the farmer's wife

Welcome Gracie!

2012-02-13T12:58:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, we welcomed a new family member into our home.

Meet Gracie! She is a 7 week old Golden Retriever.

We are very much looking forward to her sleeping through the night!

(p.s. We are smitten!)

Reflection

2012-02-11T13:34:00.001-06:00

Its been 8 months since we had to say goodbye to our beloved Buddy.

He brought all of us so much joy...including Bruno, our crazy Chihuahua.

The two of them liked to play tag.

*roar!* (more like: *yawn!*)

Callie and Buddy in younger years.

Buddy guarding the porch from...nothing. It was his style, man!

Buddy not missing his chance to be included in a TV interview.

"Did I hear a squirrel?"

Belly up! (His favorite pose.)

Sidney finally giving him what he wants!

Ted and Buddy playing in more youthful days.

Sid and Buddy exploring a creek.

Callie saying goodbye in Buddy's final days.

I still can't get over how some days I think of Buddy and I'm moved to tears. The loss of a pet is never easy, but Buddy was something special. I really doubt that there was a person who met him that didn't instantly love him. (I used to catch the meter reader giving Buddy treats. Granted, she probably gave lots of treats to dogs on her route...but I bet they didn't all get belly rubs like Buddy did.) We didn't know it at the time, but "Buddy" was the perfect name. He was a true friend.

I chose to post a reflection on Buddy today because tomorrow we begin a new phase in our lives. Tomorrow we bring home Gracie. If we love her half as much as we loved Buddy, she will be well loved, indeed.

Baklava: 101

2011-12-23T15:45:00.000-06:00

Good Baklava is hard to beat. I've tweaked this recipe over the years to satisfy my "food snobbery" taste. I say "food snob" because my family tells me that is what I am. In my defense, I'll eat just about anything...and to my knowledge, I don't complain. I do however, on occasion, and ONLY when at a restaurant...verbalize what the cook/chef could have done differently to make the food better. To me, this is in no way snobbery, but a deep seated appreciation for flavors. My family has spread this heinous "food snob" nickname ad nauseum. That being said, I know I have some friends who probably cringe at what I'm thinking when I eat their food. Let me tell you what I'm thinking: "I'm so thankful that someone has taken the time to cook for me and this could not be more PERFECT!" (I only apply my "rigid" standards to myself and when I'm paying.)

Baklava is really not difficult to make, it just has steps. Do it once and you'll think: "Ok. That wasn't so difficult!" I will say that I don't see too many Baklava recipes that call for cloves. Don't skip it! In my opinion, if it's not there, something is missing.

Enjoy the Baklava recipe, and by all means...if it's not perfect to you...tweak away!

The recipe will follow, but I'll guide you through the simple steps. First you want to prepare the filling, which I do in a food processor. If you don't have one, just crush the crackers and walnuts however you normally would, and throw them in a bowl, along with the sugar and spices. Have the filling handy. Melt the butter and have that handy, too. I first grease the pan (forgive my very well used, ugly pan) and place ONE sheet of phyllo dough in the bottom. Brush butter over that sheet.

Repeat the phyllo/butter process until you've used 1/4 of the dough (about 8 sheets).

Sprinkle 1/3 of the filling over the phyllo. Repeat the phyllo/filling process 2 more times, and finish with a layer of phyllo on the top.

Using a sharp knife, cut the Baklava into diamonds. Pour any remaining butter over the top.

Pop that baby into a 325* oven for 45 to 50 minutes. The top should be golden. (My oven looks like it doesn't cook very evenly, but the color on the left half is perfect.) While it's baking, boil the syrup for the top.

As soon as it comes out of the oven, pour the syrup evenly over the top.

Leave it to soak it all in. I usually don't eat the Baklava until the next day, but I don't see why you couldn't dig in as soon as it cooled.

Yum!

Kris’ Baklava!

• 4 c finely chopped walnuts

• ¾ c sugar

• 1 T ground cinnamon

• ¼ tsp ground cloves

• ½ sleeve Ritz crackers, crumbled

• 2 sticks (1 cup) margarine or butter, melted

• 1 (16oz) pkg phyllo dough, thawed

• 1 ¾ c sugar

• 1 ½ c water

• 2 T lemon juice

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a bowl (or process in a food processor). Set aside. Brush bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with some of the melted butter/margarine. Layer ¼ of the phyllo sheets in pan, brushing each with melted butter/margarine.* Sprinkle about 1 ½ cups of the filling (one third of filling) over the sheets, and repeat layering phyllo and filling 2 more times. Layer remaining phyllo on top, and drizzle any remaining butter/margarine over the top.

Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava into diamonds and bake in a 325* oven for 45 to 50 minutes. While it is baking, combine the last 3 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Poor over warm baklava and cool completely.

* I do tend to use margarine more when I'm cooking. (See, I'm not that snobby.) If only real butter floats your boat, by all means, use it! I want nothing but real cream in my coffee. I get it! We like what we like, right?

Enjoy!

This decade's Christmas Card!

2011-12-13T18:27:00.001-06:00

I haven't made a Christmas card in years. It's not that I'm not feeling the need to spread Christmas cheer...it's just that, well...I just haven't. I won't bother you with my million and a half excuses. I'll just show you the card that I made on Shutterfly. Now, If I manage to get them before Christmas; and then I manage to get a few addressed and stamped; and then I manage to actually get them to a mailbox...well...now that will be a true Christmas miracle!
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Clover Leaf Dinner Rolls

2011-12-01T15:45:00.000-06:00

This recipe has been handed down for a few generations. I call it "Mildred Fredrick's Dinner Rolls," because that is the lady that gave my mother the recipe. I'm not at all sure who she is...I think maybe the mother of an aunt or something. Anyway, they are the most fabulous dinner rolls. If a better roll recipe exists, I just haven't found it yet...not that I'm looking...

I'll post the recipe below, but for now, I'll just walk you through the steps to make the clover leaf shape. It really is quite simple, but I've been making these rolls since I was a child, so I really probably shouldn't make the "easy" claim so readily. Depending on the dough temperature, and a thousand other factors, it could be tricky. Please don't let that stop you! You'll be sorry!

The dough is mixed up the night before, then tucked into the fridge in a HUGE, greased bowl with a lid or piece of Saran wrap covering the top. I always give the top of the dough a squirt of cooking spray to keep it from drying out. The next day, you'll want to get the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up just a bit, but you do NOT want the dough to be warm. If the dough is too warm, it will be harder to form. You just don't want to freeze your hands off while forming the dough balls.

Grease your hands liberally (I use butter flavor Crisco) and pull off a good hunk of dough.

For now and for the remainder of these photos, please ignore my ugly, greasy paws! Macro photography and grease does nothing for making one's hands look beautiful. Pretend you have a blob of silly putty and just push the dough up through your hands to just make a smooth side to it. (You are not kneading the dough...just smoothing it out.) The best description I can think of is like what your tongue does to bubblegum when you're forming it to blow a bubble. Get it now?

Wrap one fist around that smooth "bubble" and push a little dough through.

Squeeze your fist closed to "poop" out a little ball. I'm not trying to be gross here, just incredibly descriptive. Thanks for sinking to my level for a few moments...

Pinch off a ball the size of an English walnut and plunk it into a greased (I just use cooking spray) muffin tin.

You will want 3 balls in each cup...unless you are an over-achiever and want your clovers to have four leaves. I In this case, your balls will have to be smaller. *Snicker* (Sorry! I'm immature and couldn't help it.)

Place the tins in a warm, draft free place.

Cover them up with some clean dish towels.

Check them in about an hour and see how they are doing. You can bake them at this point, but if you have time to spare, give them a while longer.

Now we're talking! (This photo taken from a previous batch when I obviously had more time.)

Pop them in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. I usually rub a stick of butter over the tops as soon as they come out of the oven. Not necessary, but it helps keep the tops from drying out, and really, can you have too much butter?

Dump them out into a basket (you don't want sweaty rolls) and smack the hands that start to grab!

Clover leafy goodness!

With butter? Even better!

Recipe:

Dinner Rolls

2 pkgs (4 tsp) instant yeast

1 c cold water

2 eggs

3/4 c sugar

2 tsp salt

1/2 c margarine

1/2 c butter flavor Crisco

1 c boiling water

7 1/2 c all purpose flour

directions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the cold water and beat in the eggs.

In another bowl, combine the sugar, salt, margarine, Crisco with the boiling water and stir to melt the fats. Let this mixture cool to warm (think baby bath temperature). Add this to the yeast mixture and then stir in the flour. I now mix mine in a stand mixer with a dough hook, but did it with a wooden spoon and bicep power for years. You may need more or less flour, but I've found that 7 1/2 cups consistently works for me. Put the dough in a very large, greased, covered bowl in the fridge overnight.

The next day, form rolls as described above.

This recipe will easily make 24 rolls, but I like to make a double batch so that we can fry up the dough in the morning and have dough cakes with butter and jam. Holy deliciousness!

Enjoy!

Veteran's Day, 2011

2011-11-11T10:48:00.002-06:00

I took this picture with my phone back in July, but I thought it was perfect for today.

Yesterday was a pretty special day. My kids are off school today, Veteran's Day, so yesterday they had an assembly at the high school and invited all of the veterans that work with the school district to come and let the kids and community members honor them. We had a stage full of vets...and not all of them were able to make it. It was a great ceremony and many were touched by the power point that was put on by the media class in which they interviewed several district employees that served in the military.

The real highlight, however, was that yesterday was also our first graduation ceremony of the school year. You see, the state of KS has made it possible to grant high school diplomas to qualifying veterans of WWII and the Korean war, who for different circumstances (usually because they were overseas serving our country) never got to graduate when it was their time. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to honor one of those men. He had no idea that when he came to the ceremony, he was also attending his own graduation. They supplied him with a cap and gown, and a well earned diploma. Many thanks to our local VFW and Tonganoxie High School for filing the paperwork to make this happen. My oldest daughter said she cried four times during the assembly. I think that that pretty much sums it up.

Thank you to all of the vets who have served our country, buying us the freedom that we so often take for granted.

A field that's over the hill...

2011-10-08T15:37:00.001-05:00

The sunflowers have mostly lost their petals.

Right now, they are just busy making seed

and trying to stand up to all of the wind that we've been having.

What was once beautiful now looks pretty sad.

In about a month (hopefully less) the flowers will be harvested for seed.

Hopefully we will get them before the flocks of birds move in to help themselves.

Sunflowers

2011-09-16T11:51:00.000-05:00

The sunflowers are still in various stages of blooming.

Some are still opening up, and others probably won't open before they get frosted.

The first flowers to open are getting fat with seed.

Some have personality.

Friendly little guys!

Sunflowers 9/11

2011-09-11T14:20:00.001-05:00

We will never forget!

Yellow!

2011-09-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

Well, this weekend is as yellow as it gets for this year.

Less yellow than years past, but still not a bad show.

I'll just leave you with a few shots.

Enjoy!

Sunflowers on our local TV station

2011-09-07T12:57:00.000-05:00

Check it out:

6 News - Lawrence :: Summer heat takes toll on sunflower crop

Sunflowers Labor Day

2011-09-05T10:34:00.000-05:00

The sunflowers are about midway in the blooming, I'd say.

I still think that next weekend is going to be more yellow, overall, but there will be many sunflowers out there that are past their prime.

We have pockets of flowers that are all opened up now, but many yet to come.

The bees are happy. Every time I see a bee on a sunflower, I think that the camouflage is so perfect, that bees were just designed with sunflowers in mind.

This is still my favorite stage of "opening." Fresh, new, and not yet chewed on by bugs.

But this isn't bad, either.

Sunflowers, August 31st!

2011-08-31T10:56:00.000-05:00

We have a few sunflowers popping open!

Mostly, the field is still very green.

There are still some great photo opportunities as the sunflowers make good shots in all stages of "yellow."

So pretty.

Ooohh!

Ahhhh!

Sunflowers Today, August 26th!

2011-08-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

Just giving you an update on the sunflowers as of 9 a.m. this morning.

The field is looking more filled in as the sunflowers fill out...but if you walk out among them, you'll see sunflowers in all stages of growth. We still have many that are only a few inches tall.

