Prairie Farmstead Ponderings

Posted By FarmerJ on September 2, 2010

Meet Mr. Duster.  He is our beloved 1974 Plymouth Duster.  He ain’t pretty ~ how could he be with those ridiculous flames painted on his nose ~ but he’s ours…and his personality more than makes up for his appearance.  We bought Mr. Duster for $325, complete with the box of 8-track tapes on the back seat and Iron Butterfly proudly positioned in the working 8-track player, a little over 8 years ago.  Up until about a week and a half ago, Mr. Duster was bone-stock just like he was made 36 years ago.

[If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see some of Mr. Duster's friends currently in and around the shop.  Right next to Mr. Duster is the blue bombardier, which is Big Little Brother's donor car for his current ride.  Just beyond the blue bombardier's roof, you can see the steering wheel and snout of Booger.  You haven't met Booger yet, have you?  He's Darling Husbie's latest acquisition of farm equipment, the diesel powered Farmall 460.  I'll have to introduce you to Booger another day.

Then, behind Mr. Duster is the Neonderthal ~ complete with Big Little Brother, the proud owner of this Plymouth Neon.  This car has been hacked so much in attempt to make it a 'ricer' that no other name would ever fit.  The definition of neanderthal is: primitive, unenlightened, or reactionary; culturally or intellectually backward.  Yep, that about sums it up.  And then, just behind the Neonderthal is The Gitter, the 2WD Ramcharger that was for so long my grocery getter.  Whew!  All that in just one tiny snapshot.]

Anyway, back to Mr. Duster.  You see, there are certain breeds of gear heads.  And, then, there are sub-breeds within those breeds.  My beloved husband is a Mopar man through and through, but he and Mr. Duster take it even further.  They are Slant 6-ers.  A Slant 6 is one of Chrysler’s two best-known engines, ranking right up there with the Hemi V8, just at the polar opposite end of the displacement scale.  There is a serious Slant 6 sub-breed out there, let me tell you.  And, what a fun group of people they are, too!

Let me backtrack here just a little bit.  Seven years ago, we took Mr. Duster to Las Vegas and Husbie ran him down the 1/4 mile during the first Mopars at the Strip event.  We trailered him back home, parked him, and he sat still for the next 7 years.  We didn’t even start Mr. Duster to get him on the trailer last November when we brought him to the Farmstead from Arizona ~ because someone [I shall remain nameless] forgot the keys.  Husbie loosened something to do with the steering lock and winched him onto the trailer.

Okay, so now we’re back to present time, 7 years later.  We…er…Husbie found out that the serious Slant 6 sub-breed was planning a gathering, aka 1/4 mile racing event, right here in Nebraska.  That was a couple of months ago.  As time always does around here, it warped.  One sunshiny morning, Husbie awoke and realized, “I only have two weeks to get Mr. Duster ready for the race.”  Yes, my love, you do.

Remember way at the top where I said Mr. Duster was bone-stock?  Well, that meant he and his 225 cu in leaning tower of power was equipped with a 2-barrel Super Six carburetor setup, some old convoluted cast iron intake manifold, and six exhaust ports all trying to fight with each other to exit one tube on the exhaust manifold.  Or, something like that.  If you want to know more about all that, you’ll have to check with Husbie directly ~ because that’s the extent of my knowledge on that subject merely gained by hanging around my gear head, handing him tools.

So, the two-week thrash session began.  But, also as it always does around here, Husbie’s work schedule became mildly chaotic and he really ended up with only 10 days to get Mr. Duster ready for the race.  What was there to get ready, you ask?  Well, let’s see…

The very first order of business was to siphon the 7-year old gas out of Mr. Duster.  It was just plain nasty.  [Yes, that is the edge of a sofa, complete with recliner, and an area rug you see in the left portion of the photo.  That is my area of the shop.  Teehee!]

The next order, and probably the single most important order, of business was to get Mr. Duster’s archaic carburetor system converted to a snazzy Mega Squirt electronic fuel injection system.  Of course, that meant it was finally time to blow the cobwebs off the Dutra Duals ~ which were a surprise gift waiting for Husbie when he returned from Iraq…and were safely stored in the trunk of Mr. Duster in Arizona at the time of the shop fire ~ along with the spiffy Offenhauser intake manifold.

