Fashion and farming are rarely two words that are linked together, but when you throw manure in the mix (literally), you have a recipe for something far from conventional. And conventional is hardly a word that would describe entrepreneur and artist Jalila Essaïdi and her work.

A few weeks ago my husband spotted a couple of bull elk in our cornfield, and since then, he has been plotting his ambush. Today is the appointed day of attack – they are chopping our corn.

Recently I was reading a novel set in Great Britain during the time of the Viking invasions. At one point, a peasant was trying to hoist his pregnant cow out of a mud bog. When the cow emerged, with a broken leg, the devastated peasant went into his hut, retrieved a knife and cut a live calf out of the cow. The loss of the cow – representative of his family’s worldly wealth – was bad enough, and the man would save the calf if at all possible.

This famous, or better yet, infamous Mark Twain quote has been the rallying cry for many an ambitious youth. It goes, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” This was the case for eastern Tennessee dairyman Matt Mitchell.

Today, the day that I am writing this, is the first day of spring. It has been a long time coming, but the unpredictable weather patterns prove it is here. It is quite appropriate that I spend a part of my day treating a scouring calf. It just comes with the territory, but this year it seems so much worse.

Dairy cows and athletes have more in common than one might expect. Legendary National Football League coach Vince Lombardi said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we catch excellence.”

It wasn’t our first choice to calve our heifers in January, but some things can’t be helped. It’s a risk to calve in January, especially in Idaho. But to calve in January in Idaho during a 30-year storm – well, that is downright stupid.