Indoor Plants

Posted on May 13, 2016 by farm2011

There are some people that are good with indoor plants and there are some that are not so good. 

And what category do I fall into? Well take a look at our small bathroom plant and then you can decide. 

Yea, you might want to put me into the ‘not so good’ category. 

Well with a lot of activities coming up (Irish Fest, Kuehner Fun Day, a WEDDING!!! ) I decided to check out our house and start making a list of things to do before this fall. And when I was looking at the walls and cupboards in the bathroom I took a gander at the plant and thought ‘holy smokes’ that looks bad and just couldn’t figure out why it was ugly. DSC_0435I literally stood there for awhile and without coming to a conclusion to the question, I decided to give her a little drink. 

OK so I’m not a Rocket Scientist or anything (I know shock right? 🙂 ) But I think I found out the reason why it was looking so tough. When I poured the 4th glass of water into it the whole dirt pile started to heave up out of the container. I think it was so dry that the dirt wasn’t sticking to the bottom anymore. Bad yes. Funny? yes!  I don’t know if you can see this, but there is about 3/4 of an inch between the dirt and the pan. DSC_0436

My next step was to push the dirt back down and kind of pat it in place. My guess for a good outcome for the plant? I’d say 80/20. With the 80% as a survival rate. I’m usually over optimistic so it might also be a 20% survival rate. 

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And how much soap do YOU have?

Posted on May 12, 2016 by farm2011

I have soap. I worked kinda hard to get it and put in many late hours making my stash. But honestly it was something that was a good experiment for me to do and now I know that I can make over 450 bars of soap in about a month. Yea, you heard me right! I have between 450 and 500 bars of soap to sell.  SCORE! Now is this too many or not enough? I guess time will tell. And honestly when you can only make 11 bars of soap in a batch – well I almost hate to get rid of it. 🙂 I said almost…

In the meantime, check out my supplyDSC_0433

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Have you seen the truck?

Posted on May 11, 2016 by farm2011

I woke up this morning and felt that I was getting sick. You know when you feel a little hazy throughout the day and by the time I got home tonight I thought that maybe I got run over by a truck earlier and didn’t know it. 

So I did something that I haven’t done in a very long time. I walked in the door, ran a very hot bath so I wasn’t freezing so much, and spent a couple of minutes soaking. And then guess what I did? I took a 2 1/2 hr nap. Yup, I took a nap! It felt AWESOME! There was about a million things that I should have been doing, but I just physically couldn’t do it. 

I’m thinking all my crazy hours of making soap has finally caught up with me. 

But for now? Well I think I’m going to take another hot bath with some Epson Salt and RC essential oil and head to bed. I know that I’ve got a busy day tomorrow to make up for today and I sure hope that I feel better 🙁

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Random pictures around the farm

Posted on May 10, 2016 by farm2011

When I got home tonight I saw Checkers enjoying a drink from what should be my flower bed in front of the house. It’s not the first time that the cats and dogs drink from this bird bath and for some reason it must taste so much better than other places that they can drink from the farm. DSC_0414

So while I was out and about with my camera I snapped a couple of other pictures. 

First one is that of my garden. Yea, it’s not planted yet and with the forecast for the remaining of the week calling for rain – I’m guessing that it’s not going to be in by this weekend either. But I did get the spring weeds out that started to grow, so I should get some good points for that!DSC_0420

I couldn’t figure out why we’ve got all these holes around the farm and when I saw these chickens literally digging holes like how our dogs do it, I knew I found the culprits and it didn’t bother them that I knew it was them. DSC_0428

DSC_0429One of my favorite tractorsDSC_0422

A penny for their thoughts… or maybe not!DSC_0418

I had trouble with getting this picture. Both No Ears and Sassy came running to me and started to lick my arms and hands trying to find some apples. I guess when you say that I represent their treats, it really is true!DSC_0430

And finally one of our screaming peacocks!DSC_0431

 

It was kinda fun just checking everyone out tonight. Spring is definitely in the air!

