What is busy?

We say we are busy but what really is busy. I'm beginning to think it's just the life we make for ourselves. Even if I stayed home all day I would still be busy. I have 2 very active boys who are always busy. This summer has seemed to have flown by. I find myself sometimes wishing for the busyness of field work because then we are home and not running here, there and everywhere. We do enjoy taking trips and seeing new places but it's nice to be home too. Farm work is always busy though. August flew by. We kicked the month off with AGstravaganza and then headed to the beach in Florida for a vacation. It was nice to get away and have family time.

We checked a few things off Little C1's list of request: a zoo trip and a train ride. The zoo we visited was the one I visited at about my boys ages. We also attended the church I grew up in. It was nice to see some old friends. Some things never change like driving through Destin and seeing the HOT NOW sign at Krispy Kreme. The boys discovered the goodness in the church parking lot. During church Little C2 kept saying in a whisper (thank goodness) "more donuts."

Feeding the giraffe was a highlight of the zoo even when I was little.

 

Once we were well relaxed from the beach we welcomed in friends from college for the 4th annual Labor Day Hog Roast weekend. We enjoy hosting this event each year and catching up on the past year as well as meeting new little ones.

 

So our life is busy but I don't think we could create a slow pace. Now we are waiting and prepping equipment for harvest time.

Wordless Wednesday

My backyard-a soybean field.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Last year's Labor Day Hog Roast weekend group. Gearing up for this years group.

 

"Putting up" Time

I've been learning over the years to embrace this farm wife role.

 In the summer time it's canning and freezing time of garden fresh veggies.

I'm not sure I ever thought I would be "putting up" vegetables. Our first summer married my grandmother-in-law asked if I wanted to can tomatoes with her. I thought this could be a fun thing to learn. So I did and have been every summer since. I wasn't sure what I would do with all these tomatoes but it makes great chili and I've started canning salsa too. I've expanded to other food as well: sweet corn, strawberry jelly, blackberries, peaches, and applesauce. It may seem like alot of work for something so cheap from the store but it taste so much better and it's less I have to buy. I did have a garden our first summer but I didn't know what I was doing and it didn't turn our so great. I did learn that people who like to garden also like to share the fruits of their labor or vegetables. I like having fruits on hand to throw in a cobbler or muffins. Now that I'm feeding 2 active little boys it helps to have all this on hand.

I remember visiting my great grandmothers and seeing her shelves lined with bread and butter pickles and fig preserves. It was always a treat to open a jar and I had to have her permission; now I understand why they were so treasured.
 

This week I canned tomatoes one day and froze sweet corn the next day. I won't go into all the process but here are some pictures along the way. I had no idea you could pour boiling water on tomatoes for a few minutes and their skin just peel right off. I learned that from my first tomatoes canning lesson. I use a pressure canner for sealing the tomato jars. I started with 2 five gallon buckets of tomatoes and ended with 14 quart jars and 10 pint jars.

 

 Freezing sweet corn isn't as time consuming as canning. I did have help shucking all that pile. I started by shucking that pile and boiled it for about 10 minutes and let cool. Then I cut off the kernels and froze some on the ears. We like to eat it on the ears once in a while. I will give a shout out to Pampered Chef for the best corn-kernel-cutter-off-thing. I'm not sure what it's called but it works so nicely and keep corn from splattering all over. Corn is quite a messy job. So yummy in the winter popped right of the freezer. I started with that huge pile and ended with 26 bags with 2 cups in each and 4 bags with 6-8 ears still on the cob. We should make it til next summer.



Next on the "putting up" agenda is applesauce in the fall. This comes in first place in favorites in our house with strawberry jelly not far behind.

Wordless Wednesday

Nala snagged an ear while we were shucking sweet corn.

Farm Bureau's AGstravaganza

Yesterday we hosted the public on our farm as a tour stop for AGstravaganza. Our county Kentucky Farm Bureau board put on the event with the help from a bunch of sponsors. The idea was for the people of our county and some surrounding counties to come see some of the farms in our county. We were 1 of 6 stops. People were free to choose the locations they visited. We had a great turnout. I'll take a minute and explain Farm Bureau. When people hear Farm Bureau they think of insurance; well it's a lot more than that. Insurance is just a member service. People can be a member of Farm Bureau which is an organization that works for farmers. They are in D.C. and Frankfort lobbying for farmers. They also help with events such as this for educating the public on what farmers do. We get so busy in our farming lifestyle sometimes we forget to share our farm and story with other people. This was a good day to take a break and mingle with the public on our farm.

 

We were unable to take people into the barns for biosecurity reason and keeping our herd of pigs healthy; but we did bring a baby out periodically. As you can see my boys are still excited to see a pig too.

 We set up 2 pools full of corn and wheat for the children to play in like a sand box.



Here's the family that was present for the day. 4 generations right there.

Wordless Wedneday

 Big C with a soybean plant.

A few days later with Little C1 and his soybean plants.