Liebster Award – Discovering New Blogs!

My farm blogger friend Sara over at Hewitt Farms just made my entire week by nominating me for a Liebster Award.

I met Sara in person at a social media conference for those of us in agriculture last August and she’s smart, talented and has the coolest collection of cowboy boots that I secretly covet. Yep, pretty much amazeballs. (Which now makes me laugh because I don’t think I’ve ever written that word before. Amazeballs. I’m probably too old to write that word. But there it is. So I’m keeping it.)

Anywho …. the Liebster Award is a way for bloggers to nominate other up-and-coming bloggers they like, in the hopes that this will lead more people to discover these bloggers for themselves. I’m thrilled Sara included me in her list of 10 bloggers worth checking out! In order for me to accept this award, I am now charged with answering 10 questions Sara gave to me and naming 10 more bloggers for the Liebster Award. I’m totally up for that challenge, so here goes:

1. What is your favorite childhood memory?

Wow – tough question! I was blessed with an amazing childhood with so many good memories, but one in particular is sticking out in my mind as I write this. I used to spend a week (or sometimes two!) each summer with my cousin, Christine. We lived about three hours apart growing up but are the same age and we’ve been close friends for what seems like forever. I could always be exactly myself with her (still can, actually) and I will treasure those lazy summer vacation days together forever.

2. If you won a 2-week trip, with the destination of your choice, where would you go?

As much as I should say I would go somewhere I’ve never been, the truth is, I would love to go back to France. I’ve been there three times (although the third time was a quick night’s layover in Paris so it hardly counts) and I would go back in a heartbeat. I love the architecture, the history,  the gardens, the wine, the food and Paris in particular.

3. If money was no object, what is one “want” you would purchase?

I would design a new house on some acreage or perhaps on a lake and include all the things my own house lacks – namely higher ceilings, a bigger laundry room,  more closet space and a big zinnia garden out back. Yep, a garden just for an abundance of zinnias. How pretty would that be?

4. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

I love the tradition Teacher Man and I have created on the weekend of Thanksgiving. Once we get home from visiting family, we always pick out a Christmas tree from the local nursery and spend one afternoon and evening getting the house and the tree ready for December. We play Christmas music, enjoy some wine and finish with Joe putting the tree top on the Christmas tree.

5. Why did you decide to start blogging?

I love to write. I have since I was a little girl, so in part, it’s as simple as that. I love the whole creative process of a blog – creating the design that “fits” me and finding the my writing voice. Combine this passion with a need I see for more people in the poultry industry to share stories of what our farmers do and combat misinformation … and my own crazy, quirky blog was born. Where else will you find posts about turkey and eggs and chicken along with my own personal interests – like fun shoes, gardening, wine, favorite recipes and family?

6. What are the best words of advice you have received?

My Grandpa Joe often told me as a younger girl to “stand up straight, stick those shoulders back and don’t let anyone push you around.”

7. What was your very first  job?

If I don’t count babysitting (which I did a fair amount of in my early teens), then my first “real” job was lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons at the Hector Area Pool. I loved to swim and, truth be told, I didn’t like walking beans, picking rock, or detassling corn (gasp! yes, this farm girl really didn’t like any of those farm jobs!), so I made sure I got my lifesaving and teaching certificates so that I could work in town every summer. It was a great full-time job, and with the pool located right next to the softball park, it felt a bit like the social hub of Hector – bonus!

8. What possession do you treasure the most, and what is the story behind it?

I treasure my piano, which was my first big purchase after getting my first full-time job after graduating from college. I knew early on that I absolutely MUST have a piano with me, always. (I’ve been playing since I was 8.) It’s moved with me many times over the years and I still play as often as I can – mostly for fun, sometimes for performances, and often as a stress reliever. And now my son, Joe, is taking lessons and learning to play on this piano as well.

9. What is one goal you want to accomplish before you “kick the bucket”?

I have wanted to write a book for as long as I can remember. I grew up writing stories and I really haven’t stopped – only now my writing focuses on my work in the poultry industry or on my blog.  In my mind I’d like to write a fiction novel, although I’m not quite sure, ultimately, what my book will be about or if it will even be fiction.  I just know I’d like to be an author. Someday.

10. What is your all-time favorite movie and why?

I’m a sucker for romantic comedy and an English accent, so I have to say that Notting Hill (with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant) is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I never get tired of watching that movie. Yes, I know. Sappy.

Enough about me … here are 10 blogs I’d like to nominate for the Liebster Award. Typically these “up and coming” blogs are supposed to have 200 or fewer followers. Most, I think, probably fall into that category, but this is a bit subjective so I’ve probably included a few that perhaps stretch that requirement a bit. Some of these blogs I’ve followed for a while; some are newer to me and/or are new blogs in general. I know some of these bloggers personally but others I only “know” from reading their blogs.

Without further ado, my list of blogs:

1. On The Banks of Squaw Creek
2. Rural Route Ramblings
3. Beef and Sweet Tea
4. Confessions of a Farm Wife
5. Carolyn Cares
6. Meyer Dairy
7. FarmAmerica Blog
8. Modern Farm Wife
9. Pretty Work
10. Sunflowers and Sauvignon Blanc

If the bloggers above decide to accept their Liebster Award, here is what they are requested to do:

• Thank the person who nominated them.
• Nominate 10 up & coming blogs they follow for the award.
• Answer the 10 questions I gave them (below!)
• Create 10 questions of their own for their nominations to answer.
• And finally … don’t forget to blog about it and put the award up on your page!

Here are my 10 questions for the bloggers above:

1. What’s the best book you’ve read recently and why?
2. Cupcakes or cookies?
3. If you could go back to your childhood, what advice would you give yourself?
4. If money were no object and you could travel anywhere, where would go and why?
5. Why do you blog?
6. If you could meet one living person in the world, who would it be?
7. What is your favorite meal?
8. What’s the one thing you can’t live without?
9. When was the last time you tried something for the first time and what was it?
10. What makes you smile?

Thanks again, Sara, for this honor – it means a lot! (And for the rest of you, please go check out Sara’s blog at Hewitt Farms along with the 10 blogs above. Right now. It’s okay – my blog post is done now.)