# DonnaBelle:  The Quiz- Oklahoma's DonnaBelle



## DonnaBelle (Sep 10, 2011)

1.    What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?

We're in East Central Oklahoma, also known as "Green Country".

2.    How many people are in your family? Marital status?

DH and myself, but we have a wonderful young Mexican couple with a little 5 year old that live here in their own house and we consider them as family.

3.    How would you define your farm?

We're living our retirement dream.  We built houses in Florida on the West Coast for 25 years, and believe me life in Oklahoma is the exact opposite of life in Florida so everything we do is strictly for fun.

4.    What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? 

Save all the mistreated farm animals in the USA.

5.    Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to? 

We built (I did the paperwork, LOL) in Florida and Missouri. houses, small commerical buildings, etc.

6.    Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?

Nope, but I have a neighbor who does.

7.    Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer? 

We were both raised on farms in Missouri and Illinois.  It's the best lifestyle in the world.  

8     Is it a hobby or an occupation?

Hobby

9.    In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more?

DH can build anything up to a 10 story building.  He loves his tractor now, will only build stuff for the animals.

10.  In what types of farming will you never choose to do?

Anything I have to do on a large scale.

11.   Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply? We

Well, I can't eat any of our animals.  I do give the chickens to some older people in the area to dress out.  They eat them.  Same goes for the goats.  I like beef.  We have raised two pigs and ate them, and also a calf.

12.   Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?

That's easy, out for a walk on the farm.  We have several acres of woods, and I take the goats out for a "goat walk".

13.   Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?

Are you kidding?  No way will DH let me near that Kubota.  That's OK.  Let him have all the fun.

14.   Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?  

I'm not very crafty.  Fatima, the Mexican lady who lives on the farm, does all that kind of stuff.  She was a schoolteacher in Mexico, and is unbelievably talented in all things art, sewing, decorating, etc.  She cooks all kinds of yummy Mexican delights and her family comes up for visits twice a year and brings all kinds of neat food and candies I've never seen before.  I love her rice pudding.

15.   Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?

Thats why we moved from the most regulated state in the union ( Florida) to Oklahoma where you can do as you darn well please.  

16.   Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?

Nope, DH can though.  But he's not made me any wooden bowls.  He tears down cotton gins and builds chicken houses with the salvage stuff.

17.   Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?

Tomatoes but this year the weather was awful.


18.   Do you fish? Bait or explosives?

I have the best fishing hole in Oklahoma, it's called the 69 Diner, best catfish & hush puppies in the State.

19.   How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country?

360 Acres-Half Section plus back 40.  We paid $140,000.00 for it in 2002.  It's a red-dirt worn out patch of ground with no fences but DH loves working on it, clearing and cleaning it up.  No way is he going to sit down in the recliner and watch Jerry Springer.

20.   Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?

I have an 8th grade education.

21.   What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? 

 I research goats, chickens, horses and dogs. I get books, and talk to people who know what they're doing.  I try to take very good care of anything I'm responsible for.

22.   If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?

Common Sense for about half the population of the U.S.  If I had my life to live over, I'd go to OSU and be a vet.  

23.   Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?

Again, DH is the expert, I just watch and supervise when needed.

24.   Are you interested in herbal animal medicine?

Nope, the other kinds works for me.

25.   If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?

I'd have a ranch in Wyoming and a ranch in Central Florida.

26.    Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?

Nope, good old gas.

27.    What would your ideal super hero/villain be?

Super Dooper Goat Man/Woman who would swoop down on people who don't take care of their goats or any animal properly.

28.    Are your family or friends also interested in animals?

Are you kidding?  The kids think we lost our minds.  We offered the ranch to our son, if he'd live on it for a year, he said: "just forget it".

29.    Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?

We drink raw goat's milk, and eat our home grown brown eggs.  But because we had those things when we were kids.  DH got up at 4:00 when he was a kid, and he and his brothers milked 60 cows and took care of all the farm livestock before they came in and ate breakfast and caught the school bus in Iowa.

30.   What was your best animal experience? Worst?

DH's best birddog got run over after he got out of the pen.  My husband cried like a baby.  I have never seen him so distraught over anything else before or since.

31.    Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? 

DH raises quail to train his dogs with, we eat them sometimes after he shoots them.

32.    What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?

There's a lot of things we could do.  We know how to butcher, we know how to garden, I can make soap, and do sometimes, but we enjoy doing what we want to do after 40 years of dealing with clients and subcontractors.


33.    Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?

Nope

34.   Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?

Nope

35    What is on your to do list?

Take care of my animals to the very best of my ability, be with them, learn about them.  I like them better than a lot of people.
When we were in Florida, dealing with numerous demanding, obnoxious people, I dreamed of having a house in the middle of 400 acres and having a big gate at the front.  GOT IT!!  



36.   Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?

No, we worked hard so we could use the farm to enjoy ourselves.

