Latest / Barnyard Language / Mennonites, Marriage, and Messes w/ Jess Martin

Transcript

Mennonites, Marriage, and Messes w/ Jess Martin · Barnyard Language

0:01
Welcome to barnyard language.
0:02
We are Katie and Arlene, an Iowa sheep farmer and an Ontario dairy
0:06
farmer with six kids, two husbands, and a whole lot of chaos between us.
0:11
So kick off your boots, reheat your coffee, and join us
0:14
for some barnyard language.
0:15
Honest, talk about running farms and raising families.
0:20
In case your kids haven't already learned all the swears from being in the barn.
0:23
It might be a good idea to put on some headphones or turn down the volume.
0:26
While many of our guests are professionals.
0:28
They aren't your professionals.
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If you need personalized advice, consult your people.
0:32
All right.
0:35
Welcome back to season two of barnyard language.
0:39
Now, I guess technically we've already had one episode, but this
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is our first update for season two.
0:44
And Katie and I haven't talked on zoom for a month, so we don't know how long
0:48
this update is gonna take, because while we still message each other,
0:52
we actually haven't, you know, been.
0:55
Semi face to face online.
0:57
You know what I mean?
0:58
So, Katie, as usual, I'm gonna start with you.
1:01
What has been going on the last month we took
1:03
August off.
1:05
It feels, it feels very on brand that we're starting season two with the second
1:10
episode of season two, instead of the first on for our listeners, we had quite a
1:16
discussion about whether the most recent.
1:20
Episode was the last episode of season one or the first episode of season two.
1:26
So it is the first season episode of season two, or maybe it's both.
1:32
Maybe.
1:32
I don't know.
1:33
I don't know why this is bothering me so much.
1:35
It doesn't matter.
1:36
I was thinking about the update this morning and I was like, I'm sure I have
1:40
lots of exciting stuff to talk about.
1:42
And I was like, not really kids went back to.
1:46
When does school start where you live?
1:47
They started, I wanna say the girl child started August 25th and then
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the boy child started the week after, because he's in the four year old
1:58
preschool and she's in kindergarten.
2:00
And she's been looking forward to kindergarten for months.
2:03
Is it all she imagined?
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It would
2:04
be?
2:07
I, I think she anticipated that perhaps all of her classmates would've really.
2:13
Changed and matured through the summer.
2:15
Apparently somebody called her a mean word yesterday.
2:19
And when I asked who it was, she said they were wearing shorts.
2:24
Okay.
2:25
Well that narrows it down.
2:26
Guess I'm not guess it wasn't that big a deal?
2:29
I don't know.
2:30
She is this is the first year that she's been in a different
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room than all her friends.
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They have.
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Four classrooms of kids because there's, you know, 60 kids in the grade.
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So she and her friends are all in different rooms, which is good for them.
2:46
But they're off doing.
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God knows what, without her, you know, in the kindergarten room next door.
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And she still sees them at lunch and at recess and outlet.
2:56
Sure.
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But it's very, very dramatic.
3:01
Yeah.
3:02
And so is the boy child's pre, is it preschool?
3:05
pre-K what do you call it?
3:07
Yeah.
3:07
Is that in a different building than he was in last year?
3:10
Is that a new?
3:12
It is.
3:13
So the way it works is that our.
3:16
Everything is sort of clustered together.
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The elementary school and junior and senior high school are all
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it's two buildings, but they're right next to each other.
3:24
Okay.
3:25
And then the daycare and three year old preschool that they've been in is just up
3:30
the block from that one classroom of four year old preschool, which is run by the
3:37
school district and not by the daycare.
3:40
Daycare runs three year old preschool.
3:42
The school district runs four year old pre.
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But there's the community center, which has the Y M C a and like the big gym and
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everything is where the, both of our kids.
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Their preschool classroom has been in that building, which is really nice because
3:57
when the weather's crap, they can just go to the gym and run around and burn it off.
4:02
And it's nice because they can just walk from, you know, from daycare to preschool
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to they go over to big school for meals.
4:09
And now the girl child is at big school all day and the
4:12
boy child goes back to little.
4:16
And then they go over to
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daycare.
4:18
So, so they will continue to go to roughly the same geographic location.
4:23
Yeah.
4:23
But it's, it is slightly different, slightly different
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setup depending on the, how
4:26
well they are.
4:27
Yep.
4:28
Yep.
4:28
And it's really nice that everything is in one place because yeah, two,
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you see a lot of, you know, town, kids walking, who, you know, drop a couple
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siblings off at daycare and at head start and then they drop some off at
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four year old preschool and then they drop some off at elementary and then.
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Go on to the, the high school.
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So it's, mm-hmm, , there's a lot of big families in town.
4:49
Yeah.
4:49
So there's a lot of dropping people off at different buildings, but so
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it's nice that they're all right next to each other like that.
4:56
Oh, there's gotta be some
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farm updates though.
5:01
It was summer.
5:03
Yeah.