I always marvel at the level of intelligence my beloved husband has ~ something I don’t think will ever cease to amaze me.  It wasn’t just a matter of installing the Mega Squirt system.  Oh, no.  It first had to be built.  My Man of Many Talents is not only a gear head, he’s a techie, too!  He read this manual…

…and understood it to create this ~ the Mega Squirt board…the brain of the EFI system.  When the box containing this arrived at the barn house, it was nothing more than a bare circuit board with umpteen tiny zip-loc bags holding microscopic doo-dads and dealy-bobs.  I read looked at the same said manual…and understood it to be Ancient Gibberish.

A few days into the thrashing process, and Mr. Duster was connected to the Laptop Lifeline.  I bet it’s safe to say, never in a million 36 years did Mr. Duster think he would someday have a brain and be hooked up to a laptop for tuning!  He was giddy with excitement.  Husbie was, too.  [Oh, that's the nose of Buckwheat, the Ford 2N tractor you see in the background.]

Two days before race day, and many test runs up and down the farm roads, Mr. Duster is nearly ready.  All that is left is the installation of a complete exhaust system, ~ Husbie and Big Little Brother hacksawed the original exhaust system off while at Mopars at the Strip ~ the mounting of 4 new shoes because those that were on it were horribly sun rot, and the removal of 7 years’ compilation of fine dirt and dust from the interior [that was my task while Husbie did the easy things, like building the Mega Squirt].

Husbie pulled it off.  With a little bit of help from Big Little Brother and me, he managed to give Mr. Duster a major transplant and get him loaded onto the trailer with enough time to spare for us to join the Slant 6 gang for a little pre-race pizza Friday night.  Members of this gang came from as far as California on one side of the country, and as far as Virginia on the other.  Crazy, huh?  Notice something missing in this picture?  Where are all the women?!  Needless to say, I felt like a wart on a hog…or, a catfish out of water.  Or, something like that.

This is it.  Saturday morning, and Mr. Duster is back on the 1/4 mile strip after 7 long years ~ long for him…for us, those years flew by. It was somewhat nostalgic, too, because our old circle track racing number was available.  Mr. Duster was #64.  Right on.  The first run is clocked at 20.067.  Not so good, but considering all that had been done and the fact that he was still cold and stiff, it was okay.  [Sorry about the lack of zoomage in the photo.  I forgot about that in all the excitement.]

Some major tuning took place in the pits, and some major improvement was taking place on the track.  By the time the second and third time trials were run, Husbie and Mr. Duster had managed to shave 1.033 seconds off!  That may not seem like much in every day life ~ but on the 1/4 mile, that’s huge!  The time slip indicated 19.034 and 73.53 mph at the end.  My comfort level with this racing was so good as compared to the circle track racing.  We go faster than this on the interstate.  So, with this, I’m good.  I’m better than good.

Husbie is good, too, signaled by the big ‘thumbs up’ sign he gave me on his way back to the tower to pick up the time slip.  He could feel the improvement already.  Plus, he was finally having some fun ~ the only thing I’d hoped for on this day.

So, now came the hard part.  The calm, cool, calculating of your time bracket.  Disregarding the first trial run in the 20′s, Mr. Duster consistently ran in the 19′s throughout the day.  He had 5 other runs ranging from 19.190 to as quick as 19.006.  We had to specify how fast we thought Mr. Duster could do the 1/4 mile ~ the objective being to get as close as possible to that time without going over.  They refer to it as ‘dialing in your time.’  Meanwhile, the guy in the other lane has done the same with his car.  You’re both racing the clock, and each other, without going faster than the time you dialed in at.  Bracket racing is set up so it doesn’t matter how fast or slow your car is, you could easily end up going down the track with a 10 second car, and you could still win.  How cool is that?!  It’s way cool, plus it keeps the sport competitive.

Anyway, after driving and tuning Mr. Duster all day, Husbie said we should dial in at 19.000 flat.  After pondering and analytically eyeballing the time slips for 10 minutes, I said we should dial in at 19.110.  Husbie ~ unfortunately ~ listened to me and dialed in at 19.110.  The photo above is of Mr. Duster’s final race for the day.  We lost the race because Mr. Duster was too fast for his own good and broke out, meaning he went faster than the 19.110 he dialed in at.  He went 19.034 for the second time that day.  Sigh! If Husbie would have gone with the time he said, 19.000, he would have won the race because the other driver also broke out, but not by as much as Husbie and Mr. Duster did.  I felt terrible!  It was one time I wished my husband hadn’t listened to me!

We enjoyed watching the rest of the gang run through their races, and then we all gathered for dinner at a local buffet restaurant.  We got our payout while we were eating, too.  Even the losers got paid!  Now, this is way better than the circle track racing!  We all devoured our food and departed, as there was more fun to be had beginning bright and early Sunday morning.

