It’s Party Time with the girls!

Posted on October 1, 2017 by farm2011

Funday Sunday!!  

Today was a really fun day! See today my Mom and her friends were invited to a party up by the cities and I was going to drive her and the girls to it. 

So I started out the day picking Ma up early and then picked up the rest of the gang. We were off!

The weather was absolutely perfect and with the sun shining – how can you ask for a better Sunday drive? 

It would take us around 3 hours one way to get to the party, so of course we were trying to figure out just where we were going to eat. I thought I had a good idea for a restaurant, but found out that it was a Chinese restaurant and wasn’t the best suggestion. So finally we found a Perkins half way to the cities and pulled off for a sandwich and some coffee. 

I couldn’t help to smile then and now as I’m writing this I’m still smiling just thinking about how much fun those girls had today. They laughed and talked all the way there and there wasn’t a dull moment ever in the car! They see each other a couple of times a week, so they really know each other well and are very good friends. 

Now off to their friends house and the party. I’m not sure where the sun went because it rained pretty much the rest of the day. But who cares right? The party was inside so it didn’t really matter. Now when we got there and wished a Happy Birthday to the host, we soon realized that maybe we didn’t have to stop for lunch after all! There was a huge spread and even though we were still pretty full, we thought we’d grab a plate to eat  🙂 

After a couple of hours visiting at the party some goofing off

and then some photo’s taken of the group we found ourselves back in the car and heading south to Iowa. 

I’m so glad that I was able spend the day with these fun girls and for now I think I’m going to bed early! They sure wore me out! 

 

Posted in Family | 1 Comment

And so it begins – Fall Harvest 2017!

Posted on September 30, 2017 by farm2011

Today was the first day that Daryl got out into the fields and was able to start combining soybeans. The weather was warm and there was a good breeze blowing. 

And while he was in the field, I was busy making soap (of course right?) But the afternoon caught up with me and I promised that I’d bring some lunch out to the field around 4:00. What to make? To be honest I haven’t gotten groceries – well I really don’t remember the last time I did get groceries! That’s not usually a good sign when you have to make something fast.  

Time to improvise. Well I had 6 pieces of bread left and thought I’d make some grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. It was pretty hot out, but hey it’s better than nothing! And it was a very good thing that I had 6 pieces of bread because the first sandwiches I burnt on the one side! Don’t you just hate that when that happens? OK, so I peeled off the top layer and added another piece of cheese in the middle and another piece of bread. Put some butter in the pan and that worked! 

Now to package it up and try to find him in the fields. Well it wasn’t hard to find him and all I had to do was to look for the dust. And dust there was! When I said there was a good breeze blowing, I think Daryl said it was blowing straight into the combine.  The picture below shows that farming can be a very dirty job sometimes! 

But after lunch he went back to combining and I went back to soap. Yup, it was a good day for both of us! 

Posted in Farming | Comments Off on And so it begins – Fall Harvest 2017!

Friday night – It’s a date!

Posted on September 29, 2017 by farm2011

This time of the year around the farm the word date doesn’t always mean what you think it would. 

And with it being Friday night and Daryl and I had a ‘date’, well I wasn’t too surprised that the date meant that he was wondering if I would come over to the other farm and help him so something.  

Well of course I would help even though I wasn’t sure just what I was helping him with!  But I soon found out that we were going to move the auger from our farm and set it up on the other farm before it got too dark out.

So off we go in the pickup with the auger behind us. It didn’t take too long to get it just in the right spot for the bin and then Daryl had to climb up to the top to get the spout lined up. As you can tell from the picture below we got the auger there before it got dark, but the moon was out to help us see when the final setup was being done.  

Now even though it was dark when we left and going out for the night was the last thing on our minds – I have to admit it really wasn’t that bad of a date after all 🙂

Posted in Farming | Comments Off on Friday night – It’s a date!

Something funny is going on!

Posted on September 28, 2017 by farm2011

It seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve mowed lawn so I decided that I’d take a couple hours after work tonight to get it started. I knew that I wouldn’t get it done – but at least I could get some of it done. 

So after work I changed my clothes, filled the lawn mower full of gas, and off I went.  

Now when I mow lawn I don’t mess around. I literally put the pedal to the metal and go as fast as I can. But tonight when I saw the milk weeds that have grown up by our shed, I slowed down and thought to myself that maybe I should take them down. 

