Quote

Liked today's quote so much that I decided to repost it as a reminder.

I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness… - Dalai Lama

Grass Fed Beef

It's a hard sell on grass fed beef, but a co-worker recommended the website and the facts seem to jive with everything else I've seen on cows and grass.

http://products.mercola.com/produce/grass-fed-beef/

And I'd like to add that if you live in Michigan, I've got a beef ready to go so it's not as hard to come by as the article indicates. :-p

Book Reviews!

Check out these and more at www.sanfranciscobookreview.com and www.sacrementobookreview.com.

Robin Hood by David B. Coe
http://www.sanfranciscobookreview.com/science-fiction-fantasy/robin-hood/

The Mammoth Book of the Best New Erotica 9, edited by Maxim Jakubowski
http://www.sanfranciscobookreview.com/relationships-sex/the-mammoth-book-of-best-new-erotica-9/

Shakespeare, Sex & Love by By Stanley Wells
http://www.sanfranciscobookreview.com/history/shakespeare-sex-and-love/

Where Have I Been All Your LIfe?

Passing

4/1/2010 11:45:00 AM
Meredith Volk

BATTLE CREEK — Services for Meredith Volk, 63, of Battle Creek will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. John Lutheran Church, Battle Creek, with the Rev. Richard Snow officiating. Burial will be at a later date. Visitation will be 3-7 p.m. Friday at Steffen Mortuary.
He died Tuesday, March 30, 2010, at his home.
________________________________________
Meredith was born on Oct. 28, 1946, in Norfolk, the son of John W. and Doris E. (Darr) Volk. He was baptized on Nov. 17, 1946, and confirmed on March 26, 1961. He graduated from Battle Creek High School and then received a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He was raised on a farm northwest of Battle Creek and at an early age began working with cattle with his father and was currently raising cattle on the home place.
He had served on the school board for Battle Creek, served on the Nebraska Pork Producers board and had been a national trustee for the American Simmental Association.
Meredith is survived by his children, Dean Volk of Battle Creek, Amy Descombaz of Plano, Texas, and David Volk of Frisco, Texas; his father, John Volk of Battle Creek; three brothers, John Volk of Fort Collins, Colo., Van Volk of Norfolk, Tim Volk of Tonganoxie, Kan.; one sister, Diane Harris of Parker, Colo., and five grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his mother.

It took me this long to google my old friend. Meredith was a lot of things, a character above all, which anyone who knew him will testify. I’m blessed and cursed to have known him and I didn’t hear about his passing until recently which is why this blog is so untimely. He taught me how to post riding western and promised to take me calving Nebraska range cows in a trailer with holes large enough for the wind to blow through. We won’t ever get to do that now.
The last time I saw Meredith was around this time of year, end of July, early August, 2006. We went to the Evart fair together. I miss him more than I can say. I wish I’d known that I’d never see him after that. It’s strange: I still have his number on my phone and when I google his name, facebook keeps trying to make us friends. But I’m not sure there’s social media where Meredith is, riding Hancock horses somewhere where the Nebraska sandhills are always in bloom.
I’ll miss drinking Crown with him the most and riding half-broke horses. I’m having one for you tonight, my friend. I miss you.

Why I Farm

http://www.fb.org/blog/index.php/2010/07/28/why_do_i_farm

Feelin' this farmer this morning, especially after getting the skidsteer stuck last night and a live calf born in less than fifteen minutes on Tuesday. Enjoy!

Book Review: Blood Cross by Faither Hunter

Blood Cross. Faith Hunter. Roc. 2010. 321 pages. $7.99 US. ISBN 9780451463074.

Today’s book review is brought to you by vampires, ghouls, and werewolves, although only vampires and skinwalkers are in this latest edition of Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series. Blood Cross picks up a couple days and a hurricane after Skinwalker ends, tying up the loose ends from Jane’s hunt of the rogue vampire and the young rogues it was making. Blood Cross will take Jane deep into herself and deeper into the mire of vampire politics than she ever wanted to go… if she stays alive. Caught between handsome men and bitter rivalries thousands of years her senior, all of Jane’s instinct and skills will be tested as she confronts vampires, witches, and the charisma of a biker cop with panther tats.

It’s a great read, honestly sat down and read it over the weekend. Started on the elliptical and just couldn’t put it down. The only thing that turned me off of this series, along with L.A. Banks’ Minion, was the Christian themes, but then I’m always a little put off by heavy reliance on that. I like the Cherokee tradition existing right alongside it without a major issue between religions so that redeems this portion of the novel in some respects. After all, religion is supposed to include, not exclude. Maybe I’m just too much of a neo-hippy-pagan-farmer. :)