Ever Onward Podcast

Carla Osborne Is Preserving Idaho Values, One Story at a Time | Ever Onward Ep. 82

• Ahlquist. • Season 1 • Episode 82

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What if the most powerful childhood lessons don’t come from screens, sports, or summer camps—but from the quiet stillness of a barnyard at night?

On this episode of Ever Onward, award-winning author and fifth-generation Idahoan Carla Osborne takes us back to her upbringing on a farm near Burley, where hard work, quiet reflection, and connection to the land shaped her deepest values. Now the author of a growing series of beautifully illustrated children’s books, Carla is on a mission to preserve a way of life that’s fast disappearing—and to inspire parents and kids to reconnect with the simple, powerful moments that form character.

Tommy sits down with Carla to talk about her writing process, her passion for authenticity (even when publishers wanted her to water things down), and the real-life stories behind her books—from bottle-feeding lambs in the dark to honoring her family’s military service in Home Again. Her work speaks to anyone who values faith, family, and tradition—core themes we revisit often on Ever Onward.

As Carla shares, “The barnyard light in the darkness—that wasn’t scary. That was safety. That was home.”

This conversation is a heartfelt reminder that wisdom, resilience, and gratitude are often found in the humblest of places. Whether you’re raising kids or building your legacy, you’ll leave this episode inspired to slow down, be present, and pass on what matters most.


Learn more here: https://www.gonasreadingranch.com

Buy Carla Osborne's books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Carla-Osborne/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ACarla%2BOsborne

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Speaker 1:

Today on the Ever Onward podcast, we have Carla Osborne, who is a children's book author from here in the Treasure Valley. She has written several books that tie back to her childhood and the heritage of Idaho and really connects with a lot of the values that we hold near and dear to us through children's books. Really excited to share this podcast with everyone today. Carla Osborne Carla, thanks for being here today. This will be fun.

Speaker 1:

We've had you down on the schedule for a while, so it'll be fun to hear all about this and it's nice to have someone that's doing what you're doing oh, thank you so Carla, award winning children's book author, and I, when you, when we got you booked, you were able to drop off a few books for me to look at, and they're already with my grandkids, oh good.

Speaker 2:

So thank you very much for coming on able to drop off a few books for me to look at, and they're already with my grandkids. Oh good they're loving that.

Speaker 1:

So thank you very much for coming on and talking about what you do and your passions. Tell us a little bit about you, to get started.

Speaker 2:

I am an Idaho native. My children are fifth generation, or well, my grandchildren are fifth generation Idahoans.

Speaker 1:

Where did you grow up?

Speaker 2:

In Burley it was. You know, when you say Burley it's like Treasure Valley. So I was outside of Burley, close to the mountains in Pomerale.

Speaker 1:

Pomerale, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, on a farm out there.

Speaker 1:

There's a ton of great people from the valley that are from that area.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

There must have been something in the water there. I mean just like, I think, like so many people.

Speaker 2:

I spent a lot of time in Oakley and because we were closer actually to Oakley than to Burley really and we went to, you know, down that way a lot, it's got some great stories too. Yes, that whole area yes.

Speaker 1:

So you grew up on a farm. I grew up on a farm. What kind of farming.

Speaker 2:

We grew wheat and sugar beets and alfalfa and corn and that's what we grew up. And then we had cattle as well and then my father had horses. He had quarter horses. He had love for quarter horses and so he would show quarter horses and that's where my love came to was for horses and animals and anything like that, and just really down into the. You know, where my love came to was for horses and animals and anything like that and just really down into the. You know, when you're growing up on a farm, you really gain an appreciation for soil and for work and for seeing things grow and how they progress.

Speaker 1:

You know, it's one of the things about our heritage that I think gets a little overlooked just because we are about work, but our farmers and our ranchers are our environmentalists. They are Like no one cares more about water, clean water, how the water is used and maximized, how the soil is taken care of and treated, and then our farmers and ranchers.

Speaker 2:

You're right. I mean because that's their livelihood.

Speaker 1:

So it really kind of frustrates me sometimes when you hear the other side of things saying well, somehow blaming farming and ranching and our heritage for something I'm like. Are you kidding me? Those are the folks that take the best care of our resources than anyone.

Speaker 2:

I agree totally.

Speaker 1:

That's great, great. So you grew up there, Wonderful life. Tell me about horse. Did you get into horses?

Speaker 2:

I did because like my dad and my brothers they all showed you know they were into horses and we had quarter horses, beautiful quarter horses, and my dad actually um would chariot race. He was in the posse. So up in Albion, you know they were in the posse. We have pictures of him on his horses up there. And then he would um go to the rodeos and they were, do you know, the posse would ride in formation and then yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and so then I grew up riding horses in parades and then also being in 4-H and showing horses, and so I got to be Grand Champion, reserve, grand Champion of the fair one year and that was just like, oh, I like this, that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Horses are wonderful. They're such powerful animals and fun to be around and bond and personalities. There's a reason why they're used in therapy and everything else because they're so wonderful.

