DOL my true first blog

Okay, confession I did not just decide to start a random blog off the cuff. It came after writing an organization about my fear of the new dol rules. When I did they asked me to turn it into a blog they could post on their website. I have a fear of writing because of my dyslexia. I told my brother who said "what you have to say is important, you can write it.". So I sent it to him for editing. We emailed it back and forth. And finally I was ready to send it on to the organization. I was going to send it today.


But something amazing happened and the DOL withdrew their new regulations. So I have decided to post it here instead.

The Department of Labor has new regulations for the child labor law as it applies to family farms.  This new interpretation of the law would devastate my farm daughters way of life.  Our family farm is owned by my husbands family corporation and trust.  With that in mind my daughters could not ride in a tractor with their dad, help gather cattle on horseback form the pausture, and many other basic farm activities.

This message may not resonate with you personally, but it will affect our entire agricultural system if it is not stopped completely.   Wendell Berry says " eating is an agricultural act", and everyone eats.

Learning animal husbandry at an early age is essential for life long kind caring for livestock.  On the farm an internship starts at infancy. Farming is a way of life, it is different than other professions.  It requires a very long apprenticeship.  

For example I was raised around cattle, now to you a cow may be something that you simply get milk and beef form.  For me, a cow is so much more, we grew-up together.  My first Cow was Blossom. Blossom is a Momma that I saw born into this world.  Then watch her as a calf bounce around the pasture. I was there when she was weened and heared her cry all night for her Mama.  I feed Blossom each morning before school and I feed and groomed her each night after sports practice.  I showed her at the local county fair. I help decide who should father her calf when it came time. I was thrilled when we found out she was pregnant. I was there considering myself a doula when her first calf was born.  I made sure the calf was health and nursing before going in for the night on a cold January day. 

Now my daughters are watching and learning how to care for her great granddaughters.  Blossom the cow help pay for my college and taught me how to be the best cattle woman I could be.  I want my daughters to have the same opportunities I had working on my family's farms.  

The average age for farmers is raising. We need young farmers to take over.  We need them to learn all of these skills at an early age.  We need them to be allowed to work on our farms.

My husband would not have been allowed to farm had these rules been in affect when he was younger.  Our farm is on my husbands mothers side.  Neither of his parents work on the farm.  He came and started working beside his grandfather and uncle from the age of 3. He was at the farm every weekend in high school. He was able to pay for college with the money he earned working on the farm.  He also fell in love with the farming lifestyle at an early age and knew it was right where he wanted to be when he grew up.

Please help support our way of life.  Find out more information at KeepFamiliesFarming.com.  Please write  your congressman, Department of Labor, and President Obama administration. Let them know this may have been in good intentions but it only hurt our family farms and intern hurts our food  supply system.