Nothing exciting ever happened to me when I lived in the city. I never saw anything interesting, encountered any peculiar situations, won any contests, and certainly never had anything to write an article or blog about! But now, these opportunities abound in my life and I gotta be honest...it can be tiring.

I love my life and I would not change it in any way, but the dog is always barking. The chickens always need to be fed and their eggs gathered. The cats (and children) seem to be up to constant mischief. The drama surrounding the cow continues to keep me awake at night. The farmer's work is never done. My 10+ loads of laundry per week never seem to get finished. The dirt being tracked through the house always needs sweeping. There is almost always a situation with rain- either we've had too much or not enough. And when the children call my name in a particular way from outside, I find myself debating on whether or not to go hide in my closet because that "particular way" usually means something is really wrong with an animal. And this only happens when I am alone and have to solve the problem drawing on my own (lack of) expertise.

But this is life in the country. And this is life everywhere. Even the simple life is complicated. Even life in the calm, serene countryside can be full of twists and turns. As we anticipate the birth of a calf in the next 10 or so days I am realizing that this will mean even more details to work out in our life. This undertaking of having a family milk cow will be frustrating at times. I've always been ready for the fun of it, but am I ready for those frustrations? I hope so, because I can't even begin to imagine what they may be!

I'm trying not to focus on all the tiresome and endless tasks of living the simple life. I'm trying not to freak out about all the what-ifs surrounding Sweetums' new baby. Rather, I'm trying to laugh at all the funny things that come my way because of how and where we live. This morning I was wondering what the small foreign object on the grass was that Sweetums was standing over, and if it had something to do with her possibly being in labor-it turns out it was a football one of the kids threw inside the pasture, and no, that doesn't have anything to do with bovine labor. I'm also trying to savor the beauty of seeing 2 decorated fox hunters atop horseback trotting down my driveway this morning (and then having a good laugh again because their horses were spooked by Sweetums and her motley crew herd of goats chasing them down the fence line and they took off running to get away from that dangerous bunch). These things don't just happen to anyone, and they certainly never happened to me before I became an official bumpkin.

So I continue to endure the life of a farmer's wife, out here in the beautiful country, working hard at the simple life and loving every minute of it-the good and the bad.

Mark G. Demott Executive Director for the Jefferson/Leon/ Wakulla County Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers of the June 1st deadline to enroll in the 2010 Direct and Counter Cyclical Payment (DCP) program. Producers must sign-up annually for this FSA direct payment program.

"It is very important that each owner and operator sharing in the farms payments must sign-up by June 1," Demott said. "There are no late file provisions in 2010, so any contract not signed by June 1 will not be approved."

FSA computes DCP Program payments using base acres and payment yields established for each farm. Eligible producers receive direct payments at rates established by statute regardless of market prices. For 2010, eligible producers may request to receive advance direct payments based on 22 percent of the direct payment. FSA began issuing advance direct payments on Dec. 1, 2009.

Demott also reminds producers of the FSA Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program, which also has a June 1 sign up deadline. ACRE provides producers a safety net based on state revenue losses and acts in place of the price-based counter-cyclical payments under DCP. A farm's payment is based on a revenue guarantee, calculated using a 5-year average state yield and the most recent 2-year national price for each eligible commodity. For the 2010 crop, the 2-year price average will be based on the 2008 and 2009 crop years.

To enroll in the DCP or ACRE programs, contact the Jefferson/ Leon/ Wakulla County FSA office. To save a trip to the office, use the eDCP automated website at www.fsa.usda.gov/dcp. To access the service, producers must have an active USDA eAuthentication Level 2 account, which requires filling out an online registration form at www.eauth.egov.usda.gov, followed by a visit to the local USDA Service Center for identity verification.