Potato Harvest

Saturday morning we went to Great Grandpa and Grandma's house to dig potatoes! The boys helped plant the potatoes this spring and now it was time to harvest!
The basket was heavy!
It was great to relax for a bit and visit while we watched female Oriels feed on meal worms.
It was a ton of fun to dig potatoes! The boys loved watching for potatoes as Lee dug them up and then pulling them off the roots and dropping (or throwing) them into the basket.
We are blessed to have Ben's grandparents near us and in good health. Lucky for us, they shared some of their potatoes with us!

Creek visit

Playing at Sand Creek, near Bethel, is one of the boys' favorite activities. We hadn't been there since winter, so all three of us were antsy to visit again.

The boys had fun finding tadpoles, throwing rocks, climbing the banks of the creek and exploring nooks, crannies and holes.
The boys did some "fishing" with sticks and caught some huge "fish" or blobs of moss.
We also did some jack hammering with a piece of metal we found on the bank of the creek.
It was refreshing to spend the morning in a space where we felt alone under a canopy of trees.

Wheat Harvest Finale

***Formatting error - for some reason far beyond my understanding, the formatting of this post is not correct.***

The last evening of harvest lasted longer then we thought it would, but in the end Grandpa got all the wheat cut. We got to the farm and ate some pizza just about as fast as we could so we could get in on as much of the last wheat field as we could. We shnarfed down our pizza, gulped some water and got on the 4-wheeler....just as it started to sprinkle. Rain!?!?! What!?!?! The sun had been shining all day. We went out to the field (within a 1/2 mile of the farm) and Noah got in with Austin and Levi got in the combine with Grandpa. Then is rained harder and eventually the guys stopped and we all went back to the farm. What a bummer!

But, that gave the boys time to hang out with Austin while he ate his pizza supper. It happened to be a pizza kind of night on the farm I guess. Seeing Austin eat pizza reminded the boys that they hadn't eaten but a couple of bites of their pizza earlier. So, they got some more and they had a little pizza party on the tractor.
Thank goodness Austin had his jug of water along!


In addition to being time for wheat harvest, it's also time to double crop soybeans into a lot of the cut wheat fields. Ben planted beans on Wednesday and might do more in the next couple of days.

The sun came out and before we knew it, we were headed back out to the field on the 4-wheeler.

It was a dusty/dirty faced night, no doubt.

The Burkholder's came out to see the last hour of harvest. We walked through a field to explore along a creek bed but the mosquitoes and poison ivy made us cut our exploring short.

But, in just about an hour the field was done and wheat harvest 2011 wrapped up.

Short, but oh so sweet

Tim and Sue were here for 2 nights and one day and while it was a quick visit we were thrilled they drove the extra miles to visit Kansas. Lucky for them, they also got to get in on some wheat harvesting.

Tim and Sue both grew up on farms so harvesting is not a new experience for them. The use of a stripper header was new though. Dad took a bit of time to stop the combine and visit with them about the header and how it works and then Tim and Levi rode along for a while.

Cousin Austin continues to be a highlight of harvest for the boys. He's been driving grain cart during harvest and the boys just about fight over who'll get to ride with him first.

Eventually, we went to the farm for lunch and then Noah gave Grandma Schrag a tour of the farm.

We were blessed with a fantastic Brazilian supper on Monday night at Tim and Laurie's house and then on Tuesday morning we told Tim and Sue farewell.

Below are some random harvest photos.

Mr. & Mrs. Frey

Courtney married Zach on Saturday evening. Courtney was my mentee in the mentor/mentee program at church all through her years of high school and we continued being friends during her college years. She (and often Zach too) has also been one of our go-to babysitters for years.

The boys were ring bearers in the wedding which was outside at the arboretum in Hesston. Courtney was stunning.

The boys did great! A year ago, when they were ring bearers for Sara and Josh's wedding Levi never made it down the aisle. But this time they both marched down the aisle. Not side-by-side, though. Noah walked in front of Levi (so I missed actually capturing Levi walking down the aisle). He's right behind Noah in this photo.

And then they stood up with the groomsmen the whole time! I was shocked. They held their boxes (packed with goodies) and waited to open their boxes until after the wedding. Levi was making this tongue-in-my-cheek-because-I'm-a-little-embarrassed look while he walked down the aisle and kept doing it until everyone's attention was fully on Courtney coming down the aisle.

There was some yawning...

and stretching...and at one point Levi sat down for a while...

but they never made a commotion, or a distraction.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Frey!

Sun, Dust, Wheat

Monday the 2011 wheat harvest got its official start.

I can actually drive the 4-wheeler. I learned last year during wheat harvest but then forgot and now a year later I've learned again! I'm hoping it sticks in my mom/mushy/overloaded brain because it sure is fun (and handy)!