Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Crop Art

Many of the sunflowers are done flowering and are now just filling out the seed heads.  It makes for a fun time to "draw" on them.  It's fun to find the art that others have left behind.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Drooping


The heat is really taking it's toll on the sunflowers.  There is a noticeable difference today in how many of them are starting to hang their heads.  It's 100 degrees at the moment.  All I can say to that is "yuck!"

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Yellow Carpet


This picture from yesterday is as yellow as it's going to get.  From here out, the heat will quickly make the flowers wilt.  Remember,I tend to do more updates on Facebook (because it's faster).  You can check that out at https://www.facebook.com/GrinterFarms.  Plus, it's fun to see pictures that others have taken and share with us.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Sunflowers!


The field is gorgeous right now.  Enough said!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Yellow!

This is the field tonight.  The flowers have really popped in the last week.  
This weekend they should be just gorgeous.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Update 8/15/13


Still no blooms but the buds are getting bigger.  The weather forecast says it will warm up sometime mid next week.  I'm betting that will make a lot of the buds pop.  I just can't remember an August where it's been this cool.  Hopefully we will have some flowers by next weekend.  I'll keep you posted.

Monday, August 12, 2013

I've received many questions, so I'll try to answer a few of them here, and add some insight:
>Our field is located at 24154 Stillwell Rd., Lawrence, KS  66044.
>The field is surrounding our house this year...they aren't in the same location from year to year.  Chances are good that if you are at the field and not parked on the road, you are parking in our neighbor's driveway.  They are super understanding, great, lovely, gorgeous people, but please try not to block the drive in case they actually want to get out and go somewhere that day.
>We are a working farm.  We don't have picnic areas or a gift shop.  All we have is a field of sunflowers that people enjoy stopping at and taking pictures of...and we are happy to let them.
>We do allow people to take sunflowers.  We have a couple of "on your honor" money boxes set up at the field, and would appreciate $1 per sunflower.  (If you want to buy a whole acre, I'm sure we would love to negotiate with you.)  ;)
>We have had suggestions that we make T-Shirts.  An interesting idea and I'll never say never.  I'm just crazy enough that I might do it...at some point...in the future...maybe.
>Once the sunflowers start to bloom, you usually have about two weeks before they are done.  What this means is that you have a finite number of days to take pictures if you want beautiful yellow flowers.  When sunflowers start to wilt and die, they are one of the ugliest crops you'll ever see.  (And I mean UGLY!!)
>PHOTOGRAPHERS:  We get more and more professional photographers out every year wanting to do photo shoots for people.  We are okay with this, but we can't tell you exactly when the flowers will bloom.  It's all up to Mother Nature.  We are pretty good guessers, but we've been wrong before...a lot!  We could never have predicted all the rain we've had in the last couple of weeks anymore than we could have predicted the 17 days of 100+ degree weather we had last year.  Farming is a gamble.  If you are a professional and do photo shoots in the field, please feel free to leave a monetary donation in the money box...whatever you think is fair.  It would be greatly appreciated.
>THE FIELD IS MUDDY RIGHT NOW.  No idea (at this point) what it will be like when the sunflowers are blooming.  You may need muck boots.  It all depends on the weather between now and then.
>The sunflowers are tall this year. The rain is really making them bolt.
>After sunflowers bloom, they look east!  They will not follow the sun anymore.  If you see a flower in the field facing any other direction, it's a non-conformist.  Either cherish it's individuality, or spurn it...it's up to you.  (I tend to like the rebels, myself.)
>Bees and bugs love sunflowers!  If you are allergic, you may want to avoid them or bring an EpiPen.  (Just sayin'...)
>Farmer Ted cuts the sunflowers to sell for bird feed at places like the local Farmer's Market or the local feed store.  What you see in the field are "Black oil" sunflowers.  They have a higher oil content than the confectionery sunflowers that we humans eat.  You could eat these, but they might give you a belly ache or have a laxative effect.  You probably don't want to try it.  (Just sayin')
>I could go on and on, but this post is already way too long.  Above all, we hope that you get to see the sunflowers and that you enjoy the beauty...for as long as it lasts.  Whoever said "beauty is fleeting" must have had a sunflower field in mind.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Sunflowers Update

The sunflowers are now about a foot tall.  Some, however, are considerably smaller because the seeds are still sprouting that didn't come up earlier.  When you plant the seeds and they get zero rainfall, they sprout according to how much moisture is in the soil.  The ones in the driest soil are taking much longer to sprout, but, incredibly, they are still sprouting.  We are still waiting for a rain to come!


