More corn...

Corn harvest continues and last night the boys and I took supper out to Ben and hung out at the field for a while.

 The boys hopped in the combine with grandpa, while Ben and I stayed behind in the truck.

 This field is the hilliest of all our fields and for most of the boys' ride, we couldn't see the combine. But then it finally came back into view, see it?

 After the combine bin was unloaded into the semi, the boys crawled out of the combine and up the back of the semi!

 But, much to their dismay, it was time to head home because bedtime was quickly approaching.

 Levi is really getting good at jumping in front of the camera. :-)

Sunday afternoon

Sunday's can turn out to be very long days for us. The boys don't understand what a nap is nor do they think there's any point in relaxing or resting. So while they beg and plead us to play and be outside playing football, we end up getting more and more cranky with them for not allowing us the rest we feel we deserve need. 

So when it worked for our family to head over to my cousin Megan's house so I could snap some 3 year old pictures of this cutie pie:

we jumped at the chance! Levi immediately hopped on the toy Gator and drove all over the place while Noah and Caiden got right down to business - football!

 Chelan even quickly mowed some lines in the grass to make it feel "official" for the boys.

 Delaney was eager to get her picture taken, but quickly got tired of having to follow directions. I think I managed to capture a few decent shots - she's seriously cute!

 I scored an entire flat of tomatoes from Megan! Her tomato plants are literally double the size of mine and she's got the produce to prove it!  I was so excited to freeze these lovely tomatoes. I can't wait until I've finished harvesting tomatoes so I can have a day of canning with them (ten years ago I would not have thought to think about canning tomatoes....my how I've changed).

 Ben and Chelan played football for a while, then escaped to the shade for some farm talk.

 While the rest of us loved on the six adorable puppies that their dog recently had. Speaking of cute!

It made for such a lovely day to visit with family (who truly feel like friends), and then come home for a quiet Sunday evening together.

Pick'n Corn & Pumpkins

When Ben was a kid in Nebraska, a local farmer would pay him the kids one nickel for every ear of corn picked off a field the combine had already harvested. The other evening we found ourselves out in the field next to the farm picking the missed ears. 

We didn't pay nickels, but the boys just kept finding one ear after the next!

Grandma Schmidt was out there with us. She brought out the bucket, which was quickly filled.

Later we got a wheelbarrow and nearly filled that too.

And before we called it quits, we checked our pumpkins one more time and lo and behold they were ready!!

Six pumpkins so far and couple more on the vines still ripening. The pumpkins bring me a lot of excitement - there's something really, really satisfying about growing, harvesting, processing and then eating our own pumpkins. Yum!

Animals Caught

Levi loves to catch the chickens. He holds them, talks to them, pets them and then lets them go. 

 The chickens are very gracious and patient with him.

 Ben also occasionally catches a chicken and holds it, but I don't think Noah ever has. I have no intentions of ever holding a grown chicken.

 Their feet are nuts. Totally nuts.

 Levi and I were gathering eggs today and one chicken remained in a nesting box. Levi was brave and reached under the chicken to get the eggs. The chicken was kind and stood up slightly to allow Levi to see and gather the eggs. And then, right before our eyes, we saw that chicken lay an egg! It was amazing!! We actually caught it in the act. Levi said, "Ooooo, it pooped an egg mom!" Hahahaha. It was interesting that the egg came out wet.

 The other animal that was caught was a baby snake. Axle played and played and played with that poor snake. It was gross and eventually Axle lost interest.

On the topic of animals, two of the six orphan kittens have disappeared in the past two days. None of them died in/under our cars, but they're gone and that's been pretty disappointing.

Corn 2013

It's corn harvest time here at the farm. The combine, trucks and farmers are busy, busy, busy.

The farm has been completely surrounded by corn for  months and now it's finally gone!

We were feeling a bit closed in. But like I am constantly reminded of - I LOVE how my surroundings are constantly changing.

Something growing, drying, changing color, changing height, cleared away, started fresh.

