I have fluffy cows too!

Have your heard the Fluffy Cow buzz? It started of Reddit, and then stories showed up on Yahoo.com, and Today.com.

This is the orginial Fluffy Cow. He is actually a bull named Texas Tornado owned by Lautner Farms in Iowa. 

My family also owns some Fluffy Cows. 

This heifer (female cow that hasn't had a baby yet) is named Symphony. We sold her to some people in Tennessee in an auction last February. If you've heard me talk about Parker the Bull Calf, Symphony is his aunt. Yes, cattle can have aunts and uncles. 

So what makes Fluffy cows different from regular cows? Well Symphony was halter broke (broke to lead) when she was a baby so we could show her at the Iowa State Fair. We spent a lot of time washing her, blow drying her (with a giant hair dryer just for cows), adding conditioners to her hair and even giving her hair cuts. The people that now own Symphony are continuing to show her.

So why do we show cattle? 1. It is a great way for us to market our cattle. Obviously by showing Symphony and making sure she looked her best we were able to attract a great buyer for her. 2. Symphony is a breeding heifer so her purpose in life will be to produce other top of the line genetic offspring. 3. Sometimes we do eat Fluffy Cows, these are mostly steers that are shown in 4-H or FFA. These two youth programs teach a lot of responsibility and that hard work is one of the most important pieces to success. 

In this picture you can tell where the different cuts of beef come from. If you are looking for a great beef recipe we dug up this Beef Kabob one that we found last year. The combination of beef and vegetables with the honey & soy sauce glaze is amazing!

Corn Report: It sprouted!

The corn is above the ground! We were wondering if it was going to ever happen to be honest. First of all it was a long, cold spring. And corn doesn't come with mittens so that means that the tractors sat idle. And then it rained, and rained. Which was needed, but again slowed us down. Finally, the conditions proved to be right and in eight days we planted nearly 6,900 acres of corn and soybeans thanks to the help of the Farmers United Network (that is what we call our farming group).

It wasn't until we got back from my sister's bridal shower that the corn finally broke through the soil. 

This was the dress I wore for the second of ten weddings we have this summer. (It is this season from The Limited, but I couldn't find it online.)

Now, I don't check corn in my party dress all the time, but it does happen. If you are a longtime reader of this blog you will know that the Boy has fed the cows in a tux and I have worn my heels to feed more than once. 

I hope each week I can take a picture of the corn to show you its progress over the summer. Although, we have had lots of moisture (we are now out of the drought) some parts have had too much moisture and many low laying areas are under water. Also, the fields are too wet to get into right now so we can't spray pesticides or herbicides. I've noticed a lot of weeds growing in fields and those weeds are taking away nutrients to the corn plants. 

To follow along with all the Corn Report posts check out the Watching the Corn Grow tab at the top of my blog. 

He cleans up pretty good too. 

A Bridal Party and Ag More Than Ever

During the long weekend the Boy and I flew home to Canada for my sister's stagette and bridal shower. We were welcomed warmly as we purposely brought much needed rain with us. We have control over those things you know.

The weekend was was full of lots of laughs, family, friends and cattle.

Saturday was the day of bloopers you could say. Nothing went terribly wrong just one funny mishap after the other. Everyones $85 spa pedicures were smudged and wrecked within two hours. We went to a Blo Dry Bar, which I was really excited about. The idea is it is a place you can go get your hair styled without a hair cut. You get to select from five different styles and most the girls in the group, including me, decided to go with the Hollywood a glammed up, big hair, lots of curls look. In the end we got a ton of hair spray, half curled heads and half straight, bangs going ever direction, the worst teasing I have ever had and my hairdresser had to be shown twice how to use a flat iron to curl hair. I really shouldn't call these characters hair dressers as come to find out they only have to go through a two week training to work there. One girl promised she could talk to cowl licks. I think she must have forgotten their language after seeing on of the bridesmaid's poor bangs.

