Schragville: October, 2018

October was one of those months in Kansas when we got all four seasons in one month!

At the beginning of the month, the garden kept me busy. By October, though, I was mostly giving away produce since all my jars were used up and my shelves were full. It's fun to share garden produce.

Fall harvest and wheat planting kept the farmers very busy. Our farm practices no-till farming, so there are long stretches of the year when the equipment just stays in the shed because there is no need for it. But then it comes time for action and all the equipment from the shed comes out and the whole farm yard is full.

I am a farmer's wife, but that doesn't mean I actively participate in farming...except sometimes I get called out of the house to help with something. One night it was being Ben's eyes at the back of the truck in the dark so he would know when to stop before he hit a grain bin. I think they should just install some lights out there. ;-)

The monarchs were just gorgeous in early October. I hope they enjoyed fueling up on my flowers as they journeyed south.

Sweet potatoes!

What a treat to get so many off of just six plants.

On a gorgeous fall evening, I lucked out and got to simply walk Ben's supper to him since he was drilling wheat in just across the road from the farm.

Shopping with Levi is usually a pretty good time. :-)

To celebrate my parent's 45th wedding anniversary we took family photos on a drizzly, but thankfully not cold, day.

You know how easy it is to grumble about family photos...but in the end it's always worth it.

It's pretty awesome that these two middle-school love birds have been married for 45 years!

We were all worn out by the end of the evening. :-)

Noah's football team wrapped up their season in October.

It was a fun game on a chilly night in White City and they won! It was a great game to end the season with! It'll be fun to watch him again next year.

Levi played flag football in a rec league in Hillsboro on Saturday mornings. He's wearing the bright green stocking hat in these photos. For one game Ben was the coach to fill-in while the regular coach was away.

Levi played quarterback and while their team didn't win many games they certainly learned a lot and had fun!

The garden just kept going! But if I remember correctly, this was the last of the peppers and jalapenos.

We got to chore for our friends one weekend while they were gone and that included bottle feeding Tiny, a premature calf.

And then on Oct. 14 we got our first snow!

Talk about a change in seasons!

I'd been paying attention to the weather so I had brought all the plants I wanted to keep for the winter in the house before the snow.

Noah and his classmates came to MCC as part of one of their classes - he wasn't impressed with my picture taking. :-)

As soon as football season ended, it was time to get ready for basketball!

The kids had a couple days off from school for a fall break and we got have cousin Rylee come stay at the farm!

We made her semmel for lunch,

and it was oh so good!

I was lucky enough to be home when the farmers harvested the soy beans from around our house.

And because 8 inches of rain was in the forecast, I decided it was time to dig up peanuts. The plants weren't quite ready but in the end it was clear that digging them before the big rain was a good idea.

I love a fresh cut bean field - it's like a long overdue buzz cut and it's so amazing.

We made our annual visit to Papa's Pumpkin Patch!

And the boys and I went with the Smith's to a wedding. We all had fun but these two goofballs really soaked it in. They ate all the snacks,

and were ready to catch the garter belt. :-) Congrats Tyler & Samantha!

All that rain made our bunker of silage sprout!

And finally it was dry enough again to be out in the field...fall harvest certainly drags on and on and on...

Ben and I went to Kelly's in Canton for a quick anniversary date - their Philly Cheese Steak is so good!

One of the highlights of October was the arrival of our new garden shed! We ordered it back in early September and it was so fun to take some of the bulky yard equipment from our garage out to the shed!

I was able to enjoy a good amount of fall spinach this year which was a big treat after eating so much grocery store spinach.

Ahhhhh, a cleaned up garden is pretty satisfying.

Our popcorn dried for several weeks in our house and on a beautiful fall afternoon it was time to get the kernels off the cob!

That same afternoon we went through all the peanuts and got as much dirt off of them as we could with our hands - it makes actually washing them much less muddy...