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Happy Mother’s Day!!

Posted on May 8, 2016 by farm2011

You know there are some days that are celebrated and it seems almost made up by the Hallmark company – but I’m saying that Mother’s Day is an awesome day!

So how did we celebrate Mother’s Day? Well William and Jude were able to stop by and the plan was to head out for dinner to celebrate the day with my family and Mom. I knew that the day was going to be a perfect weather day, and I also knew the time that Daryl was going to spend it with us was also going to be limited. So William, Daryl, and I met up with the others and man oh man we were glad to have had reservations! There was a pretty big line and even though you feel a little weird about walking in front of others, it also felt pretty good 🙂

With 17 of us at the table for the brunch, I bet they were sure glad that we didn’t have all the grandchildren with us today. After the meal Daryl was itching to get out and finish our crops, so we beat it home and dropped him off and then I headed back to Mom’s to help work on her flower gardens. See Mom has probably the best flower beds around (OK, I’m pretty biased) but these flower beds are also a lot of work. The past couple of years we all head over there and bring flowers and more flowers and get her yard ready for the summer.

Next was to head home and Skype with Kyle & Kelcie and with William and Jude home for the call, it was the perfect Mother’s Day gift. Now I know when my Mom would always say she didn’t need anything, just come over for a potluck or something. It’s a good feeling.

And did the boys give me a gift? Absolutely! I got a box of Scratch CupCakes that I’m trying not to eat all at once 20160509_154106_resizedalong with an awesome speaker for my kayak. It looks small but it sure has a kick to it. DSC_0432It’s a bluetooth waterproof speaker and now I’m just going to make sure that I get out there and use it. OK, potlucks are good – but I’m really digging my gifts! 

Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

Bonnie

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Saturday, what a great day!

Posted on May 7, 2016 by farm2011

What a great day today was! I actually got some work done around the house and we got to help celebrate a big day in William’s finance’s life.

The day started out switching out my winter to summer clothes. Now even though one day it’s been in the low 80’s and the next our furnace literally turned on, it didn’t matter. It was time. I also was able to get rid of some of the clothes that I either don’t wear or don’t need to wear anymore. I ended up with a garbage bag full, so that right there tells you that I probably don’t need it all!

Next thing to do is to pick up the house. I haven’t paid much attention to the upkeep of our house this past month (making soap 🙂 ) so it was time to buckle down and get something done. I even actually vacuumed the house which was a shock! Next to get the floors scrubbed and laundry hung out on the line. Today was a 80 degree weather day.

After I jumped into the shower and got dressed, we were headed to UNI for the Master’s Graduation program. It was really fun to be there and watch all the excitement of the graduates. Even though it might seem like it’s just another step in their life, it’s seriously a pretty big step.  After the graduation ceremony we all went downtown for more celebrating and had a really good meal. The celebration was for William’s fiancé who was graduating. We sure had a great time and it was fun to get together with both William and Jude and her family and friends. Congratulations to her!! Whooohoooo!!! 20160507_191334_resized

20160507_163646_resizedWith our bellies full and with a lot checked off our lists today, we were sure ready to hit the hay once we got home. I seriously think I fell asleep within 30 seconds once I crawled into bed. But what a great day we all sure had!

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And it ends tonight

Posted on May 6, 2016 by farm2011

Are you wondering just what in the world have I been doing with all my time? Well I’ve signed up for a show in June to sell my soap and it is 4 weeks away. Now if you’re wondering just why is the 4 weeks comment such a big deal well it’s because home made soap needs to sit at least 4 weeks before you would want to sell it. This is about how long it takes to get hard and to properly cure. 

Well I’ve been working very hard these past few weeks and just trying to get as much soap made as I possibly can. I’ve got my 5 gallon pails of coconut oil, palm oil, and olive oil pretty much stationed in the kitchen beside my industrial cart, just waiting to see what soap I’m going to make next. 

And I have to admit if you saw my kitchen in person it would be a little scary. But it’s been a journey these past 5 months since I ‘officially’ started to make soap and it will be really interesting to see what happens in the next 5 months. 

