Just waiting...

The sunflowers have full heads of seeds now and we are just waiting for them to completely dry down before we harvest them. What started out as comparatively small flower heads are now bigger than an average hand. The field will be completely brown when harvested. A hard freeze usually helps the process along.  Also not getting any more rain until after harvest would be a good thing. 

                           

         

Fading Fast

Most of the petals are dropping.  There are a few flowers that still look pretty, but they are definitely in the minority. Most of the field is well past it's beauty faze and now busy making seeds. 

Nature Taking It's Course

The sunflowers are well on their way to dying.  Petals have been chewed on by hungry grasshoppers and nature dictates that it's time for the rest to wither and die.

I imagine this is the last few days for the sunflowers.

The vibrant field has given way to lesser shades of yellow and green. 

Time to put away the wide angle lens and whip out the macro.  

You have to look a lot closer to see the beauty.

Goodbye Earl

My neighbors, whom I love dearly, asked me if I would like a rooster.  I have several 2 year old hens and I had toyed with the idea of hatching out a brood of new chicks.  (Chickens are usually done with their egg laying after two years, so new birds are required if you want to continue to eat gloriously yummy farm fresh eggs...which I do.)  My neighbors bought new chicks and one turned out to be a male.  They had no use for him as males are not at all required in the egg laying process.  They are only required if you want fertilized eggs to hatch new babies.  I thought that's what I wanted.  They brought him over while he was still young (a cocky new teenager) and my girls would have none of it.  They literally hen pecked him and we feared for his life.  Back to the neighbor's coop he went to once again be with his sisters.  (Buff Orfingtons, by the way.)

Time elapsed and I decided that what I really wanted was to not mess with overwintering chickens...trudging through snow and cold to feed and water them, etc.  I told my neighbors that I would no longer be needing the services of their rooster.  Well, they were tired of this rooster accosting their hens.  (We called him Jamie Lannister after the character in Game of Thrones because he was a beautiful golden color and was way too amorous with his sisters.)  They once again asked if I wanted him.  Nope!  Still hadn't changed my mind.  They brought him anyway.  JL was put into my coop under cover of darkness.  Sneaky damn neighbors!  

Jamie was now a full size rooster.  Strutting; crowing; making a general ass of himself.  My girls were warry now; no picking on this monster.  And monster he was.  He started having his way with my hens.  It was not consensual.  They protested!  My girls stopped laying eggs the day after he showed up.  He would lie in wait and attack them as they were going into the nesting boxes.  This went on for two weeks.  I decided that his name was no longer Jamie Lannister.  After all, I sort of like Jamie Lannister.  Earl!  His new name was Earl.  Because as the Dixie Chicks so elloquently put it: "Earl had to die!"

Guess what's for supper?

A big ol' pot of Earl and noodles.

And as a thank you, my hens gave me eggs today.  I think I'll call the neighbors and invite them to dinner.

A Foggy Morning

Last night we received another half inch of rain.  It made for a lovely foggy morning.

The pup and I walked down to the field to see what there was to see I and snapped this shot on my phone.  Our trek was a bit muddy, but perfectly lovely.  The blooms should hold on for at least another week.

8/31/14

Quite a while back, Ted predicted September 1st as the day that the sunflowers would be in full bloom.

I believe he hit the nail on the head, as this is what the field looks like today.

My current favorite zucchini cake recipe

This cake is super simple and is from a recipe I found on Allrecipes called "zucchini brownies."  I would be really sad if I were expecting brownies because I've made it multiple times, and it is definitely a cake.  Still delicious, but a cake.

For the cake:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F and spray a 9x13" baking dish.

Combine oil, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl.  Add dry ingredients and stir well.  Stir in zucchini.  Spread in the pan and bake 25-30 minutes (I use the toothpick method to see when it's done.)  Let cool and spread with frosting.

Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar

6 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

2-3 Tablespoons of milk

Mix all ingredients (except milk) with an electric mixer.  Add enough milk to get the consistency you want. 

Pics of my process:

 

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This morning! 8/30/2014

 It's amazing the difference a day and a little rain makes.  This was the field earlier this morning.

The next few days will get better and better. 

