Dear Heather

Well last week's Farmer Fridays didn't happen quite as planned with the passing of my Gramma, but we survived the events of last week and as I said then, I find much comfort in the fact that she is no longer suffering.

That being said, almost every day I get asked some sort of question about our farm, our crops, our pigs, etc...  Many of those questions I have answered over the years with past Farmer Fridays so I thought I'd get them organized all in one spot for you as part of this "Dear Heather" post.  I hope this answers some of your questions, but if you still have some, I'd love for you to contact me or leave a comment and I will answer them in future Farmer Fridays.

So here's some of the past "Dear Heather" questions I've been asked and answered:

What are the holidays like on the farm?

What is Christmas like on the farm?

How does corn grow?

Why is too much rain a bad thing?

Where do your pigs live?

Is corn really knee high by the 4th of July?

What type of corn do you grow on your farm?

What impact does the draught have on your crops?

How are you "green" on your family farm?

Did you grow up on a farm?

How do your pigs survive the Indiana winters?

How do you protect your pigs from the elements?

What is a "snow day" like on your farm?

Where can you buy our pork?

What is the best part of being a farmer?

What do you feed your pigs?

How do you use GPS technology on your farm?

What happens to your pigs when we have a big temperature change overnight?

How involved are your kids on the farm?

How long does planting and harvest season last?

So what else would you like to know?  Please leave it in the comments or email me at proudporkmom (at) gmail.com

It's hard to pass up a good deal

Well I must admit, I find it hard to pass up a good deal... especially when I'm shopping for clothes for the kids.  I happened to have a few minutes to myself today so I decided to stop by Gymboree as I had a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase that expires next week and I just hate to miss savings like that.

Now I glance at the full price stuff, but I usually head straight to the sale racks at Gymboree as that is where you can find some amazing deals.  Usually I find the really great deals on out of season items, but today I was able to get some great deals on some summer items for all 3 kids.

The biggest find of the day was by far these cute jeans for Big Sissy.  Originally, $34.75, I got them for $7.99 plus tax.

Big Sissy also got this cute long sleeve top for $3.19.  It had an original price of $19.95.

Now, I'm not a huge peace sign fan, but I couldn't pass up these $14.95 flip flops for $3.59 for Bubby.

Little Sissy got these cute $19.95 PJs for $5.19.

And to reward her for going on the potty a few times the last few days, I couldn't pass these up for $2.39.  They were originally $4.95.

I don't know about you, but these deals were too good for me to pass up.

It's all about mommy guilt at this pig pen

I have always worked full-time away from the farm even though my love and passion in our family farm. 

I have been in my current position for almost 3 years. It allows me to work from home when I am not traveling. Thankfully because of where we live in relationship to my territory, I don’t spend many nights away from home usually. I do have a lot of early mornings and a few late nights, but this allows me to maximize my time with my family which is huge. Although I traveled very little with my former job as I worked in an office setting, I truly feel that I spend more time with my kids then I did then as I was gone for several hours every day.

Well due to some last minute meetings and a few other issues, my traveling is a little out of control for the next 6 weeks. Starting today, I will spend 2-4 nights away from home for the next 6 weeks which is resulting in some major mommy guilt for this mommy. It also makes me sad as I will miss the majority of the harvest season on the farm which is one of my favorite times of year.

Besides the time away from my family, the other major bummer is I am flying on different airlines when I have to fly and I am staying in a different hotel chain almost every week which means no major gains in the frequent flyer miles or hotel points which could have been huge for a family get-a-way.

Mommy guilt is not a fun thing and I know all moms suffer from it now and then.  I can only hope that I am doing the right thing for my children at this time and in the future they will understand. So in the mean time, I will relish my weekends with them as thankfully I am home every weekend and will ask The Farmer to send me picture updates thanks to modern technology.

