For the love of the farm

I've shared what my favorite part of being a farmer is, but often I'm asked what is the kids' favorite part about growing up on a farm.  Their answers often vary, depending on the day and what's on the docket for the day.  I know living on a farm is not always easy, but then there are days like today that let me know for sure they truly love it.

Big Sissy had a track meet today and I know she is exhausted after competing in 3 events:  high jump, 400, and the 200.  (She had personal bests and set new school records in the high jump and 400.)  Yet after getting home from the track meet, she headed to our monthly 4-H meeting and is now out in the barn cleaning the pens of the 4-H pigs.  If that isn't love, I don't know what is.

Big Sissy clearing 4' 5"

Bubby is always wanting to help on the farm and today he received a big promotion.  We aren't quite ready to just turn him lose, but Bubby got to do this

Bubby's solo driving debut

for the first time ever today by himself.  He is still on cloud 9 and is probably going to have a tough time falling asleep tonight.

And then there is Little Sissy who was sad I made her come inside to get ready for bed.  She wants to be right there helping Big Sissy or riding in the tractor with Daddy.  As a half-day kindergarten student that spends her afternoons on the farm, I often think she knows more about what is going on than the rest of us as she listens to every one's conversations.

Seeing their love of the land and animals is an amazing feeling for this mom.

7 Reasons Farming is like childbirth

Well it's official, I just survived my 15th harvest as The Farmer's wife.  Normally we would have a small little celebration of sorts, but I think this year everyone is just looking for a good night's sleep as this has been one of the longest harvest seasons I can remember.  This got me thinking... farming really is a lot like childbirth and here are my top 7 reasons why.

1.  It can be short.

Whether we are talking about planting or harvest season, it is all dependent on Mother Nature so it can be a short season or defer to #2.

2.  It can be long, as in never ending like this year.

3.  It can be a false alarm.

 Just like some women experience early contractions only to be sent home from the hospital, planting and harvest can often have a false alarm thanks to Mother Nature.  You know where you get everything ready to go to the fields and then it rains and rains and rains for days.

4.  It can be painful.

As a farmer there is not much worse than a broken piece of equipment, tractor, or combine during the planting or harvest season.

5.  It might require medication.

There might be a few nights during a long and painful planting or harvest season that some adult beverages are needed after many hours in the tractor or combine.

6.  It is all about family.

One of the best parts of being a farmer is getting to share our love and life with our kids each day.

7.  You can't wait to share the news.

At 6:32pm tonight I got the text from The Farmer that Harvest 2014 was finally done and I couldn't wait to tell all of you.

You see farming is a lot like childbirth because in the end we don't remember the bad parts of planting or harvest season.  We just remember the good, our love for the land, and doing our small part to make sure our family and all of yours have food to eat.  Just like my experiences with labor and delivery with these 3 amazing children.

So here's to the end of Harvest 2014 and looking towards Planting 2015.

Time marches on...

3 weeks to go.

The last time I blogged, Bubby had just graduated kindergarten and school was out for the summer.  As I sit here today, I realize that 3 weeks from today Big Sissy and Bubby will be heading back to school to be 4th and 1st graders, respectively.  Where has the summer gone?

The month of June was a whirlwind for us with work for this full-time off-farm working momma,

Big Sissy's 1st year ribbon collection

Big Sissy's first year of 4-H,

Bubby's first year of mini 4-H,

Little Sissy thought she needed to go to soccer camp in Big Sissy's gear

 soccer camp,

Big Sissy and my mother-in-law get ready to board the bus to 4-H camp

4-H camp for Big Sissy and my mother-in-law,

My family at the wedding

 and a very special wedding for Uncle K and Aunt N.

And so far July is just flying by so with the kids heading back to school earlier than normal this year with the introduction of the balanced calendar, their summer vacation is almost over.  This is so bittersweet as I know time doesn't go by any slower during the school year and my children are growing up before my eyes.  I know this is supposed to happen, but I just didn't think it would happen so fast.

So I must apologize for my lack of blogging the last few months and I hope to get back on track, but please forgive me if my posts are far and few between now and August 1st as I want to enjoy as much time as possible with the kids before school starts.  (We refuse to call it the end of summer as we still have a few more things to accomplish once the kids go back to school.)

Needless to say...

Time marches on

All because 2 people fell in love...

All because 2 people fell in love... our family had a fun night out last night to celebrate The Farmer's youngest brother, Uncle K's engagement to the soon-to-be Aunt N.  It was something we had actually never done before... go out as a family without the children.  Although we love our children, it definitely was a fun night out as a family.

My in-laws invited all of us (The Farmer, Uncle M, Auntie E, Uncle K, Aunt N, and me) to a place called Bonge's Tavern.  They had been there before, but the rest of us had only heard the stories of how fun it was to go there and how good the food was.  Well let me just say we weren't disappointed.

This place is famous for its tailgating in the parking lot as you wait for a table and their pork among other things so needless to say this pork producing family was right at home.

Now since it is early April, we didn't know if we would have to wait for a table or not; however, despite the fact that yesterday started out extremely rainy as Bubby's soccer game was cancelled, last night couldn't have been more perfect for an early April night.  When we arrived, they told us it would be a 2 hour wait.  We weren't quite prepared to tailgate, but never under estimate a farmer's ingenuity.  Thankfully since Big Sissy had her first soccer game of the season on Friday night, the back end of my vehicle was full of chairs so we set up our own little tailgate and my father-in-law had a round of beers sent out from the bar.

We had a lot of fun tailgating as we waited for our table.  It gave us all of us a chance to visit with each other and check out the beautiful ring that was the reason for our celebration.

After another round of beers and only an hour wait, our table was ready.

As I said, this place is famous for its pork and we were tempted by other items on the menu, but when it came down to it was hard to pass up the pork.

Needless to say at our table of 8, we had 7 orders of pork and 1 order of elk medallions for Uncle M and Auntie E to share.  (They also shared her order of Perkinsville  pork.)

So for a night full of love, laughter, beer, and pork, we couldn't have asked for more.

This family is growing...

This family is growing and not like you think. :-)

Yesterday, we got the exciting news that Uncle K, The Farmer's youngest brother, proposed to his amazing girlfriend and the 3 kids at this pig pen will soon have a new Aunt, Aunt N.  They couldn't be more excited as they love her to pieces as we all do.  They even asked me yesterday if they have to wait until the wedding to start calling her Aunt N.

I think for all involved in might have been a case of love at first sight.

Have a great weekend!!

A Smile is What It's All About

A smile is what it's all about.  There is a lot of truth this, but I had never quite thought about it like this until I heard a grandmother say it at church today.

There was a young couple sitting in front of us with their approximately 6 month old baby.  This baby girl was so cute.  She was smiling and cooing with everyone around her.  The above referenced grandmother and her grandson were sitting directly next to the baby and her parents.  The grandmother was encouraging the baby to smile by smiling back at her.  Her grandson was not quite into this whole smile at the baby trick and decided not to smile.  His grandmother then proceeded to tell him to smile at the baby as "that is what church is all about."

I couldn't help but smile myself.

What a great explanation of God's love for us.

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