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!
It’s PIE DAY here on Ranch Raised! No, I don’t mean 3.14 or March 14, I am clearly aware that today is May 26. What I mean is it is pie baking day here in my kitchen, which precedes branding weekend.
As a little girl traveling to neighborhood brandings, I still remember the tables full of food that were prepared with time and love at every ranch. When you see a table full of homemade pies being served at a branding, you know that the matriarch of the ranch is legit handy in the kitchen.
So today is pie baking day in my kitchen! It will be a couple of strawberry-rhubarb, which someday I will get around to sharing that recipe with all of you. I can a ridiculous amount of peaches in the fall, knowing that I will be using them to also bake pies in the spring. I think I may have some caramel pear pie filling down in my pantry as well, that might make it on the table. I love to add a special but completely unneeded touch and cut our brand out of every pie crust on the top. It bakes up so beautifully.
My middle daughter is no stranger to sharing her birthday with our branding crew and this year is no exception. So there will also be a big birthday cake to offer, which I will bake today and decorate tomorrow. Nothing like turning 12 and having all the ranch neighbors singing Happy Birthday to you. It has become a tradition.
I am one of those people that shows others my love and appreciation by feeding them. It is an “acts of service” sort of love language, I guess. It must be in my genes because I remember my grandpa telling my grandma, “You don’t have to fatten them, you just have to feed them.”
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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