Speaker 2:

And they can sense people. So if you're afraid, they sense that immediately and they can sense trust and so they can pick up on what we're feeling.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, it only takes them a second. I just my. I've got a big, big quarter horse. That's my horse, chet, big Chet's his name and he's always trailered perfectly. And then I took him up to McCall last weekend and getting him there and getting him back he would not get in the trailer and he is not someone to mess with and I don't know what's going on with him. So anyway, I got, I got someone coming out to help me with him. But there, that's what a shadow my wife she's like. They're just massive when they don't want to do something.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they're not going to do it. There's no getting them to do it. There's no getting them to do it. How many hands?

Speaker 1:

He's 16 and a half.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's big for a quarter horse.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's big. Yeah, he's a lot bigger than our other two and I like him. He's a big sturdy guy for me and has been a wonderful, wonderful horse. It's hard to find a good horse in today's world.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

There's not as many people that are raising and training, and it's just harder to find a good horse. So, yeah, well, that's great. So so you grew up in, uh, in, did you know the crannies?

Speaker 2:

oh, yeah, I know the crannies. Yeah, the crannies were closer to oakley yeah, oh yeah yeah, yeah, I know them real well todd is a dear dear friend oh, that's so amazing.

Speaker 1:

and then you know, bill his, his dad, bill's Hill, but I think someone in his family was very into horses.

Speaker 2:

And.

Speaker 1:

I can't remember all the stories. You get Todd, you don't get anyone from that area either Scott Bedke or the Crannies or Critchfields and you get them all going on stories and they never stop. They never stop and they all blend together.

Speaker 2:

For me, that's right, we had my family. They ran sheep up in those hills.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

So we have lots of stories about that. You know, up in Oakley and running sheep and all of those things up in those foothills up there. So, yeah, the Oakley Basin, I mean you can't beat the Oakley Basin yeah.

Speaker 1:

And then they had the year that they had to put the canal in the story. Oh my uncle, it's an incredible book.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, my uncle was the one that had to organize all of that and work with the politics, with people and the church. Tell the story.

Speaker 1:

We've never told the story on this podcast. So you had a year.

Speaker 2:

A year.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, give us the background.

Speaker 2:

Well, the spring runoff was really. You know, there was a lot of water coming into the reservoir and that is a man-made dirt dam that is up above Oakley.

Speaker 1:

So man-made dirt dam huge snowmageddon-ish kind of year.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 1:

Dam's going to break unless they relieve the pressure. Yes, and they literally, as a community, organize everyone together and say we're not going to let this happen, right, and they basically put in a canal over a period of time of like it's been like five years since I read the book.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Well, and they had to run it all the way from Oakley to the Snake River in Burley, and so they had to cut through farmer's fields.

Speaker 2:

And so farmers just had to give up for the good of the community, they had to let them come through. And then what we would do my husband, they would patrol every night to watch when they released that water so it didn't break the canal, that they went on. So they would all have different shifts and they would go out at night and during the day and I know that he went out at nighttime and they would walk along that canal, all along those many miles, cause you know it was a fascinating story.

Speaker 1:

Look up that name of that book, cause look up, like the Oakley mirror, it's like the something miracle, or just for our listeners it's worth. It's worth a read and because what it tells a story of is how a community can come together with unsurmountable odds, like there's no way that this isn't going to, and if the dam would have burst it would have been this huge thing. And they do it. I don't know if we can find it.

Speaker 2:

Rex Jarrett was the one that was helping coordinate it. Yeah, Oakley, Idaho.

Speaker 1:

Oakley, Idaho, Miracle Canal or something like that. Anyway, it's a great book. You'll find it. When you find it, let us know. Maddie, oh, A Flood Cannot Happen here.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, there's the canal right there. There's the book.

Speaker 1:

Yes, what's the name of the book? Maddie? Is that the name of the book? Anyway, it's a wonderful, wonderful book about community and coming together, and the story is they put this thing in and hurt disaster.

Speaker 2:

And they avoid disaster.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So Great Heritage. We started there. And then tell us how you became an author and so passionate about what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

Well, I loved writing. I've always loved writing my whole life and I love stories and I was raised reading books and I was raised my parents reading to me and then also encouraged to write, and I loved my childhood. I loved, loved, loved my childhood, I loved, loved, loved my childhood. And the older I get, the more I realize what a unique opportunity I had and that there are so many people that will never be able to experience what I experienced Now, because family farms are going away and it was a community effort as far as our family, but everywhere around us I was surrounded by people that knew me and took care of me and we could ride our bikes or our horses five miles around and people would say, hey, you know they'd watch out for you. You know, they knew that was Cal and Rayla's girl, so you better watch out. So you had that sense of really people who loved you and looked after you.

Speaker 2:

And my last boy left and I thought I'm going to sit down and I'm going to start all these things that I've written. I'm going to start putting them, putting them to use. So the first book I wrote was Under the Barnyard Light. I just wrote it in probably about maybe two hours, because it just came, it was there. It was there. It just came and it was like a rhythm.

Speaker 1:

And the intended audience was.

Speaker 2:

The intended audience was anyone that felt that light in their life, because the barnyard light represented my family. It represented the security, because when we were growing up, can we?

