Corn Harvest

We started to pick corn last week and since there's usually a lull in farm activity just before corn harvest, it's always very exciting to see all the equipment (and farmers) working hard. 

 My job as shuttle driver/coordinator for the young farmers can be challenging, but all the tomatoes my plants have produced have proven to be way more work. Although I love to can and enjoy the challenge of putting these fruits to good use so I'm not complaining. In fact, I've felt quite successful this year because I've actually managed to grow tons of tomatoes for the first time (hey, 1 garden year out of 3 isn't bad!).

 One evening while Noah was out "helping" with harvest, Levi and I hung out at the farm.

 We made our way over to a new dirt pile (that will be used for our septic system) at the new house.

 There's a funny thing about little boys and dirt piles, pretty soon clods of dirt start being thrown around!

 And boy oh boy was it funny when he hit me square in the forehead!

 Then he was trying to hit me while I took his picture...he aimed...

 kept his eye on the target...

 and then chucked it at me!

 He hit me, but not in the face (thank goodness) and he thought it was funny. What a ornery turkey!

 Finally all the farmers showed up again!

 Pictures never capture how bright the lights on the combine are. They are crazy bright.

 And with one final check of the truck, we could finally say goodnight to harvesting that night.

The next day harvest got rained out and since then we've had a bunch more rain so corn harvest is on hold for a couple more days while the fields dry out.

Around the farm

The temperatures are soaring this week, but for the most part this summer has been quite comfortable (at least compared to the past several summers). Our garden has been producing tomatoes, cucumbers and okra on a regular basis for weeks now. The okra has been slow because it especially enjoys hot weather. So in that sense, this week of hot temps is a blessing. 

 The first round of green beans I planted ended up being some sort of pole bean that I was not impressed with. I ended up pulling them out and have now replanted green beans. I'm hoping for a decent crop so we can get several quarts canned to enjoy this winter.

 The last two years my tomatoes have seriously struggled. This year, I made sure to plant them in a good spot and gave them plenty of calcium to help avoid blossom end rot. So far so good! I've canned 18 pints of sauce and 7 quarts of tomatoes - that should be plenty for one winter for us. The leaves are starting to curl on several of my plants. If it was earlier in the season I would be worried, but since I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with it seems like maybe it's time for the plants to dial down their production.

 The chickens are everywhere! The young ones are just about as big as our older hens so telling them apart takes a bit of effort. The young ones are starting to lay their first pullet eggs and we've even gotten a couple green eggs! I'm very excited to see what kind of variety of eggs we end up with.

 The few flowers I have this year are doing well. Thankfully zinnias are reliable for color and cheerfulness all through the growing season.

 Mr. Harold has had a really hard time lately. He spent a full week at the vet and is still working hard to get better. His "innards" don't feel good and are very sensitive. We're feeding him lots of small meals of rice/potatoes and browned hamburger and lots of medicine. We've got our fingers crossed that he starts to gain more weight.

I didn't snap any photos of the cats, but all 11 of them are doing well. It's quite a herd that trots around the yard, tumbling and chasing each other. Mama Chuckles is the queen bee, but her son Fancy and grandson Alfalfa are right along side to lend a hand with all the younger kittens.

House Progress

Ok, it's been a while since I've given a virtual tour of what's happening at the house so this is a long post...here we go! 

There were (and still are) stacks and stacks of trim. Window and door trim, baseboards, skirting for the stairs, shelves for closets and on and on. 

 Ben spent hours and hours painting. I spent several hours, but it takes a team to paint and care for a family and I think we managed it pretty well.

 At this point, I think the flame to paint has burnt out and now Jeremy's crew has taken over. They've been busy installing trim and finishing out closets.

 Here are the stacks of painted trim that are waiting to be put to use inside the house.

 The wood flooring is going in. The crew showed up on Thursday and loaded lots and lots of lumber into the house. Then they started installing the kitchen so our cabinets could be installed over the weekend. Interesting side note: the young man installing flooring also worked on the concrete crew that poured the foundation for our house. He says he likes installing flooring better. :-)

 Levi will hopefully learn that the new house is not actually a jungle gym...but I'm sure that will take a while.

 By the end of Friday, the crew had laid flooring in the kitchen, dining room, sun room and started into the living room.

