A Long Weekend at Home

I haven't kept up on my race updates, so first things first, 8 days ago was the Roscommon Canoe Classic.  Roscommon is the first "points" race of the Michigan Canoe Racing Calendar, so it always has a lot of teams ready to show off their talent.  This race is on the south branch of the Au Sable River, which is really narrow so it has a different way of starting (see the video).

(Start of Roscommon- Andy and I are in boat #1- courtesy of Ryan Matthews)

I was lucky enough to race with my cousin, Andy, who has a reputation for being one of the best.  We knew we at least had a shot at winning the race, and went out hard.  We ended up coming in 2nd, but were hot on the heels of the first place team.  Mike had a good race, coming in 3rd, but he doesn't like it very much when I beat him.  Dad raced with friend Matt, and they finished 14th, not their best, but they managed to hold off a few pretty good teams.  The next race Andy and I will do together is in about a month, and we will have another chance at a win.  On Sunday, I raced C-1 and felt ok taking 1st place in the women's race, but was definitely tired from my effort on Saturday.  Mike was able to come away with a 2nd place finish, his best of the season.  Dad finished 12th, and Mom came out for a 2nd place women's finish.

This weekend Mike and I enjoyed the first weekend home in quite awhile.  We were looking forward to a really relaxing weekend.  At 2 pm on Friday we decided to do the Team Triathlon at the Jonesville Riverfest which was at 6 pm.  Mike went with Derek, a friend from work, and I went with Greg, another work friend.  The triathalon consisted of one person doing a 2 1/2 mile run, the second person doing a 5 mile bike, and then both people paddling an Aluminum Canoe 2 miles.  Mike and Derek pretty much lead the whole race and came off with an easy win.  Greg and I fought from 8th place on the run up to 2nd place in the paddle, before we took a wrong short cut and hit a log.  Samantha (my sister) and another team passed us on the jam up, so we came up short of the prizes in 4th place.

On Saturday the whole family went over to the Oaklawn 5k, where Mike, Samantha, and I felt that we wouldn't have the best runs, since we had ran our triathlon legs just 15 hours before.  Mike and I finished about a minute slower than we have been in our most recent races, and Dad and Samantha stayed about the same pace as usual in theirs.  Since we didn't feel winded enough, Dad, Mike, Weston, and I decided to paddle another hour and a half in last minute training for the big race next weekend.  I was so exhausted when we were done that I had to take a rare afternoon nap.

Sunday was our favorite local canoe race, the Crusing Class at the Jonesville Riverfest.  In one hour and 15 minutes we race through 4 portages, through 10 culverts and over/under 10-15 pipes. Other obstacles include sand bars, rocks, metal stakes, muck, and lily pads. The river is barely one canoe wide and turns sharply about every 20 feet.  Our family makes up nearly the entire field, but we have a blast.  Dad and I came in first, Mike and Derek were 2nd, friends Paddi and Andy (not cousin) were 3rd, and Samantha and Alex (her boyfriend) were 4th.   After the race Mike and I tackled the garden for the first time since moving in over a year ago.  It might not be pretty, but it is better than last year. After our "relaxing" weekend at home, I can't wait to get away to the General Clinton Canoe Regatta next weekend!

Farm Update: Meet Wilfred

Another busy week on the farm as the weather warms up!  This week, we were able to see how the new barn hole would function as a swimming pool.  On the bright side, we received 2 1/2 inches of much needed rain, and the first wall of the barn foundation is up.

(Flooding in the floor of the new barn)

We also have corn planting well underway.  Our field crew was able to get over 3/4 of the corn planted before the rain, so we are in good shape.  The soybeans are also being planted.  The rain definitely slows things down, but it gives us time to do some need maintenance on the planting equipment.  

In other news, the first of our breeding stock purchases for the summer arrived at our "isolation barn."  In everyday terms, we bought some boars, and put them in one of the oldest barns on the farm.  Don't let old fool you for poor, they are hand-fed twice daily, have heated water, indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as straw bedding for the chilly spring nights.  

We isolate the new boars in order to check their disease status, while adjusting them to the disease profile of our own pigs.  For example, if these new boars had something like the flu, we would want to know before we brought them into our flu-free barns, and if we had chicken pox, we would want to make sure they didn't get really sick when they first move into the main barn.   Every few days we will bring something from the main barn to the isolation barn to help prepare the immune systems of the new boars for the environment they are going into.  It also gives the boars a chance to shake any bugs they picked up during travel.  Boars stay in isolation for just over a month, and then are moved to the main barn and enter the breeding herd.  

