Restless Knoll LLC

02/13/2026

Thankful to be a farm kid 💜

❤️ So God Made a Farm Kid
On the eighth day,
after the sky was stretched wide
and the dirt was packed firm beneath steady hands,
God looked down at the open fields and said,

“I need someone
who won’t be afraid of hard.”

So God made a farm kid.

He needed someone
who would wake before the sun
without being asked twice,
who knew that frost on the ground
wasn’t an excuse
but a warning to move faster.

So God made a farm kid.

He needed someone
small enough to fit between fence posts, brave enough to step into a pen
with something twice their size,
and soft enough
to whisper to a nervous calf
like it was their own.

So God made a farm kid.

Someone who would learn
that chores come before comfort,
that animals eat before you do,
that weather does not care about your plans.

Someone who understands
that work is not punishment.
It’s privilege.

So God made a farm kid.

He needed a child
who would grow up knowing
that life and loss
live in the same pasture.
Who would bottle feed the weak one,
bury the broken one,
and still show up tomorrow.

So God made a farm kid.

Someone who could drive a tractor
before they could drive a car.
Who smells like hay and diesel.
Who carries grain buckets
like other kids carry backpacks.

Someone who learns early
that money doesn’t grow on trees
but responsibility does.

So God made a farm kid.

He needed someone
who finds peace in fence lines,
who measures seasons by calving and harvest, who knows the sound of rain in a tin roof is better than any lullaby.

Someone who will leave sometimes,
chase a dream,
try a different life...
but always feel their heart
pull back toward the barn.

So God made a farm kid.

Not because it would be easy.
Not because it would be glamorous.

But because the world will always need
steady hands,
strong backs,
soft hearts,
and people who understand
that freedom tastes better
when you’ve worked for it.

So God made a farm kid.

And somewhere in a barn aisle,
under dust floating through morning light, stands that kid...
older now, maybe tired,
but still grateful...

Because being raised by land and livestock, doesn’t just build character.

It builds legacy.

❤️ Michelle K | Diamond K Livestock Co.

01/22/2026

💜

As we prepare for the freeze, everything feels a little heavier.

Not because it’s cold…but because so much depends on us. The animals. The water lines. The shelters we built with our own hands and our own hope. You walk the property slower, checking things twice, already knowing you’ll check them again before bed.

There’s a quiet worry that settles in your chest as the light fades. The kind you don’t talk about because only other farmers and homesteaders understand it. The kind that follows you inside, even when the house is warm and everyone else is asleep.

You lay there thinking about straw, wind, heaters, and tomorrow morning’s headcount. Loving this life means carrying that weight without complaint. It means responsibility doesn’t stop when the sun goes down.

And when morning comes, you step into the cold with your breath hanging in the air, listening before you look. Relief arrives in small moments…movement, sound, life.

As we prepare for the freeze, we do what we always do.
We worry. We prepare. We pray.
And we show up anyway

05/19/2025

When I Am An Old Horsewoman
I shall wear turquoise and diamonds,
And a straw hat that doesn’t suit me
And I shall spend my social security on
white wine and carrots,
And sit in my alleyway of my barn
And listen to my horses breathe.
will sneak out in the middle of a summer night
And ride the old bay gelding,
Across the moonstruck meadow
If my old bones will allow
And when people come to call, I will smile and nod
As I walk past the gardens to the barn
and show instead the flowers growing
inside stalls fresh-lined with straw.
I will shovel and sweat and wear hay in my hair
as if it were a jewel
And I will be an embarrassment to ALL
Who will not yet have found the peace in being free
to have a horse as a best friend
A friend who waits at midnight hour
With muzzle and nicker and patient eyes
For the kind of woman I will be
When I am old.
-Author Patty Barnhart

04/16/2025

💔 To the Horses I will never get back 💔

If you give a kid a horse,
they’ll ask for a saddle.
Once they have a saddle,
they’ll need a good pair of boots.

When they get those boots,
they’ll want to climb in the saddle.
Once they’re in the stirrups,
they’ll ask you how to hold the reins.

When they learn to hold the reins,
they’ll beg to trot.
Once they learn to trot,
they’ll dream of galloping across open fields.