Speaker 1:

talk about this for a minute. Yes, you sure can. I'm going to interrupt you a few times Sure, I love that.

Speaker 2:

Go ahead.

Speaker 1:

Because under the barnyard light right, so just think of darkness.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1:

So last weekend we had a church camp up at our ranch and it ended up being rainy and kind of cold actually, but pitch dark and part of the power of getting these kids. So what happens is they go to camp, they take their cell phones and put them in a Ziploc bag and they put them away and then they experience Idaho I mean Idaho mountains, in the dark. I'm a big proponent of the fact that our kids and I don't want to sound like the old guy like the Gran Torino, get off my lawn guy.

Speaker 1:

But I think our kids don't experience darkness. How do you understand the grandeur of God if you don't ever look up and say, oh wow, there's stars in the Milky Way and I'm small and you smell it and feel it and it's just part of you and so, under the barnyard light, think of the context of that.

Speaker 2:

Back when, you were growing up, there was only one light.

Speaker 1:

It was dark in that light. So then there's the metaphor of the light, which is that's home, that's my beacon, that's where I can always go. Think of the beauty of that simple metaphor.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's exactly what I was writing, because that light meant everything it meant everything, because there was no light pollution.

Speaker 1:

But how do you know the light if you don't know the darkness?

Speaker 2:

Right, that's exactly right.

Speaker 1:

And do you think our kids know the darkness in today's world? I don't know the darkness. Right, that's exactly right. And do you think our kids know the?

Speaker 2:

darkness in today's world. I don't know, I don't know. I think that there's so much darkness in the world they're surrounded by it all the time Different kind of darkness.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that's right.

Speaker 2:

That's right. Yeah, it meant everything to me. And the stars at night? Yeah, you know, I write about the stars in a couple of my books, about how they just reflect. You know I might not be here right now with you, but if you look in the sky, we can both see the same stars. You know the North Star is up there and we can always look up there and see it. And that's about my brother when he leaves. And you know I could get a letter in three months maybe, or four months, but I had no idea at 10 years old that he was in Germany. I didn't know where Germany was. I was in my little world right here.

Speaker 2:

And so that's how he would tell me. He said just look up there and I'll be home again.

Speaker 1:

And I just got chills when you said that, because when my son went on to Finland on his mission I don't think I've ever told this story to anyone before, I don't think I ever have but I missed him like crazy, like I just missed him a lot. He was my oldest and my best friend and I was just really close to him. So I was happy that he was there. I liked what he was doing, but I just missed him tremendously. And I would have this spiritual moment on Sunday nights. It was like my best moment of the week and it was taking out my garbage because I would roll it out to the thing and it's often late and pitch dark and I remember just looking up at the stars and thinking to myself man, that's the same sky he's under. I felt some connection to him through those stars and thinking, hey, it gave me comfort that like hey, he's seeing a similar thing to what I'm seeing.

Speaker 1:

Exactly Not the same sky, but similar in a different perspective. But it connected me to him and I remember getting so much comfort from that in some weird way and I just would most of the time I'm a big baby I'd tear up and I'd think, oh, this is really comforting to me that he's okay. And God's looking after Him and we're connected, and even though he's far away, it's only a time that's going to go by Just a short time.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, yeah, I don't think I've ever said that, but I think about that often because it's those things that give us comfort during some times where we need them. But this idea of light and the barnyard, I love that. So I'm sorry we stopped, no. We got like book one and we're like we're stuck on dark and light.

Speaker 2:

No, and we're like we're stuck on dark and light. No, because that's what kind of started everything. Then it opened up the light in my life to be able to create more.

Speaker 1:

Did you know you loved it after the first book?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, oh yes, yes, I did a lot.

Speaker 1:

We're going to go through, so your books are all available.

Speaker 2:

Yes on.

Speaker 1:

Amazon, amazon.

Speaker 2:

It's under Gona's Reading Ranch, okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and.

Speaker 2:

Gona's Reading Ranch. Okay, yeah, and do you want to hear the story about Gona, because that's such a silly name?

Speaker 1:

So Gona's Reading Ranch. So there it is. So you just go to Amazon under the barnyard light Right and that's actually my real horse.

Speaker 2:

Everything in our books are based on the farm I grew up in, so anybody that's ever been on my farm not my farm, but the farm I grew up in will look and say oh yeah, I remember exactly that sign?

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's cool. I remember that truck. Who do you have illustrate for you?

Speaker 2:

This is Brandon Dorman. He is a now and he's written, he's illustrated a lot of books, like for Ghostbumps, fablehaven, you know he's well, well known and you had to have that light illuminating. And so I contacted him and he was so sweet and he said, well, contact Peter Elliott in New York. And so I did. And he said, well, he's really busy, but if you can wait about a year, I said, wait about a year. I said, oh, I'll wait, I'll wait. And so I had Michael Crane, who is my nephew.

