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!
Let’s continue our conversation about seasons, right here on Ranch Raised.
I’ve never really given it much thought until I was emptying out the dishwasher a few days ago and I was adding empty mason jars to the counter where a bunch already sat. Then I was looking for a box to put the empty jars in so I could take them downstairs to our storage room until I needed them for their next “season.”
As gardeners, homesteaders, whatever you consider me or yourself, we get so wrapped in the planting and tending to the live plants because that is our championship season. Maybe we are not giving enough credit to the season we are in now, the season of empty jars.
It is always a bit bittersweet to see the pantry shelves getting bare and choices of home canned products starting to be more limited. Just recently have chosen to change that mental state of cringing to appreciation.
My last canning season was dismal. Really, I only put up peaches and pears. The end of my pregnancy had me on bed rest and with the high blood pressure I was not functioning well. This winter, we are appreciating more the harvests of the past seasons, earlier than 2022. We had plenty of green beans and tomatoes stocked up. Not enough salsa, but we will survive.
Now with a baby starting to eat baby food, I finding myself washing empty jars at an even quicker rate. Pears, applesauce, peaches, green beans, jams & jellies all of it preserved by me in earlier seasons. So I am celebrating every empty jar and what it has provided for my family, but very much looking forward to filling them again, in another season.
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 4 children near Broken Bow, 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 current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
You can hear her almost every Friday on Your Ag Network’s Hot Barn Report, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and industry reforms. 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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