Galloping will make them feel free,
and feeling free will make them brave.
Once they’re brave,
they’ll fall off...but don't worry, they’ll get back on.

And when they get back on,
they’ll ride with grit in their teeth and stars in their eyes.
They’ll muck stalls without complaint,
and wake up before the sun just to feed.

They’ll brush that horse’s coat,
And let the rhythm calm their soul.
They’ll learn patience, responsibility,
and how to speak without words.

They’ll whisper to that horse all their hopes,
and that horse will listen like no one else can.
They’ll build friendships in dusty arenas,
and learn trust on winding trails.
They’ll know the thrill of a blue ribbon,
and the heartbreak of a goodbye.

If you give a kid a horse,
you’ll give them more than just a ride...
you’ll give them confidence,
courage,
and a quiet kind of strength
that’ll stay with them for life.

Because if you give a kid a horse...
you’ll change them forever.

❤️ ©Michelle Knutson | Born In The Barn

02/21/2025

Dear God, we pray for our farmers and ranchers.

We pray they get to frozen babies just in the nick of time.

We pray they have just a little more stamina to stay awake just a little longer, to save just one more little animal being born.

We pray these frigid temperatures don’t break their spirit.

We pray the waterers stay running.

We pray the barn doors don’t freeze shut.

We pray the tractor will start just one more time.

We pray truck heaters and floorboards will be enough to save frozen critters.

We pray the dryer keeps running for all the snow soaked clothes.

Dear God, protect our ranchers as they head out into treacherous elements.

May their coveralls keep them warm, their barns stay lit and their toasty porches have room for all the tiny animals coming into this world.

Dear God, help those mommas hold onto those babies as long as they can.

Guide those mommas into barns, help them find cover and lead them out of the ice and towards the dry straw.

Dear God, protect our farmers and ranchers.

Dear God, protect our animals.

Amen 🩷💜

**copied**

07/28/2024

Post stolen from a friend, but a great read.

“Go check your horses.”

My eyes popped open at 5:40am. “What Lord? Is something wrong?”

“Go check your horses.”

I got out of bed and grabbed a flashlight, some red light Ben usually keeps on his gun for varmints. As soon as my feet got outside, calves immediately began bawling; and I rolled my eyes. We didn’t want another orphan AT ALL, but last Saturday the herd we worked had a heifer calf who loved her baby dearly but had zero milk to feed her. The calf was weak and wobbly and probably wouldn’t have survived the next few days without us. The owner said he didn’t have luck with calves on the bottle, and what was I going to say? So there’s Bobbi at 5am bellowing at me to feed her; I just sigh and trudge on. When I got down to where we feed our horses, there was no one. Not a single horse, they were still all out back.

“Go check your horses. You only have thirty minutes.”

Thirty minutes?! It was almost 6am by this time and I’m thinking the worst. God is waking me up to save one of my animals from some terrible accident. As I walk out to go to the gate that leads up the road and out to the back of our land, I trip over a bucket. That bucket is sitting in the middle of the yard because it’s marking where the concrete is going to go for the new barn. New barn....new concrete....money money money. I feel stressed already.

“Go check your horses.”

I walk over the hill and can see the green grass begin to glow in the dim light. This land was about to come alive soon, and it was ours. God gave this land to us.

“Go check your horses.”

Right Lord, emergency, death, destruction, money, bad news, injury.....my horses are all in a pound puppy pile sleeping peacefully. Lord you said to check my horses, and here they all are laid up like fattening hogs. My horses are FINE Lord. You said I only had thirty min like my horses were bleeding out!

Then, that still small voice spoke to me.

“I told you to go check your horses, I never said anything was wrong. I told you that you only had thirty minutes, because that’s about how much time you have until everyone gets up, and I needed to speak to you alone. Look around you. Remember how far you have come, how far I’ve brought you.”

💥Boom 💥

As I walked back, all six of my horses followed, grunting and stretching along with the new day. I remembered when this land was just trees, not glowing green grass. Then I arrived at my gate to exit the pasture, and I saw my buckets, marking a new chapter in our lives. A new barn that will send off some of these horses that stand here, and welcome new ones by birth or buying. Then I was greeted once again, by Bobbi, and I remembered when I took her, even though I didn’t really want to, I had all the accommodations to take her. God gave me all of this.