Our best guess for bloom time is still the end of August.  They are usually only in bloom for a couple of weeks depending on the weather.  Last year, we had a run of 17 days over 100 degrees, so they only lasted a week.  We hope to not get a repeat of that this year.
If you are on Face Book, "like" Grinter Farms if you want even more updates.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

They're up!

Ted got the sunflower field planted on the 28th of June.   That's a little early for us to get the sunflowers in the ground.
The sunflowers haven't had much in the way of water (I think maybe they've had a couple of tenths of an inch of rain) so they are coming up a bit spotty.  What I mean by "spotty" is that you will have every seed in a row sprout and then nothing for the next twenty feet.  A rain (soon) would help this issue.  There is no strong chance of rain forecasted in the next 10 days.  Good thing sunflowers will often grow without rain, so that the one's that are up will most likely survive.
What's not good is that the actual temperature today is supposed to be over 100*F, and the 10 day forecast is high 90's.  It'll be harder on the beans and corn than the sunflowers.  I guess we do live in Kansas, and nasty high temperatures are to be expected.  (I hate the heat...I was meant to live in Alaska.)  
Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the sunflowers.  You can also check us out on Facebook @ Grinter Farms.
Have a fantastic week!   

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tortellini Sausage Soup

Inspired by numerous photos on Pinterest, I decided to make tortellini soup for dinner tonight.  I used what I had on hand, started throwing stuff in the pot, and I think it turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.  (And I do.)  I have no idea if it's like any of the recipes that inspired me, because I never bothered to look at the recipes.  I'm that way.  It makes my family nuts because I'm one of those "just throw it all in a pot" cooks and they want recipes.  After I made this, I looked at my empty cans and such, and decided to write this one down for future reference.  My youngest daughter really liked this, and who knows, she may want to make it someday...


Recipe is as follows:
19 ounce package of Italian turkey sausage (or whatever kind you have)
1 large onion, diced
3 large cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
2 large stalks of celery with tops, diced
(3) 14.5 ounce cans lower sodium chicken broth
14.5 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1/2 can water
19 ounce bag of frozen tortellini
9 ounce bag of fresh spinach
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Brown sausage and drain off any fat.  Add onions and garlic to pan with sausage and cook a couple minutes.    Add carrots, celery, chicken broth, and crushed tomatoes.  This is where you add a 1/2 can of water.  Why? Because it is my nature to rinse cans as to not waste any food, so I just had to swirl some water in the tomato can and then throw that in the pot as well.  Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  (I like it spicy so I throw in a bunch of those lovely red flakes!)  Bring to a boil and simmer until carrots are tender.  (10 to 15 minutes)  Add tortellini and return pot to boiling.  Simmer tortellini in soup for 10 minutes or so.  Throw in the bag of spinach.  Simmer 5 minutes.  Just before serving, stir in the cream (or half n half or whatever you have).  

This is another on of those soups that I really don't think you could mess up.  It could be simmered much longer but my youngest was "huuunnnngry" and I needed to cook fast. I tend to cook based on what I have in the house because there is no such thing as a quick trip to the grocery store where I live.  If you have it and like it, throw it in.  Don't have it, throw in something else.  The flavors I was looking for in this soup was the sausage and the fennel.  Leave those out, and you'll just have a different soup.  It's all good!  Enjoy!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

A Valentine Re-Share

Happy Valentine's Day!  On this day, more than any other, I think of my parents.  Not individually, but as a couple.  I'm re-sharing a post that I made a while back about the parents of these cute kids you see here:  (I'm the bald one.)

 
Click here:
 
I wish you all lots of love!