Luckily, Stacy's hair looked the best. However, within an hour of leaving Stacy told me mine looked like I had been playing hot mess out on the dance floor for the past four hours. Lots of laughs but I wouldn't recommend the Blo Dry Bar (or at least the one in Edmonton). 

On Sunday we showered the bride to be with gifts. I played hostess and made some of my favorite recipes that have appeared on the blog including Corn Chowder, Pretzel Sticks, Raspberry Delight, Jalepeno Dip and Ugly Dip. Who knew so many of these recipes were both tailgate and bridal shower approved. 

Stacy and her lovely ladies. This is one of the dresses I bought in Oklahoma City from Ann Taylor. 

On our way down to the shower I saw this really cool sign that said Ag More Than Ever. A pretty true statement. Then just by coincidence Ag More Than Ever tweeted me. 

You can actually buy these Ag More Than Ever signs as well as all kinds of other sign wraps and apparel. I guess there isn't a day go by without me finding something cool in agriculture. Makes sense when you think there isn't a day that goes by that we shouldn't be thankful for farmers. 

A week of Instagram: Shellac, Beef and Poshmark

The weeks are flying by. I seriously can not believe that we are almost through May. When June 1 hits our crazy life becomes crazy. For work we have several big events that we are a part of that stretch over 42 day, and 30 of those days I am on the road. Oh, and did I mention we have to pack and move to our farm in there? Yes, it's crazier. But we are also incredibly blessed so I am just going to keep rolling with it. So what was going on this week?

We finished planting all our corn and soybeans! The boy, his family and the other members worked nonstop (and I do mean nonstop) to get all our crop in the ground. I spent a little bit in the tractor one night riding with the Boy. Now we wait for it to sprout out of the ground!

Poshmark = Addicting. I have sold more than $100 worth of items on Poshmark now and it has become additive to see what else I can find in my closet to sell. It has also really made me decide what I wear all the time and what can go. I figure the cash is helping pay for all those summer wedding dresses I bought and less clothes in the closet means less to move in July! (If you are on Poshmark leave a comment with your name, I'm Crystal Cattle). 

I had to share this cute picture of this baby calf we call Orb. He was born on the Kentucky Derby and therefore was named after the winner. I was really hoping we would have a Triple Crown Winner this year, but no such luck. This calf looks different than our others because he is out of this black cow and a Hereford bull resulting in the a color pattern we call brockle face. He's cute. 

I've been getting my nails Shellacked (is that how you spell it?) with all these weddings/events we have had going on. My Instagram capture for this was "I don't think this is what they meant by a statement nail." I was so good and went almost two weeks without picking at them. I got them redone the other night in a pale pink and would show you but my hands are a little pooped stained from working cows this morning. That's what farmers do - get poop on their hands so you don't have to. 

And speaking of food... this is some of the beef we raised. I am really proud of the beef the Boy and I are selling this year. We have sold a lot of it privately and then some will be available through Bass Farms in Mount Vernon, Iowa. We have got steaks sitting out for lunch (yes lunch) because tonight we jump on a plane for Canada to spent a weekend with my sister and rest of the family for her big bridal shower. 

I hope you have an awesome holiday weekend planned, and for my Canadian readers I hope you just had an awesome holiday weekend!

Turquoise Thursday: Brahmin Handbags

In 2011 I wrote a blog post with this same name. Back then Brahmin had an amazing collection of lighter turquoise bags. Now, as you can see below, they have added some vivid turquoise to their collection.

This is definitely a bold statement piece. This handbag is from Brahmin's Melbourne Collection and some in lots of other more subtle colors if turquoise isn't your thing. 

Sometimes you only need a little turquoise like this Alexis Clutch.

This turquoise crossover bag also comes in a hot pink. 

Happy Turquoise Thursday! We are getting more rain today, which is great for our grass, but not great for planting corn and soybeans. The Boy is starting to get a little anxious.