This morning, by telling me to go check my horses, He changed my mental attitude towards all of what I was seeing as struggles, to blessings! Some friends and I had been talking about lately with changing our mental attitude when we train our horses, not thinking “he/she is stubborn,” to maybe “he/she might not understand, and I should present the offer differently.”

God did that with me today. You may not have horses to check, but maybe today you should walk the halls of your job, home, or land, and realize what God has done and is doing for you. Remember how He has taken care of you, and brought you this far.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

02/27/2024

Next time you say "damn, must be nice" you might want to understand a lifestyle that made it possible!

8-5 didn't make it.
Parking on the couch to watch TV didnt make it.
Sleeping in on Saturdays didnt make it.
Calling in when sick didnt make it.
Being content with where we're at didnt make it.

It came from some 15-20 hour days.
It came from beating the sun up.
It came from working on weekends.
It came from sacrificing family time.
It came from wanting a little better tomorrow.

These are a few things to consider before you throw out "damn, must be nice" at someone! We are all products of our competence. And extra efforts are what make the biggest differences at the end of the day!

**copied from Jeff Crockett**

12/23/2023

It's funny how a farmer spends countless hours getting the land ready, from plowing to planting. He spends $1000's of dollars on fuel, equipment, and repair bills. He spends many hours praying for rain or sunshine instead of sleeping. He sweats like no other job will make you. He works like most people wouldn't.

He gets yelled at and cussed out by people who get caught behind the tractor traveling down the road, and he spends many times of the day wondering if it's worth it! The deer, coyotes, hogs, c***s, gophers, grasshoppers are just a few pests to contend with!! He does all of this for what??? Ask yourself, "Why would he do that?"

The answers are all around you. The plate of food sitting in front of you, the clothes on your back, the shoes on your feet, and the last answer is the one that puzzles most people. It's the dust, love for agriculture, and the satisfaction of knowing he has done his part at the end of the day! I'd like to thank all the farmers out there who help make the world go round!

God bless our farmers!

copied

12/04/2023

From time to time, we have to spend a couple hours focusing on those that keep our girls safe ❤️
Today Lilly, our guard donkey, got her feet trimmed, her grazing muzzle removed, a botulism booster, and her fall deworming…. And some cuddles of course!

07/09/2023

My Romeo 💔

She will tell him all her secrets, and he will keep them safe

She will lose herself, and he will help her find who she is and who she wants to be

She will fall apart, and he will carry her until she's able to put the pieces back together

Other boys will come and go
Her heart will break, but he will mend it
Over and over, until it's his time to leave
Taking her secrets and her heart with him

He is the keeper of her flame
Her diary, her gate keeper
Her first and best love

And to him, she is his whole world

❤️Richelle
Books Available: https://www.prairie-crocus.com/store

01/08/2023

"Ode to the feral women”

“My soul is not set fire by being the best home maker but by growing flowers and plants, shoveling dirt, snow or manure, breathing the cold fresh air, letting them sun beat on my face, and tending animals.
It is not that I can not cook and clean it’s that I desire to be else where.
I’ve struggled with the fact that I am well me. I am a feral woman. As much as I wish I could be the sweet and clean home maker, I am
not.
I finally made peace with this when I saw a quote circulating around that said,
“the term domesticate house wife implies there must be a feral one”

It’s me and other women I know. I am and we are feral women.
We may not have perfect houses but we still make them a home. We may not clean the dishes right after every meal but we can sure cook a good meal. The laundry is lagging but at the end of the day everyone has something clean to wear. We may not be domesticate but it does not make us less.
If anything our strength is found as we carry feed sacks across our shoulders,as we till up dirt to plant gardens, as we end a life to provide food for our families all while we still carry the softness of a woman.
Here is to the feral women. May we be them, may we know them, may we raise them.”

Author unknown, but clearly a bloody marvelous woman.
-
(Jameson Beckard - original author found)