This particular set of boars is Landrace in breed, you can tell by the long bodies, and large, floppy ears.  We have four new boars and each will be named before he goes into the main barn.  Sometimes we name have names picked out before they arrive, and other times the names just come to us as they are unloaded.  Aunt Sandy decided that one of the new boars is definitely a Wilfred, so only three more names to pick out.  

(New Landrace boars- Wilfred not pictured, he is camera shy)

Canton Canoe Weekend

(Weston and I going upstream)

Before I get on to this weekend's adventures, I will recap the events of last weekend.  Mike and I, along with 4 other Michigan paddlers loaded up a Ford Excursion with 9 canoes and drove out to Canton, New York.  Once in Canton we did a 14 mile race each day on the Grass River.  

Saturday was the C-1 race, with probably one of the most competitive fields of the year.  The women had a separate starting time from the men, which probably made it less exciting, although more fair.  I stayed in 2nd place basically the whole race- I was able to ride Holly for nearly 10 miles until we got into the "little river"  for the last few miles of the course.  I fell back about a minute in those last 4 miles, but still managed a 2nd place finish- which I am very happy with- especially this early in the season.

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to race with Weston.  We were untested as a mixed team, and had no idea where we would come out in a very competitive mixed field. We had a great start, and rode Tim and Mary nearly up to the top buoy, where they ground out.  At that point we made our move and never looked back.  We ended up winning by about a minute.  It was a fun race, and a great weekend, but I am looking forward to staying in Michigan for a whole week!

Giving Thanks

(courtesy of motovo.com)

I see these types of pictures on Facebook and Pinterest all of the time; someone in the agriculture community wanting to show the world how important farms and farmers are to daily life.  Someone trying to make people grateful for what we do, instead of bashing us.  I completely agree that farmers do a great job feeding people.  Citizens of the USA have nearly an endless variety and quantity of food available.  We have so many choices that other people do not have.  

However, this does not mean we should expect appreciation, especially not more than anybody else receives.  Every career is under appreciated; how many times do you think to thank your auditor after they review the last 10 years of tax records?   Auditors are completely necessary if we are expected to keep at least some corruption out of our tax system, but we don't go around touting their greatness. Farmers work long, hard hours?  So do school teachers, and truck drivers. If we as farmers are expecting people from outside our farms to give us the appreciation and self confidence to keep going, we are going to be waiting for a long time.  Each person should be passionate about their life's work, and not depend on other people to make his or her job worth it.  

Nobody can do everything, so we each have to make what we do count.  We should strive to do quality work.  We need to value what we do in somewhat of a selfish way, and take pride in it.  We should show appreciation for others, before expecting others to show their appreciation.  One of the most powerful ways to lead is by example, and we need to evaluate whether or not we are setting a good one.  

(Spring has arrived- and so have the dandelions)

Run of the Charles

I am in between two of the biggest travel weeks of my canoe racing season for the year, also two of the more competitive races.  Last weekend, Mike and I, along with some friends, loaded up the boats and drove out to Boston for the big race on the schedule- the Run of the Charles.  The field wasn't very large, but every team their is vying for a top spot.  In addition to 24 miles of paddling, this course contains six pretty long portages, adding an additional challenge.  My partner Nick and I had been doing some portage practice together, and I think it paid off, with a 1st place in the mixed division, and 8th place overall.  Mike had a solid race, finishing 5th, and was really glad to have some time in the boat with Sam since they are racing one of the Triple Crown races together this summer. 

(Nick and I running the 3rd portage - PC Adam/Kelly Gelinas)

This week I received a package from my canoe sponsor Stephen Lynn Handmade Knives, and I couldn't wait to open it.  For the last few years, Stephen has made me a knife of my choosing, in exchange for putting a sticker on my canoe.  He makes a lot of hunting/fishing and camping knives, and this year he made me a chef's knife.  It has a beautiful Buffalo Horn handle, and I can't wait to start using it.  If you are interested in a top quality knife, you can't go wrong in checking out his page.  

(Stephen Lynn Chef's Knife)

This weekend we are off to Canton, New York for one of the biggest C-1 races in the country.  Mike is excited to see how he stacks up against the top men this year, and I am eagerly anticipating a race with some of the toughest women in the sport. It will be a good test for the races in the coming months.