Pulled one over on my kid!

Ok, as pathetic as this sounds, I really don't have much of a garden this year. I managed to get in some tomatoes and some peppers, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and onions...and that's it! Oh, and pumpkins that came up volunteer from the ones that didn't get harvested last year.

While I'm not inundated with zucchini, all of my neighbors are, and they are happy to share. They are good neighbors. My girlfriend from Iowa even drove down last weekend bringing me peas, green beans, and lots of zucchini. She's an amazing gal! I love zucchini. The problem is, my eldest HATES it! What to do with all of this zucchini? Time to get creative...and a little mischievous. I remembered this amazing cake that my mother made when I was young. She was always one for hiding vegetables in things. So, I looked up the recipe, and got to work...waiting until my eldest was out of the house. Here's what I made:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 c flour
2 c sugar
3/4 c cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350* F. Grease a 9X13 baking pan.
Whisk together dry ingredients. Add eggs and oil and mix well. Fold in zucchini and nuts.Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.Cool and frost if desired.
This cake is fudgy and not overly sweet

When it was time to dive into the cake, I gave my eldest a nice sized piece and let her dig in. I waited.

"What do you think of the cake?"

"It's really good."

"So, you would eat it again."

"Sure!"

"So, what if I told you it had lots of zucchini in it?"

(She looks at the cake; looks at me; looks back at the cake...)

"Well, I guess I'll eat zucchini THIS way."

Sweet, sweet, chocolaty victory! (But I will add that my youngest's friend, who was thoroughly enjoying her zucchini cake up until that moment, stopped eating it and wouldn't take another bite.) Ah well! You win some, you lose some!

Eating His Words

Ted wants to make a formal statement. He is recanting. He's not denying what he said, he would just like to change what he said. Remember that he laid all of his money on September the 12th for a "bloom date" for the sunflowers? Well, he now wants September the 1st!!! Oh wait! He's changing his mind again. He thinks it might be before that. He thinks it might even be a week earlier than that.

So, what has changed Farmer Ted's mind and why doesn't he know any better after all of these years? Well, remember that I said these sunflowers have gotten something that they usually never get? RAIN! Lots and lots of rain. It's bizarre! Ted is usually a good predictor. Not this year. He just didn't factor in copious amounts of moisture. Now, that being said, I would like to add this:

See the toast? Yeah! That's Ted's face!

Holy Cow!

Do you remember that on July 8th, I took this picture:

OK. I won't kid myself into thinking that it was important enough for you to register when I took a photo, because I didn't even remember when I took this photo and I had to look it up.
This is what the sunflowers looked like less than one month ago. Adorable! Just popping from the ground and so full of promise. An entire life ahead of them. School, prom dates, college...
Wow! Please forget I said that. I must be having a mid-life crisis or something.

Anyway, this is what they look like now:
We went on a teensy little vacation, and when we got back yesterday, the sunflowers had grown another 14 inches! They are currently 23 inches tall.

Looking good!

We can hardly believe it, but we got another inch and a half of rain while we were gone. Amazing! The sunflowers might be a little on the tall side this year. (I'm just guessing...but they are shooting right up there.) That strip that is a different shade of green in the back is soybeans. They are also looking pretty good. Their flowers, however, are nothing compared to what this field will look like. But when? I think Ted is going to be off on his estimate. He picked September 12th. (I should know better than to bet against him, but I'm thinking September 5th. Who will win the bet???)

Heliotropism: 101

I can hardly believe it myself, but we received more rain...2 1/2 inches...in July...in Kansas. Unheard of! Ted dutifully went out the day before and replanted several acres of sunflowers that had been drowned by the previous rain. If no good deed goes unpunished, these new seeds will be drowned, too, as they sit in the "bottom ground." We will wait and see. I remain positive...'cause that's just how I am. Little miss "glass half full." That's me!

Now, back to the sunflowers that are up and thriving...

I went out this morning early, just for the opportunity to tell you about heliotropism. (Not really, my mother in law called and woke my lazy buns up.) But, I'll say it's just because I'm an early riser *cough, cough* and I just really wanted to show something to you. See the leaning plants? Notice how, even at this young age, they all lean towards the sun? Sunflowers are sun worshipers! Or they could just be heliotropic. That simply means that they do, in fact, lean towards the sun. No matter the time of day. That's why these babies grow so darn fast. Maximum food making capabilities!