5:03
Things were happening.
5:04
Yeah.
5:05
That's about it.
5:06
Arlene happened.
5:07
It was summer.
5:08
Things have happened.
5:10
thank.
5:11
We're finishing up third crop hay.
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It's been rough, I think a little bit.
5:18
We're getting to the part of the year.
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That is very, very humid in Iowa.
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And so getting the hay dry enough to bale has been challenging
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mm-hmm but it is what it is.
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We have a, it's a nice looking crop.
5:33
It's just getting it baled and in the barn, that's been a bit more of an.
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But whatever.
5:40
Other than that, just starting to get things wrangled around for putting
5:44
the Rams back in with the U and the bull back in with the cows and getting
5:49
everybody put back together so they can be happy, which will be nice.
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There'll be a lot less noise when everyone is back where they belong.
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Yeah.
5:57
We have, you know, cows that are starting to come into heat again,
6:00
after, you know, having capped.
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The spring or whatever.
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It's getting noisy out there and the bull is starting to get real grumpy
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about the fact that they keep walking away and leaving him at the barn.
6:12
So it'll be nice to let him back out.
6:15
We really haven't done anything for phone thoroughly.
6:18
We're very boring people.
6:20
that's okay.
6:20
You know, which is, is good.
6:22
It's good.
6:23
Not to have anything too exciting to talk about.
6:25
How have things been at your place?
6:28
It's been good.
6:29
August tends to be one of our busier months.
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Our, what used to be our county Holstein show.
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And it's now kind of our regional Holstein show because a lot of
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counties are, you know, as tends to happen in lots of places.
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There are getting to be fewer farms and fewer people who show cows as well.
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So that is in August.
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So there was a lot of prep work for that.
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And then my.
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Daughter and husband and various fours went to a couple of other
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fairs who had open heifer shows.
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So not, not milking cow classes.
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So that makes it a little easier, cuz you're not having to milk them
7:07
on site or anything, but yeah.
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Brought some heifers to a couple smaller fairs.
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Our county four H show happened in.
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So there was a lot of showing going on, washing whites.
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It felt like every other every week and lots of stain treating and trying
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to get them ready again to be worn.
7:27
And another tradition which happened in August this year too, is I go
7:32
every year to a family camp or I've been going since my daughter.
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One, I think was the first time I went as an adult and it's a camp that I went
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to when I was growing up with my, with my mom and then went on my own as a kid, too.
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So it's like a traditional summer camp where kids go and spend a week
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and can do lots of fun and stuff.
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But then.
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They have a family camp session every summer where you can, where parents
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can go with younger kids who aren't ready to go to camp on their own yet.
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So you still get to stay at a cabin and there's staff there to run the activities.
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And there's a cook there to prepare the meals.
8:05
But you get to go to summer camp as grown up.
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So with your children, of course.
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So it's kind of a good chance to be a fun mom because I'm not worrying about
8:15
laundry or cooking or planning activities.
8:18
And.
8:19
With the, the change of routine.
8:21
So he didn't maybe have as much fun as I had hoped, but I think it was
8:25
still a good experience overall, but you know, it had its challenges.
8:29
I went with just the, the younger two.
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Nephews along with us, cuz the older ones have kind of aged out of going to camp
8:37
with their mom, but it was still good.
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And some of my cousins and are on staff there now.
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And I had some aunts and, and cousins who were campers as well.
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So that was pretty cool too.
8:50
Another farm based change that we've had is my father-in-law previously
8:55
had sheep and he'd been downsizing his flock of it in the last.
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Anyway, he had some knee replacements done.
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And so he downsized at that point a few years ago.
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And he'd made the decision back in may or June that he was, he was
9:08
gonna sell the remaining sheep.
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So the day the sheet moved out the.
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Show heifers moved over across the road to the former sheep barn, which
9:20
is great because now they have water bowls and they're separate pens.
9:24
So everyone can get fed separately, their special diets for depending
9:27
what they need to look like.
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For show season.
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But we're also learning that the sheep fence is not necessarily
9:34
standing up to what Holstein, heifers and yearlings require of it.
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So we've had a few escapees, so that's required a little bit of a, a fine
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tuning in terms of getting the fences up to par for what we're requiring it to
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do well.
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And I, I know one thing we've learned with running sheep band cattle is.
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Cattle have much longer legs than sheep do.
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Yes.
9:57
Yeah.
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And can jump that's true.
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Much higher than the average sheep mm-hmm yeah.
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And when they stretch over the fence to get grass on the other side, then yeah.
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Things can get squished out too.
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Yeah.
10:08
I suppose sheep tend to go through the fence where cattle tend to go.
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Over to reach stuff.
10:14
Yeah, that's right.
10:15
Yeah.
10:16
So I always, I always said when we had, we used to have goats and I
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said, I was just gonna put like a 12.
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Chain link fence down the middle with like Barb wire and a machine gun tower, just
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like down the middle of the farm and then not even bother you basically need the,
10:32
yeah.