Speaker 2:

We spent a year sketching out every part of the farm, every detail is exact, and then we would send those sketches to Brandon. And then I said, okay, brandon, you can put your mark on this, but this has to represent my childhood. And so Michael did a fabulous job with me of sketching everything in here. And then we let Brandon go back in and he put the color, the light, he worked with the sky, he softened me and everything. And if you notice I don't ever have my picture. Really you can't see my face in that a lot. It's because I want to focus on my dad and the light and the animals and the characters and the different characters in the book. We take those through each book.

Speaker 1:

This is awesome.

Speaker 2:

How many grandkids do?

Speaker 1:

you have.

Speaker 2:

I have six and we're so proud we have six.

Speaker 1:

Six grandkids, can you imagine? I mean, most of us just get to tell boring stories to our grandkids and you get to like here look. Look, this was my horse. What was your horse's name? Dandy Dandy the horse.

Speaker 2:

Dandy Hawkwicks, and he's who I won reserve grand Champion with.

Speaker 1:

Oh, this is cool. You're setting the bar pretty high for grandparents here. Carla, hey, you were going to tell me the story behind the name and then I interrupted you, oh, that's right, no, no.

Speaker 2:

So I grew up with seven cousins and they were all boys and I was a tomboy and I loved playing with all the boys and we were always working together on the farm and they couldn't say Carla, for some reason, and so they came up with Gona, which is harder to say than Carla. So my whole life I've been called Gona. My husband still calls me Gona, my siblings call me Gona, everybody calls me Gona. So of course you know I put in there because it's about Gona, gona growing up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she's the character in the books, and so that's why it's Gona.

Speaker 1:

That's cool. That's why I was noticing in the front of the first book you wrote the Dedication, which has got to be fun too right.

Speaker 2:

Oh, the Dedications are so fun for me.

Speaker 1:

Pay some tribute to the past, to my mother and father, calvin, and.

Speaker 2:

Rayola.

Speaker 1:

Rayola Crane, who helped create a magical and lasting childhood. That's cool. So how many books have you done?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've done seven. I'm on my. I have three more that I've written, but it takes about a year to get them out there. So the last one we're working on is a surprise for my grandchildren.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

But well, it's about their little dog that passed away. So I'm writing a book about that and it's almost done. I'm excited to get that out there.

Speaker 1:

So from start to finish, you write it, talk through the process.

Speaker 2:

Talk through the process. Well, I have a funny process, so I am usually up late and I sometimes wake up with an idea, and so I have pads everywhere around my house and when I get an idea I just start writing and then I'll write those things down, I'll put them away and then maybe that will trigger a story somewhere else, but that's usually how it starts and then I go from there. But, like with Georgia, the dog that I just wrote, it's called Georgia O'Keeffe, the known nonsense dog, and it just came and I like to write in rhythm and in rhyme, and lots of times they'll say to me my editors, who correct it. They come in and they say things you need to not write rhyme this time, but it's hard for me. So barnyard is all in rhyme and the other books will be in rhyme, but most of them aren't and and then, and then the illustration is, so the writing is a big part of it.

Speaker 2:

And then you, and then you go to work on the illustration and I'm in every detail of every book, because they don't know about my farm and I know exactly what I want. So if I was just to send it off to a publisher, they could do whatever they wanted with my text. But I won't allow that, and so I am over everything.

Speaker 2:

That's great and I just have really, really good people that work with me and they put up with me and they're there to support me. But Brandon's amazing and Michael Crane was amazing and all the people who helped me do this and put it together. Aloha Publishing when I took my little text to Aloha Publishing years ago, I was so scared. I was so scared and they were so kind to me and they were so good and they said, no, this is a good story.

Speaker 1:

Had you known anyone that had done this? No, so you're clipping along.

Speaker 2:

I'm just clipping along, and you love writing, yes.

Speaker 1:

And you've got these ideas Right. But I think it's always fascinating to hear from people that do stuff like this. So you're like I'm going to do this.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like this need inside of you Like. I've got to get this out, because if I don't get it out, it's just going to burn me up, yeah, and so it took a lot for me to go in there and present myself Like here. Look at me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

That took a lot and they blessed their hearts. They looked at the script and they said this is actually really good. I was like really this is actually really good. This is great, you know, because I think it is, but you know I don't count, yeah, yeah. So yeah, but Aloha Publishing has been so sweet to me the whole way they are. They've got my back and they'll tell me. Well, and then I have Megan, who is my. She comes in and she corrects my spelling and things like that.

Speaker 1:

We've now are almost the same. We're like partners and she's amazing, that's great Talk through part of your books. And again, thank you for the copies I've had. I think there's a little bit of a I don't know what to call it I think we've had technology now. I mean, I don't know, has it been 14 or 15, 16 years since the iPhone first came out? I waited in line, I slept overnight down at the. You know when it first came out. It was, I can't remember it was AT&T had the first iPhone. So it was down on Milwaukee. I waited in this big long line. I got my first iPhone.