But this is the exciting part! We have buds!

The majority of the flowers look like this.

These will bloom in about a week (maybe plus a few days).

Holy Sunflower Field, Batman!

2011-08-23T15:08:00.001-05:00

These pictures were taken last week when we we had a bunch of rain.

This week we are back up to 100 degrees.

I just wanted to demonstrate the gaps that we have in the sunflower field

caused by extenuating circumstances.

Or as Lemony Snicket would say: a series of unfortunate events.

That's what we get for being optimistic!

Anyway, we have sunflowers. We also have large holes in the field where we do not have sunflowers.

It is what it is. I think what we have will bloom in about 2 weeks.

Sunflower Update

2011-08-12T14:21:00.000-05:00

Well, Ted has planted sunflowers a total of three times this year.

That's a record. One which we hope to never repeat.

The first planting went in the ground and we immediately got a torrential rain that washed lots of the seed out of the ground. So, Ted replanted. Then we got zero rain and lots of continued days of over 100 degree weather. The field you see here is what has managed to come up in these kinds of conditions.

The field is very sparse, but there are some sunflowers out there.

Earlier this week, when the weather man said we had a 90% chance of rain,

Ted thought he'd give it one last try. We didn't get a drop of rain!

Today we got a tiny amount of rain. It may or may not sprout the seeds still in the ground, but it will give some help to the flowers that have managed to come up. They are about a foot tall now.

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Praying for Rain!!!

2011-08-03T15:03:00.000-05:00

I don't know who first said it, but the hubby loves this quote:

"Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance."

How true!

I, however, am putting on my dancing shoes...because we need some rain!

This is the sunflower field.

How terribly sad!

Ted planted the field and then we immediately got rain. Lots of rain...all at once.

It rained so hard that it washed most of the seed right out of the ground. A couple of days later, he replanted the entire field.

Since then, we have gotten one rain which amounted to 3/10ths of an inch. We've also had many days of above 100 degree temperatures. (Yesterday was actually 111*!)

The ground is dry, dry, dry.

Normally, sunflowers do quite well in hot dry weather, but they just don't have the subsoil

moisture to even sprout this year. The field is spotty with some 4 inch tall sunflowers here and there. If we get a good rain, the rest of the seeds will germinate, but all we can do is wait...and pray.

I'll keep you posted...

Way Yummy Chocolate Frosting

2011-08-02T17:37:00.000-05:00

Because I feel the need to share chocolate frosting with the world right now;

here is my favorite recipe that I've tweaked to my satisfaction:

(And really, you can't fudge this up!) Har har!

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup Butter Flavor Crisco (or melt some margarine)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

In a large bowl, beat shortening, cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the powdered sugar in increments until you get the consistency of frosting that you like. (I like mine fudgey, thank you very much.) You can also cut back on the sugar and add more cocoa if you like it more chocolatey and less sweet. This recipe is enough to easily frost 24 cupcakes. Or you can put it on graham crackers. Or you can just eat it right out of the bowl. Whatever trips your trigger. Enjoy!

Wheat...my, how things change!

2011-07-12T08:56:00.001-05:00

I thought I would do a "photo documentary" of the progression of our wheat field. It's fun to see how quickly things change on a farm.

This is our field early in the spring. It had come out of it's winter dormancy and when everything else around was dead and brown, the wheat was lush and green.

This was the wheat in early June. It had grown tall and just set on it's heads.

After reaching maturity in June, it quickly began to turn yellow and die.

Drying down enough to cut the wheat is a waiting game.

Here we have our field of wheat shortly before it was cut. Fully dry, it makes a lovely rustling sound when the wind blows. It's a race to get it harvested before fourth of July fireworks start.

After the wheat is cut, we bale the straw. That's Sidney working with her dad. Sometimes they have help, but other times just the two of them go out to collect the straw bales. She drives the truck (a stick with no power steering) and also straightens up the bales in the field so they will feed into the loader. Lots of hopping in and out of the truck! Ted rides on the back of truck and stacks the bales neatly in the truck when one comes up the loader. Very HOT work!

This is the wheat stubble that remains after all of the straw is taken from the field. We will plant sunflowers into this, but the field, as it is, is very flammable. It also has a lot of weeds growing already. We either have to burn it off, or work the ground first.

We chose to burn it off. As an option, burning is faster, cheaper, and let's be honest...way more fun! Also, we have learned over the years, that (most often) the sunflowers do better after the field has been burned, rather than worked.

The field went up like...like...well, a house of straw! It was over 100*F (actual temperature) yesterday when we burned it. Let me say that it got a little bit toasty out there! Anyway, the field is now ready to plant sunflowers.

Sunflower News

2011-07-11T14:05:00.000-05:00

I've had quite a few people ask about sunflowers,

so I thought I'd get off my lazy kiester and do a quick blog.

This is just a painting I did of the sunflowers and is not meant to represent how the sunflowers look now.

This is actually how the sunflowers look right now.

They will (hopefully) get planted today. That is the plan, anyway. They are 73 day seeds which means that they should bloom sometime in mid-September (but I'm too lazy to do the math right now). The rate of growth also is variable on planting depth, sun, rain, clouds, and whether or not the NFL works out their negotiations. Ha! Anyway...farmer Ted is on it!

I promise to keep you posted!

Buddy Clifford Grinter 2000-2011

2011-06-16T22:41:00.001-05:00

In 2000, a blessing was (literally) dumped into our lives. He was a big puppy, and for whatever reason, someone decided the thing to do with him was to dump him in the country. We fell in love. The really funny thing was...our girls had been praying for a big dog. We had just had to put down our previous dog due to old age and the paralysis following a ruptured disc, and the girls were heartbroken. They naturally thought having another dog would help them heal. I told them it would have to wait. We were in the process of moving, and it just wasn't a good time. Almost overnight, a giant playful puppy showed up on our doorstep. The girls each gave him a name. Buddy because he was friendly, and Clifford because he was huge. They had named him...I guess that meant that we were going to keep him.

Although the girls and I loved Buddy, he took a particular shine to Ted. (And Ted to him.)

They were inseparable!

If Ted went out in the pickup...Buddy would jump in the back.

But Buddy was most enamored of the Gator. (I think because he got to sit up front with Ted.)

Anywhere Ted went, Buddy ran after...

At home, Buddy kept a good eye on things and liked to bark at deer. He did not, however, ever bark at people. We always said he was a good watchdog. He could watch people all day!

Buddy always loved winter. Especially when it snowed.

But without a doubt, Buddy's favorite thing in the world was going to work with Ted everyday.

(And I mean EVERY DAY!)

These two boys...they were buddies!

So...Buddy got old and it was getting hard for him to move his huge frame around. Eating and moving was more and more of a chore for him and today he made the decision to not try anymore.
Then we had to make a hard decision ourselves.

We believe Buddy had the best life a dog could have, and he enjoyed his life to the fullest. All of our family will miss him terribly. But I think that Ted will feel the most profound loss.
He has lost his shadow...and his best friend.

Hollandaise the Easy Way!

2011-06-05T13:35:00.000-05:00

We are spoiled.

My mil (mother-in-law) makes the world's best Eggs Benedict! We usually only get it twice a year...Christmas and Easter morning. Recently, my eldest asked me if we could pleeeease have Eggs Benedict for breakfast at our house since it was a long time until Christmas. EB is not in my usual repertoire because I have always had an aversion to making Hollandaise sauce. That is, until I found a recipe that involved using a blender. I tweaked the recipe to taste, and I must say, it runs a close second to my mil's sauce. I would never say it was as good...that would be gastronomical suicide! (But I am very happy to eat this sauce when forced to make it myself. It is very yummy and so easy you won't believe it!)

Blender Hollandaise Sauce

3 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 dash hot pepper sauce

1/2 cup butter (or oleo)

Add egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice, and hot sauce to blender and blend for a few seconds. Heat the butter (I used oleo and it came out fine) in the microwave for 1 minute or until completely melted and hot. Turn the blender on high and add the butter in a thin stream. It will thicken very quickly.

Serve immediately.

Wolf Spiders!

2011-05-16T14:36:00.000-05:00

So, for Mother's Day, I asked my hubby to please bring me some mulch...but NOT bulk mulch because then I would have a pile to contend with and it would involve much more labor on my part. I didn't relish the thought of deciding where to put the pile; shoveling the pile; all the trips back and forth to the pile

(you get my drift, here)...

So, what did he bring me? Bulk mulch, of course! (Gee! Thanks, honey!)

I decided to just shut up and make it work...maybe after just a little groaning and complaining. After all, it was much better mulch then what I am accustomed to, which is what the county chips up from pruning roadsides, and leaves in massive heaps for us when we tell them it's ok to deposit some on our farm. (Just can't say no to free mulch.) But what I completely forgot about, was that no matter the quality of mulch, if it's in a heap, you will most likely get a few of these:

Wolf spiders!

I had scooped up some mulch with my hands and thrown it into a 5 gallon bucket. I just needed a little bit to put some in the tops of some flower pots. I was happily reaching into the bucket for mulch and was almost to the bottom of the bucket when I happened to look in.

Although I didn't relish the thought that I had been playing keep away with this spider, I'm certain that she was much more afraid than I was. After all...she had her babies with her! Wolf spiders are kind of really cool in that they attach their egg sacks to their spinnerets and carry them around with them to guard. They even hunt this way. After the babies emerge from the sack, they will climb up her legs and ride around on her abdomen for a time. (I can't imagine carrying around hundreds of offspring!)

After terrifying her some more with my camera, I let her out into my garden.

She had a hard time getting over this dried stem with the egg sack in tow.

She was very gentle with it.

After eventually winning her battle with the stem, she found a nice leaf to crawl under to hide from me.

I can't blame her one bit!

Winter Wheat

2011-04-06T12:42:00.001-05:00

We plant "Hard Red Winter Wheat" in the fall. That's a long name for a grain, but wheat is named for the growing season, the gluten content, and the color.

Hard wheat has a high protein content and is used predominantly for all-purpose flour.

Wheat that is planted in the fall sprouts, grows a few inches, and then lays dormant for the winter.

Then in the spring, it looks like this!

Lush, lovely greenness...when everything else around is still brown and ugly.

It will be harvested in late June or early July...hopefully before the fireworks start for Independence Day celebrations. It's always a race. By then the wheat will be fully ripe and...dry. (Fireworks and wheat fields are a bad combination.) But for now, I'm going to enjoy the green!

What's in a Tree?

2011-01-31T16:01:00.002-06:00

Ted's mom and dad's house was recently featured in Lawrence Magazine. The gist of the article is that they used all native lumber off of our own farm in the finishing process. The floors, the woodwork, the cabinets, etc., were all made using what we had on hand. If you remember from a previous blog that we fell our own trees and then we hire a portable saw mill to come in and saw up the logs. The boards then get stacked for drying and when we feel the need to make something pretty, it's there.

If you'd like to see the article and get a glimpse of the house and see what logs like these can become,

click here. You'll have to scroll to page 12 where the article begins
(or 15 if you go by the toolbar at the top.).

It's called "Farming Elegance." For those of you wondering, we don't just cut down trees. Ted's dad, Jim, plants lots of trees, acorns, and seeds. (Acres of them!)

Super Easy Baked Mac n Cheese

2011-01-12T11:57:00.001-06:00

This Mac n Cheese could not be any simpler! You just throw the ingredients in a pan and stick it in the oven. It's the ultimate in comfort food.

You will need:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

6 Tablespoons butter or margarine

12 ounces grated cheddar cheese

4 ounces mozzarella cheese

5 cups milk

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350*F.

Mix the macaroni and the cheeses up in a sprayed 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Cut the butter up into small pieces and scatter over the top. Pour in the milk and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Bake for 1 hour.

How easy was that?

Baked Cake Doughnuts

2011-01-09T10:36:00.016-06:00

Because sometimes, you just have to have a doughnut.

You see, I do not live "in town." Not that driving to town on a doughnut run would be a huge deal, but I'm a very impatient person when I'm hungry. If I'm going to wait, I'd rather be doing something constructive, and I can whip up these doughnuts faster than I can get presentable (that means throwing on a pair of sweats with no holes, locating a baseball cap to cover up my bead head, and wiping the mascara out from under my eyes), driving to town, buying doughnuts (and whatever else I think I need because I have to somehow justify driving to town for more than just doughnuts), and getting back home just to realize that I forgot to make a pot of coffee...and now I have cold doughnuts. So, a country girl has to do what she has to do!

