It rained.

Rain...prayed for in the spring and sometimes prayed against during harvest.

Rain...can be welcomed or unwelcomed.

Rain came Monday and I can say it was welcomed. We had been harvesting for weeks. It's been days full of running meals to the field, pieces and parts to the field, and escorting to the next field. It's just been busy with several late nights. We honestly needed a bit of a break. We thankfully are in a good position for a break. Winter wheat has been planted and we are in the last field of corn to be harvested. Soybeans...we still have a bunch.

So what do we do when it rains? Take care of bills, clean house, wash clothes, run errands, and most importantly go out to eat. We get caught up on what got neglected while in the field from dawn til dusk or after. It's a bit of a breather in the midst of the busy seasons of the year. The rain we are getting now is going to make our break a long one. If it's a little shower we are rained out enough to get a supper out. We are going to be out a few days 'cause the remnants of a hurricane are upon us. Being from Florida; hurricanes well up many memories.

We welcomed the break but don't want it to last too long; 'cause we don't want to be harvesting Thanksgiving.

So we will get caught up on tasks and get geared up to finish harvest strong.

Meals on Wheels

There are many hats worn by the farmer's wife. During Harvest and Planting season one of those hats is a chef's hat. Tonight I delivered 6 plates of spaghetti to 3 different farms. It's was a busy night on the farm. I loaded up 3 boys and dinner, cookies, and sweet teas. Through many nights of delivering supper I have learn the best techniques for transporting meals through bumpy field so I do not have spills in my car. These to go boxes work great for the meal.

 

I dropped off 2 meals at a field where soybeans were being harvested for the combine driver and the grain cart driver.

 I dropped off 3 more meals at another field being harvested; a meal for the driver, grain cart driver, and truck driver.

 

The last meal was dropped off to Big C who was planting winter wheat in a harvested corn field.

 

 Needless to say, my explorer is a welcomed sight at the end of the day. I try to give them one last boost to finish the day strong.

The first of many days of Harvest 2015

Here's a glimpse into the first day of corn harvest 2015.

 

 

There were some very excited boys this morning when Daddy was getting ready to head to the field. Both boys wanted to be the first to ride. Daddy said one, so C1 was out the door with a bag of banana muffins in his hand for breakfast. C2 was promised a ride later in the day. I had a morning of washing laundry, paying bills, and bookkeeping things that were needing attention. C2 and I had our lunch then we loaded up with C3 to get lunch for Big C and C1. I'm in desperate need of a grocery trip.

 

Side note: Have you shopped with 3 little ones? I just keep making the food in the pantry work for another meal and pushing my trip later.

 

I picked up lunch from a great little diner and went to the field.

I left both boys to ride for a bit but that changed when we found out there was a breakdown at the grain bin site. I then took Big C to a semi to bring back to the field so he could continue to harvest while waiting for the other trucks to be unloaded. After we dropped him at the semi I took all 3 boys with me. We went to the pig barn to get records for me to enter into the database. Then we made a quick trip to The Dollar General for supper items and a few more meal items until I can get to a "real" grocery store.

 

We got home and it was naptime for the bigger boys. I put together some taco soup in the crockpot. It's was a chilly day to start harvest I don't think it hit 70 degrees today. Soup sounded good. Then I did more laundry and pig records. When C2 woke from his nap he was barely awake and said, "Take me to the combine." So to the combine he went. C1 and I ate soup then headed to the field with soup for Big C and C2 and two workers. Soup was well received.

 

I then traded boys. C2 came home with me and C1 got in to finish the day. 

 

 

We came home and I bathed the 2 smaller boys and got them in bed. Then I started my evening routine of starting the dishwasher and washing more clothes.

 

 I hope C3 cooperates as well as he did today. This will be a great harvest season with a baby in tow.

 

C1 stayed out with Daddy til 10:30pm. He felt quite big to start and end the day with Daddy. I told him working men get showers no matter how tired they are. He told me he almost fell asleep in the semi coming in from the field.

 

Now the night is ending watching UK football hoping they pull out a win.



More than funnel cakes and ferris wheels

When I think of the fair I think of greasy food from trailers and rickety rides that came in on a trailer.