Faith, Hope, and Love are required at this pig pen

This past weekend, I traveled to Fort Worth, Texas to spend the weekend with 4 of my college sorority sisters (Tequila, Tutti Fruity, Miller, and The Captain) and great friends till this day.  (If you remember, I have decided to give all of my non-blogging friends the names of beverages that make me think of them for some reason.  I will leave the reasoning for this set of names to your imagination.)  

Tutti Fruity, Miller, The Captain, Me, and Tequila - July 2010

We graduated from college 11 years ago and have tried to get together every year since graduation in some way.  Some years it has been a Purdue University football game and other years it has been a trip to Florida.  This year we decided to travel to Texas to visit The Captain as she became a first time mother to twin boys earlier this year and this would give us all the chance to meet the boys.  

Although our lives have changed over the past 11 years, the one thing that remains constant is that we are are still there for each other and always will be.  

Later this week, Thursday to be exact, my husband, The Farmer, and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  At times it seems way longer than 10 years and at other times it seems like just yesterday that I made the best decision of my life in marrying The Farmer.  It has been quite a journey over the last ten years and I can only wait to see what the future holds.  

The Farmer and Me in Seattle - January 2010

Both of these events were all put into perspective for me this weekend as we suddenly lost an amazing friend, mother, wife, and woman in our community.  Earlier in the week our friend was celebrating her 49th birthday and now we are preparing to celebrate her life. 

We don't know what God has planned for any of us, but more than ever, the events of the past few days have reminded me to not take anything for granted and to always take the time to tell the ones we love that we love them as we don't know what tomorrow or our next moment holds.

Big Sissy, Bubby, and Little Sissy - April 2009

Ultimately it all comes back to having faith, hope, and love and thanks to this, on a happier note, my good friend Meggie, The Hoosier Farm Babe, will welcome her baby girl into the world any day now. 

Faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love.  

1 Corinthians 13:13

It's family craftime at the pig pen

Well it has been almost a week since I had a new post as I battled a chest cold last week that then moved into my head over the weekend.  Additionally, my boss spent 3 days with me last week so needless to say it was a little crazier than normal at this pig pen. 

I don't know how with a sick mom, 2 soccer games and a Sunday brunch with friends from church at our house, but we found time to do a family craft project over the weekend that I had been planning to do for awhile now.

We recently changed the paint and decor in our kids' bathroom.  We went from a color of red named Mickey Mouse's Pants to Botanical Tint and said goodbye to our Mickey Mouse decorations.  It was a tough decision as we love the Mouse at this house, but it had been 5 years and it was time for a change.

While decorating the new bathroom, I decided it would be fun to incorporate a piece of "art" by the kids.  With children from the ages of 1 to 7, I thought creating a painting with their handprints would be the easiest.  (Looking back now, easy is not a word I would use to describe the project, but it was worth it.)

The supply list was rather easy:  acrylic paints, sponge paintbrushes, paper plates, and a painting surface.  (We choose a canvas as our painting surface.)

We used our rug and shower curtain hooks for color inspiration. 

We used a sponge paint brush to apply the paint to their hands and feet as we soon learned that feet were going to be easier with Little Sissy.

 

We then just used the different colors to create a collage of their handprints and footprints and now have an original piece to hang in the bathroom.

It's not perfect, but neither is our pig pen that is exactly why I love it.

Welcome to my pig pen

My “pig pen” consists of my husband and our three children. We raise hogs, corn, and soybeans with my husband’s parents. Life at our “pig pen” is often crazy as we try to balance family life, farm life, and my full-time job. I don’t know how we do it, but we just do with lots of love and fun. This time of year is particularly fun or challenging depending on how you look at it. It is prime planting season for corn and soybeans at our farm. My husband and father-in-law put in long hours and our time together as a family is often limited to taking them a meal to the fields or helping them move to a new field, of course the children always manage to get a tractor ride with Pop Pop or Daddy. Planning meals that can be easily prepared and consumed at any temperature can be difficult, but my mother-in-law and I enjoy it. We love being a farm family.