Blessed this Christmas...difficult yes, but everywhere we turned there shone the Lord

Amarillo Sky

Such a great tribute to America's Farmers, "Amarillo Sky" by Jason Aldean...hard to get tired of listening or watching this one!

Christmas Poem of the West

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the West

The people were struggling to do what was best

The Century farms were tucked in for the season

The hay piled up high; feeding cattle the reason

But the families have had to split chores don't you see

'cause one of them's making the flight to D.C.

To the un-ending work on the farm they now add

countless hours to lobby, just to prove they aren't bad

With a nation that's led to believe, by some quirk

That their food comes from Safeway and requires little work

And thus disconnected from food, they assume

Regulation won't stop all that food they consume

And the timber producers lay snug in their beds

And hopeful solutions all danced through their heads

Would a new forest plan finally bring needed sense

To the tinder dry forests, overstocked and too dense?

The moon on the fresh fallen snow is a sight

Feeding hopes that low water won't start a new fight

And we gaze at this vision and pray for good cheer

And for better relations in the upcoming year

But what to our wondering eyes should appear, but

A red-cheeked, round man on a brand new John Deere

Thinking its Santa, we give out a yelp

But he's here from the government.... says he can help?

Dear Santa, won't leadership finally see?

The solution to Oregon's economy

Is don't give us some brand new idea to endorse

When we're rich in traditional natural resource

So let us exclaim, or we'll fade out of sight

Merry Christmas, and trust us, we still do this right!

~Colleen MacLeod

This poem was written by Colleen MacLeod of LaGrande, Oregon.  She is a former Union County OR Commissioner and former staffer for Congressman Greg Walden.  She is currently running against Rep. Greg Smith in Oregon's House District 57.  A passionate agriculture advocacte for Oregon, friend, and WSU alum sent this to me and I had to be sure to pass it on for others to experience!

~Merry Christmas~