10:32
You need like the Jurassic park fencing
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if you're gonna have going through.
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Yeah, exactly.
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But I figured if you just put it down the middle and told them not to go
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anywhere near it, they'd spend all their time going back and forth across it.
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And they'd probably never noticed that the rest of it was not fenced
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there.
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Yeah.
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You know, good
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theory.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, we had a a black Angus cow a couple years ago.
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That was a beautiful cow who went to the sale barn because
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she kept destroying pipe gates.
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Like just shredding them.
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I was like, you know, those gates are expensive.
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That's that's not worth it.
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Yeah.
11:05
Yeah.
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Anyway.
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So in other summer news, oh, it doesn't feel like a whole lot sometimes.
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We have fabulous neighbors who let us use their pool.
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So we spent some time over there on the hot days.
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My parents actually bought cottage not too far away under an hour.
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So we've spent a couple days they're enjoying their new Lakeview and.
11:27
Last week on the way home from the cottage, I hit a deer.
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So my, the first day of school, when my first day of silence in a long time,
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when there was nobody in the house, I spent most of that first day calling
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the insurance company and going to the body shop and trying to figure
11:43
out all the steps that you have to go through to get your vehicle fixed
11:47
up after you run into something.
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So that wasn't ideal, but nobody was hurt.
11:52
Well, other than the deer obvious.
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But the humans were not hurt and the van will get fixed.
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So that's fine.
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Yeah.
11:58
And the kids started back to school.
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So we have, the oldest is going into her final year of high
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school, which is hard to believe.
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And.
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Number two is starting his first year of high school.
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So that's been a new experience and he seems pretty excited about it so far.
12:15
Our high school starts about an hour and a bit earlier than the elementary school.
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So they're actually out the door to go to the bus.
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Sometimes even before the next two, even wake up in the morning.
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Thankfully, my two early risers are the ones who were in high school.
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So they're at the door at about seven 30 in the morning to get to
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get on the bus and go to high school.
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And then my elementary guide grade seven and grade three.
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So they're growing up.
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My,
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My two were.
12:45
So desperate to take the bus mm-hmm , but I just, with the little one, you know,
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next year, next year I'll be ready.
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And I'm probably gonna say this until they're both in college.
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That next year I'll be ready for them to take the bus.
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The kids really wanna take the bus, but it's a, we know the bus
13:03
driver, we know all the other kids on their route, but it's still just
13:08
by virtue of living in the country.
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It's still, you know, 45 minutes, morning and afternoon mm-hmm and I
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just can't quite, you know, especially since Jim is now driving within a
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mile and a half of school, every.
13:21
Yeah, it's I just can't quite pull the trigger on letting him ride the bus.
13:25
Yeah.
13:26
We are lucky in the sense that we're in the country, but we're
13:29
only a few minutes from town.
13:30
So like the high school bus route, I think is . I think my son clocked it at so
13:37
yeah, they're the, the last ones on and.
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Just a few kilometers from town.
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So they actually have a pretty short route.
13:44
So that's nice.
13:45
How many minutes did you say it was?
13:47
Four.
13:48
Oh, that's not bad at all.
13:50
yeah, no, we're, we're only like six or seven miles from
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town, but because there's.
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So few farms out here, you know, farmsteads mm-hmm and there's
14:00
so few kids, they cover a lot of territory picking up up enough kids
14:04
to make it worth driving the bus.
14:06
Yeah.
14:07
It just depends.
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Where on the route you happen to be?
14:09
Yeah.
14:10
Oh, I did sign a girl child up for Clover kids for four H.
14:13
Which starts in two weeks.
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I think, I think she'll really enjoy that.
14:17
It's the, that's fun.
14:19
The, the baby four H mm-hmm , you
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know, I don't think we, we have Clover buds here, but I've
14:24
never heard of Clover kids.
14:25
So that be it.
14:26
Oh,
14:26
it's probably the same thing.
14:27
They go for like two hours a week and do a craft and have a snack or whatever.
14:34
I don't know.
14:34
Mm-hmm brainwash.
14:35
'em young.
14:36
Absolutely.
14:38
yeah.
14:38
You know, she's.
14:41
She's getting really into animals and it's astounding, the amount of science
14:45
they're learning from watching TV.
14:48
Mm-hmm I'm.
14:50
I think I posted something to the show Instagram the other day, but
14:53
my kids have a better understanding of a lot of science than I do.
15:00
And I went to college for a science program.
15:04
Yeah.
15:05
And my kids still have a better understanding of it.
15:08
You know, but I'm sure what they're learning is taught
15:12
in a much more engaging way.
15:14
So yeah.
15:15
Note to college professors, maybe watch some watch some
15:19
PBS and get some tips on that.
15:21
Yeah.
15:22
Check out story bots or yes, the other.
15:24
Oh yeah.
15:24
But number blocks.
15:26
We're all about the number blocks.
15:27
Yes.
15:28
Number
15:28
blocks is a good one too.
