Thanksgiving…the Understudy

Thanksgiving…these days it seems like Thanksgiving is the very underpaid, under-noticed understudy to Christmas.  Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas; it’s the most amazing holiday where every light seems brighter, food tastes better, and everyone is so jolly and generous.  I repeat…I love Christmas!

However, I really LOVE taking time to be thankful, and I feel like the best time 
to do that is Thanksgiving (and I’m not just saying that because I’m a turkey
farmer)!  My family has loved Thanksgiving from before we even began raising 
the proverbial “bird of honor.”

Nigel Hamilton said, “Thanksgiving is a time of togetherness and gratitude.” 
Thanksgiving has been a rich tradition in my mom’s family her entire life.  
Her mom hosted a traditional Thanksgiving feast most of her adult married 
life, then the torch was passed to my aunt who hosted an amazing feast for 
my mom’s side of the family for many, many years.  It was at some point 
after my mom’s parents (my grandparents) had both passed away that my 
parents took on the tradition of hosting the Thanksgiving holiday gathering.  
I don’t have many memories of the Thanksgivings before the ones hosted 
by my parents, but when I hear my relatives talk with the fondness of the 
tradition and the memories of the holidays past, it’s almost like I was there.  
I can see through a slightly foggy lens the smiles and almost hear the muffled 
laugher; I can almost smell the aroma of the turkey cooking. I can actually 
feel their time of togetherness and gratitude in my heart. I’m thankful for the 
traditions that were laid before me.

“Be present in all thing and thankful for all things” – Maya Angelou.  In my 
memories, it’s the happiness I see in my mom’s heart as she begins 
preparations for the big feast.Yes, for sure it’s a lot of work to host 35 
people for dinner. I’m going to be honest and tell you, our house gets dusted 
so well on the week before Thanksgiving; every square inch of the floor gets 
vacuumed and windows and light fixtures get washed, twice.  There are not 
always my favorite tasks, and it’s fair to say my mom is a little drill sergeant-ish. 
The shopping gets done, the groceries are carried in and the meal is prepped.  
Although the tasks are many, I am so grateful to have this opportunity and 
that I can be present and in the moment to help prepare for all the things that 
continue to make our tradition (and I don’t mind drill sergeant mom that much).

Melody Beattie Said, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.”  So after all the 
cleaning and shopping is done, then comes the preparing, cooking and setup. 
At my house, it’s a tradition to help prep the food on Wednesday night. My 
siblings and I chop vegetables for stuffing, slice apples for pie and take out the 
buns to rise.  We wipe down the good silverware ,and we get the fancy water 
glasses out of the high cupboards. We set out tables and chairs, and we 
watch my mom iron tablecloths (she doesn’t trust us to iron).  We are lucky 
to have a life full of learning how to host a family tradition. My siblings and 
I don’t take these life lessons for granted, even if we argue over who has to 
carry up all the folding chairs.

“I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage”- Erma Bombeck.   
Me too, Erma, me too.  I can’t even tell you how delicious our meal is.  
I know I am really, really blessed to have all of these traditions.  
I know everyone may celebrate differently, and some families may enjoy 
a vegetarian meal, a pizza supper or a grilled steak on Thanksgiving.  
But that’s the key; it’s not what you eat, it’s who you are with and what you 
remember to be thankful for.  At my house, I am blessed because my mom 
knows the secret to making AMAZING gravy.  I hope someday I will be able 
to duplicate her recipe, and I’m thankful I get to be by her side each year 
and taste test her “best gravy yet.” Oh, and our turkey is pretty amazing too!

“Thanksgiving day is a jewel, to set in hearts of honest men; but be careful that 
you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.” – E.P. Powell.  Don’t get 
caught up in the hype of big three:  Food, Football and Family. Don’t let the 
gravy, pigskin or baby cousins deter you or hold you back from taking time to 
be thankful or showing your gratitude.  And don’t just do it in one day. Make it 
a season of your life - show gratitude daily!

And so, Thanksgiving…What a tremendous holiday, so many things, how do 
we know what to be thankful for?  I’ll close with the words of Charlie Brown: 
“What if today, we were grateful for everything?” Friends, as I wish you a very 
Happy Thanksgiving, I challenge you to take a minute.  A minute to show 
others your gratitude. A minute to tell someone you’re thankful for their 
friendship. A minute to pay your blessings forward.  A minute to be grateful 
for everything.

Minnesota FFA, I am grateful for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stationed beneath the Rising Sun,

Grace Taylor

                                                                         

TED?

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Heron Lake – Okabena FFA Chapter for their greenhand night, where I got to see 25 members receive their greenhand degree! I was asked to give a speech to the members and guests present, but leading up to the event, I wasn’t sure what to speak about. As I sat in an airport the afternoon before, my mind wandered, and I kept asking myself what idea I could share to help these members succeed in the FFA. Each one I thought of didn’t seem like “the one.”

            Regardless of if I’m in a quiet space in my room or in a busy airport, I can never seem to focus on actual work. Instead, I often end up visiting is the TED website when I need inspiration. For those of you who have never watched a TED Talk, they are speeches given by people from around the world, bringing together years of thought and research for the audience. It’s like having access to thousands of retiring addresses all in one place! While I end up watching TED Talks on many topics, I love the underlying slogan of “Ideas worth spreading.”

