Thanksgiving

FFA members in the making

We have a tradition of taking a picture of the kids in a little FFA jacket we have. One of my husbands first FFA students made for us when our first son was just a newborn. The jacket is so cute and if our kids follow in their fathers footsteps FFA will be a large part of their life.

 Luke turned 2 a few days ago so it was time to get him in the jacket and take a few pictures. He was all smiles and goofy faces. He wanted to have the tractor and baler he just got for his birthday with him. I think they turned out great.

 

 

 What a charmer.

 I wanted to find the pictures of all the other kids in their jackets and had luck finding the younger ones. I have my mom working on finding the pictures of the older kids. How did we do it before digital photos? Here are the ones I found for know.

I think this is a little older David

 Here is little David with a big smile.

And finally Rose with her chocolate brown eyes.

The Fly

I don't know why but I get a bit into Halloween. For the past few years we have had a theme the kids dress up in and this year happened to be "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly". This is a story the kids and I have read a number of times everyone found a character that fit them. Since we spend out Halloween evening trick or treating at the grandma's and great grandma's houses we decided that we would have them play the "old lady" for us. As you can see we had the cute little fly (Luke), the spider (David), the bird (me), the cat (Rose), the dog (stuffed), the cow (Paul), and the horse (Mary). Now you might wonder why medical personal is present for this theme. The old lady story ends with her dying since she swallowed a horse and Simon didn't like this ending. So to solve this he decided to be the surgeon that would save the old lady's life by taking all the animals our of her. What a thoughtful young man.

 Here are the pictures we gathered through the night with all our "old ladies".

 

One final group shot hanging out on the quad track. What a good looking bunch.

 The day after Halloween is my youngest Luke's birthday. He made such a cute little fly for Halloween and at our last stop for the night at my in laws he got his first birthday present. His own loader tractor and it is red like dad's. Luke was ecstatic to have his own loader. He has been using his big brothers tractors and had all but worn them out.

Here is a  collection of cute Luke pic from over the year. He has grown up so fast and become such a little man. Happy Birthday Luke. I love you.

The Bountiful Harvest of 2015

Some how the fall as just flown by. Here it is already the end of October and I have neglected connecting with you and letting you know what we have been up to. In an attempt to catch you up on what the fall held for us on the farm here is a "photo story" for your enjoyment. Thanks mom for all the great photos which document our busy life.

The major event here, as it is every fall was that harvesting of the crops that have been growing all summer. We were blessed this year with rain when it was needed so the crops produced well. On the farm we are ever dependent on Mother Nature and the Lords good graces. We are so thankful that both smiled on us and we were able to have a bountiful harvest.

After the corn had been taken out of the fields it was time to get the rake and baler out to make the many corn stalk bales. These will be needed for bedding and feed for the cattle throughout the winter months. It was my job to run the rake and Paul followed with the baler. The was fun spending time with him in the field waving at him as we passed. We had to stop after the field was complete for a quick picture.

After the baling was finished it was time to pick up the bales. This required many trips back and forth to the fields. The bales were then carefully stacked for storage until needed.

 

Pretty an one of my favorite fall sights.

 

After all this time spend helping us make and pick up bales, Luke spent much time at home moving his bales. A Popsicle stick taped into his loader and a bunch of toilet paper rolls were all he needed for hours of play farming fun. Too cute.

 

While the men were busy out in the fields, us women spent many hours in the kitchen doing the last of our seasonal canning. We spent a big day making applesauce out of 14 pails of apples. We don't do anything small scale when it comes to canning and have gotten the process down to a science.

My sister Nancy and my daughter Rose put the hot apples through the colander to make the sauce. The little ones love to be part of the action and we make sure to find little jobs they can do to help out. I think it's important that the kids learn it can be fun to work together to get these big jobs done.  

We ended up with about 200 quarts of applesauce that day.  On a later day we made apple pie filling making about 60 quarts on that day. It sure is tasty and will be enjoyed by many.

 

One of my favorite summer time events is eating meals on my wrap around porch. The kids and I had to enjoy this for the last few warm days of fall. The weather had turned cold, we actually saw the first few snow flakes last evening, so I fear our outside meals have come to an end for another year. Good memories.

The fall also included working with the cattle. The cows have been brought in from pasture and put in the corn stalk field surrounding the farm. The eat the corn husks and any corn left by the combine. They will stay out there until the snow starts to fall. The market animals had to be put through the head gate and treated. It is important to keep an eye on them and make sure their vaccinations and treatments are up to date.

As you can see it has been a busy fall but that is the way we like things here on the farm. Being busy means that it was a productive growing season and we are so grateful for the bounty of blessings we have received this year.