Here's my recipe for doughnuts:

Baked Doughnuts:

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup "sour" milk*

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons melted shortening

(I use butter flavor Crisco...I think the butter flavor is essential so if you don't have it, use margarine or butter.)

*to make "sour milk," simply add a teaspoon of vinegar to your milk, stir, and let it sit for about ten minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400*F.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix the sour milk, eggs, vanilla, and melted shortening. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Spray a doughnut pan (or two depending on the size of your doughnuts) and fill the cavities 3/4 full with the batter. Bake 8 to 10 minutes.

When done, pop doughnuts out of the pans and then dunk each in butter, and roll in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

For topping:

1/2 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon

The topping is not an exact science, you could glaze them if you like, but the cinnamon/sugar is a real pleaser. Also, I have some fancy doughnut pans (and this recipe makes 9 regular sized doughnuts), but you could easily make these in muffin tins. Just fill the cups half full, and you will get smaller "doughnuts" but you will have more portions. Just remember to adjust cooking time depending on your pan.

Enjoy!

Sourdough Dutch Oven Bread

2010-11-14T17:08:00.053-06:00

I've been on a quest to make bread at home that rivals the artisan loaves that I get at our local stone oven bakery. I think I've finally done it! The secret is to bake the bread in a covered dutch oven for part of the cooking time. It makes a wonderfully chewy crust. Just a note on the dutch oven: Mine is a Lodge brand. Don't be fooled by its knob. The phenolic knob that comes with the pot is not oven safe, but it is easily replaced with this $10 stainless steel knob bought from Amazon.

This recipe is made with a sourdough starter (use your favorite or I'll supply you with a recipe at the bottom), and milled flax seed. Milled flax seed gives the bread a nice flavor and adds some wonderful looking specks of color. (I am able to buy Hodgson Mill brand at my local gracery store.) Also a note on measuring the flour: I'm of the school that lightly spoons the flour into a measuring cup to overflowing and then uses a knife to level off the top. You'll get the right amount every time that way.

I once reprimanded my daughter for just scooping flour out of the canister with the measuring cup. She insisted it must be the same amount of flour as doing it my way. After a brief experiment, she concluded that her way yielded almost 1/4 cup more than measured my way. She is now as anal about measuring flour as I am. (I couldn't be more proud!)

Here's the recipe that I developed to fit my 6 quart dutch oven:

Sourdough Dutch Oven Bread

2/3 cup sourdough starter

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milled flax seed

3 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Combine the starter, water, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the milled flax seed and the flour. Knead the dough until it sticks together and pulls away from the side of the bowl. (I put my dough in the Kitchenaid and knead it with a dough hook for 5 minutes, but you can do it the old-fashioned muscle-building way and it will work just fine.)

Place the dough in a greased (I spray mine) bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Let it raise for about 2 hours.

It should at least double in size, although mine usually triples in size because I don't have time to babysit dough. (I have lots of important things to do like laundry and scrubbing toilets.) Line a medium mixing bowl (about the same size as your dutch oven) with parchment paper and set it aside.

Punch the dough down.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it very briefly...more to shape the dough and to get rid of any air bubbles.

Form it into a ball. Place the ball seam side down into the parchment lined bowl.

Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it raise until doubled in size.

At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, put your dutch oven in the oven and pre-heat it to 475* F. When the oven is ready, slice the top of your dough with a very sharp knife. Just make a 1/4 inch deep slit in the top. If your knife is sharp enough, it won't drag. This slit helps the dough "pop" in the oven. Carefully lift the dough out with the parchment paper and place it in the dutch oven. Place the lid on the dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid (I leave the lid in the oven to prevent cracking the enamel from thermal shock) and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven (again, I leave my pot in the oven to cool), remove paper, and cool the bread on a wire rack for at least one hour before slicing. (If you slice into the bread too soon, it will become hopelessly gummy.

After you've patiently waited an hour, go ahead and enjoy.

Sourdough Starter:

2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar or honey (optional)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon dry yeast

Beat all ingredients in a 2 quart bowl. Cover the bowl with a cheesecloth and leave it on the counter for 3 to 5 days, stirring it daily. When the bubbles diminish and it developes a sour, yeasty aroma, it's ready to use.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
1/3 cup milled flax seed
3 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine starter, water, sugar, salt and yeast. Stir in the milled flax seed and the flour. Knead dough for five minutes. (I use a dough hook and mixer for this, but you don't need to.) Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let raise for 2 hours. Punch the dough down, turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to shape into a ball. Place ball in a bowl lined with parchment paper, cover with a kitchen towel, and allow to raise until double in size. (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.) 20 minutes before the dough is ready, place an empty 6 quart dutch oven in the oven and pre-heat to 475* F. When oven is ready, slit top of loaf 1/4 inch deep with a very sharp knife. Carefully place dough (still in parchment paper) into hot dutch oven, cover with lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 20 minutes. Remove bread from dutch oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

YeeeeeeHaaaawwwwww!!!

2010-10-29T16:41:00.015-05:00

I don't exactly know when it started. It was before I came onto the scene twenty some odd years ago. What I'm talking about is "the Big Yee Haw."
But first, let me digress just a bit:

When I first married a cute, young, buff farm boy, the farm had two-way radios. It was before the days of cell phones and that's how we communicated with each other. The equipment all had radios in them, and our houses did, too. We shared a band with our neighbors, so we could hear them and they could hear us. We had to initiate a conversation by stating our "call letters." I still remember them: "K O K seven-twenty calling Ted..." This system worked great...if the person you were calling was actually near a radio at the time.

Anyhoo, You can imagine my startlement when I was sitting at home that first year, minding my own business, when all of a sudden someone breaks protocol and just hollers a very loud "YeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaawwwwwww!" over the radio. (It was my father in law.)

When the hubby came home later, he explained to me that that was meant to express the joy and exuberation one felt knowing that the last of the crops were out of the field. One no longer had to fret over rain forecasts and broken equipment. It was a moment of pure relief.

Well, the two-ways are now long gone, (well, actually, they are probably sitting in a box somewhere, but you get my meaning) so it's not as particularly penetrating, but the big Yee Haw now comes over the cell phone...but it does still come! I just got the call this evening.

I absolutely treasure those words! It means that the hubby will be more relaxed. It means that he will work shorter days. It means that we will spend more time together doing fun things as a family. It means that I could write a list of honey-dos and they might actually be taken seriously. It means that this hot young buck:

Could take this cute young thing:

Out on a REAL DATE!!! Complete with dinner, drinks...the works!

But for that, we will leave these gorgeous beauties at home!

(sorry kids!)

Perspective

2010-10-14T15:17:00.003-05:00

How big is a combine?

This video helps to give a little perspective.

You gotta try this!

2010-10-04T12:49:00.008-05:00

Pepperoncini Beef!

I like amazing things. This is amazing.

Take a 3 pound (or whatever) boneless roast and cut 6 shallow slits into it. Stick in 6 cloves of garlic. Plunk that sucker into a crock pot.

Open up a 16 ounce jar of pepperoncini and dump it over the top of the roast...liquid and all.

Cover it and cook it on high for about 6 hours...or whatever.

Shred the meat with a couple of forks.
Serve it up on grilled buns with a few of the peppers and some Monterey Jack cheese.

Good heavens but this is good!

Take note: I am one of THOSE kinds of cooks that will give instructions like "cook it 'til it's done." I realize that drives some people crazy, but it's how my momma raised me. I don't believe in exact measurements or cooking times unless I'm baking. I really don't think this recipe can get messed up too much. Enjoy! It's fabulous.

Corn Harvest

2010-10-03T12:30:00.016-05:00

Corn harvest has been ongoing for a couple of weeks now. The corn dried down early this year (despite the late planting) because of the excessive, prolonged heat we had in July. Regardless of the corn being ready, we couldn't begin harvest because it started raining just as soon as the corn was ready. That's the way it goes sometimes.

I snapped a few shots the other day as I was performing one of my daily duties...lunch delivery. This is the grain cart unloading into the International grain truck. (Farmers call it a straight truck. One of these days I'll learn all of the terminology...)

Here comes Ted in the combine. (He must smell food!)

He normally wouldn't drive back across the field, but I wasn't driving a farm truck. (I had errands to run, kids to take to town, tractor parts to pick up, yadda, yadda... And there is no way I'm driving across a corn field in MY car!)

" Hello, Honey! I brought you some leftover pizza and a gooey homemade cinnamon roll.)
This is the thanks I get!

Going downhill...

2010-09-05T16:19:00.004-05:00

Overall, the sunflower field is starting to look a little scraggly. The first flowers to open are now plump with seed, and looking at the ground.

The flowers that were part of the "re-plant" are just starting to open up.
It's unusual to see sunflowers side by side in two completely different stages of development, but that's what we have this year.

These former beauties are now huge with seed.

This baby has yet to open up. So much life ahead of it...well, a couple more weeks, anyway.

This is my favorite stage, if you haven't guessed from all of the snapshots. I just love how hopeful they look when they are just opening up.

Sunflower Saturday

2010-08-28T12:25:00.005-05:00

The sunflowers are still looking good!

Many have not opened yet, due to the varied planting times,

but many more are ready for the shooting...or picking...

The field is more green than usual this year, but they are still wonderful.
This picture really doesn't do them justice.

This picture, however, does.

This one, too! (click on the photo)

We are scheduled to take our family picture in the sunflowers tomorrow morning. If you happen to be at the field, and happen to be really good with a camera, come on over and offer to press a button for us. (It would save me setting the camera on "auto" and then making a mad dash across the field to get in the picture before the camera captures my backside!)

Enjoy!

Just a quick link for you

2010-08-21T09:29:00.006-05:00

The link is to a story that the Lawrence Journal World did on Ted and the sunflowers that appeared in today's paper:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/aug/20/sunflower-season-full-bloom/

For your viewing pleasure...

2010-08-19T16:24:00.010-05:00

I've had these pictures in my camera for a couple of days now, but I've not had access to my desktop computer. You see, let me explain...

We've been having our floors refinished, and everything I own is packed into boxes, including my desktop cmputer. I have my laptop, but it has limited photo software and I couldn't for the life of me get my photos converted to a smaller size. It took me a while to figure it out. Given my limited time to spend "blogging," it took me a couple of days. FINALLY!!! I've got it worked out now. So, without further ado, I present to you: (drumroll, please!)

The sunflowers as they were two days ago!

This butterfly was adamant that I take his picture...so I obliged.

This is a good depiction of how the sunflowers are not all opening up at the same time this year. I blame mother nature.

Many are at this stage.

Just beginning to pop open.

But there are still lots open for good photo ops.

You never know what you might get a chance to capture...either on film or in your own mind.

Getting There!

2010-08-15T11:39:00.009-05:00

The sunflowers are starting to make a show.

Mostly, the field looks like this. Just a few sunflowers here and there starting to pop open.

I love the sunflowers when they are at this stage. The bugs haven't started to eat the petals yet, and they look lovely.

The beetles seem to be starting in on this one already.

You can see how tall they are in this picture. (That's my hubby...the farmer.)

Sunflowers still make a pretty neat model, even when they aren't open yet.

Next weekend should be the best to take pictures. This week more of the flowers will slowly pop open. Just a note to any budding photographers (pun intended), the lighting is best early in the morning and late in the evening. Mid-day sun will wash them out and lots of photoshopping will ensue. Just take my word for it!

Reach for the Sky!

2010-08-08T11:47:00.008-05:00

The sunflowers are still plugging away.

They didn't come up very well this year because of hard rains that hit them

just after they were planted.

You can see lots of bare spots in the field, and they aren't all at the same stage of development.

But they are still plugging away.

What a difference a few days can make!

The sunflowers have doubled their size in a week's time.

I didn't have a yardstick with me and my youngest, who rode her bike to the field with me, absolutely refused to be in the photo...so this is your's truly demonstrating how tall the sunflowers are. Bear in mind that I'm pretty small in stature (5'2") and that I really didn't dress to be photographed. Please forgive me! I'm estimating that the largest are 40 inches tall.

