Paprika Beef Cubes

1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 pounds kettle beef
1 green pepper chopped
1 tomato chopped
½ cup water
1 tablespoon paprika
Salt to taste

Living on a farm has afforded our six kids ample opportunity to participate in raising animals.  It is a chore and a pleasure I would love to give to each child whether from a farm or the city. 

The life lessons to be learned are important as a kid takes on the full responsibility of a creature being totally dependent on him or her.  We have rehabilitated wildlife, always maintained a large variety of pets, raised orphans and produced animals for 4-H in addition to our family farm production of raising grass-fed beef.

It happens every so often that we will have a calf orphaned or otherwise victim of circumstances that require being raised on a bottle.  It usually falls to the youngest of the children to take on the chore of bottle-feeding.  What always begins as pleasure and fun gives way to the realization of real work.

Such is the case with a calf being raised this year by our 8 year-old daughter, Katie Grace.  She has never had the responsibility before and begged to be allowed to be the one to do the feeding.  Previously, she had always looked upon the job as pure fun when she had helped her brothers with the duty. 

We had dinner with our dear neighbor.  Adrian is our neighbor who adjoins us on the west.  Over the years he has become part of our family.  The cause of the celebration was his eigty-third birthday.  Howevert, he explains that he is going to start over at 80 and go backwards.

Adrian’s roots in the small area known as Poynor, Missouri run long and deep.  In fact he was born and grew up on an old house on our farm that we use as storage shed.  We once started to tear it down thinking it beyond repair and useless.  Adrian came over one day and stood beside the weathered house with a rusty tin roof looking at it a bit sadly. 

Upon seeing him leaning up against the bulldozer I went over to speak.  He grinned and yet had a somewhat sad look.  He said, “You know, I was born in that house and grew up there, it has a lot of memories for me.  It kind of amazing to see how old it looks, guess it’s kind of like me.”

We had dinner with our dear neighbor.  Adrian is our neighbor who adjoins us on the west.  Over the years he has become part of our family.  The cause of the celebration was his eigty-third birthday.  Howevert, he explains that he is going to start over at 80 and go backwards.

Adrian’s roots in the small area known as Poynor, Missouri run long and deep.  In fact he was born and grew up on an old house on our farm that we use as storage shed.  We once started to tear it down thinking it beyond repair and useless.  Adrian came over one day and stood beside the weathered house with a rusty tin roof looking at it a bit sadly. 

Upon seeing him leaning up against the bulldozer I went over to speak.  He grinned and yet had a somewhat sad look.  He said, “You know, I was born in that house and grew up there, it has a lot of memories for me.  It kind of amazing to see how old it looks, guess it’s kind of like me.”

In 1990, the US government defined sustainable agriculture as “an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term, satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.”

Phew, that is quite a definition!  So what does all that mean?  Well, sustainable agriculture is more a philosophy of the best way to operate a farm rather than a concrete set of rules.