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!
Living the Oregon Trail game as we speak! Welcome to a new week right here on Ranch Raised.
My kids had some gift cards to use after the holidays. My 8-year sauntered around the store being much less interested in the offerings than her older sisters who were stocking up on apparel and outdoor gear, until she wandered over to the game department where she found the perfect board game for the Jones Ranch household and maybe yours too, The Oregon Trail board game!
If you want hours of fun, I mean wondering if you will live or die, all wrapped up in a board game, this one is for you. We had a few minutes to roll the dice and have a few turns this morning while waiting for the bus to come. As I looked outside at the blustery winter day that had begun, I felt like I would be transitioning from playing the Oregon Trail board game at my kitchen table, to living it, when I stepped outside.
The last few days have been a game of chance around here. Will the diesel engines start today, or will the wheel fall off the wagon and leave us stranded? Will I fall in the river or cattle tank and freeze today, or will I make it back to the house safely to warm up? Will I shoot a squirrel on the trail or will I get eaten by a bear.
I think my brain is frozen. I think I am hallucinating a bit. Maybe I’m just longing for spring when we can put the board games away and spend more time outside enjoying the best times on the ranch and Oregon Trail! I will post a picture of this game on the Ranch Raised FB page and the Your Ag Network website so you can find it to enjoy with your family, too!
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.
[email protected] or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
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