Speaker 1:

And you think of what's happened since then. You know there was always the concerns of, hey, everyone was used to having a personal computer and laptops were a thing, but the idea that now you would carry around a device that was as powerful as they are now and really become, I mean, listen, we're all, in fact, if I sat down and looked up my hours because we're on them, we're on them nonstop, right? So technology has had certainly wonderful ways of efficiencies in life. I mean, yesterday I got up early and went to Reno and back and did you know you're just doing all this stuff and the whole time you're connected to everyone and you're and you're FaceTiming, you're getting on Teams calls, you're doing emails, you're texting, you're following the wars around the world. You're doing all this stuff simultaneously.

Speaker 2:

We're so connected.

Speaker 1:

We're connected in a weird way, but I think people are a little worried about AI and technology. Worried about AI and technology, and I think there's going to be a. I think there's going to be a, not a resistance. I don't know what. I don't know how to explain this.

Speaker 1:

I think books like libraries like something tangible, like instead of like doing. I know my grandson just had his tonsils out and so we went over Sunday night and he got. He got this little, what's it called? Matthew the Yogo. It's this cool little device. It's awesome. A Goyo, it's a Goyo. Have you ever heard of this? No, so it's really educational and it's interactive with kids. It's called a Goyo Goyo player.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay.

Speaker 1:

I had never seen one until Shannon gave me one Sunday night. But the technology behind this thing is ridiculous. There's a daily activity, there's cards. It's unbelievably cool.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yes, no, I have seen those.

Speaker 1:

It's unbelievably cool and I just sat there and he was telling me all about it. He's only five and he's telling me all about it and walking me through it. I watched him set it up through an app and he did it himself. I watched the whole thing happen. I watched him connect it to his wi-fi. He's five and he gets this thing set up. But my point of doing this is, as cool as that is, it's not the same as me putting him in my arms. Yes, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

I do.

Speaker 1:

And just sitting there with him and saying, hey, let's read a book.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Right, I think there's going to be.

Speaker 2:

Because you know what. He has your full attention. Not only you have his, but he has yours, and you're connected and you're both holding something that's tangible.

Speaker 1:

And we're turning pages and we're looking at pictures and we're, we're, uh, it just feels different.

Speaker 2:

It is, and then two um, you can just put your finger under and say, okay, this is your word Every time we come to this word, you have to say this, and so it's basic learning. I mean, it's just going back to the basic learning of saying okay, this is that.

Speaker 1:

That's your word. There's going to be some rebellion that we hold on to some of this stuff at some point, Like we're not, we're going to say no enough. We are going to read books, to our kids.

Speaker 2:

Whether you like it or not, we are going to take our phones and put them down and read books to our kids.

Speaker 1:

I think there is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. No, I think it's wonderful. We have a maypole, we have hopscotch, we have everything that parents and children do together, and there's not technology, it's just getting out in nature and trying to reconnect.

Speaker 1:

Where are you on the spectrum? I've listened to a bunch of podcasts and read some stuff. Are people out there that, like, have studied what's happening to young people's development and minds in the era of phones and technology and the idea of play?

Speaker 1:

yes, no, I don't think there's enough play there's like there's a couple of really passionate guys that are really famous and have been, they've done a lot of work and research where they'll say we're messing up our kids in ways because their brains are forming and the way the human brain forms, and that you know, I think for a male it's not till you're 24 and a female it's like 21. And you've got these really impressionable times where we're developing dopamine receptors and all of the receptors are maturing in our brains and it's when we learn conflict and conflict resolution and we learn how to control parasympathetic and sympathetic responses in our bodies and brains.

Speaker 1:

And all these things, naturally, have happened for thousands of years where people just here's how we grow and do things and our DNA is built that way. And now comes along technology where? And just modern society, where where you look at, play like think about, think about your. You said you were a tomboy and you had your cousins.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it was just like get outside, go create, go do something else, go figure it out yourself. You know, just go play, go figure it out yourself, and the conflict resolution happened naturally.

Speaker 1:

It happened naturally, because how many times did you get in scuffles or whatever you want to call? Them and you just figured it out, right, Right.

Speaker 2:

And that's kind of what the books are about. It's like okay, she's always mischievous, she's not a bad girl, but she's just so interested in everything you know, get out there and dig and do what you know, go find. But there's going to be problems along the way and you've got to figure it out. There's not going to be an adult there to figure it out for you. You can't go to your phone and say, hey, you know how do I figure this out? And no, I think it's so important, I think play is so important just to be able to go outside.

Speaker 1:

And a lot of children don't have that opportunity, so that makes me feel bad. You know people that are in apartments and the county and you know City of Meridian, their commitments to parks even, and having like for all kids, because everyone grows up differently, yes, and you have this really ideologic farm life which listen like you pick a place to plop yourself down and grow up and the experiences you had. I don't know that there's anything better than growing up on a small family farm.

Speaker 1:

I mean the things you learn, the interaction, the animals, the darkness, the sky, the connection with all things that are not you right, right, you're forced to learn to work. You're forced to learn to appreciate nature. You're forced to. You know, it's just, it has. Like. My dad always says something. He's like lead. Always use words when necessary, like when you grow up on a farm.