The larger sunflowers are developing flower buds!
My best guess for a good weekend to photograph is the 21st/22nd. I'm betting the field will look it's best on Tuesday, the 24th. I'll keep you informed.

Sunflowers Today

2010-08-04T21:38:00.006-05:00

The sunfowers have been reaching upward, like they are so often prone to do.

They are about 18 inches tall now...on average. I say "on average" because they are kind of all over the place this year.

Some came up on time, some came up late, and some didn't come up at all (this particular row came up pretty good).

Based on current rate of growth, I still guesstimate that they will be blooming the last week of August.

Maybe. I'll let you know if I change my mind.

Sunflowers!

2010-07-20T10:10:00.008-05:00

The sunflowers are having problems! Like all of our other crops this year, they just had a hard time coming up. We don't have a very good stand. The problem this year was that just after Ted planted them, they got poured on. Then it immediately got really hot and dry and caked the ground over.

This should be a picture of green rows starting to fill out. Instead, it's just sad.

Here we have some that came up a bit better, but still not fantastic.

The ones that did come up vary in height. They are 4" tall on average.

To add insult to injury, the bugs seem to be quite hungry this year.

Ted has replanted quite a few acres. The lines you see in the soil will (hopefully) be new rows of sunflowers. They are patiently waiting for some rain.

A few are starting to pop up here and there. I hope more will soon follow.

These two seem to know that it's going to be a tough life, and have decided to stick together.
I'm guessing the first sunflowers will be blooming 1 month from now. (That's August 20th.)

What to do with a free weekend?

2010-07-18T17:21:00.023-05:00

Ted and I have been contemplating for some time about taking out one of our fireplaces. We actually had 3 of them and we really could only use one at a time. There wasn't enough air draw in the house to use more than one. Anyway, after much thought, we decided that the western most fireplace would go, and we would keep the one in the living room.

This is the living room fireplace. We took out the existing cover and planned to put a new, more efficient insert in this one.

This is the west fireplace that was slated for the chopping block. Ted removed the old insert... that's what's sitting in front of it.

Next step was to put up plastic to try and keep some of the dust from infiltrating the rest of the house (nice thought anyway).

We put plywood down on the floor to keep any accidental drops from marring the wood floor.

Bye bye fireplace! I have no room for you in my life anymore!

Initial destruction was quite interesting.

What the heck??? Was that seriously what was inside my chimney?
One thing that we learned was that the bricks were not simply a facade. They were actually lode bearing walls. Yikes! Time to shore things up...quick...
Another thing we learned was that the 3 flues that ran up inside the chimney were all leaning. There were also char marks from chimney fires over the years. Our construction guy said it was lucky that our house hadn't burned down. Upon recommendation from our two "structural experts," we decided to take down the entire structure. All 3 fireplaces!

Bye bye fireplaces!

Yes, that would be a hole in my roof!

This was one of the fireboxes. Just a bit scary, huh?

I'm really glad our homeowners insurance guy couldn't see this.

Yikes!

That pile of rubble is all that was left at the end of Saturday.

Sunday morning, we had this to deal with.

Just one flue going to the basement fireplace to plug.

My job was to chip mortar off of good bricks, and unload the skid steer every time the bucket got full. I would then dump it onto the truck behind.

This is our neighbor, Bryson. He's a pretty good goober...completely full of himself...but a good kid. I enjoy having him around. I need someone to make fun of, and I need his strong back!

We managed to salvage 7 pallets of usable brick.

Ted tidied up the roof, no doubt very glad to be on it rather than in it as he was all day.

Did I mention that we did this on two extremely hot days. The temps were in the 90's. The heat index was over 105. Due to dust and a very large hole in the roof, we had to turn the air conditioning off. Egads!

Ted and I both knocked off around 4:30 in the afternoon. (Both days we started between 6 and 7 to try and get a jump on the heat.) Ted is spending the evening catching up on some spraying that he needs to do, and I will be spending the rest of the evening cleaning. After Ted gets home tonight, he will run the wires for electrical boxes and a TV cable. While he's at it, he intends to run a 220 out to the garage since we've never had one out there.

Doesn't that sound like a great way to spend the weekend?

All in all, we accomplished a lot in two days.

A special thanks to Pete, CJ, our two hired high school boys, and our two girls who all put in a lot of effort and were a tremendous help. Thank you!

Post script: We have so many flies in our house that I'm paying the kids 20 cents a body! Callie is up to $5.40.

Made in America

2010-07-16T12:19:00.010-05:00

I'll be honest with you. When I set out to do this whole "Made in America" thing this year, I really expected to have a lot of fun looking for (and buying) lots of stuff that is made in America. Sadly, what I found out, is that it was incredibly hard to find things that are made in America. But, I didn't get skunked. What I did learn is that when I do find stuff that's made right here in the good ol' US of A, it is top quality!

Case in point: my favorite mixing bowls!!!

These are Wisconsin Mixing Bowls. They are made by Ellinger's Agatized Wood Company out of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (I just love to say "Sheboygan!")
Like the company's name suggests, these are a wood composite made of pine and melamine.
I've owned a set of these bowls for about 9 years. They are light-weight and durable. Quite simply, I love them! Unlike some customer reviews however, they are NOT unbreakable. It took me about 8 years, but I finally found that if you drop one from about 3 1/2 feet and it lands just right, it will indeed crack. I thought that I could live without that particular bowl, but after a few months, I broke down and bought another set. Also, in doing a bit of research for this blog, I found that if you go directly to the company's website, they sell them individually. (I wish I'd known that earlier!) Oh well, I love them so much that I really don't mind having a set of 7!
Here's their website: http://www.agatized.com/

Laying the foundation

2010-06-24T18:10:00.003-05:00

I was driving over to the neighbors house today and went pass the field that the sunflowers will be planted in this year, and guess what? I saw a cloud of dust. Somewhere in that cloud of dust was a tractor. This made me very excited! What it all means is that they are preparing the ground to plant the sunflowers! Not quite sure when they are going to get planted, but I'm betting somewhere in the next few days.

When it all gets going, I'll keep you posted!

I know I'll pay...but I can't stop myself!

2010-06-15T14:06:00.011-05:00

The hubby has been wearing some interesting outfits lately. I guess, technically, guys don't wear "outfits," they simply wear "stuff." This is the stuff I caught him in today, so I quickly grabbed my camera, and followed him out the door:

"What do you think you're doing with that camera?"

"I'm just interested in documenting this strange clothing choice you've made today."

"I'm going to be working inside the shop completely covered in my leather welding suit. This will keep me cooler."

"Where did you get that sexy sleeveless t-shirt?"

"I found it in a locker in the shop. I think it belonged to Brian (a former worker)."

"That's interesting. Would you make a muscle for me? I'd love to see you utilize that shirt to it's full potential."

(he laughs...then this:)

"Thanks, honey! That's going to look wonderful on Face Book."

"You post these on Face Book and you are going to pay!"
"OK. I won't post them on Face Book." (laughing but trying to look serious)
"Pinkie swear!" (I extend my index finger.) (laughs) "That is not your pinkie!"
"OK, OK! I swear!" (extends pinkie)
"You do know that you WILL pay."
"Yes, I know." *giggle*

Now I'm going to go and look for some cheap airfares. I wonder how far I'll get on $20?"

It's not exactly the pits!

2010-06-12T16:44:00.013-05:00

Our little cherry tree was ready to be picked, but I had a problem. I didn't want to go out, by myself, and be subjected to swarms of massive mosquitoes and ravenous deer flies. I wanted others to enjoy that wonderful experience with me, so I enlisted help.

I forced my daughters to help me. But when one of them started bleeding from a

wound in her leg, I let her run up to the house, tend to the wound, then made her come back and be the photographer for the evening's festivities. (Do you like my ballet method of reaching into the middle of the tree? I thought it necessary that I combine Pilates moves with the fine art of cherry picking.)

Our photographer seemed to be really enjoying herself trying to take as many pictures of her sister's backside as she could. (Believe me, she took hundreds...) She giggled the whole time.

I got wise and decided to use the hubby's pickup truck for a ladder. It worked quite well, despite all of the "junk" in the bed that I was tripping over. One of my wiser moves wasn't wearing long sleeves. It was super hot outside, and the bugs didn't even decide to show up.

"Momma? What are you doing?"

"Momma! You're scaring me!"

"Ok. For a massage, I'll do just about anything..."

"even smile at my annoying little sister."

My eldest and I admired some of our hard work.

Then she decided that it was time to make the photographer suffer a little bit...
as only a bigger sibling knows how.

A Fashion Statement

2010-05-31T13:55:00.004-05:00

We got 3 tenths of an inch of rain last night. That means that Ted actually got to sleep in this morning! Well...sorta. He got to sleep in as long as his phone wasn't ringing. By the third time it rang (before 7...on Memorial Day, no less) he decided to get out of bed and answer the dadgum thing. Being that it is a holiday, but Ted still has to work anyway because 3 tenths of rain is enough to let you sleep, but not enough to let you have a day off, Ted decided to dress "office casual" today.

Jean shorts! And, yes, those would be his everyday work boots. Sexy, ain't it?

"Honey, that is one gorgeous lookin' outfit you've got there! Would you make a leg for me?"
Oh! So much better! (At least he has really nice legs. Justifies the whole ensemble.)

Spring Cleaning

2010-05-28T13:24:00.004-05:00

Is that smoke?

This truck appears to be on fire...or at least smoldering.

Oh, it's just Ted doing a bit of spring cleaning.
I just love it when a man cleans up after himself.
Now get over here and give me a big kiss!

Wait! Um...never mind! I'll take a rain check!

This is what I deal with...

2010-05-11T18:21:00.003-05:00

Apparently, the planter needed washed today.

Now the hubby needs washed.

And his laundry needs washed.
Right now I'm thinking I would offer to scrub his back if he would do his own laundry...

Tonganoxie...This is My Town! A Confession.

2010-04-17T10:23:00.022-05:00

This is an old photo of "the main drag" in Tonganoxie, KS. Even with the improvements of a concrete road, sidewalks, and flowering trees...it still looks very similar today.

I have a confession to make. I never wanted to be a part of this community. I never intended to get married. And if I did, it would be to some white-collar type, living in the same super-sized city that I was definitely going to be living my career-girl adult life in. I grew up in a town of roughly 100,000 people and what I knew was that that was way too "small town" for me. I was getting out of there and moving somewhere "real" as soon as possible. I never expected to fall in love with a farm boy, let alone move to a tiny place with an almost unpronounceable name. But that's exactly what happened. As many of us have learned, life is seldom what we expect.

After my husband and I had our children came the decision of where they would attend school. At the time, we were living in the Lawrence school district and I was more than happy that my children wouldn't grow up in "tiny town." I was sure they would miss out on so much if they would be forced to attend school in Tongie. My husband didn't share my views, and he was unyielding on the matter. He graduated from Tonganoxie High and he was adamant that his children would do the same. He didn't want his children to be "just another number" in a larger school district. After many long "discussions," he eventually succumbed to my wishes and said he would support whatever decision I made. In an attempt to appear as if I was flexible, I said that our kids could at least start school in Tongie. I knew at some point in the near future, he would see reason and we would move our kids to their rightful school district, and I would get to say: "I told you so."

Our kids started school in Tongie and when we decided that we were outgrowing our old house, we moved down the road and (inadvertently) into the Tonganoxie school district. At that point, I decided that if I really was stuck in this small town, I might as well make the most of it. I signed up as a "room mom" and went on every class trip and helped plan every class party for my children and their classmates. I would immerse myself in as many things as possible, so that if I noticed any detrimental affects that my children were suffering from being exposed to small town America, I would have the ammunition I needed to yank them from the Tongie school district and send them to Lawrence. I would dutifully make this sacrifice for my children.