In the agriculture community other words come to mind such as cattle shows, horse shows, blue ribbons, and grand champion. Since I didn't grow up with a farming background I didn't realize the livestock presentation side of the fair. I had been to a few county fairs growing up and we saw the animals but it seemed more like a petting zoo to me; not people's pride and joy. I still don't know all the steps to have a show pig or goat or cow. I do know it takes effort and work to get an animal ready to show.

 

We attended the KY state fair last week for a few days. There is so much more than food at the fair. We volunteered at the KY Soybean Association and KY Beef booth. There was a putt putt golf course with farm facts which was great for the non-farm attendees. I'll share a few.

Animal Agriculture (our pigs) is the number 1 consumer for US soy, consuming 97% of US soybean meal.
Kentucky is the 18th in the nation for soybean meal usage.

 We grow soybeans which then are processed and fed to our pigs.

Soybeans consist of 2 primary components 20% oil and 80% meal.
The meal is mainly used to feed livestock, while the oil is used in a variety of forms from cooking oils to biodiesel.

 

A staple at the KY state fair is Freddy Farm Bureau an interactive talking man.

We missed the fair last year since we were on vacation in Florida but C1 remembered him from when he was 3. He wanted to talk to the "big blue guy".



 

 

Summer 2015

Summer 2015...where did it go?

I know this is a question many ask each year but seriously where did the summer go?

As I get older the years do go faster and faster. I'm going to recap our summer since I didn't do very good updating as the summer happened.

 

At the end of May I had a baby. Baby boy number 3...that pretty much sums up the whole summer. With a new baby comes lack of sleep and adjustment to caring for another person. I do have to say C3 has joined in nicely. He's been a pretty easy baby.

He was born in the middle of planting season and right before wheat harvest.

Maternity leave...not sure what that is. Two weeks was about all I got and honestly I was feeling pretty good two weeks after having a baby.

 

 This is June 5th, 2 weeks exactly after giving birth I delivered supper to the field while Big C was planting soybeans. Little C3 just slept in the car.

 

Picking the big boys up from riding with Daddy.

The big boys spent the morning riding with Daddy as I ran some errands with the baby in tow. Big C was "side dressing corn" in other words he was putting nitrogen in the ground to help fertilize the corn.

 

Feeding the wheat harvest crew

Wheat harvest started in June and I delivered several meals to hungry men in the field. They normally get homecooked meals but this summer they had to get a few fast food meals. Here are 7 sweet teas to go to the field. They are happy to see our "meals on wheels" come to the field.

July 4th was spent at home instead of in Florida. C1 didn't think July 4th could happen at home; he's always been at the beach for the holiday. Wheat harvest and soybean planting were not finished in time for us to make the trip to Florida. We watched fireworks from all across the country from our front porch.

 

Wheat harvest

 

 We have had a full and memorable summer with our new addition.

 

I have learned the last few years that life is just busy. On the farm life keeps going. We may have added a new addition but life went on. We have transitioned well to our growing family. I may have seen some hours I had not seen since college. I'm getting more sleep these days, hence this blog post. I'm not making any promises of how often I'm going to post because we are living our life. I hope you enjoyed seeing our busy summer on the farm.

Our summer ended with a relaxing much needed trip to Florida.

 



Sausage for supper?

Sausage for supper?

This was a new concept for me when I moved to the farm. I thought of sausage as a breakfast meat as patties or in gravy for breakfast. I was wrong it can be enjoyed at supper time too.

There's a casserole from my husband's family that is served for supper using sausage. I quickly learned when you live on a hog farm sausage can be for supper. I'll share the recipe.

 

Sausage and Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

1lb sausage

1/2 cup onion, chopped

3/4 cup milk

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 t pepper

1 cup shredded cheese

4 cups peeled, diced potatoes

 

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Cook sausage with onions. While the sausage is cooking mix milk, soup and pepper. In a 9x13 casserole dish layer 1/2 the potatoes, 1/2 the soup mixture, and half the cheese. Then repeat layers. Cover with foil and cook at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

Uncover and cook 5 more minutes.

I like to serve with a green vegetable like green beans or broccoli.

 

Before cooking

After cooking

Dinner is served!

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

The corn is getting tall around our house.