Speaker 1:

you don't need to say a whole lot because you experience this thing right. Well, there's a lot of kids that will never know a farm, they'll never know darkness, they'll never know. So what are the ways we create that? I'm really glad that we're so committed to parks. I'm also really glad we're so committed to libraries. Libraries as well, I mean I look at my grandkids right now and my daughter takes them to the library a couple times a week. I think it's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that was the first thing I did when I wrote Under the Barnyard Light. I went back to the library that my mom used to take me to oh, that's cool the library that my mom used to take me to.

Speaker 2:

I said this is the first thing I want to do and I got to read to the children in the library and I told them how important the library was to me and how that it just created this magical world, Because I always wanted to know where the planes that are flying overhead up in the sky, where are they going? What?

Speaker 2:

are those people doing and all of those things? Where is Germany? Where are all these places? Because it's not like it was today and the library opened up all of that for me and I went back and I love to donate all my books to libraries and to go read to the schools and to talk to them in the schools and give back and donate. But that was one of the first things I did go back to the Burley Public Library.

Speaker 1:

So you went to the Burley Public Library yes, that's awesome, yeah and had a reading.

Speaker 2:

This is my book and one day. Who would have?

Speaker 1:

thought this is my farm, down the road.

Speaker 2:

Yes, if you just go down this road, you'll see it. And the little kids were like really Really, yeah, really. And that's why we try to encourage you can do what you want to do. Just be brave. Be brave and do it.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. What year was that? What was your first book?

Speaker 2:

Oh gosh, I don't know, I'm so old, I think it was 2019. Yeah, I started writing before that. But you know there was such a long process of trying to get it out, the very first book. Yeah, it took probably six years because I did all of this and it was worth it, but now you've got the process down. I have the process down.

Speaker 1:

So what's the series here? How many are in it? Bonus?

Speaker 2:

series. There are one, two, three, four five.

Speaker 1:

No, but like in your head.

Speaker 2:

Oh in my head. Oh, there's many in my head. There's so many in my head and I can't get them all down, but I've got four more in my head that I've got to get down.

Speaker 1:

Is that how it works?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, and I'm anxious to get it done and they always say okay, you can either have perfection or patience, or you can get it done.

Speaker 1:

And I don't have any patience. Where are you on that spectrum then? Where do you like on the right, rewrite get a perfect thing versus oh yeah, I'm really bad that way.

Speaker 2:

I'm really bad that way, I'm really bad at that.

Speaker 1:

So you're impatient and you're a perfectionist.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, and so that's what they said. You can either have a book or you can have perfection, so give it up.

Speaker 1:

Where do you stand? What do you tell parents? And you're probably around a lot of people, because you're an author of children's books and you have this interest in trying to preserve heritage, preserve the legacy of reading and connection and all that. What's your advice you give people on technology?

Speaker 2:

Ooh, that's tough Is that a loaded question. That is a loaded question. Technology I just think that it's wonderful. I think that you need to use it correctly, but I think you need to break away from it with your children as often as possible. It was like we were talking about earlier. You need to gather up your children and you need to read to them, you need to look at them one-on-one, you need to get down on their level and you need to just talk and be with them.

Speaker 2:

It's easier, not to do that though it's so easy not to do that.

Speaker 1:

My daughter drives me nuts sometimes. Yeah, because I just like, oh, put on a show, take a nap. But she doesn't let him she doesn't let him.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, Because it is a lot easier just to throw something at them and you know they really need us.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

They really need that connection and I've seen kids that'll be tugging on their parents because they're on their phone and they're like you know, talk to me and they'll be on their phone, but the kids want them to talk. So as a grandma, it's easy to say because I don't have children- all the time, don't you worry about? That I do. I worry about it all the time. I worry about my grandchildren, I worry about other people's children.

Speaker 1:

You know what I'm guilty of it Everyone's guilty of it.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I know, I know Because we all get frustrated and we all get tired.

Speaker 1:

Well, and what happens is, you know, work never stops now.

Speaker 2:

No, no, it never stops.

Speaker 1:

You're always doing something, it never stops and it takes a tremendous amount of discipline for everybody, whether you're the grandpa or the dad or the mom or whatever to say okay, I'm going to try to be present and the first step of me being present is untethering me from this thing that is going to constantly buzz or vibrate. Know, vibrate or ding or you know, what was that? Or I'm waiting for something. It has to be very intentional.

Speaker 2:

You know I'm really bad about having my phone and I know that a lot of people get upset at me because they'll say I tried to get a hold of you, I couldn't get a hold of you and I'm just like. You know, I don't take my phone everywhere and I don't have my phone with me all the time and usually I respond to people at 12 o'clock at night because I got to get things done.

Speaker 1:

So you truly just, you just try to keep it.

Speaker 2:

I try to keep it away and I know that bothers a lot of people and a lot of times that you know it is necessary to have it close by, but I intentionally try not to do that.

Speaker 1:

Well, there's two things In today's world. There's an expectation of immediate response.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you should be responding to me right now, well, I can't right now.

Speaker 1:

The second part of it is if you don't, you get buried. Carla, this is not a therapy session. I'm not trying to make myself feel better about myself, no, I get it.

Speaker 2:

I get it, but I mean that's like part of it.