15:29
Yeah.
15:31
Yep.
15:31
So how about we move on to our first guest of season two?
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And this I don't think is, is secret knowledge since she posted it on her
15:41
own Instagram, but when we recorded, this was back in July, she hadn't
15:47
announced yet, but she's actually now expecting her second child.
15:50
So congratulations to our guests so that you're gonna hear in just a minute.
15:55
Wow.
15:55
Congratulations guys.
15:57
That's exciting.
15:59
So today we're talking to Jess Martin, a dairy farmer from Southern Ontario.
16:02
So she's from my province, Jess.
16:04
We start each of our interviews with the same question.
16:06
This is a way to introduce yourself to our listeners.
16:09
And we ask, what are you growing?
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So this can cover crops, livestock, family businesses,
16:13
and all manner of other things.
16:14
So, Jess, what are you grow?
16:17
I am growing a variety of things.
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I'm happy to be on the podcast today.
16:21
So I do farm with my husband, Ian and our son Brody.
16:25
So obviously I am helping grow him and we milk 110 cows and we also grow
16:31
all our own crops to feed the cows.
16:33
And then alongside that we grow all our own forges and also
16:37
some other crops that we cash
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crop as.
16:42
And what breed of cattle are you milking Holsteins.
16:46
Yeah.
16:46
Is there as a non-dairy farmer?
16:48
Is there a reason that everybody just has one kind generally?
16:52
I'm not sure how to answer that, but we it's just our, it's
16:57
our definitely our preference.
16:58
They, they milk more than what jerseys would.
17:01
And yeah, we just love the.
17:04
I would say there are some people that have mixed herds in terms of
17:08
say, if you were a purebred herd and you were registering cattle,
17:11
if you had say, if you, like, I know there are some people who have
17:13
Holsteins and jerseys, then you're.
17:16
You're kind of got those dual streams in terms of registration
17:20
and things like that.
17:21
And then there are some things like stall size that are gonna be better
17:25
for say your, your bigger cow.
17:27
So like if you had Holsteins and jerseys in a, in a barn, then you know, the
17:30
jerseys are gonna get messier in your stalls, because if they're bigger
17:33
for your Holsteins, then they're gonna be almost too big for a Jersey.
17:37
So, I mean, there are, there are definitely some mixed,
17:40
lots of mixed herds out there.
17:42
Logistical reasons.
17:44
All
17:44
right.
17:44
Yes, absolutely.
17:46
And what kind of setup do you have Jess?
17:48
In terms of your, your barn.
17:49
That's one of the other usual dairy questions
17:53
have a parlor.
17:53
So that would definitely affect if we would add in some jerseys as well.
17:57
We have a herringbone swing parlor So we can milk.
18:01
It's 24, so we can milk 12 on one side at one time.
18:05
And then we also have a compost beded pack where the cows lie on.
18:09
So we have no stalls, they just lie on the compost pack.
18:15
Right.
18:15
And did you grow up on a farm yourself or what is your background?
18:19
I
18:19
did not.
18:20
So this is a huge change for me, but it's been a fun learning curve.
18:25
I had no experience whatsoever with dairy or farming.
18:29
My grandparents I had spent some time there on the farm, but other than that,
18:34
basically it was new to me when I met Ian.
18:37
I did do some milking when we.
18:40
Had started dating, but it was all new to me after we got married.
18:43
And then I just got thrown into it milked twice, sometimes three times a day.
18:48
And now I, I love it.
18:50
I wouldn't know anything else.
18:52
And yeah, I am so happy to be a part of it.
18:58
So one of our goals in starting the podcast was to connect with
19:02
other families who are farming and raising kids on the farm.
19:05
So what is your favorite thing about raising your little one on the farm?
19:09
And what's your favorite thing about the stage that he's at right now?
19:13
That is a great question.
19:14
There is so many joys in raising kids on a farm.
19:17
Considering I didn't come from it.
19:19
I am grateful to be able to raise a kid on the farms, just seeing all the
19:23
new life I think is a huge blessing.
19:25
And also.
19:27
I just, yeah, I love the stage that he is at because he is learning
19:29
so many new things every day.
19:31
Sure.
19:31
It's a very busy stage, but it is also a good stage.
19:36
He loves the cows.
19:37
He loves going up to them, interacting with them.
19:40
And as he grows older, I know we will be able to teach them so many things.
19:45
I feel like animals can teach us so many things and just having
19:49
that connection with an animal and teaching them the hard work and
19:52
dedication that goes into raising them.
19:55
Will go a long way in his life, whether he chooses to stay on the
19:58
farm or not, we don't know, but we know we can raise him with such good
20:03
values and hard work, hard work ethic.
20:07
Yeah.
20:08
And how old
20:09
is he right now?
20:09
I'm not sure if we got that at the beginning.
20:11
He's just a little over one.
20:13
He turned one in March.
20:15
Yeah.
20:15
Yeah.
20:15
So that, he's just a
20:16
little tater.
