For The Love Of The Sandbox

I’ve heard stories that as a youngster Brad preferred to either spend his time helping on the farm, or pretending to farm in his sandbox.  His best friend told me that as they played together as kids Brad would section off the sandbox claiming “ground” to farm.  Brad’s farm was always the majority of the sandbox, leaving his friend only a small parcel to farm.  Then Brad would supervise his friend making sure he was properly farming the small section of the sandbox J

Ever since Claire has been mobile, Brad has talked about how excited he was to build her a sandbox to play in.  Last summer she was still too young, but this year we knew she was ready!



Handing nails to Daddy

So last week he picked up supplies and got the sandbox project complete.  Claire helped every step of the way; always anxious to be a big helper!  She supervised; making sure Brad was laying out the sandbox the way she wanted it.  Then helped by handing him nails when necessary.  I could see that she was proud of herself as she assisted J

Since the sandbox has been done we haven’t spent much time indoors.  At 8am immediately after she finishes breakfast she is banging on the back door ready to go out and play.  And she does just that; she keeps herself content in the sandbox for a really long time, which is something extraordinary since she typically is moving all the time!

It is so cute to watch them play together in the sandbox!  Claire doesn’t have any farm equipment to play in the sand with yet, but I know when she does her daddy will be teaching her how to be a little farmer…and I cannot wait to watch them! J

Pretty Wheat

A few nights ago shortly after Claire went to bed I noticed there was an absolutely beautiful sunset outside!  I grabbed my camera and hurried out to take a few quick snapshots of the wheat in the sunset.  Wheat is my favorite crop that we grow.  Brad laughs at me because it’s my favorite just because I think it is pretty.  I love that this year wheat is planted around our house.  I get to look at it anytime I look out my back windows J

All of our wheat is red wheat.  White wheat is also grown in our area which is just a different variety of wheat.  We planted wheat last fall after soybeans were harvested.  The wheat started to grow before winter, and then lay dormant through the winter months.  It finishes growing in the spring and summer and then is harvested mid-summer; usually around the 4^th of July.

The wheat is pretty to look at any time, but especially with the sun setting behind it! 

Whirlwind Catch Up!

Wow, what a whirlwind couple of weeks!  All of the normal structure and organization usually in my life has been nonexistent, but now things are feeling a little better and I think I can breathe again, ha-ha.

The last post talked about finishing up soybean planting, and that is done now which is a nice relief.  We have been getting a lot of rain lately.  A little too much rain for our liking, but there is nothing that can be done about that.  Several fields have standing water in them, and we just hope the warm weather dries the standing water up sooner rather than later!



Brad and I all dressed up for the wedding

Just as soybean planting was finishing up 2 weekends ago Brad and I were in a wedding for some friends.  The rehearsal and wedding were great!  They had a beautiful day and everything went perfectly.  One of my favorite things about their wedding was during the reception.  The DJ had every married couple come out to dance and he would ask couples to leave according to how long they had been married.  The last couple on the dance floor had been married 63 years!  I thought that was such a neat idea and hope that Brad and I make it there someday J 

That same weekend my Grandpa who just had open heart surgery and quite a hospital stay got to come home.  What a huge relief for all the family!  At home he is gaining strength every day and in better spirits.

Last week was a busy week at the veterinary clinic and I was busy at home getting last minute things ready for my cousin’s baby shower.  It was so nice to see her and her husband since they live out of state and haven’t been home since Christmas.  My mom and I were in charge of fruit for the shower, so I tried a cute idea that I found on Pinterest, and it turned out great!  Here is how we did it:

Baby Carriage Fruit Bowl:

·         Simply cut the watermelon in a baby carriage shape, and hollow out all of the watermelon.

·         For the baby’s head- cut a cantaloupe in half, then with a knife take off the rind.  Be careful when shopping for a cantaloupe that it is small enough to fit in your watermelon...I didn’t think of this until I was making it, but thankfully everything fit J

·         Shape ears and a nose with cantaloupe and attach to baby’s head with toothpicks.

·         Attach blueberry eyes with toothpicks.

·         Cut a small hole for baby’s mouth to fit pacifier in.

·         Fill the “carriage” with some fruit before laying the baby’s head in place.

·         Attach the wheels (orange slices and grapes) to the “carriage” with toothpicks.

·         Enjoy!

*** The cutest thing about this baby carriage fruit bowl was that later in the day Claire took the baby’s pacifier out and tried feeding it some fruit.... it was so funny; she is such a sweetheart!

The weekend finished out with a quarterly birthday party for my mom’s family, a cookout with some good friends and all the kids, and a nice dinner with my dad for father’s day.

Now that all that excitement is over I feel like I can return to my mundane routine where everything is planned out just the way I like it; without any rushing or hurrying J

What's Going On In Our Fields Right Now?

You can see the soybeans are planted directly
over the old corn stalks.

Yahoo…..we are finishing up soybean planting!  For the past week or so we have had rain every couple of days that brought planting to a standstill, but now we are back at it!  Soybean planting goes a little faster than corn planting since we “no- till” soybeans. “No- tilling” just means that the soybeans are planted in a field that wasn’t plowed.  The soybeans are planted in fields that were corn fields last year.  The old corn stalks act sort of like a natural fertilizer for the soybean crop planted this year; which is better for the ground.  Why not utilize the genius of Mother Nature?

As I already mentioned soybean planting does seem to go faster than corn planting!  Initially someone goes into the field to kill any weeds growing up.  Then the air seeder (which plants soybeans or wheat) goes into the field, pulled by tractor and plants soybeans. Rows of soybeans can be planted in a variety of widths apart, depending on what the producer desires.  The soybeans grow all summer, dry up in the fall and are harvested soon after.

Claire excited to bring Brad his lunch in the field!

Field Snapshot: Corn

 

This picture was taken about a week ago.  At just 18 days old and you can clearly see the bright green baby corn growing in this field.  When the corn was planted fertilizer was simultaneously applied.  If need be, some fungicide may be applied later in the season.  But for now the corn just needs sunlight, rain, and warm weather to grow and produce ears full of kernels. 

There are thousands of varieties of corn that can be planted.  Each variety has different strengths and weaknesses, so the variety that is most suitable for your growing season, type of ground, weather patterns, common parasites, etc. can be selected.  Just like anything in farming, there is a risk involved with choosing a corn variety to plant, but the producer’s thorough knowledge of all the factors helps to make the decision.

So as the growing season progresses we will see if the variety that was planted in this field was a wise decision, or if factors out of our control (such as weather) will sway us to plant a different variety next time.