Speaker 1:

Right it is. If I don't like get on my laptop every night it's a horrible habit I have. I sit down with Shannon, I get on and for the next two or three hours that's when I get caught.

Speaker 2:

That's where I read my emails, you get caught up.

Speaker 1:

Caught up for the day, but man, I'm not present. I'm not present. Right, we're watching some show and I don't even know half of what's going on. That's why I don't remember the next day. But I don't know if I didn't do that, but it's part of it's the pace of our world, don't?

Speaker 2:

you think, yeah, it's just different. Just hit the balance. Like with everything else, you got to have a balance, and a balance is very, very difficult.

Speaker 1:

What are some of the important lessons you've taught with GONA? Let's go through some of them, because then I'll have more things to react to and we'll get off the negative of my internet habits.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, what we do is I try to encourage work, which is interesting because I would say words in my books and the editor would said, oh, you can't say that in this world today. Like I put down chores Okay, you got to get your chores done they said no, no, no, that's negative.

Speaker 1:

You can't put chores. Do you just tell them BS and do it anyway? No, you don't.

Speaker 2:

I wasn't that strong at first.

Speaker 1:

But now I'm just like Carla, just tell them BS, call them chores.

Speaker 2:

That's what they were.

Speaker 1:

That's what they are.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Why is chores a bad word?

Speaker 2:

I don't know, because I guess we're putting expectation on our children.

Speaker 1:

But that was the whole point. You need to not use these people in New York to be your people.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's funny because in New York, when they said that, he would text back and says I have no idea what a corral is, explain to me what a corral is. And so I had to explain to him and you know he goes oh, I get it, colin. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, okay, you put the horses in there. All right, I got it and so. So I love working with these people, but they, you know, they, don't have a clue. And then the other thing was in Alex the lamb, the wonder lamb, we used to raise lambs and mother lambs sometimes reject their babies or the mother dies and they're called bum lambs. And we would take the bum lambs and we would raise them.

Speaker 1:

They're the ones you get closest to, because you have to bottle feed them right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you have to bottle feed them. So my responsibility was I had to get up every night in the middle of the night and feed these babies out of an old glass Pepsi bottle With a little nipple on it.

Speaker 2:

right With a nipple on it yeah, and I loved that, and so that's a lot about you. Know, I was responsible for another life. I had to take care of that life and then I had to watch the other babies that grew up go away, and then this little lamb was crippled and he couldn't walk, and so it shows the progress of how we worked with him and and this is alex.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is alex, so for everyone listening or watching, so it's alex the wonderland the wonderland because, um, through this whole process of us taking care of him me basically being his mother he learned to walk, and it talks about the separation and about how he's going to be destroyed because he's a bum lamb and he can't walk.

Speaker 1:

So he's useless. Do you still call him a bum lamb in here? I do. What did they call him?

Speaker 2:

What did they call him? Did they make you change the name? They were trying. Yeah, they were.

Speaker 1:

And you resisted, I resisted. I love that I did. I love the fact that you resisted.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because they didn't like that. And I did go to one school and I was reading the book and we got a lot of bad emails back about how dare you call the lamb crippled, how dare you call it a bum lamb? And I was like, well, that's what it was. You know, it was a crippled bum lamb, but he can walk now. The good thing is he can walk. And in the other ones it's basically about learning to get along with my brother and working through problems because he doesn't want to play with me.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

You know he's like five years older than me. Why would he want to play with me? And so we have that process and he works with me. The other one is about my brother who goes into the army, like I said, into Germany, and I have no idea where Germany is at eight years old, and then he talks to me about the stars, he comes home and teaches us those things and then he leaves again. And that book is really tender to me because my father served and my brother served and then my boy was a captain in the army in Korea. So the last page mimics what my brother Dennis did before he left to get back on the bus to go to Germany, he put his hat on me.

Speaker 2:

And then my boy, when he was going back to Korea, put his hat on my grandson. He doesn't have any sons, but he was very, very close to this boy. Wow, so it ties it all back in, so that's home again. That's home again. Yeah, and that's really. And if you open that book up or the page up you can see my dad and my brother and my son. It should be right in there somewhere Somewhere close. So that is very tender to me.

Speaker 1:

To my dad, my brother Dennis and my son Taylor, and to all the veterans, those serving in the military and the families who courageously support them. And there's a picture of Corporal Calvin Cottrell Crane Cottrell Crane Cottrell Crane, sergeant Dennis Drake Crane and First Crane Cottrell Crane, sergeant Dennis Drake Crane and First Lieutenant Taylor Shea Osborne. That's cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he was my boy. Yeah, that's cool, yeah, and so when I see veterans, I give this book to them.

Speaker 1:

This is awesome.

Speaker 2:

Because you know I'm very patriotic and it almost moves me to tears because you know people do a lot for this country and they never get recognized, and the families who support them that let you know, because I experienced a little teeny bit of that when my brother left. Yeah, just yeah.

Speaker 1:

I didn't serve. Do you think that people that don't serve can fully ever appreciate?

Speaker 2:

no, um I, I can't appreciate that. Yeah, I can't appreciate going and even though I have this heritage, I can't appreciate what it takes to give up and then to go and then to come back and then just be forgotten you know, they're not always forgotten but to be able to serve and to work like that and to lots of times dangerous.