 On Saturday, Rod and Nate installed our kitchen! Obviously, the counters are topless, and there are bits of cabinetry that couldn't be completed because of other electrical, gas or H/VAC work that needs to be finished.

 But seriously! We love it and can't wait to start putting it to good use.

 The island is just right. It's missing a leg on the near corner (it'll go in once the floor is finished) and the open shelf at the far end is for our microwave.

 Ben "hung" one of the lights above the island so we could get a feel for how it'll all come together.

 Paul has been busy making our bathrooms look nice with 3/4" black and white hex tiles. He's finished with one bath and has two more to go.

 I said there are stacks of lumber all over the house and I wasn't kidding.

 Our front door is still missing its doorknob.

 And upstairs, the boys' rooms are the farthest along. Trim is up, closet shelves installed. They're just waiting for carpet, nail holes to be filled, sanded and a final coat of trim paint.

The train keeps moving down the tracks and we expect that in about a month it'll pull into the station. My mind already switches into "we have to move all our belongings!" mode, but then I remember that I haven't even picked out hardware for the kitchen or bathrooms, or towel bars, etc. 

Threshing Days

The first weekend of August is Threshing Days weekend in Goessel. The weekend kicks off with a parade and then it's full of old tractors, old farm equipment, stepping back in time, eating low-German food, and standing outside in the blazing sun!

 We spent several hours on the grounds on Saturday, Levi climbed on tractors, participated in the pedal tractor pull, and a few other kids activities. Noah spent Saturday afternoon and evening volunteering at the annual sand volleyball tournament. Since Noah missed out on the tractors on Saturday we went back on Sunday so he could check things out.

 Right away we spotted something interesting - an old chopper slowly eating up bundles of corn stalks.

  It was pretty fascinating and made us very thankful for the technology and power of modern choppers.

 Rylee and Erica were with us too! We watched some of the antique tractor pull but that didn't hold our attention too long. When the kids finished climbing on tractors and combines and more tractors,

 Aunt Erica bought them ice cream! What a fantastic treat on a hot day. :-)

And with that, another Threshing Days came to end for us....until next year.

House Progress

The exterior of our house is just about done! Yesterday, Jeremy, Casson and Zach worked all day getting forms in place for our front sidewalk. This morning, the concrete truck came first thing and bam! We had a sidewalk. 

Ok, it wasn't that easy, but the guys certainly made it look easy. Tomorrow, they'll pour the back stoop, the pad for the AC units and be done with concrete work. Plus, I think/hope we get our porch posts installed. That should pretty much wrap up the exterior.

 On the interior, Ben and I have been busy painting. Ben got a good start on it before we left for vacation and now we've spent two full days working on it (plus our friend Rachael came and painted for a few hours, too - thanks Rachael!). We think it'll take about two more days to finish it...but I think I'll leave that up to Ben.

 I've got other house stuff to work on and he's really good at painting. But you know, once I've started on a project like that I just want to keep going until it's finished...so we'll see....

 There's actually no rush on the painting. We have about two weeks before our flooring, doors and trim will be ready, we just want to get painting checked off the list.

Baseball & Fishing

Nothing says "summer" like baseball and fishing, right? 

 Grandpa & Grandma Schrag took the boys to their first "real" baseball game! We went to the Corn Crib to watch the Cornbelters. And! The boys each snagged a foul ball and got their faces painted. It was certainly a great way to introduce them to "real" baseball. The grassy hill they ran around on playing catch with other kiddos didn't hurt either.

 After the game, the boys wanted to have their baseballs autographed but we didn't want to wait around for that. But I told them they could write their names and the date on their baseball. Levi pretty much wrote all over his, while Noah neatly wrote his name and the date. :-)

 The next morning we went fishing. Grandpa and the boys were busy catching fish while Sue and I were busy sitting under a tree in the shade.

 This poor fishy sure looks pretty!

 Look! Even Grandma got in on the fishing action.

 Levi makes some really great faces while he's fishing.

 It sure was hot out that morning, but the boys stuck with it longer than I thought they would.

 It's fun for them to catch fish, and they were catching them just often enough to keep them interested.

 Plus, it makes for some great times with Grandpa.