AgWired

Congratulations to Cali Yost. Her website/blog Work+Life Fit made the Forbes Top 100 Websites For Women. Cali has been a ZimmComm client for years and had this to say when she let us know about the distinction:

I thought I would share this with you because my blog was just named one of the Top 100 Websites for Women by Forbes!! And I couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you both.

We’re very proud of what Cali has accomplished. She’s a shining example of what you can do online today if you’re passionate about your subject and willing to be persistent and patient. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in either. There might just be something to this whole blogging thing, eh? See the complete list on the Forbes website.

To determine which sites and blogs made the cut we looked for compelling and decidedly female-oriented content, outstanding design, an active community and frequent updates. In short, sheer clickyness.

Each fall, we cruise past fields where combines are busy harvesting crops, averaging 200 bushels per acre at 6 mph with a 6- or 12-row corn head. We have augers and grain bins and yield monitors and so many numbers our computers, not our notepads, are full to the brim. Now let’s rewind about 80 years.

I have to preface this week’s walk by providing you with some background. My grandfather, now 88, has an entire semi trailer full of antiques behind his shop. He has purposefully and meticulously cleaned each and every piece and proudly displays them for anyone interested in learning a bit more about “how things used to be” on the farm. I myself find this very interesting.

So this past weekend, I held a little piece of farming history in my hand (literally) and wanted to share it with you. We came across a palm corn husking hook, which sparked my interest, so I converted grandpa into a hand model for the morning. As you can tell, these are hands that have seen a bit of hard work.

You see, back in the 1930s, you would hold the corn shank in your left hand and rake the hook across the husks, break the ear loose from the shank, and toss each ear into a wagon. Corn cobs would then go in the corn crib to dry before being shelled. The average field size was 80 acres (or a quarter at 160 acres). If you were fast, you could pick 100 bushels a day…taking you about 75 days to harvest that 80-acre field. The job required a lot of hand labor and a simple year’s harvest would take the entire fall and winter.

Now go sit in your big green air-conditioned combine, turn on your satellite radio, and smile because that was then.

Until we walk again.