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!
Does anyone else find a simple candy cane as nostalgic as I do?
Growing up, I lived 25 miles from town and attended a country school. It wasn’t a one room, instead it had an upstairs and downstairs classroom. I had one other little girl in my grade. We would practice our Christmas program for weeks. And I can still feel the excitement of getting to perform our Christmas play and songs to our little ranching community. I even remember many of those cowboy hats, moms & dads in the audience.
Everyone that would gather in that country school was our kind of people with humble roots and hearts bigger than their bank accounts. Like generations before me that attended that country school and others across the land, it was a big deal if Santa came to visit. And sitting beside him would be a box of brown paper bags filled with some peanuts, an apple or orange, and a candy cane. This may tell you how poor we were, but we thought we won that dang lottery!
Nobody talked about LOL dolls or video games for Christmas. We told Santa we wanted new snowpants, a sled, or if we were swinging for the fences new cowboy boots! We knew if didn’t matter how cold it was or how deep the snow would get that winter, we would still be going outside for recess!
Okay, I’m rambling. But, I tell you what, a candy cane takes me back! And to this day, I would still take a good ole candy cane over any of these sour, sugary candies that the kids are into these days. If you have a favorite Christmas memory you would love to share, feel free to drop it on the Ranch Raised FB page!
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 former 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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