Saturday evening was beautiful. The sun had set, making the corn seem even more sunshiny yellow against the dry stalks and dusty driveway.

The evening ended with Noah taking Levi and I out to where the combine was so we could check on their progress. It's odd to me, humbling to me, that he is better at driving the 4-wheeler than I am. He's only 7!

So far harvest is going smoothly. We hope and pray that it continues that way until it's complete.

Baking Bread

We've been grinding our own flour for a couple months now and after trying a few bread recipes out - and not liking the results - I decided it was time to seek expert advice. Ben's grandparents Lee and Mary Alice have been getting wheat from us for years, so I knew Mary Alice would know just the recipe and technique to make amazing whole wheat bread. Turns out I was right!

 I went over to their house on Friday morning for my baking lesson.

 It turns out that Mary Alice's recipe is adapted from the "More With Less" cookbook and it seemed quite simple.

 She  mixed up the dough, let it rise for about 20 minutes then turned it out onto a floured surface.

 She divided the dough into two equal parts, shaped it into loaves,

 and placed them in the pans. The loaves rose for about 20 or 30 minutes and then baked.

 While the bread was in the oven we went outside to see what Lee was up to.

 Their garden is always an inspiration. Lee had extra lettuce plants that he sent home with me. I came home, turned over some dirt and had an instant lettuce patch. He also sent those carrots home with me.

 Mary Alice has many beautiful flowers growing, these fuzzy ones, kept grabbing my attention.

 And then just like that, the bread was done!

 It's lovely, healthy and easy. We enjoyed one loaf already and will soon take the other loaf out of the freezer to enjoy.

Now the test will be if I remember how to make it, if we like my version and if I can make bread making a weekly routine during winter. Time will tell.

Our evening

Somewhat randomly, but in my continuous effort to track the goings-on of our family on this blog, this post is largely about nothing - except what we did this evening.  Basically, we played a little football on the driveway while chickens and kittens wandered around us. Sounds boring, but it wasn't. It was lovely! No yelling, no fighting, no sweating (thanks to the shade and breeze) and no crying. 

Lately, due to an increase in coyote activity on the farm, we've been trying to stick a bit closer to the chickens in the evenings. Although, over the weekend a couple coyotes bit the dust - as in a friend brought a rifle over and shot a couple. I don't like guns, but I sure was thankful to have a couple less coyotes stalking our chickens.

 Lately, our basic evening activity at home involves football. Noah learned how to kick from a tee in P.E. today at school.

 The chickens and kittens were EVERYWHERE!

 Interesting fact, chickens don't eat okra.

 The orphan kittens relentlessly seek our attention - if they can see us, they'll be at our feet or climbing our legs.

 Over and over and over again this little one, the runt of the litter, came from the house/garden out to us on the driveway.

 Cute, but annoying and sad.

  Nice kick, Noah!

 The amount of destruction the chickens have completed in one of my flower beds is astounding to me.

 Back in August, when Austin and Lindsey had their wedding reception at the farm, this flower bed was overflowing with blooming zinnias and other flowers. Now the tallest zinnias remain, but they're dying from the chickens scratching at their roots.

 The dirt isn't even in the flower bed anymore because they've scratched most of it out! I put that dirt there this spring, and the bricks to help keep it there, and I'd like it left alone. Next time I plant something there, I will put chicken wire around it for protection. Lesson learned.

 Levi! He and I played catch with the football for a while (when I wasn't taking a kitten back to the garden to avoid actually stepping on it). He's great at throwing a football, good spiral, pretty strong arm and everything. He's taken what his P.E. teacher Mr. Biggs taught him to heart, "Step, point, throw." It truly does work for throwing an accurate spiral. Levi just can't catch a football. We're working on it, I predict that by the end of football season he'll be catching them without fail.

 Levi is the best out of Noah, Ben and Levi at petting and catching the chickens. I don't even try (no way!) but Levi likes the challenge.

 Speaking of challenges - try bottle feeding one kitten while FIVE others crawl on you!

Ahhh...just another evening at the Schrag house.