built their house through a non-profit organization that helps you qualify for these specialized USDA loans.  My husband and I are also looking into several of the different USDA loans.  These loans are very specific as to where you can build.  Because these loans are only for rural areas, more rural areas are being developed by organizations like these.  This leaves less room for farm development. Both my husband and I would love to have a farm, and building one of these houses would give us land, but not enough for anything other than a small garden.  The Rural Development Act allows low-income families to build in rural areas.  However, it restricts other people from buying land saved by the Rural Development Act.  The Rural Development Act of 1972 allows people, who wouldn't otherwise get access to owning a home, to build houses in rural areas.  This is slowly starting to diminish quality farming land, but also allows low-income families to own houses in great communities.  Because my brother-in-law and his wife have build one of these homes, and my husband and I are looking into it, the Rural Development Act has greatly influenced where my family lives.

Sources:

"42 U.S.C. 3122." . GSA, n.d. Web. 19 July 2014. <http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/101029>.

"Rural Development and Small Farm Research." . csrees.usda.gov, n.d. Web. 19 July 2014. <http://www.csrees.usda.gov/about/offices/legis/pdfs/ruraldevact.pdf>.

Tracing Yarn Back to the Farm

Red Heart Yarn  (http://auntbens.com/zen/images)

Nearly everything in this world can be traced back to coming from a farm.  It could have come from an animal, a farmer's field or the ground itself.  One thing I use frequently is yarn.  Yes, yarn.  I am very young, but I love the hobby of crocheting!  I buy, on average, 20$ of yarn a month.  I have always wondered where most of the yarn I use came from.  There are many different colors of yarn and many different types of yarn.  I knew that yarn would have to trace back to a farm eventually, but I didn't know the process it goes through.  While I use different types of yarn, I picked both Red Heart yarn and Brown Sheep yarn to trace back.  Red Heart is made with many different fibers.  These fibers all came from farms or were found in the ground.  After being processed, these fibers are imported to America.  Once imported here, the yarn is sent to Greenville, South Carolina.  In 1995, South Carolina spun nearly 40% of the 3.6 billion kg spun in America that year.  Red Heart yarn isn't the only yarn sent to South Carolina.

Brown Sheep Yarn (http://liscrafts.com)

Brown Sheep yarn also finds its way to South Carolina.  Brown Sheep yarn started out on a ranch in Colorado.  This ranch is home to over 80,000 sheep.  They are raised with the purpose of being sheered for wool.   The wool is sent to South Carolina to be processed into yarn.  Both the Red Heart yarn and the Brown Sheep yarn are processed in South Carolina.  The process, whether the material is fibers or wool, has 6 steps: Preparing the fibers, carding, coming, drawing out, twisting and spinning.  After doing each step, the wool, fibers, or cotton is turned into long yarn strands. Once being processed, the yarn is sent to the company building (Red Heart yarn stays in South Carolina.  Brown Sheep yarn is sent to Nebraska.)  After being received by the company, the yarn is put into huge dye buckets to stain the yarn the many different colors.  Once the yarn is dried after being dyed, the company puts the labels around the yarn and ships the yarn to the individual stores where you can buy them.  All that's left to do is put the yarn to good use!

Homemade Boots, Hat, & Diaper Cover

Sources: 
"How Yarn is Made." How yarn is made. How Products are Made, n.d. Web. 12 July 2014. <http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Yarn.html>.

"Where Did Your Yarn Come From?." Where did your yarn come from? -. Brown Sheep Yarn, n.d. Web. 12 July 2014. <http://www.brownsheep.com/blog/where-did-your-yarn-come-from>.

Homemade Dress

Depression Roots

If you go back far enough, everyone has farming roots.  Whether it's your grandparent's family farm, or peasants working the fields in ancient times, everyone has farming roots.  While my in-laws extended family has much to do with farming, I wanted to find roots in my own family.  After talking and interviewing family members, I found the closest connection I had to farming.  

My great-grandparents, Peter and Ada Vlaanderen, had a small family farm.  Peter and Ada were married in 1927, having just immigrated to America from the Netherlands.  With the money they had, they were able to buy a small house, with a small farm.  However, times in America had just hit rock bottom.  1929 was the beginning of a long and difficult depression.  While Peter and Ada had a farm, they were not farming for a living and had very little experience with farming.  

Because of the Great Depression, farm prices and farm income dropped greatly.  People were starving and could barely survive.  Despite the hard times, Peter was able to find work here and there, and Ada worked the small farm.  The farm was their main and reliable source for food.  While they had no extra food to sell (or even part with at all), the food that Ada grew kept them alive and able to afford their house.  

Other's living during this time weren't as lucky.  21% of the work force in the 1930’s was farmers.  Because of the unbearably low farm prices and income, these 21% percent had difficultly.  Many of these workers had to choose between feeding themselves and losing land or not earning enough money to pay for food and bills.  Food was scarce and work was hard.  Having a farm and being able to grow enough food was lucky for Peter and Ada.  Many people were poor, some too poor to eat.  

However, the 1940's rolled around and the economy began to flower.  World War II hit, and the economy strengthened after the war ended.  Peter and Ada began having children and continued using their farm for their personal use.  After time, the food wasn't enough to feed the family.  By this time, 1945, herbicides and pesticides were being used.  Farm production was great, and Peter had a stable job to afford buying food.  However, it was that small farm that kept Peter and Ada afloat when the Great Depression hit.  Farming their own food is what kept them alive and off of the streets. During the Great Depression, many people farmed so that they could eat.  Everyone has a connection to farming somewhere back in their line.  

Welcome to my Blog

Hello!
Welcome to my Blog!  My name is Kearsten Crossley.  I am extremely interested in farm work and understanding culture and history behind farming around the world.  I live in a fairly small town and my family has had horses, ducks, chickens, goats, and cows.  We've never done anything else with the ground before.  I am interested to learn about the role farming takes and to discuss important aspects that I learn about farming and its history.  Farming is one of the most important things in the world.  Without farms, what would we ever eat?  Farms are important, and that means that understanding them is also important.  Thanks!