It wasn't long before I realized that this little community wasn't really all that bad. I took a good look around, and I realized that my children had some really amazing teachers. In the classroom, I got to know lots of really great kids. I was more than a little humbled by the things I saw around me. Over the years, I've come more and more to love the people here, and I love the community itself. Last year, "Team Tongie" was formed; an organization of students and patrons that raise money to help classmates and their families that are suffering from "hard times," and it hit me as hard as an unforeseen slap across the face...how I almost took this community away from my children; how they almost didn't get the chance to see what it was like... living in a tight-knit community that took care of it's own; how I almost made them miss out on so much; how I almost missed out on so much.

With the knowledge that comes from a few years of experience, I can say today that I feel I am truly blessed to be a part of this community. Just the other day, at the early graduation ceremony of a classmate suffering from the late stages of bone cancer, I looked out over a crowd of young faces assembled at the high school; the auditorium so full that kids were actually sitting in the aisles, and I saw a community of kids that truly and deeply care about one another. I saw so many adults that support and love these children. I saw kids that have learned (maybe the hard way and way too young) what is important. I saw kids that bolster one another through the tough times. I saw kids that aren't afraid or embarrassed to show their classmates that they're hurting, because they know that they will be understood and supported. And one thing I know for sure is that I am as proud of these kids as if they were my own. So very, very proud. And in my stubborn ignorance, I almost missed it.

An addendum:

The little community of Tonganoxie has been rocked hard on it's foundation in the last year. The high school itself has seen one boy die suddenly in his sleep, another put into a coma from a freak dental accident, another undergo a kidney transplant, another commit suicide, and one suffer from bone cancer. If you would like to read about last Thursday's events that led up to "my confession," here is a link to an article that was in the Kansas City Star:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/15/1880739/tonganoxie-holds-special-graduation.html

As a new school board member, I had the great honor of Connor Olson being the first student of Tonganoxie High School that I got to watch graduate. That is something truly special that I'll get to keep with me forever.

Post script:

Connor Olson passed away April 21, 2010

Sawing Logs

2010-04-16T18:09:00.012-05:00

We have, in the past, harvested our own trees off of the farm to make things for ourselves. Things like furniture. The men in this family like to do woodworking for a hobby. (A new desk, bed, or kitchen table is always appreciated by the wives.) My in-laws took that concept one step farther and used our own lumber to make all of the woodwork in their house...from floors to cabinets. They used a combination of different woods and it is gorgeous! (You'll have to take my word for it.) Anyway, Ted's dad, Jim, has won some awards for his stewardship of trees. As well as harvesting them, he plants them, too.

Recently, he decided to sell some. That involves people coming out to select the trees they want, bidding on them, and then the actual harvesting of the selected trees. It was an interesting process. First, they took a rifle and literally shot the big limbs of the trees near the trunk; that was so that when they cut the tree down, those limbs would easily break off without any damage to the trunk (which is the only part of the tree they want). The rest of the tree gets used for firewood by us. Here is just one of the stacks of large tree trunks (now called "saw logs") that is waiting to get loaded onto trucks. By the way, they mostly wanted walnut trees.

Here is a guy that came to load up some logs. He sat in this little crane attached to the truck and picked up the logs like they weighed no more than tinker toys.

He'd pick up a log with the large "grabber thingie" and swing it around. "Grabber thingie" is a technical term used only by people who know what they're talking about.

Then he sat the log down gently on the truck. (I think he's done this a few times.)

Then he'd grab another log...

swing it around and set it down.

Grab...swing...set...

He loaded a log about every 30 seconds. It was pretty amazing to watch.

Farmer Jim was there to say goodbye to his trees. (Well, he was there, anyway.) I imagine he's planning on where to plant the next trees. Did I mention that he's always planting trees?

Diggin' Ditches!

2010-04-07T10:24:00.007-05:00

Yesterday evening, we had a great wind blow through that brought a lot of rain with it. It decided to dump it all at once...sideways! Nothing too unusual about that. This is Kansas! Extreme weather happens all the time here. Furnace on in the morning, air conditioner by the afternoon.

After most of the rain dumped, Ted went to drain puddles. He can get in the field to plant faster if he doesn't have to wait for "small lakes" to dry up on their own. He had drained most of the water by the time I showed up with my camera. (I had supper to get done.)

This is the water that has drained off of the field and under the street, where it will meet up with a creek.

We still got more rain later on, and we had lots of lightening...even as Ted was working.

His faithful dog Buddy was trying to help out by digging a few holes of his own.

Ted decided to unplug this drain since the water was just about to go over the top of his parent's driveway. Then lightening struck. Close. Really close. And Ted has kind of used up all of his "get out of jail free cards" where lightening is concerned. So he immediately threw his hoe in the back of the truck and decided it was time to call it good.

2010-03-27T10:53:00.021-05:00

Yesterday was a seed day. That means, we got the first delivery of our seed corn and beans. (That's the stuff that gets planted...and then we pray will grow.)

The first thing that showed up yesterday was this tiny shipment from a man in a pickup truck.This is 50 pounds of sweet corn seed. They are pretty proud of this seed. It sells for almost $15 per pound. (You do the math!)

This is the (mostly) empty place in the shop where the seed will go. Ted will get it cleaned up a little more. A place needs to be spiffy before you fill it up again with stuff.

The semi truck arrived and Ted started to unload the bulk bags first. Normally, we get our seed in "pro boxes" (which you'll see in a minute), but the plant that had our seed had a fire this winter and 3000 pro boxes burned up. They didn't have enough to go around this year, so everyone is making due with less. (More on pro boxes in a minute.)

These bags weigh 2500 pounds a piece. Ted is pretty particular about how they get stacked for obvious reasons. The seed shifts a bit in transit and the bags aren't perfectly square.
He really doesn't want one to fall over.

Ted puts a layer of cardboard in-between the pallet and the bag to keep the bag from getting torn.

The bags are unloaded.

A fork lift is necessary equipment. Especially when you have to unload the truck yourself!
Ted starts to unload the pro-boxes.

This is what a pro box looks like. It, like the bags, holds 2500 pounds of seed. What is nice about pro boxes is that they are made to actually fit onto a cart with a conveyor that we take to the field. This eliminates manually carrying and unloading thousands of pounds of seed by hand. The boxes are also nice and square, making them easy to stack, and they get RECYCLED! (You can't recycle the bags.)

This is a little over half of the seed we will plant this year.
More than 25,000 pounds...and we're not done yet.

We also unload some seed for neighbors at our place. This particular neighbor can't get a semi into his place so they just bring the seed to our place, where Ted unloads it and then loads it onto the neighbor's truck. These are traditional paper bags of seed. These bags will get unloaded into his planter by hand. That's a lot of hard, back-breaking work...but easier than a few years ago. It used to be that a bag of seed weighed 60 pounds...why? Because that is a bushel. But, several years ago they changed it to 50 pound bags. No, I don't know why.

And, as always, our ever-present "watch dog" was in attendance. We call him the "watch dog" because Buddy can watch people work all day long...kind of like me. Hee hee!

How much wood?

2010-03-26T16:07:00.008-05:00

Let me just say, that the farm loves trees. But with trees, comes a lot of work. The farm has planted a lot of trees, but we also have to harvest a lot of trees. (The term "we" is being used very loosely as I actually have nothing to do with this process. I'm much too fragile to stand on frozen ground doing hard manual labor all day. My place is in the home...next to the nice toasty fireplace!) Most of our fields are surrounded by creeks which are surrounded by trees. Naturally, trees die and then, if not taken care of, they will fall either into the creek, creating problems, or into the field, creating problems. So, what does a farmer spend a great amount of time doing in the "off season?"Cutting firewood!Hauling logs. Sawing logs. Splitting logs. Stacking logs. Moving stacks of logs...

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I really have no idea but I bet it's not as much as your average farmer in the month of January. (Please note that this is just what is remains of the wood after a long cold winter and two wood stoves going at a constant clip.)

Spring has Sprung

2010-03-23T13:26:00.010-05:00

It is finally showing signs of spring on the farm. Harvest was soooooooo late last year, and then it was sooooooo cold, that stuff that should have been done then, is just getting done now. "Cleaning up" the corn head is one of those tasks. That involves making sure there are no broken springs, bad sprockets or bearings, bent metal, replacing parts that need replaced.

Blah, blah, blah...

This is Jim...Ted's dad...working on some do-hickey that he took off of the corn head. Ted was busy with a salesman at the time. That's a strange thing about farming, the salesmen still tend to come to you. Anyway, I don't know who was enjoying themselves more: Jim with the corn head or Ted with the salesman. I quickly accessed the situation, and then moved on to greener pastures...I went on my first flower photo shoot of the year.

The crocus have been up, then buried under about 10 inches of snow, then uncovered again. They don't seem to mind.

Hello lovely!

Ahhhh...mellow yellow. Ok. Maybe NOT mellow.
But still quite right!

Just waiting for a bee.

Oh! Here one comes now.

The bees are back! Definitely spring!

Brownie Pan...Made in the U.S.A.

2010-03-21T14:21:00.007-05:00

One thing I love more than brownies...my new brownie pan!

A friend of mine and I have a love of brownie "edges." You know..the chewy part that is worth fighting over...and we have had our share of battles over those edge pieces. Now, I know that there are a lot of "middle" piece people out there. My daughter is one of them. And some people just don't care. "It's a brownie! Who cares WHICH piece it is?" Well, I kinda do.

My friends know this.

They presented me with this pan for Christmas.

Look at all of those surfaces for edge pieces! It has a non-stick coating that works really well, although I still give it a squirt of the spray anyway.
It is a nice heavy pan and really does a superb job of cooking the brownies. (I haven't made anything else in the pan...yet.) It even says "Baker's Edge" right on the handle so you don't mistake it for another pan.

Here's my favorite part...where it says "MADE IN USA."

Verdict: I'm in love with this pan. I was actually thinking about buying one before I was presented this one as a gift. I guess my friends know me a little too well. (Lucky me!) They can come over for a brownie anytime they want...and I promise not to fight over which piece I get! We have more important things to argue about.

Oh! A link if you want to check them out:
http://www.bakersedge.com/

Tumblers...Made in the U.S.A.

2010-03-12T12:57:00.014-06:00

My friend Gail tipped me off to these fantastic tumblers. She knew I was on a quest for "made in the U.S.A." stuff and so she told me about these and how much she loves them. These are Turvis Tumblers! I went to the website and was pulled in. They seemed a little pricey, but what really got me to bite was the fact that these babies have a LIFETIME GUARANTEE! No kidding! If one ever fails...you just mail it back and they mail you a new one. No receipt, no questions, no nothing required. Just the tumbler! Wow! It doesn't get any better than that.

Oh wait! It does get better. They have these cute embroidered patches layered inside the double walled glasses and you can get just about anything. I ordered this John Deere glass for our little friend Ben. He likes to ride the tractor with Ted whenever he can flag him down. The funny thing is, after I picked out this glass for him, I had second thoughts and invited him to pick out his own (without showing him what I had picked for him). Despite the tons of designs to choose from and the three different John Deere glasses, he picked the EXACT same one! (He has good taste.)

I also had Ben help me pick out a glass for his little sister. He picked out the rose because that is his sister's middle name. Rose! What a sweetie! He and his sister are Cute with a capital "C!"

I also wanted to order his parents some glasses, too. I got them both one like the K-State glass on the far right. I also got one for the hubby since that was his alma mater. As a KU girl, let me tell you that I had a really hard time not getting KU glasses for everyone. But alas! I want them to actually use the glasses...so I relented. (Turvis has all of the collegiate teams.) I have been proudly using my KU glass today and can honestly tell you that my tumbler has passed the cold test. It did not sweat with ice water. I haven't given it the hot test yet, but they say they are also good for hot beverages, as well. My big 24 oz. glass fits in my car cup holder. You can also order these handy dandy lids for them. I can't wait to put these to the test this summer when it gets really hot outside.

KS Wheat

2010-03-12T10:24:00.010-06:00

I stumbled upon this blog this morning:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/03/12/our-kansas-wheat-tour/?go=RT100312D&utm_source=RT100312&utm_medium=email&utm_content

This is a great explanation of where our flour comes from. Much better than what I could do, so I thought I'd just post the link. And I love King Arthur Bread Flour, so it's all good.

I've seen this process myself, from the field to guided tours of wheat processing plants. Very interesting and it really gives you an appreciation of where your food comes from. Enjoy!

Ah, Nuts!!!

