Lucky No. 13

 

Sunrise, January 10, 2023

13 has a bad reputation.

High-rise buildings often refrain from listing a 13th floor. TV newscasters warn their viewers about Friday the 13th. (We just had one this month.)

But, today, No. 13 deserves a celebration. Today, January 24, marks 13 years since I first clicked "Publish" on Kim's County Line. Back in January 2010, I didn't have a clear vision of what the blog would entail. At the time, three family members were blogging. I'd been asked to write a monthly blog column for a local church group. Once I figured out the logistics, I decided to try a personal blog, too.

These days, vlogs (video blogs), podcasts, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok all have more cache than an old-fashioned blog. But Kim's County Line has persisted, even though it's evolved during the 13 years. I'm the only one in my family who is still blogging. The church group no longer makes its monthly posts. 

 

Today is my 2,155th blog post on Kim's County Line. Through the years, I say that it's evolved into a place where I talk about the four "F"s and a "PH" - farming, family, faith, food and photography. I subtitled the blog, "Camera Clicks and Commentary from a Kansas Farm Wife."

 

As I enter the 14th year of blogging, Kim's County Line is sure to evolve again. Last year, we retired from farming. In the past couple of months, as my Facebook memories come up, I realize how much I wrote about caring for cattle during the winter months. During the year, I wrote updates on crops. We still have our farm ground and our cows, but we aren't the ones doing the day-to-day work any longer. Our cows just started having babies. Since we have a liberal "visitation policy" granted by Tye and Todd who care for the cattle herd, the babies will likely make an appearance or two on the blog. But I don't have the babies in my "backyard" any longer, so there are inevitably fewer blog posts and photos. 

When I first began blogging, I posted five or six days a week. What was I thinking? In the past couple of years, I've been posting fairly consistently on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since we retired, I've taken some hiatuses when we traveled to six National Parks in October and during the holidays. I'm going to try to feel more relaxed about missing a post. (I'm sure I'm the only one who really cares anyway.) 

No matter what, the blog has helped me track our lives on a five-generation Central Kansas farm. Having this avenue to collect words and photos has helped me to connect with our heritage and this life in a different way. It was a good avenue for connecting with landlords, letting them know what's going on at the farm and showing them through words and photos.

 

Probably the biggest impact was on me. It helped me pay attention. It made me appreciate our heritage. It's given me the opportunity to hone my photography skills. While I don't claim to be Ansel Adams, I can see how my photography has improved during the past 13 years. (Just comparing food photography from 2010 to now is startling. And that's just one example.) 

Photography and prose help me look at even the most mundane, everyday things in new ways and with new wonder. It may be something as simple as the sunrise-streaked sky or a chance rainbow smack dab in the middle of two of Kansas' biggest icons - sunflowers and wheat. The blog has given me the eyes to see how small, simple things are really the most important things of all. 

 

Since 2010, I've printed a quarterly blog book. This year, I emptied Brent's bookcase and gathered my blog books in one place. It's really kind of amazing to see all these books which contain words and images from our lives in the past 13 years. I've also used photos and poetry to write 11 children's books - mostly for my granddaughters. 

Each quarter, I write another dedication, and I invariably struggle with something to say. (Looking at those rows of books, you wouldn't think so, but ...)

 

Here's the dedication from the first quarter of 2011:

I started Kim's County Line, in part, to tell the story of our farm. It's important WE tell the story of agriculture. The tagline on the blog says, "Camera Clicks and Commentary from a Kansas Farm Wife." I hope that it also serves as a record of a period of time and a snapshot of Kansas rural life.

From 2013:

... This is dedicated to my family - the ones I love and cherish now and ones down the road who I hope will discover something about us as they read our story.

From 2014:

... We are thankful for our ancestors who also farmed this land and look forward to continuing the legacy of faith, farm and family in the years to come.

Life is always changing, and we figure out the ways we'll evolve with it. Thanks for making the journey with me! It's my blogiversary, but to celebrate, one person will get a gift from me ...

• a selection of my photo notecards, or ...

 

•  a copy of "Count on It! Adventures from a Kansas Farm" my rhyming, farm-themed counting book, ...

• OR my farm alphabet book

To qualify, either comment about this blog post in the comment section of the blog or on my Facebook page, Kim Moore Fritzemeier. Or, if you have trouble with either of those avenues, you may email me at rkjbfarms@gmail.com. The winner will be chosen at random from the commenters. Enter your comment by January 31 for a chance to win.

Again, I thank you for visiting Kim's County Line!