Even though they are good for the monarchs – they are not so good looking when the building faces the road! So as I’m making my rounds just trying to get as much mowed as I can, something catches my eye on these plants and I decided the next time around I’m stopping. 

So that’s exactly what I did. There was something funny going on with this milkweed and I was going to find out just exactly what that was!

And as I got closer I was still puzzled. What in the world was a Praying Mantis doing on our farm? I’ve only seen one once and that was done south on the Iowa/Missouri border. 

But here he was, and not scared at all! So I did a photo op with him, and because it was so bright out I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. 

So the next round I’m back at it again and took some more pictures. I think this picture below kind of explains how this guy was feeling. To me it looks like he’s saying ‘Enough already!’ 

Well now I’m not so sure that I should take down these milkweeds after all. I’ve read that Praying Mantis do a fantastic job eating bad bugs that are in gardens and flower beds, so first I’m going to check out the plants to see if there are any egg sacks hanging on the them and go from there.  

Posted in Farming | Comments Off on Something funny is going on!

It’s a good trade!

Posted on September 27, 2017 by farm2011

After work tonight I headed over to Ma’s to see if she liked the Birthday card that she had ordered. It’s for a party this coming weekend and if she didn’t like it, I wanted to have enough time to make her a new one. 

But she said that it would work out perfect – whew!  It was a really cool card because she wrote a personal note inside that I added to it. Very Cool! 

And of course she wanted to give me something for making it. And of course I said no! 

Then she asked if I wanted some tomatoes. Now that’s a good trade if you ask me! So when I got home into the freezer they went with the others until this winter. 

One of our kids called when I was over at Ma’s so I quick snapped a picture and sent it to them saying Hi back from her. It was a fast picture – but I like it allot!  


Posted in Cards, Family | Comments Off on It’s a good trade!

I think it’s going to rain

Posted on September 26, 2017 by farm2011

It’s been very dry around our area and even though any rain wouldn’t help the crops at this point, it would still help to settle the dust. 

So on my way home tonight I saw the sky and thought to myself that I’m thinking that we’re going to get some rain. 

After quite a bit of thundering, it finally came!

I tried to take a picture to show that it was a white out – but I don’t think I did too well. And it sounded like we got over an inch so that’s good. It sure makes the air smell much cleaner and hopefully will settle the dust! 

Posted in Farming | Comments Off on I think it’s going to rain

Front porches & Company

Posted on September 23, 2017 by farm2011

If you have a front porch then you know that it can have many jobs. 

Now at any given time on our front porch you’ll see our two dogs just kind of hanging out and checking who’s driving by during the day , I think they feel that they are guarding the house and farm. And what better angle than the porch? You’ll probably also see Checkers and Waffles our cats laying on the patio furniture doing… well nothing I think!  You can even catch a glimpse of a tomato or two in the sunshine away from the chickens trying to ripen. 

Even though because we live so close to the road it needs to be cleaned everyone once in awhile, I guess it’s just what you’ve got to do when you live in the country.  

But this weekend our porch was used for company and I loved it! 

We had a chance to have some of Daryl’s relatives stop by the farm and stay with us. And before we headed out for supper, we had some time to visit and what better place to do that than on the front porch. 

I had to smile because it was a typical night in the country. The air was warm, there was some fieldwork being done by the neighbors so they were driving around in the fields with tractors and wagons, chickens were running around our farm, and the dogs just wouldn’t leave us alone. Yup, a pretty typical night! 

But because our guests haven’t been to the farm for quite awhile because they live in California, it was our pleasure to have them stay with us while they were in the area. 

Now the house was anything but quite this weekend. See we also had a long time family friend’s wedding and William & Jude were going to that wedding too.  But they were getting home later and we would meet up with them when we got back from supper and a stop in our town. 

Off we went to a local restaurant and then to our town’s bar.

It was really a good time! Then back home to get settled in for the night and meet up with the kids. 

What a great way to start the weekend! Thanks Bruce and Diane for stopping by and staying the night with us. We loved seeing you and please stop by again when you in Iowa! 

Posted in Family | Comments Off on Front porches & Company

Baby it’s hot outside

Posted on September 22, 2017 by farm2011

There is an old saying that if are in Iowa and wait long enough the weather will change. Well that’s exactly what happened! 

We’ve been having cooler nights lately and when the forecast was to get the temperatures up into the high 80’s or 90’s .. well I just have one thing to say.

BRING IT ON! 

