Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
Longer days ahead! Thanks for starting your week with me right here on Ranch Raised.
Yesterday was the 2025 Winter Solstice, marking the shortest daylight of the year. Thus, last night was the longest night of the year as Earth’s North Pole tilts furthest from the Sun, beginning the astronomical winter and the slow return of daylight. Can I get a “Hallelujah”?
Honestly, we have had a really mild winter in these parts, with unseasonably warm weather and very little moisture, which is the unfortunate part. Maybe because of our lifestyle, we notice the shifts in weather trends and daylight hours and minutes a little more. I have house full of outdoorsy kids who have lots they want to do everyday outside. Watching them lament about having to adjust their outdoor chore schedule with the shortening daylight hours is an admirable time management skill, but their frustration is on the surface. They are ready for more hours of daylight and aren’t we all.
Just knowing that we have made the turn and are headed towards longer days, even if it is for a mere few minutes a day is just the physiological boost we need. We know spring is coming! We know calving season, gardening seasoning, and the hens laying more eggs is right around the corner. And that is the hope we crave every year in this way of life.
We will hang on to this season of rest and renewal. We will bake, play board games, mend clothes, plan the garden, read books, and find indoor activities to keep us busy until a full day’s light returns.
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Merriman, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Watching the cattle industry go the path that it has gone, she could no longer sit quietly at home checking cows, fixing fence, and doing all the everyday tasks wondering when some else was going to make it all better. As she became more active and outspoken on industry issues, she was asked to join the R-CALF USA staff in September 2020 as the Checkoff Petition Campaign manager. That position transcended into her former role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the Jones Ranch.
Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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