2010-03-03T17:26:00.009-06:00

When I went in search of things made in the U.S.A., I really was NOT going to focus on food. After all, I'm married to a farmer. Producing food is what he does. But, in this case, I simply could not help myself. This is a U.S.A. product that I've been so in love with over the years, that to not mention it would be a sin.

Virginia Diner peanuts! These are amazing!
My hubby has family that lives out on the east coast. Whenever we visit, someone usually makes a run to the diner where they sell these. (I usually order mine on-line from home because I simply cannot run out of the yummy goodness.) But I think it's fair to say, had I not married this wonderful man, I would still be ignorant of the joy of these peanuts.

Who knew marriage could bring such pea nutty bliss?

I think why their peanuts are so good is because of the "blistering." No, I have no idea how they blister a peanut. All I know is that it makes them super extra crunchy and delicious.

Oh, and coincidentally, March is "national peanut month."
And have I mentioned that George Washington Carver is a hero of mine? It just makes sense that I should show homage to him and to peanuts. Specifically, these peanuts, but then I never met a peanut I didn't like...

If you want to read about the history of these peanuts that they've been making since 1929, you can read here:

http://www.vadiner.com/history.aspx

Banana Muffins (a little healthier)

2010-02-26T17:43:00.020-06:00

My sister just can't buy bananas! Well, she can, and she does...but then she always lets them go bad. Ok, not ALWAYS...but a lot of the time! What does she do then? She brings them to my house because she knows that I simply CAN'T throw away a banana. It would be a sin. Really.

So, quite often, I am forced to bake banana muffins or banana bread, or banana pancakes, or banana gumbo, banana Wellington, banana rarebit...just kidding. But you get the idea.

She means well. (Although I secretly think she's trying to make my bottom bigger!)

This recipe is kinda, sorta healthier than the regular, fully leaded stuff...but it still has all of the flavor of the not as healthy ones.

This is what I start out with: bananas, applesauce, egg, flour, Splenda (or generic in my case) sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of sugar that didn't make it into the photo.

First, I preheat the oven to 375*, and line some muffin tins with paper cups...but you could just spray them, I do that, too. Mash the bananas with a fork. Add the applesauce (I used unsweetened), egg, and Splenda. (Ignore the fact that there are two eggs in this photo...I was doubling the recipe, but I'm only writing the recipe for a single batch.)
Stir it all up.

On top of this I dump the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Stir until just combined.

If you are like me and can't help but be a little bad, throw in some chocolate chips at this point. But only if you want to. They're really not necessary, but chocolate is full of antioxidants and so I like to think that I am doing my body a favor by adding it. About 1/2 cup would do. Or you could even throw in some walnuts. Can you say omega 3's?

Really! Only stir until JUST combined.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 to 3/4 full. One recipe makes 10 to 12 muffins depending on how many other goodies (i.e. chocolate chips, nuts) that you add.

For the topping, I take some REAL sugar, a bit of cinnamon, and a dab of butter and mush it all up with a fork until it is coarse crumbs.

I put about a teaspoon of topping on each muffin.

Throw those bad boys in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. (I use the toothpick method for testing for doneness.) Also, please ignore my dirty oven racks. The oven gets a workout in my house!

Goodness gracious! These are delicious!

I always have to make a few without topping for my youngest that has an aversion to the sugary crumb topping. I know, right? Who could not like the best part! Strange child!

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Banana Muffins (a little healthier)

3 bananas, very ripe

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup Splenda

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 10 muffin cups or line with papers.

Make the crumb topping in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas with fork and stir in applesauce, Splenda, and egg.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Stir until just combined. (Note: if you are adding any goodies, add them at the same time as the flour mixture.)

Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of topping over the muffins. (This recipe makes ample topping so throw on more if you like.)

Bake 20 to 25 minutes (but start checking them at 18 minutes) until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy! Guilt free...kinda...

More U.S.A. Stuff!

2010-02-24T13:58:00.005-06:00

My daughter needed a little jewel set on a pretty little box that she received as a gift. (It was NOT made in the U.S.A.) Anyway, off to buy glue I went!

Elmers! A name we all know from our youth. We started out with Elmers paste glue and advanced to the glue in the bottle. We've all got a million glue stories from the kid who ate paste to all the cool things we would make out of nothing but glue...like...our first "press on fingernails!" (Anybody else make those?) Anyway...I needed to buy something special. Something that would dry absolutely clear. This is what I found. And guess what?

Yep! It's made in the U.S.A.!!!

On a side note...my youngin' went to the dentist yesterday and came home with this:

a tiny tube of Colgate toothpaste.

Also made in the U.S.A. (The toothbrush they gave her was not.)

Made in the U.S.A.

2010-02-16T16:27:00.006-06:00

Oh! How could I have forgotten the joys of one of my favorite childhood toys?

I often pick up "little goodies" to go into a drawer I have at home that is devoted to nothing but gifts. It comes in very handy when your child says "I need a gift for so and so tomorrow," and you have absolutely no time to shop. Or if, like me, you simply can't drive yourself into town because you:

1. have dinner in the oven

2. have to be somewhere else in 10 minutes

3. you haven't shaved your legs yet, or

4. you just put on your jammies and you really want nothing more than to sit on the couch for the rest of the evening.

Whatever the reason, it's a handy drawer to have.

This just went into the drawer:

I'm telling you, for a dollar, you just can't beat it! And it's...

MADE IN THE U.S.A.!!!

Yeah, Baby!

Valentine's Day...a Love Story

2010-02-14T10:02:00.013-06:00

On this Valentine's day, and every Valentine's Day, I can't help but think about my parents. After all, they were married on Valentine's Day. It was my dad's idea.

This is the face of a true romantic!

My parents met when my mom's girlfriend called her brother and said: "Get over to my house right now! You need to meet this girl!" My dad showed up returning a hammer...one that he hadn't borrowed in the first place! The short story is that they met, fell in love, and decided to marry.

My dad, the romantic, wanted a big wedding...on Valentine's Day. My mom, the practical one, wanted a little wedding...NOT on Valentine's Day. They, of course, compromised. They had a little wedding on Valentine's Day. The romantic got what he wanted... The practical one got what she wanted... Each other!

This is my parents opening their wedding gifts. (My dad was 1 foot 3 inches taller than my mom. He isn't standing on a box!)

I'll try to keep this brief:

They we're madly in love. They had 4 children in 8 years. He left her love notes and cards (that she still has) in places where she would find them. His lunchbox was a frequent depository of these little love morsels. They were happy.

Then dad got sick. It was cancer and nothing could be done. He died at the age of 34 leaving my mom a widow with 4 kids age 10 and under. I, the baby, had just had my 2nd birthday.

But the love story doesn't end there. Mom never re-married. She never so much as went on a date...not that she wasn't asked. I've asked her, over the years, why she never re-married. The practical one, turns out, is really the hopeless romantic. She simply has never fallen out of love with the man she married.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

May you have love to last a lifetime!

Made in the USA!

2010-02-12T15:47:00.007-06:00

I gave myself a personal challenge this year: whenever I need to buy something, to try and buy something made in the U.S.A.

I really don't think that this is going to be an easy quest.

I've been needing to get some glasses. We aren't exactly easy on glasses in this house and to tell you the truth, the only ones that seem to last are the plastic ones, but I hate drinking out of plastic glasses all of the time. Occasionally, I like to feel like an adult. Like I can drink out of a real "grown up" glass...made out of...glass. And I also love the way ice cubes clink around in them...but I digress...

These are what I found today. I was shopping at Target (because they have a Starbucks and I need to multitask.)

They came in a four pack and only cost $7.99!
I thought: "No way are these made in the U.S.A."

They are nice and big and came in several different colors of stripes and dots.

I loved these green ones.

I flipped the box over and this is what I found!

MADE IN THE U.S.A.

Whooo hooooooo!

SOLD!

This brand also had plates and bowls too.

I thought: "Hmmmmm...maybe I need new dishes."

I flipped the box over and, sadly, they were NOT made in the U.S.A.

Not sold!

For today, I will love my new glasses and be happy that I supported some American workers.

I'll let you know what else I find. If I have to shop every day, all year, I guess I will sacrifice myself to the cause!
Wish me luck.
p.s. neither Target nor Starbucks know I'm alive, and they paid nothing for the advertisement.

My Sister and the Chickens (cont.)

2010-01-29T16:35:00.004-06:00

The last e-mail:

Earth date 8-15-09.... Capt. Lisa reporting

All went unusually well today. Chickens were acting like chickens...no freaking out around me today. Was there something in the water yesterday? Hmmmmmm..... All eggs were in pristine condition...no pecks and no crushes. (And hardly any poo to clean off as well.) I think the birds must be planning a revolt. Did I hear talking behind the coop today? Is it going to be 'chicken run' again? I knew I shouldn't have let them watch that movie!!!!! Will the chickens have the last laugh? (Or cackle?) Or do they realize that the crazy lady will officially be off chicken duty tomorrow?! (insert evil laugh here)

Capt. Lisa signing off.

See, I think, somewhere really deep down, she likes the chickens! I'll be sure to take longer vacations in the future so that she can spend more time with them...

My Sister and the Chickens (cont...)

2010-01-29T11:06:00.005-06:00

The second in a series of e-mails from my sister:

Earthdate 8-14-09... Capt. Lisa reporting.

Day three of chicken duty.....went much better today. Chickens were all outside but acting skittish. I think momma bird warned the others off of me...or were predators lurking?! Noticed rubber shingle next to gate drooping...hmmmmm. Plenty of eggs today with no momma to harm my delicate hands. One egg pecked and one egg crushed under the coop. Checked the water situation... it's looking a little bleak. Must find container to get more water. Plastic water thingie empty...metal water thingie at critical level! Go to leave gated area to pursue water and look back at coop, but wait! What's this I see way beneath the coop? One egg...must not leave one soldier behind! Look around coop and find lots of big sticks (guess my trek wouldn't have been far yesterday...but I digress). Find a longish stick with a forked end. Perfect! Now to find a patch of unpooped on ground to kneel on to ferret out the unreachable egg. I manage to get down on the ground as the chickens close in on me! Will I get the egg before one pecks me, or worse yet...roosts on my back? Yikes!!! After three or so attempts, the elusive egg finally gives and rolls my way! Yesss! This egg too, is mine! Now if I can find a bucket for the dreaded water run. No chicken shall thirst under my watch! (insert evil laugh here.)

My Sister and the Chickens

2010-01-28T08:50:00.008-06:00

God blessed me with a sister. We are 15 months apart in age. (She's older but swears that everyone thinks she's younger...whatever!) Anyway, I love her to death. I get her. She gets me. She's always got my back. One of her favorite sayings is "Nobody can beat up my sister but me!" That about sums it up.

Anyway, when me and my family are lucky enough to get a vacation, my sister is good enough to come and take care of things for us while we're gone. Including the chickens. Did I mention she hates chickens? Well, she says she hates chickens, but I'm not really buying it. I'm going to share with you three e-mails that she sent to me last summer while she was on chicken duty. I'll post one a day:

Chicken log day 2 (there is no day 1)

"Earth date" 8-13-09.....Capt. Lisa reporting....

Day two of taking care of the dreaded chickens.... not many eggs to collect yesterday or today. nasty chickens have broken...no, smashed, at least two to three eggs a day to date. Today momma chicken was sitting sideways in her box. Went to move momma bird when she pecked me! (Evil bird!) Tried to move her a second time but was denied by the evil pecking again. I will not be thwarted. I will get those eggs, it is my mission. I think to myself, must get a stick to move momma bird, but no, too far to travel for a prodder stick. What to do??? One egg is visible but not close enough to snatch,...but, what's this? I have a bag for the eggs in my hand. I must blindfold the chicken, YESSS! Placed bag in front of momma bird,...like taking candy from a baby. Alas! I know not how many eggs are there for momma bird will not budge (evil bird). Decide to tip up nesting box and give a gentle shake,...yes!...this produces another egg. I tell momma bird that's fine, she can sit there. I blind her again to take egg then proceed to give the nesting box another tip and gentle shake, alas,...there are no more eggs. I have won the battle for this day. Take that momma bird. Victory is mine!!! (insert evil laugh here.)

