Being a farm mom with five kids keeps me busy, but I also enjoy my role as an engagement zone coordinator with the University of Nebraska Extension. My husband, Brian, and I are the sixth generation living and working on Maricle Family Farms. We raise cattle, corn, sheep, soybeans, and alfalfa just south of Albion. My favorite time of the year is calving season when I assist with birthing and then working with the calves. Raising our five children on our farm has taught them the lasting core values of hard work, caring and perseverance. And today, our kids’ lives are shaping up to be living proof of those values. Farm life continues to bring with it hard, dirty, long hours, no matter the elements outside or the time of day. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Something inside us changes for the better when you are needed by something bigger than yourself. Folks in agriculture learn this from the moment they are born. I learned it at 10 years of age. “Work before play.” It’s how we live.