Speaker 1:

I had a good friend on here, dan nelson, who told his story, which is he's a, he's a, he's a dang hero, he's just a war hero. Um, and I asked him. I said when people say thank you for your service, it's like does that, does that mean anything? What does that mean to you? And he said I don't. He said what they could do instead of the thing of using words, live a life worth dying for, because that's what I was out there doing right, exactly, and I thought what a powerful way to look at it.

Speaker 1:

But that's, you know, and I think, fortunately and unfortunately I think, with world tensions the way they are now, it does heighten our awareness of putting more families and individuals in harm's way and I don't know, a deep appreciation, patriotism for where we live. We have family members that served and they just were always. My hero, my Uncle Daryl, was like the guy. He was a pilot that flew in multiple missions and wars and he would tell the stories. And I look at that guy, he was like Superman to all of us, of course.

Speaker 1:

He was the guy, and so I'm glad we live in a state that honors that. Though we had Ked Wills on, who was the former colonel for the Idaho State Police, and it's the same with whether it's law enforcement, military, first responders, people that choose to serve their lives for others. For others they don't even know, they don't even know, and the idea of when danger happens, I run towards it, I don't run away from it, and we all kind of take it for granted.

Speaker 2:

We take it for granted. There's somebody that's got our back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, away from it. And we all kind of take it for granted. We take it for granted, there's somebody that's got our back. Yeah, I think why we take it for granted is it's just so free in our society. It's just there.

Speaker 2:

It's there, it's always been there, yeah, and we just assume that it always will be there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a really bad assumption. Yes, that there will always be people that will just put their lives on the line for us and serve. And yeah, well, carl, this has been awesome.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you. Thank you so much for letting me come.

Speaker 1:

I want to make sure, so we've got the Go.

Speaker 2:

It's Go, go, go, go, that's the series Go Go, go Go. That's the series Go Go Go series, and it's at Gona's Reading Ranch.

Speaker 1:

And Gona's Reading Ranch, and you can be found on Amazon anywhere you search for Carla Osborne books. And then you have a website too, right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, we have a website too, and we have events at my house and my barn and, like I said, we just do things. And the next one is the 23rd.

Speaker 1:

Hey, I would you know, listen, we have lots of people on here. I would tell every one of our listeners that has a grandkid, yes, go look these up, hold them in your arms, smell them, hug them, kiss them and read them a book. That's right, right that. Smell him, hug him, kiss him and read him a book.

Speaker 2:

That's right, right, that's right. Go outside even better. Sit underneath the tree and read to him and smell the air.

Speaker 1:

I'll get emotional now, but my grandpa was my hero. That guy was like he was and always will be the guy for anyone that knew him. But anyone that knew him he sat under a willow tree, is in his yard in an old lawn chair. I can see it today old, yeah, yes, piece of crap lawn chair that was falling apart and he had an old hat and he would sit there reading a louis lamore book yes and and you would sit down by that guy and man just feel secure right well the strength I always say he uh, people talk to you and when he talked you felt that you didn't hear it and he was present, but it was.

Speaker 1:

It was just so. It was so connecting and so impactful. I sometimes wonder in our world today if we're as impactful because we're so hurried. Do I have a willow tree to sit under? Do I sit on an old lawn chair? Do I take the time to listen or am I rushed?

Speaker 2:

Am I rushed? Do I think we're all rushed I?

Speaker 1:

think we're rushed.

Speaker 2:

But it's always good to think, okay, I've got to slow down, I've got to slow down and I think this might sound I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I think we need to manufacture those times in our lives or they pass. Oh, definitely, because it's not like. I think for him. I really do think for him. I don't think he manufactured those experiences. They were natural, they happened. They happened almost every day for me. They just happened normally, like that normal interaction with him was meaningful and intentional and it just happened. And in today's world, everything's so busy. I think that we have to like say okay, where am I going to create those connections and be intentional about it.

Speaker 2:

And you know, can I just say a lot of people think we need to create those memories by going on big, huge vacations. No, no, usually the ones they remember the most children are when we were there at that exact time, like you said, under the willow tree, just sitting with them sitting in the grass. We don't need to travel great distances to create memories. Just do it in your home, do it in your backyard, Go out and dig in the dirt with your child. I mean a couple few weeks.

Speaker 1:

It's been a few months ago now and I walked in I couldn't find my wife and I walked in the garage and she's there and she had her little chicks and her brooder and I said, hey, how are you, how was your day? And she starts bawling. I'm like what's going on? And she's like I'm just so happy. And and she said we just got to play with chicks and hang out and talk and and she's like it was so awesome and she was just so emotional about it. I'm like that's right, it's the, it's those things. It's digging in the dirt, it's sitting under a willow tree. It's reading a book about really important stuff idaho heritage, idaho valuesism, the Lights in the Barn, great themes Carla, you're awesome.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thank you so much. I've loved this, carla Crane.

Speaker 1:

Osborne Go look them up and read a book.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thanks everybody.