taking a break

It just seems right to take a little blog break right now... There is a lot going on and sitting down at night writing just isn't in the card this week....

Until then, here's life:

• Friday night a high school friend was involved in a car accident where one girl was killed. That girl happened to be celebrating my brother's birthday with him on Thursday. It has been very hard on everyone. My friend Barry is still in the hospital and has a long way to go mentally and physically, so if you'd say a prayer for healing, I would really appreciate it. The Quattlebaums and Comers especially need the prayers.

• Work has really stepped up as I have gained responsibility this week. It's a good thing..... A great thing actually!! I like a challenge, but it just makes me more drained at the end of the day.

• I'm currently on mile 32 of 50 for my #50milesseptember. I hit halfway on Sunday. I can do this!

• My heart is also so heavy for the tragedy in DC and the flooding in Colorado. Why do bad things keep happening? Our world is just surrounded by terrible things lately! Luckily we are not in control!

• Tyler's dad is driving down from PA to our farm to hunt this weekend and I'm really looking forward to seeing him again! I also have a wedding shower and baby shower on Sunday.

• This commercial for Chipotle really upset me this week. I take farming/agriculture articles very seriously and I can honestly say Chipotle has lost my business. Here is a response to the video. Y'all farmers aren't out to "get" anyone and I promise you they care about the land and about their livestock.  This video makes it seem like they are only out to make money. Of course they want to make money but this is just a really unfair depiction of agriculture. If you ever have questions about farming or agriculture or organic or "natural" and my thoughts, please don't hesitate to ask. I love talking about it and learning more!

• Sarge had his yearly checkup and passed with flying colors except for fleas! Those pesky suckers are driving us crazy! Our neighborhood is covered with them and he attracts him on his walks. Thank goodness for Advantix and Capstar!

• Speaking of my neighborhood, we made the front page of the paper when we had 38 cars broken into on Monday... Joy! Luckily I park in the garage and Tyler is anal about locking his truck so we didn't lose anything but people are so disgusting and disappointing!

• My mom has been in Paris for a week and is headed to Belgium next week. Who is jealous!?! This girl.... But super happy this is her time to travel with her girlfriends!

• Next week begins season premiere week for my favorite shows!! Chicago Fire, SVU, Grey's Anatomy, Revenge... BRING.IT.ON!

• And I have another prayer request if you are the praying kind. It's unspoken, but I promise you God knows what is on my heart about this. It's pretty big in our lives right now and a hump in our almost 6 months of marriage... But that's what marriage is for! Love and support!

That's all for now.... I'll be back soon! We just need to get through the next couple of busy days and weeks, but you know where to find me on social media! Thanks for your love, friends!!

xoxo

heavy heart

I don't really have any words to type right now. My head is foggy and my heart is aching. This week has been tragic. The marathon bombing, the Washington letters, the West explosion. It's too much.

They are such awful, awful events... but the explosion that happened last night really hits home to me. Anhydrous ammonia (what was produced at the West plant), is used for fertilizer in agriculture. When I was in Illinois I learned a lot about it. In the spring farmers put anhydrous ammonia aka "gas" on fields to prepare them for planting. It was just a normal thing to see tanks of it in fields this time of the year. 

I also learned while working in the midwest how extremely dangerous agricultural plants are. Whether it is a grain elevator, fertilizer plant, or cotton gin, or even a power plant (I worked at one one summer), any plant like this could be fatal when a fire occurs. OSHA and the EPA closely monitor these plants to ensure that workers are safe and that safe practices are put in place in case anything happens like it did last night.

I am obviously no expert. This is truly all I know. But I am terrified. Terrified that my family owns a cotton gin that could explode at any time because of all of the dust and debris from ginning cotton in the fall. I mean, don't we all know how fast cotton burns? It is such a scary, scary thing. Anything can happen in an instant.

Ok, off my soapbox. I'm just hurting. Sad. Distraught. Overwhelmed and can't stop crying watching the news. As much as I know I need to turn it off I can't. 

All we can do is pray for all of those who are hurting. The thought that firefighters are not accounted for in the plant kills me as Tyler was a fireman in college. Again, it all hits too close to home. 

Pray for the families, communities, and all of us around the country who are grieving for all of this week's terrible events.

Jesus, I pray that you cover all of these families in your unfailing love. Help all of us who are afraid and sad to remain strong and be a light for others. I pray that those injured have a quick recovery, physically and mentally. Wrap them tight, Lord, and help us all know we have you. I pray for Boston, West, and our entire nation and world as we try to understand this week's events. In your name I pray. Amen.

God Made a Farmer

I didn't watch the Super Bowl last night. Actually, the guy from Direct TV is here currently installing our satellite. I missed every single commercial but there was one that I have heard about that I can't get out of my head.

When I woke up and checked Facebook this morning, I kept reading these statuses about the Dodge commercial. If you know anything about me, you know I grew up on a cotton and peanut farm in the midlands of South Carolina. This is something I am EXTREMELY proud of and I will most likely bring up in conversation.

My family's farm dates back to THE beginning of America. In fact, we have the original Land Grant from the King of England when my family came over here. Perrow Farms is one of the oldest farms still in business today and we are going strong. We all live close together and you can see tractors of some sort behind all of our homes. We have old grain bins that haven't been used in a long time, and when you drive into my little town of Cameron you can hear the hum of our cotton gin. Agriculture has been a way of life for my family. We eat, breathe, and sleep it. We pray for rain, sunshine, mild weather, and a healthy crop. Farming is in our blood.

I digress. So, back to the commercial. My family always forwards around any type of pro-farming emails when we receive them in our inbox. I had actually heard this commercial on YouTube that Farms.com made, and man is it powerful. I am tearing up as I sit here and type this.

You truly don't understand how important agriculture is to our country AND our economy. People think peaches come from the grocery store... WRONG. They are grown all over the country, and South Carolina is the 2nd largest peach producer behind California. My state grows everything from soybeans to collards to tomatoes to broilers (did you know broilers are chickens?-- that's the state's #1 commodity). You get it.

Farmers don't farm for the money, I can promise you that. They don't make hefty salaries. They do it because they love it and I am so thankful that Dodge acknowledged this during a time where millions (maybe billions) of people are watching! If you ask anyone in my family, they will tell you they could have chosen any career path, but they chose working on our family farm.

God truly did make each and every farmer. Farmers put food on our table and fiber on our backs. Like this NPR article says, this commercial during the Super Bowl was "selling the virtue of farming."

Thank you Dodge for spreading the message about American agriculture. I am proud to be a part of it and damn proud to say that my family provides both food and fiber. Next time you put on your t-shirt, think about all of the hard work that goes into making it- from the seed to the factory. When you eat peanut M&Ms, you may think, "these peanuts might come from Charlotte's farm," because they might.

Thank a farmer each and every day.