20:17
Yeah.
20:18
Yeah.
20:19
But he's walking.
20:20
So he is very busy in the barn.
20:21
We definitely it's, we know it's a danger, but we, we try and watch
20:27
him as good as we can for sure.
20:30
And is this a multi-generational farm?
20:31
Is this a farm that's been in your husband's family for years or decades
20:36
or any of that kind of stuff or what's the history of the place where you're.
20:40
Yes, it is so Ian and I are first generation dairy farmers.
20:44
We farm with Ian's parents and.
20:48
So Brody will be if he chooses to we'll be fifth generation.
20:52
So definitely a multi-generation farm.
20:55
Ian's parents are still very involved, which we are grateful for.
20:58
We're just working on taking over.
20:59
They still help.
21:00
And his grandma actually lives.
21:02
We live on farm and his grandma actually lives still in the
21:06
other part of our house.
21:07
So we are definitely a multi-generation farm.
21:12
I think as someone who also didn't come from a farm background, that was one
21:16
of the biggest adjustments for me was, you know, we also farm with my in-laws.
21:19
They live across the road.
21:21
Okay.
21:21
And not so much actually the experience of having them so close, but other people's
21:28
understanding of what it would be like to have your in-laws across the road.
21:32
It really does.
21:33
Reflect real quickly on how good your relationship is with them and
21:37
how your partner's relationship is with their parents when you're
21:41
spending that much time together.
21:43
And it's not, you know, Christmas and.
21:46
You know, Easter or whatever, but it's an ongoing situation.
21:53
Absolutely.
21:54
It brings many challenges, but it's also very rewarding.
21:57
I know them better than I would know them.
21:59
If I would just see them Christmas and a few other times a year, I
22:02
definitely know them a lot, lot better.
22:07
I think it's so good for our kids too, to see their grandparents and, you
22:12
know, older generations in general being active people and not just, you
22:17
know, grandma and grandpa sitting on the couch, waiting for the kids to
22:20
come over so they can feed 'em candy.
22:22
It's, you know, it's nice to, to learn from them and to absolutely
22:26
be more active together.
22:28
Absolutely.
22:29
So what is, is the, what has been the biggest challenge?
22:31
So far to having a little one on the.
22:34
Besides the fact that he can walk now, which is definitely a a game changer.
22:40
Yeah.
22:41
So definitely we are grateful for grandparents to help watch him in
22:45
that aspect when they are around.
22:47
And if not, I mean, strollers are great, but besides that the biggest challenge
22:52
would just be how to manage your time.
22:53
Like farming is always busy.
22:55
There is always things to do, but just basically managing
22:59
your time to be able to.
23:02
Do it all.
23:03
I don't know if that's even possible, but we, we can at least try and also
23:08
bringing him alongside farming, but not overworking him or making him do too much.
23:15
I mean, obviously he's not working, but pushing him enough to know that we
23:19
still need to get the work done, but not doing too much is constantly a balance.
23:26
Yeah.
23:26
It's always hard to know, you know, when to stop, right?
23:30
Because like you said, the list is never done.
23:32
You're never fully, there's always something you could be doing, but, and
23:36
if you're already together as a family, then it's like, oh, well it's family time.
23:40
But yeah.
23:41
You know, sometimes that, that, that can turn into just working
23:45
all the time and never really having those breaks that you need.
23:49
That's right.
23:50
And I know as we, like, if we, if God allows us to have more children or we
23:56
have more of a family and our family keeps growing, it'll keep changing.
24:00
So the challenges always come, but we're, we're just trying to adopt as we go.
24:06
So I did check with Jess before the interview to see if Mennonite
24:10
questions were on the table.
24:11
And she said that she's good to answer some questions on this topic.
24:13
So I said, well, try not to go like go totally off into this territory.
24:17
And I feel like this is the most basic question that you probably
24:20
get all the time and I could Google it, but I'm asking you instead.
24:23
So what's the difference between being Mennonite and being Amish?
24:27
So that's actually a tough question.
24:29
I was not sure how to answer that.
24:31
We do not have a lot of Amish right in this area.
24:34
And it's really hard to explain because Mennonite is such a vague term.
24:38
And so is Amish.
24:39
Like there's a lot of differences within the Amish and a lot of differences
24:42
within the Mennonite, but basically kind of an overall answer is that
24:47
I'm just gonna need a minute here.
24:48
So basically everybody interprets the Bible differently.
24:52
So whether you're Catholic, whether you're Presbyterian, whichever religion you are,
24:57
everyone interprets the Bible differently.
24:59
And as for Amish and Mennonite, basically I would say they are
25:04
more enclosed within themselves.
25:06
They believe in shunning which would be the most common
25:10
one that people know about.
25:11
And also I would say that they don't necessarily have as much of a biblical
25:16
view as what Mennonites would.
25:18
So we would take, we interpret the Bible a lot different than what they would.
25:22
I'm not even exactly sure if they use the same Bible as what we would.
