From the Editor

As I write this, the world has just welcomed in 2021 with an almost desperate sense of relief, as if flipping the calendar from 2020 to 2021 will magically make everything better. Who knows?

Most ranchers would admit they have a love-hate relationship with calving season, and each year seems to come with its own set of challenges.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions in my family is singing Christmas carols together on Christmas Eve. We go through the old favorites like “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night” and typically end with my favorite, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” 

Somewhere in my teenagedom, I don’t know exactly what year, there came a rude awakening that I had done Christmas wrong.

Upton Sinclair and Temple Grandin are two names mentioned in agriculture classes throughout America. I remember first being introduced to HBO’s biographical film Temple Grandin early in my FFA career and Sinclair’s book The Jungle later on in college.

Watching the California wildfires of 2020 has, for our family, been nearly as disheartening as following and enduring COVID-19 outbreaks.