Jack Frost was here!

2010-01-15T17:48:00.005-06:00

We've had a couple of days with some lovely Soft Rime Frost.

I actually managed to be in a position to take some pictures today as it was just setting on.

It was much more splendid later...after I left the house and didn't have my camera with me.

Still, I absolutely love this type of frost. We don't get it in this neck of the wood too often.

The dead plants look much prettier with a little "flocking."

Even the dead leaves on the apple tree look better.

Lovely!

Birds...and sunflowers!

2010-01-10T16:12:00.013-06:00

When did winter get here? It seems like it's been cold and snowy forever. I can't remember a single green blade of grass. I can't remember leaves on trees. Since when does it snow almost daily in north eastern Kansas? Well, not in a long time...that I can remember, anyway. I guess there are a few good things about winter, like.........ummmmm......well.......birds!

I get to watch lots of birds. One of my favorite activities. And as long as I have someone who is willing to tromp through the snow and the subzero temperatures to keep the feeders full,

I'm content. (Thanks, Ted!)

Winter really brings out the beauty of the male Cardinal.

Who doesn't think this bird is gorgeous?

A Red-Bellied Woodpecker visits my feeder to sample the local offerings.

And you would have to guess, since we grow black-oil sunflowers, that that is exactly what we are feeding them. (I have a pretty good guy that keeps my well supplied.) ;)

Lots of birds wait their turn in the tree.

There is even a Goldfinch flying in for a landing on the left.
He's kind of hard to spot so look closely.

If you click on the above picture to enlarge it, you can actually count an even dozen birds.

(If your eyes are better than mine...no need to click.)

A Junco is crashing the Goldfinch's party!

Junco's are plentiful. my mom called these "snowbirds" when I was little,

I guess because they were just as plentiful then, too.

How did he get back in a shot? At least he has a Junco to keep him company.

The birds don't seem to mind the thorns on this Washington Hawthorn that the hubby keeps threatening to cut down. I won't let that happen!

I don't care how many lawnmower tires he has to patch. (Easy for me to say.)

The Blue Jays rival the Cardinals in looks, but they are somewhat of a bully.

When the Blue Jays hit the feeders, all of the other birds seem to scatter.

This one likes to pluck the sunflower seeds right from the dried up heads that we saved.

A Tufted Titmouse!
There! I said it!

I put in this shot, because believe it or not, it was the only "Sparrow" shot that I got. (That's the second bird under the female Cardinal.) We are seeing less and less Sparrows.

Any ideas what this is? This back shot is not too helpful.

How about now?

It's the Kansas state bird! A Meadowlark! It's fun to see them all "puffy" this time of year.

It's also nice to see them up close. In the summer, they really have no reason to ever get this close to the house. Speaking of summer...I miss it! Are we there yet? Huh? Huh?

Perfect Prime Rib

2009-12-27T21:58:00.010-06:00

Few things in life are as satisfying as a good piece of meat! A fine example of a good piece of meat is 11 pounds of prime rib. Yum! My sis was ever so kind as to provide me with one such hunk of beef for Christmas dinner. I was ever so kind (and delighted) to cook it.

Here's how I prepare a fool proof prime rib:

I line a big roasting pan with foil and liberally coat it with cooking spray.

I place the rib in fat side up.

I mince an entire head of garlic and place it in a small bowl with about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

(I used canola oil...'cause it's what I had...and I like it...)

To the garlic and oil, you need to add a few more ingredients:
salt, ground thyme, and black pepper. Use pre-ground or fresh cracked black pepper...whatever you like. (I use half ground and half fresh cracked.)

Add two teaspoons each of the salt, pepper, and thyme to the garlic.

Give it a good stir to form a blissfully wonderful garlic paste.
Inhale! It's magical! Try not to weep!

Use your hand, or a spatula, or the back of a spoon (whatever floats your boat) and slather the garlic paste over the hunka hunka meaty goodness.
Leave the hunka hunka meaty goodness setting out on the counter for an hour.

Don't freak! It'll be just fine. I promise. Unless you live somewhere where the internal temperature of your house is like 95 degrees F or something.

(Or you have a very large hungry dog.)

Then you might want to rethink that. Your goal is to just warm the meat up closer to room temperature and let the magic garlic paste penetrate the meat.

Start that oven up 'cause you'll want to cook the roast at 500 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Then, turn down your oven to 350 degrees F and continue to

cook it foranother 60 to 75 minutes.

I like mine medium rare so the internal temperature should be at

145 degrees F if you care to take it's temp.

Now for the hard part:

Let the meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before you slice into it, otherwise, all of those wonderful juices will gush out of the meat and you'll cry. Well, I'd cry...then I'd go find a straw.

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget the horseradish! I'm a firm believer in horseradish with prime rib.

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T13:03:00.002-06:00

We were blessed this morning with something that we haven't had in a good long while...

a white Christmas!

But, it came in the form of a blizzard last night. Although we didn't get that much snow, just a few inches, it did drift quite a bit.

This is what we call a snow plow on the farm: a tractor with a bucket on it.

Hey! It gets the job done.
This is how much snow was drifted in front of my garage this morning. Without braving the 17 degree temps (plus windchill) to take out a yard-stick, I'm going to guesstimate that it's about
2 1/2 feet of drift.

Unlike an actual blade, with a bucket, you have to "plow" backwards.

Ted raises the bucket, sets it down...

then backs down the driveway.
If I know Ted, and I KNOW Ted, right now he is driving around the countryside seeing who he can rescue or plow out. He's a good man, Charlie Brown!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Good Fences

2009-12-03T07:20:00.004-06:00

On a grain farm, we're not exactly about building fences. No cattle to keep in, so fences are kind of "bothersome."

Equipment can get too close and then you have a problem, or (more likely) lots of trees start to grow in the fence line, and that's also a problem.

Although I wouldn't know first hand, I imagine taking down fences is easier than removing hundreds of trees.

Goin', goin', goin',

keep that pace a strollin',

barbed wire needs a rollin',

Rawhide!

(sorry, I apologize.)

Ted was getting ready to cut this field of beans (nope, still not done with harvest), but the fence was keeping him from getting the header on the combine through the gate. The opening was made for a truck and possibly a trailer, not a combine. It had to go!

Poor farmer Ted had lots of poked fingers that night, not that he complains. He's not a complainer...unless it comes to splinters!

My Pancake Recipe

2009-11-09T12:35:00.009-06:00

I was checking out one of my favorite sites yesterday (www.allrecipes.com) to look up what on earth I was going to do with a 4 pound pork butt that was in my fridge. I needed some inspiration. Was I going to make a traditional roast with root veggies? (Too redundant at the moment.) Maybe some tamales? (Too time consuming.) A ha! Pulled pork for BBQ sandwiches. Perfect! Easy, yummy, and just what the Dr. ordered. So, what does pork have to do with pancakes? Well, nothing...Other than the darling children's book "If you give a Pig a Pancake."

But as I was on the site, I happened to catch something out of the corner of my eye that looked familiar.

MY PANCAKES!!

My very own pancake recipe was the featured recipe of the day. How cool is that? (Well, probably only cool to me...but still...)

So, I thought I'd share that recipe here. I've made these pancakes for more years than I can count. Okay, well maybe not THAT long. But still, a couple of decades anyway. My mother always used soured milk in her pancakes, waffles, cakes...whatever called for buttermilk. We just never had buttermilk in the house, but we always had milk and vinegar. So, don't let that trip you up. Soured milk is a perfectly perfect substitute for buttermilk. Don't let anyone tell you different!

This link will take you right to the recipe page:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fluffy-Pancakes-2/Detail.aspx

If you want to see some of my food photos, click on my name (kris) in blue next to the recipe's picture. That will take you to my profile page and you can get to my photo gallery from there. And don't tell me how nutty I am that I take pictures of food! I love food! Why not take pictures of it? The hard part is taking the picture before I eat the stuff. I love eating even more than I love photography!

Enjoy!

Death of a few thousand sunflowers

2009-11-07T11:20:00.004-06:00

It's time! The sunflowers have been looking quite sad for a long time now.The seed heads get so heavy that the stems can't support the weight, and they snap over.
The heads aren't as heavy now, because they've dried down. (Here you can see a couple of bare spots where the blackbirds have been working on pulling out the seeds.)

Hard to believe that this was once a glorious bright yellow sunflower field.

Oh well! Just one thing left to do...

Get them harvested before these feathered friends eat them all!

Today is the day!

The Combine: 101

2009-11-05T17:22:00.007-06:00

I really wanted to get some pictures of the combine unloading, but as I got to the field, this is what I saw. One of our "straight" trucks driving away. Dang! Missed my opportunity...for now. Anyway, why is it called a "straight" truck? Because, unlike a semi, it has a bed connected to the truck and therefore doesn't bend. Didn't think the explanation would make sense, did ya? These are terms that I lived with for years and never bothered to ponder. I still call them grain trucks, but the hubby seems to call them straight trucks. I don't know why. Now that truly makes me ponder things.

I arrived just as Ted was finishing up cutting the beans (that's soybeans) in this field. Beans get cut with a "flex" head. It's called a flex head because it is...well...flexible. More on the flex head later, but this is what it looks like. (And that is Ted inside the combine cleaning the windshield...again.) Combining beans is dusty work!Is that duct tape on the end of the unloading auger? Duct tape fixes EVERYTHING! (For those that don't know, the unloading auger is that arm sticking out of the back of the combine at the top.) And for those that don't know, duct tape is a farmer's best friend. Driving through the field, the reel (flex head) rotates much like a paddle boat. It grabs the beans, and those "fingers" on the reel feed them back into the cutters. If you look about smack dab in the middle of this photo, just under the reel , you can see the cutters. The cutters are actually called sickle knives. Let me tell you, they are sharp, sharp, sharp! And they slide back and forth faster than you can see them move. My camera has frozen them in time for us, but to watch in real time, you just see a blur of silver metal.

Under the sickle knives is an auger. The auger has retractable fingers that help grab the crop being cut and feed it all to the center of the combine where it will go through a magic transformation. I call it magic because the "separator" truly does separate all of the "chaff" (a.k.a. "junk") from the beans, or corn, or sunflower seeds, or wheat, or whatever...

Clean seeds then get pushed up into the hopper on top of the combine. Amazing! Now, how can you tell if this combine has gas? It doesn't. It runs on diesel.

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!)

What may crop up...

2009-10-28T11:29:00.002-05:00

We love to have people come out and take pictures of the sunflowers. Half the fun is seeing where some of the pictures will crop up. This came in the mail yesterday. It was sent by my Alma matter...The University of Kansas. Looking at the picture, I noticed the pretty sunflowers. Then I noticed that is was very definitely our field.

Our field is too popular to hang out with the likes of us. Over the years, it has been on the cover of the Lawrence phone book, on posters, in photography books, in calendars, picked up by the associated press for newspapers, in popular magazines, on TV...local and national. It is clearly too good for us now. I hope it remembers us when it gets too big for it's britches!

What's in a name?

2009-10-16T16:41:00.008-05:00

By conservative estimates, we farm more than 3,864,297 fields. Not really! But we do have a lot! It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or 60, depending on how particular the guys want to get when they are harvesting crops. Sometimes they break a field up into sections to be more descriptive, especially if it's a large field. Where we live, we don't have lots of large expanses of open land, but we do have land to farm. So we travel around quite a bit going from one field to the next.And everything has a name. You wouldn't believe how long it took me, as a new bride and transplant to Kansas, to learn the names of the fields. Ted would call me up and say: "Pick me up at Hiller's," and I would have a nervous breakdown when I showed up at the wrong field. (Did I mention this was before cell phones?) Oh, this particular field (with the sunflowers) is called "Around Ted and Kris," because it's...well...around our house.
I don't know that this field has a name. It's a tiny patch in front of the grain bins. I shall call it "George!" And I will love it and hug it and pet it... Sorry, I got carried back to my Looney Tune days. Actually, I think it's just a part of "Around Ted and Kris."

Now this field I know! This is "Rumsey's." Across the highway is "Tornaden's." I call them the separated conjoined twins, because they would be complete, but for the highway that divides them. They are named (like so many of our fields) after the people who originally owned the land.