(If you are having trouble seeing them lean, click on the photo to enlarge it.)

They are interesting to watch. Although I've only ever heard of one person to actually come out and spend an entire day watching them turn with the sun. I'm not giving up any names, but I imagine it would be kind of like watching grass grow...or paint dry...or something.
OK, back to their heliotropic qualities. (Like how I use that word with reckless abandon...like I'm some biology nerd or something. Wait, I do love biology, and I am kind of nerdy...never mind!) Anyway...at some point, after the sunflowers are fully grown and they have had all of the sun they can take, they stop following it. They fix themselves east and simply refuse to turn their heads anymore. Like a lover who has just realized that they have gotten all that they possibly can from the relationship. (OK, that's weird.) Perhaps I need some coffee.



Check out how big these babies are now! I told you they grew fast. They have doubled their size again. (Please forgive the weeds in the photo. The field is a muddy mess again and I had to take all of the pictures from the edge of the yard. You know of my fear of muddy flip-flops.)

A Quick Update

Just wanted to mention that Ted replanted about 5 acres of "drowned out" sunflowers today. They won't bloom when the others do, but it might give you an opportunity to see some blooming if you miss the first (and somewhat bigger) batch. :)

Sunflowers and a Quiz

The sunflowers have had a few showers...something they normally don't get.

Quiz time: How has this moisture affected them?

Answer: Honestly, it's not been good! Some of the sunflowers have simply drowned. They are not plants that usually require much moisture. That's why they are such a great Kansas plant...they like it DRY!

No fear! We still have plenty, and if all goes well, the field will be beautiful.

The sunflowers are now about 4 inches tall.

They really shoot up in the heat and sun so that's what they need right now.

For 5 bonus points, can you name what kind of animal made this track in the soil?
We have tons of them around here. This picture illustrates how wet the soil has been.
Muddy, really!


This picture is a good illustration of how the seeds are planted in a kind of trough. Usually, this protects the young plant from the strong Kansas wind, and also serves to collect any moisture that they might get. (Should have planted the seeds on hills, this year.)


They're getting there. Ted guesstimates that they will be blooming early to mid September this year. That, of course, is subject to change.
Ted is going to put his money on September 12th.
We will see how close he gets. (I'm not betting anything!)

Hey! It's not all hay!

Almost everyone calls it "hay," but here on the Grinter farm, it is always "straw."

We have no livestock, and no need for hay. But, we do grow some wheat from time to time.

Luckily, for my children, this year was not a "wheat year."

If we plant wheat, then we (and I use the term "we" very loosely) usually put up a barn full of straw. We sell it to various people that need it for things like animal bedding and to companies that need it for landscaping. But it means a lot of hard work.

These pictures were taken last July, when we had some straw to put up.

This is after the wheat has been harvested, the "chaff" has been spit out of the backside of the combine, and then picked up by the baler that turns it into these nice little wire-tied "idiot blocks" (as farmer Ted calls them). This is Callie. She was 11 at the time, and was able to stack them 3 high in the barn! Did I leave out the part where it is 100 something degrees up in the barn, with no breeze? It's miserable work.

Heave ho, Callie-o!

Ted looks hot. He also looks sweaty. Poor baby! He brought this on himself.

The girls stay busy between stacking just keeping the barn floor clean. Straw is always falling out of the bales making the floor slick to walk on. We can't have that! Sweep and pitch, girls!

This is Sid, 14 at the time. It was her job to drive the truck with the loader through the field. The loader picks up the bales and then our hard working hired teenage boy crew stack the bales onto the truck. If you just mention "teen boy crew," Sid is suddenly very work oriented.

Speaking of hard working..this is farm-hand Bryson. He is our neighbor and a great kid to have around. He's 14 in this picture, but has always been at the ready (since he was itty bitty) to dive into any kind of hard farm work we could throw at him. We would take a dozen more of him...but they're hard to find.

I think he just likes to be miserable. But what would I know?

"Are you having fun yet, Bryson?"