I’m not a huge fan of fall and if we can get some more summer days, that’s what I’m looking for. 

The only problem is that I’m going to speak at a class today and I wasn’t sure if they were going to have the class because the school would be letting out early if it got too hot. And guess what I’ll be talking about? If you guessed SOAP – You are the winner!!! To be honest, it was an easy question wasn’t it? 

OK, so the class was still on and off I went to my old high school to talk. It’s kinda funny because I would have never in my whole life guessed when I was going to school that I’d come back to it and talk to the Senior class about starting a business. I’m not sure if I’m feeling nervous or excited – it’s kinda hard to tell. 

But I was only supposed to talk for the last 5 minutes and well for some reason the plan changed. I was sharing the class with another speaker from a local college and I’m not sure just what happened but within the first few minutes I was taking the floor. 

And then I found out something that I really never knew before about myself. I’m kind of a talker 🙂 I had no trouble talking about soap and what opportunities are out there, along with bringing in some generic examples from my workplace. See for some reason it all rolled together and because I’m the Business Development Manager at where I work, I have a lot of opportunity to visit with new businesses just starting out. 

So to my defense – there was a lot to talk about!  

There was 35 in the classroom and below is a quick picture of some of the kids who have a current business along with the representative from the college. 

And after spending some time at school – back to my real job I went. I think I must have been pretty juiced up on how it all went, because I stopped at my Boss’s office when I got back and jabbered some more. He smiled and I think it was my cue to keep moving. 

But man was I warm. I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline or the heat, but I think it probably it was a little bit of both.  Oh well, it was a really fun day! 

Posted in Soap | Comments Off on Baby it’s hot outside

Kitchen Time

Posted on September 20, 2017 by farm2011

It sure is a busy time of the year isn’t it? 

For me it’s the time of the year that I pretty much live in our kitchen. I mean I get up, go to work, come home, and spend the night in the kitchen.  

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m very very happy that we have the kitchen that we have! It’s very big and supports a lot of activities. 

So what happens in our kitchen in the fall ?

Well the grapes are picked and grape juice is canned

apple sauce is made

and I just keep putting tomatoes in the freezer until I have time to process them into tomato juice. 

and I’m now in the soap making mode. 

I ran out of soap last year in early December and I’m working hard not to run out this year again. But even though our kitchen is pretty big, it sure seems times like sometimes it’s just not big enough! 

So my new plan is to see what building I can move into outside. But using a farm building means that we’d have to insulate it, put in new walls, put in new electrical, add water if it’s not in the building, and then probably add a better floor. Yup, nothing is move in ready at this point. And I’m not really in the huge profit stage of my soap business yet either to support all of that! 

So for now, I’m moving things in and out of our kitchen from the laundry room. So don’t be too surprised if you come to our house and you see a lot of soap sitting around and it smells like a gift shop. I guess there’s worse things to smell on a farm right? 

Posted in In the kitchen | Comments Off on Kitchen Time

Switching it up!

Posted on September 19, 2017 by farm2011

Our back room, or as we have lovingly called it in the past – Our Parlor, Toy Room, Kid’s Room, Christmas Tree Room, Spare Room, and probably a whole lot more that I just can’t think of right now has got another new name. 

We now have an official ‘Guest Bedroom’ SCORE! 

When we’ve remodeled the house we set it up so that all the doors are the standard 36 inches along with a walk in shower and a room downstairs for when we get to where we don’t want to go to a bedroom upstairs anymore or if some unlucky chance that someone broke a bone or something. . You know… be prepared for the worst! But if none of that happened, it was a good transition room for when we didn’t want to go upstairs anymore. You know – got too lazy or old 🙂 

So with the kids coming home to visit us on and off and company coming this weekend, it was time to give the room another new name and function. 

And that’s how the guest room was born. 

You know those projects when you just hate to start them and then once you’re in the middle of it, it wasn’t so bad? Yea, I know it doesn’t happen too often but when it does it really takes you by surprise right? 

Well that’s what happened to this project. After a phone call to give the sleeper sofa to a niece, and moving the kids bed downstairs – well that was it. I know a shock right? I’m thinking that we should have done this a couple of years ago. 

The funny thing is that I have to admit that I purposely walk into the room to check it out. Now I don’t know if I think it’s going to change or what – but I do know that I end up leaving smiling to myself. I guess it’s one of those times that people say the simple things in life are the best. 

Posted in Family | 2 Comments