25:26
I would need to look into that a little bit more, but basically it's different
25:32
interpretations of the Bible and they want to interpret it in a very simple.
25:40
Sure.
25:41
So like you said, even be within being Mennonite, that looks
25:45
different for different people.
25:47
So for someone from the outside looking at different Mennonites who, you know,
25:51
some are using a horses and buggy and some are using a lot more technology,
25:55
both like in the home and on the farm.
25:57
What are some of the differences within the Mennonite faith that, that makes that
26:03
possible, I guess, is what I'm asking.
26:06
Yeah.
26:07
So another great question.
26:08
And that's again with how we interpret the Bible.
26:10
So Mennonites, which would be, well, that depends where you live, but
26:15
in our area like Olo door and Dave Martin they would drive horse and
26:20
buggy because they would want to be set apart from the world in that way.
26:24
So Jesus calls us to be set apart from the world and that's how they
26:28
interpret that portion of the Bible.
26:30
They take it in a very literal sense.
26:32
Whereas me personally, as a Christian, I interpret it more in a spiritual
26:36
sense to be set apart from the world.
26:39
So yes, we still dress modestly.
26:41
We still wear headship prevailing, but we do not take it in the literal sense to be.
26:46
Like set apart from the world, we go out on missions.
26:50
We want to spread the gospel around to the world, whereas they're more
26:54
secluded within their communities.
26:58
Does that make sense?
26:59
Yeah, that does make sense.
27:01
Do you have other questions on that?
27:02
Yeah, so I guess one of the other questions I had was in terms of so in
27:07
some areas people are homeschooling or have their own Mennonite schools where
27:12
you live, would, would kids be going to separate in, in a separate school system
27:15
or are they in the public school system or how does that part of, of parenting
27:20
work?
27:20
So our church does have a own, our own school.
27:23
But a couple other churches are joined in with that school that come to that school.
27:27
But definitely just with the way the public school system is, we prefer to
27:33
center our kids to a Christian school because they also teach about the Bible
27:38
and that's a great asset and we, and just also the community asset of it is huge.
27:47
and we really, really appreciate that.
27:48
Our school would be funded by the churches a variety of churches that would
27:53
be in our denomination of Mennonite.
27:56
And also you do need to pay tuition to go there.
27:59
So not everyone in our church goes to our school.
28:03
There is some that are in the public school system.
28:05
It is your choice, personally, as parents as to where you want
28:09
to send your kids to school.
28:11
Sure.
28:11
That makes sense.
28:14
So were you and your husband both from the same community I'm trying to ask,
28:21
like what the, were you the same level of Mennonite when you got married?
28:26
Yes,
28:26
we were
28:27
to come up with a polite way to be like, You know,
28:31
no, that's totally fine.
28:33
Yes.
28:34
So we were school friends or our parents were friends, so we were friends
28:38
from little up and we did attend the same school and we attended different
28:43
churches, but they would be from the same like Mennonite denomination.
28:48
So, and now we attend the church that he went to, but that was
28:53
just because it was closer.
28:54
It's not sure, really any different.
28:57
There's a lot of Amish in our area, in the central us and my dad's side of the family
29:04
lives in Northwestern, Pennsylvania, where there's also a lot of Amish.
29:07
And seeing the difference between the two areas is a little
29:13
bit shocking, to be honest.
29:16
You know, the Amish here wear colors.
29:19
Drink come out and do, and most of them have cell phones , which is a little
29:24
like, you know more power to them.
29:27
And I, I understand why people have different interpretations,
29:33
but it is interesting how widespread that difference can be.
29:40
And some of it really doesn't make.
29:42
Yeah, it's not really like, it's mostly just church rules.
29:46
It's not biblical, whereas like our church has guidelines, but it is still biblical
29:52
based and that's a huge difference.
29:54
Yeah, some things we don't even understand about other Mennonites as well.
29:58
So it's really difficult for us to explain because there are
30:02
hundreds of different types of Mennonites especially in this area.
30:07
So it's difficult to explain, but
30:10
yeah.
30:11
So some of those, some of those rules in terms of how people decide to
30:15
separate from the world, or, you know, for lack of a better term, then that
30:20
can be very, very specific to that church and that particular community.
30:26
So those rules don't actually translate maybe to other other groups.
30:32
That's right.
30:33
That's right.
30:34
It can be very specifically to one church.
30:38
Definitely.
30:38
Mm-hmm yes.
30:42
So you recently started a series on your Instagram page called let's talk Tuesday.
30:47
What topics are you talking about and who are you hoping to connect with?
30:51
I have had a very wide variety of topics so far.
30:55
I had started with time management and I have done some farming related topics.
31:00
I do.
31:01
One that's coming up that is about anxiety.
31:05
And do we deal with anxiety with the farming debt load?
31:08
I'm working on that currently because I have got it asked frequently and somebody
31:14
just asked me it again, which is a very interesting question, personally,
31:18
Ian and I do not deal with it now.
