Do farmers go on Spring Break?

Vacation.  It is something we probably all don't do enough of for various reasons:  time, money, and effort may be at the top of the list for many of us.  Farmers are possibly more guilty of this than others so it is no surprise that  I'm often asked if Farmers get to go on vacation?

Yes, we do, but it possibly takes more planning than other professions to accomplish.  In fact The Farmer and I just got back from taking the kids to Walt Disney World for their Spring Break last week.  It was an amazing time, but it took a lot of planning and coordination for The Farmer to be gone.  Thankfully we farm with his parents so vacations are possible as long as we don't vacation at the same time as his parents as one of us always needs to be around to take care of the pigs.  As I've said before the pigs are always our top priority.

In addition to coordinating and planning with The Farmer's parents, it has to be the right time of year to go on a vacation.  In general, the spring and fall are out.  This is partially why I was not ecstatic when our kids moved to a balanced school calendar and now have a 2 week fall and spring break.  In fact when our kids first started school, I didn't think we would ever go away on Spring Break.  We've gotten a little leeway on this since our Spring Break was the last week of March and not in April.  It was nice to be able to get away as a family after the winter we have had this year, but I know The Farmer thought about the farm every day... it is in his blood.

So yes, farmers do get to go on Spring Break, but it isn't always a given, can be very weather dependent, and takes lots of coordination and planning.  And it may come during the winter or summer.

Did you have a Spring Break?

Farmer Fridays - A Guest Post from Indiana's own This Farm Family's Life

Where has the time gone.  It seems hard to believe that Big Sissy and Bubby started school this week and it is almost September.  It feels like we just finished planting season and even though it was a long and delayed planting season, I think harvest is not too far off since it has been such a hot and dry summer.  Time will tell as to if this year yields a plentiful harvest or not so until then we will continue to say our prayers and keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I'm very excited to introduce you to one of the newest members of The Real Farmwives of America and Friends, Sarah from This Farm Family's Life.  This week she graciously agreed to do a guest post for Farmer Fridays.  

Hello 3 kids and lots of pigs readers.  Heather asked me to do a guest post and I am honored to do so.

My name is Sarah and I was born and raised in a small town in southeastern Indiana where my husband, Brad and I still reside.  I blog over at This Farm Family’s Life.  I grew up on a dairy farm where we milked around 150-180 Holstein cows.  We also had several hogs.  My dad had a farrow to feeder hog operation.  Once they reached 60 pounds he would sell them.  One of my favorite things to do on the farm was helping my dad wean pigs.

Brad and I have been married for 7 years.  We live in the house that his grandparents built which is just 5 miles from where I grew up.  Brad and his dad are partners in our farming operation.  We raise corn and soybeans.  We also have 200 head of cattle that we feed out.  We have two daughters, B and Mel.

We debated whether to take a family vacation this summer, but decided against it.  The wet spring we experienced this year resulted in a late planting season which delayed the start of our summer activities.  Instead, we decided to plan a “staycation”.

Every year we attend our town’s annual Pioneer Engineer’s Club Steam and Tractor show.  This was the 63^rd year for the event and the place of our staycation.

  

The event is conveniently located about 2 miles from our house.  Our good friends have a campsite there so we load up our RTV with all the fixings to accompany a fantastic meal.  Then we drive over and enjoy all the food, fun, and fellowship.

There are people of all different ages….

Demonstrations include: Threshing….

Threshing separates the grain from the stalk.  Today we use combines to achieve this task.

Chopping silage which grinds up the entire stalk of corn and makes feed for cattle…

Plowing…

And leveling dirt with a grader blade…

B got to participate in the Tug-of-War…

And Coins In the Straw…

They have a working saw mill…

The girls loved seeing all the different tractors.

When the sun went down the crowd was entertained by the sparks show…

We didn’t stay overnight.  We enjoyed our time with friends and all the good food, but were able to come home in the evening and sleep in our own beds. Then we would get up the next day and do it all over again!

Sounds like a great staycation, Sarah, and thanks for sharing.  Be sure to keep up with all the happenings in Sarah's life over at This Farm Family's Life and with all of the Real Farmwives and Friends on Facebook.

Have a great weekend!

What happens when life gets in the way...

Truthfully, what does happen when life gets in the way ... well I'm afraid the answer is life and I've had a big dose of it the past couple of weeks.  Nothing bad has happened, I just feel like I have hardly been able to catch my breath since we returned from our amazing family vacation to Walt Disney World. 

When we returned I had such great plans for all of my blog posts to document our family fun.  Well we've been home almost 2 weeks and this is only the second time I've blogged so I'm not doing so well in that area, but don't worry, I will get it done at some point.

I really don't know what my problem has been.  I think it is just a combination of vacation hangover, the beginning of the school year fastly approaching, trying to cram in as much as we can before the summer is over, the start of soccer for Big Sissy and football for Bubby, and work being way busier than normal.  So combine all those together and what you get is a pretty full life that doesn't leave much time for the extras and occasionally sleep. 

As much as I hate that Big Sissy and Bubby will be starting school next week and am so NOT looking forward to their nightly homework sessions, I am excited about the structure that the return to school will bring to our lives.... I think and hope.

So please continue to believe in me as I try to get back on track.

World class service

It is no secret... I love Walt Disney World.  It was always my favorite place to go as a kid and still ranks at the top of my list as an adult.

Quite often, I'm asked why do I like it so much.  My list really could go on and on, but it really comes down to a few key items.  The service is world class.  The parks are clean.  The food is good.  There is something for everyone.

Our family was lucky enough to go to Walt Disney World last week.  It was our first true family vacation in a couple of years so it was very much needed by all.

This week I thought I would share some of my favorite memories from last week as well as some tips for those of you that may be lucky enough to visit Walt Disney World in the future.

I have always been fascinated by the world class service that the cast members provide at Walt Disney World.  They really go out of there way to make sure you have a magical experience during your stay.

On last week's trip we had more than our fair share of experiences with Disney's service.  My biggest tip is to not be afraid to ask as you never know what might happen or be possible.

Bubby's ice cream fell off his ice cream cone within a minute of buying his ice cream cone.  I didn't expect them to give him more ice cream, but I also figured it didn't hurt to ask and I'm so glad that I did because with no questions asked Bubby got another scoop of ice cream.

Big Sissy was really into pin trading on this trip and bought a cool pin with a moving Mickey on a guitar.  A few hours after buying the pin, she noticed that Mickey had fallen off her pin.  We decided once again we had nothing to lose by bringing it to a cast member's attention and once again, I was glad that we did.  Big Sissy got a new pin with no questions asked.

Big Sissy trading pins with a fellow vacationer from Ohio

We even witnessed amazing Disney service without asking a question.

While walking out of Epcot, Bubby had some trouble with his drink and it ended up all over the ground.  No one saw it happen so I found a cast member to tell them as I didn't want to leave the mess behind.  Much to my surprise the cast members priority was not cleaning up the mess but rather getting Bubby a new drink.  I couldn't believe it.  This sure turned Bubby's frown back into a smile.

So I don't know about you, but service like this is hard to beat especially when you are traveling with 3 small children.  So this is just one of the many reasons I love Walt Disney World.