37.   In what do you trust?

Our own abilities, our hard work, and God.

38.  Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?

I'm married to a 2nd generation full blood German, are you kidding?  He recycles/reuses everything he can get his hands on.  He took apart huge cypress water barrels and cleaned up the wood and used it to build the goat barn and chicken house.

39.  Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits?

My biggest regret is that I didn't get a goat when I was 10 years old.  My Mother was raised on a farm in Illinois and couldn't wait to move her family to town.  I wish she'd left us in Pope County, Illinois.  My heart is forever in the country.

I feel so sorry for people who never know the joys of country life, people who live their whole lives in the concrete jungles.

DonnaBelle


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## 77Herford (Sep 11, 2011)

140,000 my GOD I would kill for that price.  Well maybe not kill.  Of course Central Oklahoma isn't nearly as fertile as central Iowa but you DON'T want to know what I paid for mine.


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## DonnaBelle (Sep 11, 2011)

LOL, nope, East Central OKlahoma is NOT comparable to anywhere in Iowa. LOL again!!  DH was raised on a farm in Iowa, his father had a section in Iowa!!  Unfortunately he sold it in the 40's for not much money.  Compared to today's prices.  He is from the Cushing area.  His sister still farms up there, so we go up and visit sometimes.  She told us some farm ground up there recently sold for $11,000.00 per ACRE.  Some of that land up there couldn't be bought at any price if you know what I mean.

We had a friend in Florida who bought a small beachfront Condo in Bonita Springs and paid $160,000 for it, more than we paid for the whole ranch here.  I had a hard time wrapping my head around that. LOL.

We don't try to raise any crops, most folks here even fertilize to grow hay.  

If truth be told, DH bought this place to have field trials, hunt tests, and set out quail to work his dogs on.  He loves his Brittanys enough to buy them a ranch!!  

I just am lucky that he likes the goats and chickens too.

DonnaBelle


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## 77Herford (Sep 11, 2011)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> LOL, nope, East Central OKlahoma is NOT comparable to anywhere in Iowa. LOL again!!  DH was raised on a farm in Iowa, his father had a section in Iowa!!  Unfortunately he sold it in the 40's for not much money.  Compared to today's prices.  He is from the Cushing area.  His sister still farms up there, so we go up and visit sometimes.  She told us some farm ground up there recently sold for $11,000.00 per ACRE.  Some of that land up there couldn't be bought at any price if you know what I mean.
> 
> We had a friend in Florida who bought a small beachfront Condo in Bonita Springs and paid $160,000 for it, more than we paid for the whole ranch here.  I had a hard time wrapping my head around that. LOL.
> 
> ...


Sounds like my brother and training his Lab for ducks.  
I intentially chose an area with as much hills as possilbe to lesson the price but even that is pricey around here, lol.  140, 000 would get me around 25 acres of flat ground.


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## jodief100 (Sep 11, 2011)

Very nice.  Can we see some pictures of the dogs?  I love to see working dogs do their thing.  The goats and chickens too, of course.  Sounds like a wonderful place to live.

My great grandmother is from OK.  She never talked about it much.  Growing up on the res was hard.


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## DonnaBelle (Sep 11, 2011)

We are in the Creek Nation.  I have several friends who are full-bloods, and are very talented....... paint pictures, make things and are quite gifted in many ways.   However, they are very private people and still don't much trust the white man.

It tickles me that they now have the casinos, and are making enough money to buy back a lot of the land the whites stole from them. LOL.

DonnaBelle


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## jodief100 (Sep 11, 2011)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> We are in the Creek Nation.  I have several friends who are full-bloods, and are very talented....... paint pictures, make things and are quite gifted in many ways.   However, they are very private people and still don't much trust the white man.
> 
> It tickles me that they now have the casinos, and are making enough money to buy back a lot of the land the whites stole from them. LOL.
> 
> DonnaBelle


Gram was a half blood and could "pass".  Back then if you could, you did and got the heck out of Dodge. She came from the Cherokee Nation.   I do not know that much about that part of my family because it was something that even in her old age she was afraid to talk about.  I am sad we lost that part of our oral history but due to the prejudices she faced I know why she was that way.  A lot of my Gram's family, including my grandmother are very talented artists.  My sister got some of it, I didn't.  

My other great grandmother on my father's side, my Granny was also Native American.  We know NOTHING about it except she received checks from the government for tribal reparations for years.  I do not even know what tribe or where she was from.  

I too think it is nice that they finally have a way to support themselves.  I just hope they can throw off the yolk of "bureaucrat mentality"  that has been established in many of the tribes and be the free and wonderful people they once were.  Generations of forced government dependence has taken a toll.  It may take generations to heal.


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## elevan (Nov 24, 2011)

Happy Thanksgiving DonnaBelle


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## daisychick (Dec 25, 2011)




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## elevan (Dec 25, 2011)




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