Three more time trial runs and more tuning equated to more improvement.  Mr. Duster even broke into the 18′s!  Woot! The 1/4 mile times ranged from 19.686 down to 18.926.  My most adorable Darling Husbie asked me what time we were going to dial in at this time, and I just said, “Whatever time you feel like, Lovie!”  I didn’t want to be responsible for blowing another race.  Husbie dialed in at 19.000 flat.  And, here they are for the final run.  Once again, Mr. Duster was just too fast for his own good.  Husbie even backed off the throttle at the end, but still broke out.  He ran 1/4 mile in 18.955 and at 71.83 mph.

All in all, it was a great weekend.  It was fun to meet some of the serious Slant 6 sub-breed ~ a very nice and very unique breed they are.  It was fun to get away from the military and Farmstead work for a couple of days.  It was fun to have Mr. Duster out and running again after so many years.  And, it was fantastic to see my beloved with a ‘fun’ smile on his face for a change!

I believe I overheard the two of them ~ Darling Husbie and Mr. Duster ~ discussing some things while in the shop the other day.  I’m sure it’s only a matter of time, and not too much at that, before Mr. Duster is up on blocks again, undergoing more transplants in preparation for next year’s Nebraska Slant 6 gathering.  Of this, I have no doubt.

I’m just glad I can be there, with the girls, on our Supervisor Couch, asking questions, learning to read Ancient Gibberish, and handing my beloved his tools.  ♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on August 28, 2010

Whew!  We’ve made it through the sweet corn season!  Actually, our sweet corn season has been over for almost three weeks ~ I’m just now getting around to catching up.  This year proved to be successful in more ways than one: we didn’t have 8,000 ears of corn needing picked at the same time; we were able to put up three times the corn we put up last year; we were able to help feed the hungry; and, we learned a few more things we’re going to do differently next year.

We had ears coming due about every ten days from the second week in July through the first week in August.  Darling Husbie and I engineered a system that made the picking process go fairly quickly.  Really, it was pretty slick, if I may say so.  It was the processing that had a tendency to consume all time and space for awhile.  But, by the fourth rendition, I had a pretty good assembly line figured out.  As long as Darling Husbie and Big Little Brother steered clear of everything beyond the refrigerator; as long as the Beagle mutt didn’t sprawl out for her nap in my path from the sink to the stove; as long as the Toy Fox Terrorist didn’t shove dead stuffed weasels, skunks and badgers under my feet; and, as long as the finicky feline didn’t tug on my apron strings, I could get 120 ears shucked, washed, blanched, cut off the cob, bagged, labeled and in the freezer ~ and the mess cleaned up ~ in just under ten hours.  [I was blessed to have my Buddy with me during one rendition, and we were able to get the process down to about six hours!  She has an equal amount of OCD in her bones, so she fit right into the assembly line rhythm.]

The first section ready to pick was Ambrosia.  This was our first planting of Ambrosia, and I think it’s safe to say Ambrosia will be the only variety we plant from now on, as we think it is far superior to the Incredible.  I am convinced this is God’s prize creation when it comes to sweet corn!  Yowza!  Anyway, this is four dozen ears of pure sweetness standing in waiting for the assembly line.  It’s shucked [Really?!] and ready for washing.  [Okay, am I the only one who gets sarcastic with herself?]  There are six dozen in the line ahead of them.

Surprise!  More corn…those luscious ears on the plate have been washed and are ready to move to the blanching process.  You see, I’d take it from the basket, wash it, and stack it on the plate.  Exciting stuff, I know.

Now we’ve moved over to the stove.  Is that not the most gorgeous pile of sweetness you’ve ever seen?!

Here we are a blanchin’ ~ eight ears and eleven minutes at a time.  Umpf.  Yes, that is my big water bath canner, too.  You just have to be careful about overcrowding the ears in the pot, as you want to make sure they get blanched evenly.  Now you know why it takes hours to process 120 ears!

After the blanching, we move to the cooling and drying stage.  From the pot of boiling water, the ears went into a sink of ice water for eleven minutes.  From there, they went onto the towel to dry.  I had two timers going, and by the time one batch was finished blanching, the other batch was ready to dry, which made the sink available for the batch that was finished blanching.  The batch that was drying was ready to be bagged and labeled, which made the towel available for the batch that was cooled.

I decided to freeze this batch on the cob.  Six ears fit perfectly in a gallon-size freezer bag.  I couldn’t stop myself from becoming giddy over the thought of how delicious fresh corn-on-the-cob is going to taste during our next blizzard!