31:19
We know a lot of people that do we use it as motivat.
31:23
But I'm looking forward to talking about that a bit more, but a target audience
31:28
would be kind of a wide variety of people.
31:30
That depends what topic, but hopefully a farming community so that they can maybe.
31:35
Learn from us if I wanna put it that way.
31:38
And then possibly other consumers, people that are not on a farm to understand what
31:43
we deal with whether it is anxiety or just some basic on-farm things or on-farm
31:48
topics that we want to spread the word.
31:54
Do you have any
31:55
time management tips for us from your let's talk to stay time management?
32:00
Sure.
32:01
I can use them
32:02
all.
32:03
Sorry, same, same.
32:04
I've kind of given up, but okay.
32:07
well, I agree.
32:09
It's hard and it's especially difficult when you have a child, because you can
32:13
have a plan and that plan can all get thrown out the window in one second.
32:17
So that's why I was saying the challenge with having a
32:19
kid is time management, right?
32:21
So I feel.
32:23
Time management is wide.
32:24
Like it's not just on farming.
32:26
I feel like we can all work on it, whether I'm speaking about it or not.
32:29
But time management tips basically not waste too much time on your phone by
32:35
like procrastinating things, which I feel is a big challenge in this day and age.
32:40
And some other things would be.
32:45
I'm gonna need a minute to think about this one too.
32:47
That's all right.
32:48
I didn't put it in the script.
32:50
that's okay.
32:51
I'm trying to think I had another question and now it's gone.
32:54
So there that's one way to manage your time.
32:59
Yeah.
33:00
Another time management tip would be to organize your life.
33:04
And I feel like that's a wide variety, but organizing decluttering your space
33:11
keeping your life like using either your phone day planner, some sort of day
33:16
planner to try and stay organized and on top of things with times and try and.
33:21
Like plan your days.
33:22
According.
33:23
So today I had an appointment this morning podcast in the afternoon.
33:28
So I knew that this day was a day that was going to be dedicated for that.
33:32
So I got a babysitter for Brody, so I could do some other
33:35
things and stay focused on that.
33:37
Whereas if I would've had an appointment and done a podcast
33:41
another day, it would've taken out two whole days pretty much.
33:44
So trying to manage your time in a way like that, when you have
33:47
children, I feel can be very helpful.
33:49
. And there are many other ways for time management, but I would feel that not
33:55
procrastinating and just organizing your life can be in so many different ways.
34:01
So we ask all of our guests, if you were going to dominate a category
34:05
at county fair, what would it be?
34:06
And categories can be real or made up to ensure that you win.
34:11
I feel like something like a Planco or something that just has good luck.
34:17
I have, I have.
34:21
Seemingly good luck when it comes to like names that are or games that are,
34:26
have a draw or something like that, where it's simply just luck of a draw.
34:31
I seem to randomly have good luck with those.
34:33
So some sort of fair game that just has good luck is something
34:37
that I would maybe dominate it.
34:41
That's a good option.
34:43
It's good to know when you're that your luck's gonna hold out.
34:46
It's not always, but tends to have better luck.
34:49
That's right.
34:51
Is there anything else you want to chat about before we move into our
34:53
cussing and discussing segment?
34:57
No, I do not think so.
34:59
Thank you so much for having me
35:01
well, you can stick around for this one, cuz you can
35:03
discuss, you don't have to cuss.
35:05
You can discuss whatever you want.
35:06
So I will introduce the cussing and discussing segment.
35:09
We've registered for an online platform called speak pipe where you can leave your
35:13
cussing and discussing entries for us.
35:14
And we will play them on the show.
35:15
So go to speakpipe.com/barnyard language and leave us a voice memo.
35:20
Or you can always send us an email at Barnard language, gmail.com
35:23
and we'll read it it for.
35:24
So Katie, what are you guessing or discussing this week?
35:28
The gross spills that you find when you have little kids, I'm
35:32
hoping they'll grow out of it.
35:33
Eventually.
35:34
I did you just find one?
35:36
Not yet today.
35:37
Knock on wood, but I just, like, I feel like I can just
35:41
feel them creeping up on me.
35:45
You know?
35:45
Like you let your kid have an apple sauce pouch and before you know, it you'll
35:49
pick something up and there's apple sauce, like on the bottom of it, it just.
35:54
I swear.
35:54
I could probably lock my kids in a padded room with nothing, and
35:58
they would still find a way to.
36:00
Some, some kind of sticky, sticky, spilled mess.
36:03
I, I don't know how they do it.
36:05
Yeah.
36:05
Or it's finding the container days later and thinking, when did someone
36:10
eat this product and how long ago did it make its way into the house?
36:15
I think the best part of being out of the bottle and sippy cup phase is not finding
36:20
things under the couch that are like.
36:23
Yeah.
36:24
You know, I'm generally pretty frugal about stuff like that, but even I
36:27
had at least one bottle per child that got tossed because it was just.
36:31
Nope.
36:32
Nope.
