Bee Balm by the Milkhouse

This crazy-looking plant grows in front of our milkhouse. I call it Bee Balm, but other names are Bergamot and Monarda. It has the most wonderful deep, herby aroma and I can’t walk by without taking a hearty whiff.

Sometimes, it has the look of a court jester:

My husband gave me this perennial as a birthday gift several years ago; it is a type of Bee Balm which is not native to Iowa, but I like it anyway for its hardiness and unique appearance. Way out in a far corner of our farm is a small patch of untilled ground which we believe may be a prairie remnant; wild Bee Balm of the Horse Mint variety grows out there every summer. I should venture out there soon for some photos.

These double-headed ones are cool:

Well, since this Bee Balm grows by the milkhouse, I’ll go on a ramble about dairy farming. Surf away now if you wish, for this post might end up containing whinings and complainings. When I began blogging 2-1/2 years ago, I searched high and low for blogs by dairy farm wives and had little success finding any. It could be that I wasn’t searching correctly, but, at any rate, I couldn’t find any. So, I do appreciate finding a dairy farm blogger now and then, and not long ago I stumbled into the Northview Diary blog, authored by a dairy farm wife/mother/person in Upstate New York. Recently, she posted a news release about Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack meeting with dairy farmers in Concord, NH. Tom Vilsack was once the governor of Iowa. He was raised out East, I think, and married an Iowa girl and moved here, somehow ending up as governor eventually. And, now he’s the U.S. Ag Secretary, even though I’m quite certain he’s never lived on a farm. Which is no big deal. He has a brain and ears and hopefully he will use them. Dairy farmers are in a lot of trouble right now. (Oh…dagnabit….I just lost the rest of this post…..my computer came unplugged….dang…..well, I’ll type fast and see how much of it returns to mind…..)

My husband and I really don’t get out much; livestock chores tend to keep one very close to home, so its nice to be able to read about other dairy farmers’ lives and their thoughts and concerns. Right now, EVERY dairy producer in the U.S. is struggling because of the very low commodity price for milk. Income from selling milk is running under what it costs to produce the milk. Not a good situation, and it requires the regular borrowing of money to stay afloat. Usually we enjoy seeing things grow, but watching loans mushroom is discouraging. My husband works his fool butt off every single day---no vacation days, no sick days---but in this economic climate, he feels like he’s spinning his wheels for nothing, getting nowhere fast, just old and exhausted.

My husband grew up on this 200-acre farm where we live; his parents had a 40-cow dairy herd and raised six sons with plenty of chores to keep them busy. Circumstances became such that my husband and I were given the chance to farm here, though the farm was not given to us, by any means. We are buying it, fair and square; we’ll be in our upper 60’s by the time its paid for, if we live that long. In the early 1990’s, before my father-in-law sold the farm to us, he went ahead with construction of a new addition on the dairy barn, bringing milking capacity up to 73 cows. That used to be a good-sized dairy for a family to operate, but now its on the small side. Large-scale dairy operations are the trend, with hundreds or even thousands of milk cows being milked. Especially, that is common in the western states, I think, but has been creeping eastward. Small family dairy farms are still relatively numerous in the Upper Midwest and the East, but with milk prices so low, many farmers are opting to or are forced to sell out. (Even the big operations are in trouble this time.)

Its too bad. And it will really be too bad if someday all the small family dairy farms disappear. I think of the pride that my husband has in his dairy herd, with the cow bloodlines running back over 50 years. If you walked down the alleyway of the barn with him, he could tell you the history of each cow and the traits that her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother had. It sounds ridiculous, perhaps, but that’s how it is on a family dairy farm where the farmer really loves his cows.

(Oh…..dang…..what was in the next paragraph?……) As I mentioned earlier, the price that dairy farmers receive for their milk is very low right now and seems to be stuck there. Milk prices are known for going up and down in cycles, but this time the down is lasting too long, and production costs are very high. A few years ago, the milk price was way up…..too far up, really, because then people got the bright idea to expand their dairy operations and investors would team up and build more of those humongous dairy operations. Also, there’s been an influx of dairy farm families from The Netherlands---good, hard-working people who have plenty of money---setting up farms in parts of the U.S. All well and good, of course, but all these farms then produce milk…..a lot of milk…..and then, before you know it, too much milk has flooded the market and prices plummet. If you stand back and view the dairy industry as a whole, it almost seems like it is lacking a manager at the top, or lacking a brain. But, that’s how it is…..each farmer is free to do as he pleases in a free enterprise system, which is good…..but, then again, not always so good.

I’m going to bring up the subject of health insurance again. My husband and I are self-employed…..we have no employer to provide health insurance coverage for us. If we want insurance, we have to buy our own, and certainly we always have done that….it seems a necessary safeguard to have, especially with children around. The other day, we received that cheery missive from our insurance company, telling us how deeply they appreciate being our health insurance provider, so much so that they are raising our premiums AGAIN by $100 per month. Like we have that lying around in pocket change. Our deductible is $4000 and must be satisfied three times under a family plan, giving us a deductible of $12,000, essentially. Definitely, insurance for a very rainy day, which we hope will never come. And, wow, it galls me to learn that health insurance companies are spending $1.4 million PER DAY on lobbyists to fight healthcare reform. Telling, so telling.

I fear self-employeds could be an overlooked factor in the healthcare reform debate. Senator Grassley is a farmer by trade, but has apparently been away from his farm too long---after nearly 30 years in office---and has forgotten what its like to not have employer-supplied health insurance. Lots of people never know. I recall news reports from years ago, when every three years the union and John Deere would have contract negotiations. The union was always crying for more benefits and more insurance coverage, and they would get it. Back in the good old days which are no more.

(Let me add just for the record.....I have a very good life and am not in dire need of anything. If things were truly desperate, would I have this computer to type on or an internet connection through which to blog? No.)

Well…..I can’t remember if I’ve forgotten to remember anything else I had typed before my computer blanked out. And, if you’ve lasted to this point, you’re probably thinking, “Enough already! Be done!” And, I am. Have a good day!

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