About 48 ears into the process, I had a real rhythm to my madness.  Wash, blanch, cool, dry, bag, label ~ wash, blanch, cool, dry, bag, label.  You can see, though, why my choreographed chaos had no room for bumping into boys, side-stepping around sprawled out Beagle mutts, trip-toeing over dead stuffed varmints that have had the life shaken out of them by the vicious Toy Fox Terrorist, and being weighted down by a feline dangling from an apron string.

The other three renditions included cutting the corn from the cob.  As much as we enjoy gnarling on the cob, and as much as I appreciated how much quicker the process was not having to cut the kernels off, there just isn’t enough freezer space for 360 ears of corn in the ol’ barn house!  So, we have the 120 ears on the cob, and the remaining 240 ears are frozen flat in 2-cup servings.  Yum!

When all was said and done ~ when all the splattered corn milk was washed off the windows and walls, and all the fallen kernels were lapped up by two eager canine tongues ~ we had quite the bountiful harvest.  The OCD in my bones made it nearly impossible not to count each and every ear we picked.  I tried, but after the first 1,533 ears, common sense finally…slowly…painstakingly…won over.  With the grass growing at 2.7 inches per hour, and the weeds growing at a rate thirteen times that, and the beans needing to be picked, and the Gretel eggplants ~ oh, those crazy Gretel eggplants ~ and on and on, I just didn’t have time to be standing still counting ears of corn.

So, based on our fine-tuned, calculated guesstimate, we harvested somewhere right around 8,000 ears of pure sweetness.  Of that, we put 360 ears into our own freezer; we shared close to 1,500 ears with specific friends and neighbors; nearly 3,000 ears went to fellow soldiers and their families; and, nearly another 3,000 ears went to our local Salvation Army for their hot meal program, which feeds just over 200 people breakfast and dinner Monday through Friday, and Hope Harbor, which currently houses about 30 individuals.  Oh, and there was the two dozen my Buddy carted back to Arizona in her duffel bag, leaving all of her clothing behind so she could fill her bag with fresh produce instead!  And, of course, the several dozen we’ve had the pleasure of consuming.

Yes, indeed, there is so much to savor from the sweet corn ~ bountiful blessings abound!  Praise God!  ♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on July 11, 2010

Have you ever misunderstood someone while speaking to them on a cell phone?  Darling Husbie’s and my telephone conversations generally occur over our cell phones, so we’ve gotten pretty good at interpreting what the other has said.  However, there are still some occasions when things get misinterpreted ~ hence the title of this post.

The other day, Darling Husbie was on his way back from Lincoln and decided to call for the daily SITREP to help pass the time.  I immediately launched into my report [in full detail, mind you, because I wasn't working on a secret project], telling him about my day in the garden.  I told him of all the grass and broad leaves I’d taken pleasure in killing, and then I told him I’d completed our first harvest of the season.  “I picked two okra and some sweet peas,” is what I said.  What he heard was, “I picked two okra and three peas.”  He laughed, finding it comical I was so excited over such a minuscule bounty.  “Two okra and three peas…that’s good, Baby,” he managed to get out between chuckles.  No, no, no!  “Not three peas, sweet peas!  A bunch of sweet peas, Lovie.”  Almost a pound of each variety.  Anyway, we got through that and had another laugh about it when he got home to actually inspect the goods.  We thought it funny having 12,000 square feet of gardening space and only harvesting a fistful.  It’s been a challenging year for gardening with some crazy weather ~ but hopefully not that bad!

I’ve been informed that my menu posts are beyond ultimately boring, and that I needed to post some photos of the garden.  I have had every intention of updating ya’ll on our progress, but after spending six to eight hours out there on my hands and knees, the only thing I want to do is take a cold shower and veg!  [Ha!  I made a pun.  teehee!]  We’ve been working hard to combat the weeds, so I’ve been hitting it pretty early each morning.  But, we got some rain early this morning and it’s still too wet to be tromping and crawling around, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to give you a quick update.

Now, you’ve heard us talk about the amazing phenomenon of this chocolate angel food dirt and the effect it has on plants.  There comes a time when the plants seem to really take hold and then really take off ~ well, after struggling through some pretty rough elements for a little over a month, that time has finally come.  We can literally watch the plants grow throughout the day.  I took these photos one week ago today.  The transformation between then and now has been incredible.  I’d take new photos this morning, but don’t want to traipse through the mud.