Just a reminder:

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:
-We are a row crop farm and just happen to plant a few sunflowers. 
-We have neither business hours, nor a store front.
-We do have a field. The closest address is 14754 243rd street, Lawrence, KS 66044.
-The field is NOT at our house. It happens to be around a neighbor's house this year, so PLEASE be respectful and stay out of his yard. We like our neighbor and want him to continue to like us.
-We allow people to stop at the field and take pictures.
-We allow people to cut sunflowers if they wish. We have two "donation" boxes located at the field.
-We do allow professional photographers access to the field. Remember that if you're making $ off of our field, a donation in the box is a lovely and much appreciated gesture.
-If you haul it in, haul it back out. (Last year we almost combined a metal chair that was left in the field. Combines are not cheap, and being without one because of repairs during peak season is very costly.)
-The field will (most likely) be hot and buggy. Be prepared for both.
-There are no restrooms!!!!!!!!!!!! (It's a field.)
Okay! Now that I think I have the rules for engagement covered, I'll just say ENJOY! (And please be careful.) A field of sunflowers truly is a thing of beauty...for about two weeks. 

.-The farmer's wife.

Sunflowers 8/29/2014

The field is still pretty green as of right now, but more flowers are opening up daily.

The few that are open look lovely.  We anticipate that by the end of the Labor Day weekend, the field will look pretty good.  Mid next week is when I'm GUESSING that everything will be yellow.  The sunflowers got a nice bit of rain tonight (4 tenths of an inch).  Any rain in August is a good rain.  Enjoy your weekend!

You Always Remember Your First!

I will never forget this sunflower...actually, I probably will.  But yesterday, I would have bet that there was NO WAY that a sunflower would be blooming today.  I would have lost that bet.

Enjoy, my friends!  This is the first of many.

This bud's for you

For the most part, every sunflower right now looks like this. We still can't promise that they will pop open by this weekend, but we think they will because it is just so darned hot. I'll do more updates at this point, so check back. Especially check in if you intend to make a visit. We would hate to have you make a special trip for a green field.

Some have asked for additional information about the field, so...

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:
-We are a row crop farm and just happen to plant a few sunflowers. 
-We have neither business hours, nor a store front.
-We do have a field. The closest address is 14754 243rd street, Lawrence, KS 66044.
-The field is NOT at our house. It happens to be around a neighbor's house this year, so PLEASE be respectful and stay out of his yard. We like our neighbor and want him to continue to like us.
-We allow people to stop at the field and take pictures.
-We allow people to cut sunflowers if they wish. We have two "donation" boxes located at the field.
-We do allow professional photographers access to the field. Remember that if you're making $ off of our field, a donation in the box is a lovely and much appreciated gesture.
-If you haul it in, haul it back out. (Last year we almost combined a metal chair that was left in the field. Combines are not cheap, and being without one because of repairs during peak season is very costly.)
-The field will (most likely) be hot and buggy. Be prepared for both.
-There are no restrooms!!!!!!!!!!!! (It's a field.)
Okay! Now that I think I have the rules for engagement covered, I'll just say ENJOY! (And please be careful.) A field of sunflowers truly is a thing of beauty...for about two weeks. We think next weekend (August 30th) is when that two week window will START. I'll stay in touch.-The farmer's wife.

Next Weekend!

The sunflowers are heading out and will be starting to bloom next weekend.  So, the weekend of Aug 30th and Sept 6 should be the two weekends to view them.  (Hopefully)

Thigh high

The sunflowers are now thigh high.  They have had a good amount of rain (especially for August) and are growing like weeds.  As a matter of fact, there are plenty of weeds growing in the field, too. 

This is Farmer Ted out standing in his field.  Unfortunately for him, he made a face when I took the photo, so that is the one that gets posted.  (He said he couldn't believe that I would post this particular photo...but really?  He should know me better by now.)

Still projecting a couple more weeks until they bloom.

Patience!

As things stand

The sunflowers are planted and are popping up.  Most are currently around 6 inches tall.

A rain would help things greatly, but this is KS in August, so chances of getting any are pretty slim.

Our best guesstimate of bloom time is September 1st.  Keep checking back or visit our Facebook Page.

I'll post field location later on.

Sunflowers on TV

Farmer Ted and I were watching TV last night and a commercial for KS tourism came on.  The I hear Ted say, "That's my field!"  Sure enough, we made the cut.