Sitting in the airport, I visited my trusty inspirational website. A couple TED Talks later, my ideas were finally flowing. I had a little more confidence that I did have an idea worth sharing with the members of Heron Lake – Okabena FFA. Driving to the event, I went over why I wanted to share this idea and how it would help these members succeed in FFA. By the time I arrived at the school, I was emotionally invested in this speech, and I was ready to talk to members and share my message.

After being introduced, I began talking about my experience going shopping with my family on the weekends. I loved going grocery shopping, but hated putting away the groceries when we got home. As a solution to doing all this work, I decided to pretend to be asleep when we got home in order to get out of putting away groceries. This worked, until I realized that my parents had a stash of snacks hidden in the house that I didn’t know where to look for because I never helped put away the groceries. I looked at it like it was work, but it was really an opportunity. Needless to say, I benefited from knowing where the snack stash was until I graduated last spring. It is amazing the benefits we can find when we look at work as an opportunity. After the event, I could tell I had done a pretty good job and brought my idea to life, however, I was still thinking of the “Ideas worth spreading” slogan from the TED conference.

          Often, when we are asked to be creative, we doubt ourselves. The truth is, even if it’s not “the one,” we all have ideas worth spreading. When it comes down to it, people connect with the ideas we believe in so much that we bring them to life. Really, there is no difference between you, a TED speaker, or me; bring your ideas to life!

Stationed by the plow,

Kegan Zimmermann

Horticulture 101

This year, I am enrolled in Introduction to Horticulture at South Dakota State University.
Recently, I sat through a lecture where we talked about how to prune a tree.
It is something so simple but often can be done wrong. When we went over a lot of the concepts, it almost a seemed we were not growing a tree but ourselves.
After learning how to prune a tree, I realized the similarities to how we can “prune” ourselves.
Proper pruning is vital in the first ten years because it guides how the tree will grow for the rest of its life. Even though most of us are not ten years old, it is never too late to prune ourselves.

Here is a video explaining some of the vocab.

There are four basic things we want to cut on our tree. First, remove the suckers from the tree.
Most of the trees we buy are grafted which means the stem is the desired tree and the root stem is a different tree that has characteristics the desired tree lacks.
Grafting trees is a great way to grow trees in the 21st century. However, one disadvantage is that grafted trees can sprout suckers; the suckers are little sprouts that pop up from the trunk from the original tree.
We need to cut these off because they distract from and pull nutrients from the tree that you want. Just like we need to trim away the suckers so our desired tree grows strong, we need to stay true to ourselves.
Why grow parts that are not true to ourselves? Take a look at your life and only do the things that reinforce who you are. Do not spend your time doing things that are not valuable to you.
What things are you doing that distract from who you are?

The second cut removes co-dominant trunks from the tree. This cut is important to make early, but if we miss the ideal time, it is okay as we just need to make cuts over time to fix it. Young saplings can split and grow in two different directions. This decreases the durability of the tree which can break during storms and then we will have to clean up the broken branches. However, this can be prevented by cutting one of the leads and leaving the tree with one solid base and direction. Two lead branches are like when we are multi-tasking you; we think it is effective, but it is actually holding us back. For example, I have found myself conversations going on my phone, and I think I am accomplishing two things are once. Unfortunately, it is actually disrespectful and I cannot remember what the other person said. Having two leads is holding us back from being here and now. The tree could be growing tall and spreading its branches outwards, but instead, it is stuck growing in two different directions only to worry about breaking during the next storm. What is holding you back from growing tall and pulling you in multiple directions? Are you here and now with those around you?

The third cut removes improperly scaffolded branches.
These are the branches with less than 6-18 inches of space between adjacent branches.
This is where we can cut too little but there needs to be room for growth of new branches.
If the branches are too close together, they can grow together and grow into each other.
It is important to cut branches before it is too late or if they have already grown together.
Likewise, it is important to declutter and distress in our life.
We spend so much filling our day and never take the time to reflect on the past.
We need to process what we have gone through. This clears up space for potential growth and shows we can move forward having learned from our past experiences. When are you doing to make time for personal growth? What do you need to remove from your life to grow in the future?

The final cut removes the water sprouts (we cut them for eye appeal) and dead branches from our trees. This is the easiest step because all we need to do is remove the branches that are holding our tree back. We also hold on to things that can hurt us. A dead branch can fall and hurt our house, garage, car, and family. What are some things you are holding on to? This can be a hobby, habit, conscience. We often hold on to what people think of us and it becomes our dead branches. Worrying about what others think of us can crush the things we love. The things we love and care about aren’t always the coolest thing so we may hide from our passions. Jack Canfield once said, “What others think of you is none of your business.” Let go of what others think of us. They do not get to decide who we can be.

Our simple cuts improve our trees, but we can prune ourselves to grow to our full potential. I encourage you to cut the suckers, double leads, improperly scaffolded branches, and dead branches from our lives. I hope these four steps push you to become an amazing arborist. Growing yourself is important no matter what age you are.

Stationed by the flag,

Lauralee Eaton