36:33
Not gonna do it just, yeah.
36:34
Nope.
36:35
Before having kids, I didn't know that I wanted couches that went all the
36:38
way to the floor, but I think that I probably do want couches that go
36:42
all the way to the floor cuz then all the stuff wouldn't roll under there.
36:46
Yeah.
36:46
And now it's the
36:47
pets throwing stuff under there.
36:49
I know it would be uncomfortable, but I kind of feel like if you could make
36:52
your whole house out of cinder blocks and then like, just have a pressure
36:56
washer that came down from the ceiling.
36:58
Yeah.
36:58
Like that, you know, furniture and everything outta cinder blocks.
37:01
Like obviously not very HOA or very cozy, but.
37:06
It would be easier to, it would be cleaner.
37:08
Yeah.
37:08
Yeah.
37:08
For sure.
37:09
Yeah.
37:09
Jess, what do you have to discuss and discuss?
37:13
I definitely agree with finding gross things in the house.
37:17
I always find Brody loves macaroni, so I always find dried up.
37:21
Gross macaronis everywhere.
37:23
Cuz they stick to his bum and then I try and wipe him off, but I find
37:27
him dragged all over the house.
37:30
So definitely relatable.
37:32
Definitely.
37:33
I,
37:33
I had no idea how much time I'd spend picking things up off the
37:37
floor and going, what was this before it became what it is now?
37:41
It's true.
37:42
Like, is it a blueberry?
37:44
Is it poop?
37:45
Who knows?
37:46
Like, Ugh, gross.
37:49
Arlene, what do you have?
37:50
I'm going off in a different direction and I'm going to discuss or cuss or talk to
37:56
you guys about the difficulty in making friends as an adult, because I have some,
38:03
you know, some good friends nearby, and yet I find that I hardly ever see them
38:09
and starting new relationships when you.
38:13
At home, we're on the farm.
38:14
A lot of the time is really, I find really challenging.
38:17
And I mean, I love being a podcaster because we get to meet cool people, but
38:21
most of them don't live anywhere near me.
38:23
So it's not like I can just like make new friends.
38:26
So yeah, that's what I'm thinking about this week is how hard it
38:29
is to make friends as a grown up.
38:31
Cause my kids have all these play dates and I don't have very many
38:35
play dates, which is kind of sad.
38:38
Yeah.
38:38
I feel like it's somewhat easier to build.
38:42
Good relationships with folks who are further away, sometimes more so
38:48
than it is with folks who are local, because there is no expectation that
38:51
you're gonna find a way to hang out.
38:54
So I feel like it's easier to communicate because you're just in my phone.
38:57
Like I don't have to, that's a good point.
38:59
Make plans and get a babysitter and drive somewhere and
39:03
yeah.
39:04
And then you don't feel guilty if you haven't seen them in six months cuz you,
39:07
you're not gonna see them in six months.
39:09
Yeah.
39:09
It's it's not.
39:10
And if you miss 'em, you can just start a podcast and then
39:12
you can see 'em like every day.
39:15
Yeah, I probably see you more than I see my husband, Arlene . Yeah.
39:19
And awesome.
39:20
Do for sure.
39:21
Yeah.
39:22
Yep.
39:22
I agree with finding it hard to find friendships.
39:25
And I find keeping them like, as your, as your friends or as your kids grow up, your
39:31
friends change with like school friends and church friends and this and that.
39:35
And I find like your friends are just constantly changing.
39:38
There's always some, some that stay put, but.
39:41
Finding them and keeping them is definitely difficult.
39:45
Because people change too.
39:47
People change.
39:47
Yeah.
39:48
And then if you have kids at different ages, you know, if, if it's a situation
39:52
where you're hanging out together and the kids don't get along or they're
39:55
at completely different, different stages, then they don't wanna hang out.
39:58
Then it gets harder too.
39:59
Right.
39:59
Where it's like, we're going to Soandso house.
40:01
And they're like do we have to, or, you know, like, or you're breaking up
40:05
fights all the time when they're, you know, like when they're at that little
40:08
stage where, where it's hard for little people to get along with each other.
40:13
Yeah.
40:13
And it, it makes it harder for those adult relationships to, to stick to
40:20
definitely.
40:23
So I'm gonna say thank you to Jess for joining us on the podcast today.
40:27
If people want to connect, check out your Tuesday content or learn
40:32
more about you and your farm work, and they find you online
40:36
on Instagram, it's Martin underscore Jess underscore, and also Twitter is the same.
40:42
Those are the two places to find.
40:45
Basically non-existent on Twitter, but Instagram's my main thing.
40:49
We're kind of the same.
40:50
We have a Twitter, we don't
40:52
really use it.
40:53
I stick my toes into the Twitter pool occasionally.
40:56
And then I look around, I'm like, nah, I'm out.
40:58
Like,
41:00
, that's pretty much how I am.
41:01
I like the odd time I'll post something, but definitely not very existent there.
41:08
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41:11
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41:16
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