This is Torneden's. Even though it's just across the highway from Rumsey's, it always gets planted to a different crop. This picture was taken this spring when the creek was out of it's banks.
This is the "Deal Hill." Originally, it was spelled "Diehl," after that owner. But over the years, the spelling has morphed into "Deal" which is how it is pronounced. This field had such a deer problem, the owner decided to have us plant it to wildflowers, which we maintain.

I won't bore you by posting a picture of every field, but I'll tell you some of the more colorful, and/or practical, names.

Let me tell you about our field named 9 Mile. 9 Mile creek actually runs along the edge of the field. You would think that that is where it got it's name. Not so! (Well, not completely.) The field used to be part of 9 Mile Ranch, and that's why it is called 9 Mile.

Like I said, most field's are either named after the previous owner, or the current landlord, if we lease the ground from them.

My favorite field name has always been "Betty's Bottom." It's not actually named after someone's posterior, but rather a woman who used to live across the road from the field. And it happens to be bottom ground (that means creek bottom), thus the name "Betty's Bottom." Across the highway from that field is the "Woods Piece." It is a small field with a very large oak tree in the middle of it.
We have the "Big Field," which is far from our biggest field. It was, at one time, the farm's biggest field when Ted's grandad started farming in this area.

There is "Across Pony," which is a field that you literally have to cross Pony Creek via a low water crossing to get to.

We have small field's named after sizes: "10 acre" and "20 acre."

Field's named by location: "South of Turnpike," "Next to Blooms," "Across from June's."

I won't mention all of the field names, but I will tell you one more: "The War Zone." The story is that our neighbor saw several people walk across the field carrying large semi-automatic weapons. It looked to him like something out of a war movie. The name "War Zone" stuck.

No time to waste

2009-10-15T22:27:00.003-05:00

They were calling for rain the night before, so the combine was brought in out of the field. It got to spend a cozy night in the machine shed. "Shed" sounds misleading. Growing up, the lawnmower was kept in the shed. Garden tools were kept in the shed. Here, on the farm, all manner of very large (and very small) things are kept in the shed. The shed is actually a huge building. But, I digress...

The next morning, they decided that it hadn't rained enough to keep them out of the field so they got the combine back out of the shed and unloaded it. It was still full of corn from cutting the night before. Not to mention covered with stalks. See them piled up below the window?

Normally, the combine would just stay out in the field. It takes a lot of time (and money) to move a combine.

Ted's faithful pal, Buddy, is always near Ted...or Ted's truck. (See him waiting for Ted to get out of the combine?) Back before Buddy got old and his hip got bad, Ted use to carry him up into the combine so that he could ride with him. Now Buddy is content to just lay near Ted's truck... patiently waiting for him to return.

This is the grain cart. It can be loaded "on the go" driving next to the combine in the field, saving lots of valuable time. When the grain is ready, every second counts. Especially with all of this rainy weather. The grain cart then travels to a semi or a grain truck and loads it up. (Grain gets shoveled around a lot...no pun intended.)

Soon these will all have gone back out to the field...whichever one they are in today. That reminds me, we have some pretty odd field names. But that's a topic for another day.

The Combine

2009-10-02T15:41:00.004-05:00

It's time!!! Time (finally) to start cutting corn. Since everything was late this year, harvest is late, too. We've been waiting (not so patiently) for the corn to dry down enough to cut. We've decided, it's close enough.

This is Ted doing spring cleaning...and I'm completely aware that it isn't spring. He's in there cleaning the windshield. Hey...some body's got to do it!

It's the CLAW!!! Run! Run for your lives!!!

Seriously, this is where you never want to be when a combine is running. This is a corn header. Those big pointy green things go between the rows of corn, and then the teeth between grabs the stalks, cuts them off, and feeds then back to the auger.

The auger feeds it into the combine where the stalk is stripped of its ears. The ear corn gets fed through the combine where thousands of tiny elves pull all of the kernels off of the cob. All of the unusable stuff gets thrown out of the backside of the combine.

Inside the combine are just a few buttons, bells, and whistles.

A panel of lights will tell you what's going on...hopefully. You don't want a lot of these lights to come on. That means something bad has happened.

Time to boot up! Yes, our combine is subjected to software issues, too.

This is the GPS unit. It feeds that computer screen that you just saw. It draws a nice picture of our field and tells us how many bushels are being cut where. It's pretty neat.

Don't laugh at the fire extinguisher! All I'm sayin' is that fields are dry and dusty places. And static electricity is prone to ignite dry dust. Don't ask us how we know this...but that fire extinguisher works.

Some perspective. Don't laugh...I just got back from the gym and I hadn't changed out of my yoga pants.

See ya farmer Ted! He may come home when it rains...or when he gets hungry...

Pasta a la Vodka

2009-09-23T18:46:00.004-05:00

Because this is a favorite of my daughter's and because it's Wednesday night. Also because I realize that I don't have an infinite number of Wednesday nights with my baby girl...who is actually a teenager. This is not for the diet conscious.

This is for those who just want to enjoy life while we have it.

Pasta a la Vodka
1 medium onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 cup vodka
1 10.75 oz can tomato puree
1 cup heavy cream (sorry, no substitutes)
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste (a pinch does me fine)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (get the good stuff)
1 pound bow tie pasta

Cook the pasta al dente, drain.
In a large skillet over medium heat, add oil and butter.
Add onion and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes.
Add vodka. Cook for 3 minutes.
Stir in tomato puree.
Reduce heat to low and stir in cream.
Add seasonings and heat through.
Pour over pasta and add Parmesan cheese. Toss together.
Garnish with more cheese if you like. (I like!)
Enjoy!

Fast, easy, impressive. Let others think you've toiled away in the kitchen.

Dr. Oz in the Land of Oz

2009-09-18T13:32:00.005-05:00

Just over a month ago, we got a call from the friendly folks who work on the Dr. Oz show. If you don't know who Dr. Oz is, he is a heart surgeon turned famous by Oprah. If you don't know who Oprah is, I can't help you. They were looking for a field of blooming sunflowers in the KC area. It just so happened that we had one. Yay us!

They wanted to get shots of Dr. Oz's traveling "health bus" driving in front of the field. They were out the very next week with the bus. I have to commend the bus driver. He was very good! It's not an easy turn to get onto this road...if you can even call it a road. It's technically my in-laws driveway! They did 3 or 4 takes of the bus driving down the road.

The crew set up out in our soybean field to film the bus. This is Ted walking in front as they work their way back out. The beans look really good...but I digress...

The crew. Peter (the cameraman), Dustin ( he helped Peter), and Laura (the field producer). They were all very nice. Laura thought my eldest, Sidney, was future producer material. I laughed as I have much loftier dreams in mind for her, like finding a cure for cancer or something. But being a producer is pretty cool, too.

They also got some shots of the bus driving in front of the in-laws mailbox. (They provided the flag...a nice touch.) They also got shots of us waiving at the bus, holding a sign that read: "I want to be healthy, Dr. Oz!" Then for the big finale, they had Ted and I do that pose made famous by Grant Wood in "American Gothic." I hoped it would end up on the cutting room floor, but alas! It did not.

A parting shot.

Corn Spiders!

2009-09-15T12:05:00.002-05:00

I've always loved Corn Spiders!

(a.k.a. argiope aurantia, a.k.a. black and yellow argiope)

There is just something about them.

They are in abundance this time of year. They love gardens and I seem to provide them with lots of habitat in which to live.

I have to tell you one of my favorite stories concerning this lovely species of spider:
My babies were still very young, and being a mom of "country kids," I was always trying to find creative ways to pass the time. No such thing as "Go play next door!" Anyway, I went outside and saw a big beautiful corn spider with a lovely web on my deck. I got two chairs and plunked them in front of the spider's web, sat each kid in a chair, and quickly caught a nearby grasshopper. I threw said hopper into the web and the spider swiftly came down and made quick work of it. Now here's the best part...my eldest looked up at me with those big blue eyes, grinning from ear to ear and said: "You are the best mom in the whole wide world!"
Why, yes! Yes, I am! (I thought at the time.)

Speaking of babies...that tan colored round blob
in the lower right side of the pic is this spiders egg sack. She is guarding it.
What a good momma!

The way things stand

2009-09-12T18:04:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year. The time when all of the crops are in the ground...and they look good. Really good! We've had a year full of rain and just enough sun to dry things out afterwards so that the crops don't rot where they stand. Now were are basically just waiting for things to die.

See this bean field? Those beans are actually chest high on an average sized man. That's pretty darn tall and they are loaded with beans. They are now starting to turn just a bit yellow. That means that they are starting to die. Corn will actually be harvested first, because it will be ready sooner. But when the beans are ready, we will switch the header on the combine and harvest them instead. (They are more valuable than corn and if you don't get them soon enough, the pods will shatter and you'll end up with all of your profit sitting on the ground with no way to pick it up.)

The grain bins are sitting empty just waiting to be filled. This picture was taken in February which is why the grass is brown. It's now green, lush, and in need of mowing.

This picture was also taken in February, but the sweet corn that grew here this summer has already been picked long ago and mowed off. It is now a field of weeds. Very soon, we will be busier than the bees on the sunflowers. We hope!

Where were you?

2009-09-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

We will never forget.

How quickly they fade

2009-09-07T15:26:00.004-05:00

It's always amazing to me that a field can look like this one week:

Like this the next week:

And like this the next:

Poor babies!

Best Damn Blueberry Muffins

2009-09-05T22:42:00.004-05:00

Because these never, ever fail me...because they always come out perfect...

because I want some right now...

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen, it's all good!)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/6 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup butter, cubed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F . Grease muffin cups or line with papers.
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Fold the blueberries into this flour mixture. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Now this next step is very important: Mix this with flour/blueberry mixture UNTIL JUST COMBINED. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/4 cup sugar, 1/6 cup flour, and 1/2 cup butter. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.
This will make 8 (regular sized) muffins.

Make some today! You wont be sorry.

How sad is this?

2009-09-04T11:19:00.003-05:00

Behold! Our glorious sunflower field.

Pretty darn...well, not pretty!
No problem-o! In a month or so, the birds will love it.

Let this be a life lesson to all you youngins out there:

Looks fade! It's what's on the inside that matters!

Smile and the world smiles with you!

2009-09-02T13:58:00.003-05:00

Ted had an interview with our local news station this morning.

He actually changed his shirt and shoes for the interview...but not his filthy jeans. (Hope they filmed him from the waist up.)

See the combine in the background? It's lonely. It wants some attention. With all of the rain we've had, it's going to have to wait a bit longer...but then...then it's really going to get some attention. Crops this year are looking gooooood!

Every day, the sunflowers are getting heavier with seed. They look sad with their heads drooping, but if you look closely...

You may see a few smiling faces!

We Bow Our Heads

2009-09-01T11:35:00.003-05:00

The sunflowers have definitely seen better days. I really can't believe they've held on this long, but they are finally crying: "Enough!"

The heads are all starting to droop.

The petals are wilting and falling off.

The seed development starts from the outside of the flower head and works it's way in...finally filling in the middle. The bees that were once circling the outside are now enjoying the center.

This flower has not quite reached maturity. See how the head is not filled in in the center?

The field has entered the dog days of summer.

Mi Familia

2009-08-30T16:30:00.002-05:00

Finally got my family to pose in the flowers. You'd think, since the flowers are in our backyard, we could just pop out and snap a quick shot or two. Oh! If it were that easy!

Heading South

2009-08-28T09:59:00.003-05:00

The field is in full bloom, but some of the flowers are starting to start their

gradual decline towards ugly.

If you want a sea of yellow, this is as good as this year will get.

It's just too bad we don't have the gorgeous skies to go with it.

Most of the flowers still look pretty good, but as the heads fill out with seed,

they become heavy and they appear as if they are looking at their toes.

(Or their neighbor's toes.)

Many are still lookin' good.

A couple from my phone...

2009-08-27T15:45:00.002-05:00

It's been a rather busy day and I only had my phone with me.

I zipped past the field and snapped a couple of shots.

You can see that we still have those cloudy skies that are threatening rain...again.

The sunflowers have filled in nicely. I'm hoping they last through the weekend.
I'm thinking they will.