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!
As I continue to horrify you or perhaps make you feel a bit more normal about your domestic standards, today I will take you in to the “belly of the beast”, the Jones Ranch laundry room and mudroom.
You will just have to take my word for what I describe because it’s not like I’m every going to pour you a cup of coffee and say, “Hey, let’s go back to the laundry room and chat.” There are things you can not unsee in that room.
If you weren’t questioning the occupancy of this ranch home when you saw all the boots and shoes at the back door, your suspicions will be affirmed if you see my laundry room. Even I wonder if I am doing laundry for people who do not live here. I have also had theory that our laundry must be some sort of feral. I know that there are nights that everyone’s laundry baskets are completely empty when we go to bed. Yet it is like the laundry breeds and reproduces in the dark, by first light the laundry baskets are bulging and pregnant with their soiled offspring. All I’m going to say is I try, I really do try. I’m winning a few battles but I am clearly losing the war.
My mudroom will not be featured in any home décor magazines, so once again, you will have to take my word for it. Right now, during calving season there are old bed sheets and towels at the ready. My mudroom can quickly transform into a pediatric ward for chilled calves and baby goats in the snap of a finger. Hey, maybe that is my super power. With that transformation comes woodchips and hay from the barn, and let’s just call it “calving debris” from areas of the corral. If the skidsteer could fit through my mudroom door, that may be the most efficient way to clean it after calving season.
If you are still with me and thoroughly impressed, come back tomorrow and we will chat kitchens & bathrooms!
Follow Karina Jones on Facebook!
Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 3 daughters 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 that is broadcast on 60 radio stations with coverage in 9 states, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and highlights R-CALF’s work on 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 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
