Atribuciones que dicen relación con los derechos constituidos sobre las aguas

Nikki Weathers is the Southwest Re- gional winner of Monsanto’s Farm Mom of the Year Contest for 2016.

day of media training. Since then she has had a number of opportunities to relate her farming story with radio, newspaper and TV reporter interviews.

Married for nine years the Weathers’ live on their family farm with their two children, Ty 6 and Tenley 4. Both children help with chores around the farm. Nikki said Ty loves to help with the cattle from gathering, sorting to vaccinating. He also has a heifer of his own that he has to feed and take care of. Tenley, on the other hand, is the farmer who loves to dig in the dirt in the garden and pumpkin patch. She also loves to ride in the tractor with an adult any time it is moving.

Both Nikki and Nathan have been involved with Agriculture nearly their entire lives. She was raised on a cattle ranch in southwestern Colorado, and Nathan grew up on a grain farm in the northeastern region of the state. They both attended Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, and then transferred to Colorado

State University in Fort Collins where they met. Nikki graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Ag Business and Animal Science and Nathan earned his degree in Ag Business and Soil & Crop Science.

Following college, Nathan returned to the farm to work with his dad, while Nikki took a job at the local co-op. She started working at the grain elevator and then moved to the energy accounting department where she filed excise fuel taxes and kept track of all customer contracts.

Today, while keeping the books and records for the Weathers Farms operations she also keeps books for a few additional farmers in the area.

For the past four years they’ve grown and operated an enterprising seven acre corn maze and a small “you pick it” pumpkin patch on their farm. Nikki said, “We open the maze up on weekends in October to the public. Because we live in a rural area and being six miles from the town of Yuma, we don’t have a large population draw, but we do have a few hundred visitors.” They charge $6 for adults and $4 for kids under 12.

During the week and by appointment they open the maze up to field trips from four different school districts (mainly pre-k to 5th _{grade). When families and}

school children visit, Nikki looks at it as a hands-on education opportunity to pass on information about farming. This year school-aged students were instructed on the role that bees play in pollinating our food products and it includes the process of honey making.

Nikki said they believe it is important that visitors gain the experience of seeing what a real life farm is like and they do not set up any carnival activities.

Each year they select a different promotional agriculture theme for their corn maze. One year they had the maze in a design of a large pumpkin. They then provided tours of their pumpkin patch and had information available to hand out and gave talks to visitors about farming and the life cycle of pumpkins.

Another year they had a picture of a combine picking corn and they taught visitors about how they raise corn for feed

and silage and also popcorn. That year they let school students pick their own ear of popcorn to take home.

Nikki said that last year (2016) with their corn maze they did a special tribute to beekeepers by picturing a traditional skep beehive so they could teach about the importance of pollinators to the agriculture industry and how they use bees on their farm.

Although they don’t actually keep bees on their farm, Nikki explained, “We have a neighbor a few miles away who grows about 300 acres of pumpkins commercially. He grows them in irrigated circles and contracts with chain stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot. When commercial beekeepers place bee yards on this farm, the bees will also travel to our farm and pollinate our ½ acre pumpkin patch as well as our 55 acre alfalfa hay field.” With ten different varieties of pumpkins in their patch they’ll get several different color and shape combinations from cross pollination from the bees.

Nikki added that there aren’t many large-scale beekeepers in their region who she’s aware of, but there are a few smaller ones. Farm crops vary in their area and also include fields of sunflowers, potatoes and canola.

A lot of people are surprised when they learn that the entire seven acre corn field is planted all at the same time. Nikki explained that the electric drives on the corn planter are connected with the high- tech GPS system on the tractor. Thus by programming the skep beehive design into the computer, it controls when to shut down, or turn back on the planting.

“There are in fact places on the skep hive maze that only required a couple seeds in order to make the proper design. By planting the maze right in with our regular field corn, we do not waste any seeds. We also don’t have to go back and mow through the stalks once it all comes up. We feel it saves a significant amount of time and resources.”

Nikki said, hoping to further educate the general public, who may not know a lot about farms or bees, a variety of farming

(l) Four farm family generations of Weathers pose for a picture. (L-R) Nathan (with his future farming son Ty), great grandpa Tom and grandpa Byron. (r) Nikki and Nathan Weathers along with their children, Ty 6 and Tenley 4, gather in a field with part of their 250 head cow herd.

and beekeeping resource information is made available before people head into the corn maze. Most of the beekeeping teaching materials she gathered came from the American Farm Bureau, plus Monsanto provided farming materials to pass out.

When they opened the skep beehive corn maze this fall, Nikki said their four year old daughter Tenley, tagged along and listened to her when she talked about farming and the pollination role bees play when she meets and greets school children on their field trips. According to Nikki, before long Tenley had taken it upon herself to help her Mom out by telling everyone that bees are safe and that you don’t want to kill them. She added, they may not be as big and fun to play with as a dog, but you can keep them in the back yard.

Both Nikki and Nathan are very involved in the Farm Bureau organization. Nikki currently sits on the state board of directors as the Women’s Leadership Chair. They were also members for several years of the American Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher committee.

Nikki says she is involved with Common Ground, an association which provides a way for women who grow food to interact with women who purchase food and may have questions about the process.

They have also been members of the National Corn Growers Association for about 15 years.

With their growing cattle herd they are members of the following beef organizations: the National Cattlemens Beef Association, the American Angus Association and the American Hereford Association.

According to Nikki, although they are

kept busy with their farming responsibilities, they still find time to participate in their local church and they love to be involved with their kids’ school activities.

Nikki said in the next few years, “We’d love to expand and grow our cow herd by adding some registered Hereford and Angus to what we already have. Our goal would be to share and sell safe and affordable beef.” They are also in the process of growing the amount of ground they farm. “In this day and age it is very difficult for young farmers to get started in a very expensive occupation. We have some great neighbors and family who have really helped us expand the amount of acres we can affordably farm.”

In summing up what Nikki Weathers

Nikki strolls through the skep beehive corn maze with her children Ty and Tenley. The maze is open to the pub- lic on weekends during the month of October. During the week it is open to groups and school class field trips by appointment

Nikki Weathers and her kids check out the pumpkins growing in a patch located next to their farm’s seven acre corn maze that is planted in the design of a skep beehive.

Aerial view of the skep corn maze after the corn has dried and turned brown.

learned about bees once she was named the Southwest Regional Winner of Monsanto’s annual Farm Mom of the Year Contest for 2016 and selected a skep beehive for the design in their corn field maze she stated, “I have been lucky enough to visit the Monsanto world headquarters twice in the last year. The amazing research they are doing on honey bees is astounding. Knowing bees are important to our future, I gained specific facts and knowledge about why they are so important. Hive health has been a great concern and researchers are working to ensure ways to get rid of varroa mites and find natural resources to feed bees safely. If we don’t have bees in the future, there are many foods we will not have the pleasure of eating.”

American Bee Journal

88

WE WILL NOT SHIP PACKAGES TO ZONE 5 AND UP, NO ExCEPTIONS. POSTAL SERVICE WILL NOT INSURE PACKAGES PAST ZONE 4. ZONE 5 AND UP PACKAGE CUSTOMERS SHOULD TRY YOUR LOCAL BEE CLUBS TO SEE IF THEY MAY BE PICKING UP PACKAGES. QUEENS CAN BE SHIPPED

AND ARE INSURED TO MOST UNITED STATES CUSTOMERS.

PKGS. 1-9

10-24

25-99 100-UP

# 3 $81.00 $79.00 $77.00 $75.00

# 4 $96.50 $94.50 $92.50 $90.50

NO NUCS THIS SEASON