Last summer, the KS department of tourism was out at our place and they had a drone with a video camera shooting some film.  We had no idea what they intended to do with the footage until we saw the commercial last night.  This is the long version and we are at 1 minute, 50 seconds in.  (All of the short versions I've seen end with our sunflowers.)  Pretty neat!  And I'm now a fan of this Logan Mize who is singing.  (Ted met him when they were filming last year.)

Chicken Aprons

I'm really not crazy..at least I don't think so...but I seem to do a lot of questionable things, like attempt to put aprons on my chickens.  No, I'm not one of those people who dress up their animals.  I don't judge.  If it's your thing, that's fine.  But it's not my thing...and it's clearly not my chickens' desire to don clothing.  

So, let me be more specific.  My chickens (all girls) have taken to (literally) picking on each other.  A few of them are pretty bald on their backsides.  When this happens, unless the chickens get bored of the activity, they tend to keep at it.  A chicken's tender skin is quite red from the irritation and chickens LOVE to peck at red things.  What to do?  I've read that chicken aprons (or saddles) will help.  To show you what I'm talking about, I could go take a bunch of pictures of my own birds, or you could look at this one from another blogger:

Pat, at Corn in My Coffee Pot, does an excellent job of showing you the same issue that I'm having with my birds.  This is one of  Pat's photos of her chicken, Ethel.  "Don't look Ethel..."  (Sorry.  Couldn't help it.)

Anyway, I've tried my hand at three fittings now.  I've failed each time.  At tonight's fitting, I took the girls some bread to lull them into a sense of security before I grabbed one and accosted her with the third revision of my apron.  Too small...after the first two were too big.  Ugh!  (Back to the sewing room, I guess.)  After I let the angry bird go, I noticed that I was pretty well covered in chicken poop.  That's alright.  The inside of my washing machine has seen far nastier things, I assure you.  One last check of the nesting boxes yielded me one final egg for the day, which I quickly tucked into the pocket of my poop covered pink John Deere jacket.  I threw the girls some meal worms as a reward for putting up with me and headed inside.  Not wanting to wear poop covered clothes through the house, as soon as I got inside the door, I took the offensive jacket off and chucked it downstairs because that's where my washing machine is located.  Then I remembered the egg.

*UPDATE*
After my hubby got home last night, he held Bully (yes, that's the name of this bird) and I managed to get the apron on her.  She seems very happy today and maybe the other birds will take the peace signs as a message.  Now to make a few more aprons for the other naked chickens...

Cinnamon Rolls and Migraines

Back in the day, I used to get migraines.  I still get them, but as I've aged, I've learned a thing or two about controlling them so they don't frequent my brain nearly as often.  But anyway, this post isn't about killer headaches so much as it's about cinnamon rolls.  How these two things link is that when I used to get a lot of migraines, I would wake up in the middle of the night and dose myself with caffeine...the only thing I've ever found that actually works on my migraines.  Well, when you are up in the middle of the night, completely jacked on caffeine (and just one cup of coffee will do it for me), what is there to do?  Of course...you make cinnamon rolls!  Yes, for years the sweet smell of cinnamon in the morning could only mean one thing to my family:  "Hurray!  Mom had a migraine!  Aren't we lucky!"  I have no idea what first inspired me to make cinnamon rolls, but I did.  And I've made them every time since then.  The cinnamon rolls became a celebration of me surviving yet another headache.  (And if you've ever had a migraine, you know that me calling them "just another headache" is a pretty ridiculous statement.)  

Well, last night I had a migraine.  I went to bed with it and still had it this morning.  Guess what?  Yup! Cinnamon rolls this morning!  I strolled on over to my favorite recipe site and used the recipe for these cinnamon rolls.  All I need to do now is whip up some cream cheese icing, make myself yet another cup of French Press, and I'll be good to go.  (My rolls look a little naked without icing.)

Tip: When my house is a bit chilly, I put my rolls on a heating pad set to low and covered with a towel to raise.  Makes the process go a bit faster.

I feel like I could conquer the world this morning.  (I have no doubt that that's the caffeine talking.)  I wish you all a fantastic, blessed day full of love and cinnamon rolls...but without the migraines!

*UPDATE*

I'm currently eating my 2nd cinnamon roll.  While making the icing, I realized that I wanted it to be "cream cheesier" (is that a word?) so I swapped half of the margarine for cream cheese.  You really can't go wrong with more cream cheese.  Just sayin'...