But for now? Well I’m hoping that my last batch of the night will be cooled to the right temperature soon so I can get it mixed up and then take a hot bath and go to bed. My goal is to be in a soaking hot bath by 1:30 tomorrow morning before I hit the hay. It’s not looking promising though. It’s already almost 12:30 🙁

I’ll post some pictures soon of all my soap curing so you can see all the different flavors that I’ve got on hand. I must admit they are pretty cool. The last one that I’m just making now is one that has 5 different clays in it that will act as a natural detoxifier along with a light exfoliant in the soap. And also it just looks kinda cool too! 

 

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Going for a walk

Posted on May 5, 2016 by farm2011

Lately at noon I’ve been able to slip away and head out to the walking trail in the town where I work for a little fresh air and some exercise. 

They have a trail in town that is just fantastic and as you weave your way through trees and  bridges, you definitely get the feeling that it’s truly a small midwestern town. 20160429_124305_resized_1

Now granted this walk can come with challenges though. What happened to me was that I could hear the town’s school marching band off somewhere in the area and I thought that it was pretty cool to hear a band playing while I was walking. Well then I could hear it what seemed much louder and then all of a sudden I could literally see them marching directly towards me on the trail! I stopped, like I was a deer in the rood or something and thought that maybe they didn’t see me. (pretty sure that they did – I was right in front of them) So I turned around and tried to act cool and just retrace my path the opposite way back to the plant. I don’t think I pulled off the ‘act cool’ thing either. Just saying. 

So now when I’m out for my noon time walk and I can hear the band playing, I definitely keep my eyes and ears open to make sure that I don’t run into them. Literally! 

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And your time starts Now!

Posted on May 4, 2016 by farm2011

With all the field work and just getting the farm ready for spring, it seems like our suppers are fast and furious to say the least. And tonight was exactly the same. 

What happened tonight was that I was running errands after work in town and when Daryl called to say that he needed to move to another field to start working that one up. No big deal right? Well, it was around supper time and I knew that it could be possibly another late night for him. So when I picked him up… and then dropped him back off, I said that I’d be right back with supper. I’m not the best farm wife, but I do try 🙂

I hit the gas and beat it home because I also had a full night in front of me to do yet. I’m down to the wire on making soap for an upcoming Vendor show and I literally have to make as much as I can up until Friday night. So as I’m driving home I’m thinking just what can I make with what I have in the house and the groceries in the car? 

I made it home in no time and grabbed some of the groceries that needed to be refrigerated from the car and headed into the house. Then I looked at what was in the fridge and what I just brought home and thought to myself ‘and your time starts Now!’ If you’ve seen the TV show “Chopped” you’ll know what I mean. You have a basket of ingredients in front of you and you have to make a meal and make it fast and somewhat good.

Well, I put a cast iron skillet on the stove to heat up while I grabbed some peas out of the freezer from the basement. While I threw in the hash browns into the skillet, into the microwave went the peas with a little water. Man I was really on a roll now!

Next was to grab some sliced barbecued pork loin that I just bought at the store and find some room in the skillet to heat those up also.

Now the peas were done and out of the microwave they come. My hash browns were done also so into the container that I was bringing to the field they went and some buttered buns went into the skillet now to toast up. I grabbed some tin foil and had that ready for the buns and then onto them went the pork loin. With a little ketchup in the container for the hash browns along with a container of pudding that was in the refrigerator – this meal was done!

BAM!! A barbecued pork loin sandwich on a toasted bun, 2 hash brown patties, peas, and chocolate pudding all done literally within minutes.

Well I’m not saying that I always cook like this, but come field work time I think any farm wife has been put up for the challenge!

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Birthday Card

Posted on May 2, 2016 by farm2011

I had a chance the other day to make a card for Kelcie and I have to say that I like how it turned out. Her birthday is coming up, so a box was sent to both her and Kyle in New York and it even got there early this time! Can you believe it? 

20160428_213730_resized

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