August Blog Spotlight - Life in the Slow Lane

I can’t even remember when I started following Carrie’s blog, Life in the Slow Lane, but it’s been a long long while and I’ve never missed a post.  We bonded over our love for our dogs and our shared experience of losing one.  Her “farm life” amazes me (especially since I don’t even understand about 90% of what she does there), while her photography makes me wish I lived on the farm (that is the only time I wish that).  While you’re there, check out her adorable new pup, Molly (we all know my weakness for dogs, don’t we?)

So let’s talk about Carrie.

Who are you?
First I just have to say I am so honored that Kat has chosen me as the August Featured blogger. I found Kat through Marriage Confessions and I am so happy I did. The first post I read was about the Swine and I was hooked. Growing up on a farm I know the smells that pigs give off and I can only imagine the disappointment Kat felt that Swine were actually these smelly, ugly and noisy pigs and not a beautiful swan!

I'm a 31-year-old, country living, farm wife of three years to my hubby, TNT. I'm a mommy to a furry cat named Tails and a rambunctious puppy named Molly Sue. TNT and I live on his grandparent’s farm and we are slowly buying more farmland so we can both quit our day jobs and be able to farm full time. My sister is my very best friend and I have the best parents. My beautiful mother is a 7 year breast cancer survivor and every day I’m reminded just how courageous she was to look cancer in the eye and beat it.


Why did you start blogging?
I had been reading blogs for quite awhile and decided I had something to talk about too. That was 810 posts ago. I am so happy that I did start this blog because I have made wonderful friends. It really amazes me that people I’ve never met in real life can become such great friends. To be honest all the blogs I read except Living like the Kings and Marriage Confessions are agricultural related and written by farms wives like me. I am so happy that I came across both of these blogs because I’m learning about the way people who reside in town or the city live too. I’m always amazed at how Kat grows her garden in such a tiny space. My garden is 15’x150’ with everything having its own space.
During my slow times here at work I’ll go back and reread my posts. Some posts I had completely forgotten about so it’s fun to go back. For me blogging is such a great way to document my everyday life. But the best thing about blogging is before I started, my scrapbooks hardly had any pictures of me in it. Then I started doing a link up on Thursday’s where you post a picture of yourself. Now my scrapbooks actually have pictures of me!


What is your favorite summer activity?
I am a summer loving girl. I will take the 100+ degree days we’ve been having this past month over the cold days of 30 degrees and lower anytime. There is so much about summer that I love; flower & veggie gardens, wheat harvest, co-ed softball, IMCA dirt track racing, mowing the farm, going to the cabin at the lake, riding my bike, and of course getting a nice dark tan! But my favorite thing about summer is after a long day of working on the farm to sit on the front porch after my shower and enjoy a glass of wine. I love taking in all the sounds and smells and know that my farm looks so pretty because of all the hard work I’ve done.

Taking Pictures
I made my photography business Facebook Official on June 1^st of this year. I mostly take portraits of people for the business, but my original love was landscape. Then I had clients asking me for specific photos for them to decorate their houses. Talk about an honor to have someone want to put your work on their walls. One client wants to decorate her massage therapy office with Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. I have three of them but Earth is kicking my butt. You would think with us farming 20,000 acres of land I could easily come up with some dirt pictures. My problem seems to be while I’m out searching for the right photo I get sidetracked by people’s junk. That old saying one person’s junk is another’s treasure. Well that is so very true when it comes to photography. The following items were out in my in-laws pasture rusting away for decades.
I fell in love with this old Studebaker.



The only thing left of this old Mercury is the dash board. I asked the mother-in-law if she thought it would start up anyway. If you look close you can see one of the keys is broken off.



Dash boards don’t look like this anymore.



My father-in-law has a bed of an old pickup sitting in the pasture that he throws all his old chains and sprockets in. If you look close you can see the spider webs.



As I was heading home from my in-laws (4 miles to our farm) a good ole Kansas thunderstorm was brewing behind me. I took this through the side mirror on the pickup.