Hey peeps—I’ll try not to be snotty and talk down to you, however that might take some effort.   I was, after all, on Fox 31 news the other night and am pretty sure there’s some talent agents out there looking for my phone number as I type.  Okay, so I probably should mention that I was in a field about fifty feet from the camera, and the interviewer chose a cute perky teacher with good camera hair instead of  me, but you could see my white shirt from a distance and according to Billy, that counts as being on TV.

It’s not every day a stay-at-home mom like me gets on the news, so it was quite exciting.  As soon as the segment came on I screamed for the whole household to come watch. Did I mention my first-born Jack was also around when Fox 31 was about to make me famous?  He came running downstairs, hoping to see himself.  I was hoping to see me.   When it was all over, one of us was happy, and one of us in a Darth Vader tee shirt was not.  My words were his only comfort.

“But Jack, at least MOMMY was on the news.  Isn’t that exciting?  You could see me clearly and even if it was only from behind, everyone has to know that was ME!”

Jack said, “That doesn’t help me feel better mom.”  And off he went pouting to his room.

Even though I felt like a celebrity that night, I cooked dinner and helped with homework as any normal mom would. I had to cut up about 40 pounds of carrots, shuck 8 bags of corn, and wash 124 potatoes.  And all that food was the reason we (well, mostly me) were on the news.

The 5^th grade class at our beloved school takes an annual field trip each fall to Miller Farms.  The farm is east of I-25, very close to Platteville.  You might be as happy as I was to discover that Platteville is a real place, and not a fake place the news people talk about whenever tornados touch down in our state.

The very first thing we got to do on the farm was load up on open trailers and go into the fields to pick vegetables.  The first crop we picked was corn, then potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, and pumpkins.  The nice people at Miller Farms gave the kids as many bags as they could carry and let them go nuts!  Jack brought me a 20 pound bag of white onions—which was a little overwhelming as I hate to cook, and when I do use onion, it’s only the red kind.  It’s not that I’m not biased or anything.  The white ones just seem so big and smelly.

After our time in the field, we headed to lunch, or “dinner” as the farmers like to call it.  All of us were hot, dehydrated, and windblown as we sat down in the shade to eat.  I regretted my choices for lunch that day, as I’d worked up quite a sweat in the fields (one small bag of Doritos, and a Fiber One bar).  Anyway, after lunch, the kids were free to roam.  There was a HUGE hay bale tower to climb, a corn maze, animals to visit, a jumpy trampoline thing, and a tractor train to ride.

I watched Jack and his friends run crazy on the farm, and relished the moments he was in my view as I sat under a canopy visiting with other moms.  He came by every so often to tell me he was thirsty or bored, and all seemed right with the world.

Before I know it, I’ll be taking him on field trips to visit colleges, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today I will celebrate the crops, the wild independence of a 10 year-old-boy, and a mom who is slowly learning to release her grip.

Be a farmer for a day!  Check out Miller Farms Fall Festival—opened daily thru November from 9 am to 6 pm.  Also in the month of October, they have Haunted Hayrides—check it out at www.millerfarms.net