Here, you can see what we refer to as the west plot, and part of the east plot, which we are referring to this year as the pumpkin patch.  This is looking north, and at the far end you can see the sweet corn plot.  The west and east plots are each 40′ x 150′, making them 6,000 sf each.  The sweet corn plot is shaped like a strange trapezoid and is approximately 7,000 sf.

Here’s the view to the south taken while standing approximately in the middle of the west plot.  You can just barely see the corner of the pumpkin patch ~ and, no [thank heaven!], that stand of corn is not ours!  Well, it would be nice if it was ours, but not to harvest by hand.  That’s field corn, and it is the south property boundary.  You may notice a gap in the line of pepper plants.  Son #2 was graciously helping me with the weeding, and we suffered a few fatalities…both in the line of peppers and the okra.  Whoops!

This is a shot of the south end of the pumpkin patch ~ you can also see a line of cowpeas in the foreground, which is in the west plot.  These are the squash and cucumber plants.  Darling Husbie did some massive weed control with the 3-point tiller and then rolled out some alfalfa for mulch.  The transformation in these plants over the past week has been incredible.  You wouldn’t recognize them as the same plants, as they have at least tripled in size.  The day Husbie mulched, there was a plant that had a teeny pickling cucumber less than an inch.  Three days later, Husbie picked that same cucumber and it was four inches long and fat as could be!  It’s that angel food dirt phenomenon thing.

Here’s four of the six pumpkin plants.  They have experienced the same growth spurt.  They have tripled, or even quadrupled in size, and now have flowers the size of dinner plates [just within the last two days, so Darling Husbie hasn't even seen those!]  Husbie enjoys growing the pumpkins because we invite all the little ones who belong to our fellow soldiers out to the Farmstead to pick their very own pumpkin for harvest season.  It’s beyond adorable to watch them wander through the patch, seeking just the perfect pumpkin, and the excitement on their face as their daddy carries it to their vehicle.

This is a glamor shot of one of the two infamous okra!  We find it somewhat comical these spindly little plants are producing anything worth harvesting.  Last year, the okra plants were the size of trees before they started putting on any pods.  But, like the squash and pumpkins, they have taken hold and are really starting to look like viable plants.

A couple of the jalapeno plants among those surviving the weeding exercise.  They are starting to produce at a prolific rate ~ which is good, because I’m in dire need of some more of that incredible Jalapeno Jelly!  These two plants were actually purchased from the local nursery to replace those I’d started from seed and got promptly pounded with torrential rain and hail as soon as I’d planted them.

Is this not the goofiest eggplant you’ve ever seen?!  The name of this variety escapes me right now, but they are the craziest things!  Instead of producing the traditional big, purple eggplant you find in the stores, these produce little white tubes.  You pick them when they are about four inches long.  We harvested our first batch the other night.  I was making some fried okra and decided I’d try my hand at making these the same way.  I sliced them like fries, battered them up and deep fried them until they were a light golden brown and crispy.  Served them up with Ranch dip ~ yummmm!  I picked eight more yesterday, and we have one yellow zucchini, so I know what my dinner is going to be this evening!

This is a mystery squash.  It’s one of many volunteer plants that have come up from last year’s leftovers.  And, of course, it has grown exponentially over the past week.  The blossom you see here is now…something.  We’ve been watching it daily.  At first, we thought it was perhaps a zucchini.  However, because of the leaves, we’ve decided it is not a zucchini plant but instead a squash plant.  A Yellow Crookneck, specifically.  But, as the ‘something’ continued to grow, I began having my doubts about it being a Yellow Crookneck.  It wasn’t yellow, and it didn’t have a crook in its neck.  Yesterday morning, I was beginning to wonder if perhaps it may be a Boston Marrow.  I had discussed it with Darling Husbie during one of the SITREPs, and he, too, thought it may be a Boston Marrow.  However!  Since we can literally watch the plants grow throughout the day, I kept my eye on it while I was out there battling weeds yesterday.  By the time evening approached, I was swaying back to thinking it is a Yellow Crookneck after all.  The ‘something’ is starting to turn what appears to be yellow ~ now that the weeds are gone from it and the sun can do its thing.  I don’t know!  It’s still a mystery, but you can bet I’ll have my eye on it again today.  I’ll let you know as soon as we know!

Finally, this is just one of several marigolds I have planted throughout the plot.  This particular variety is a Scarlet Starlet.  If you haven’t been clicking on the photos to enlarge them, click on this one.  I took this photo in the morning just after a rain ~ the water pooled on the petals looks pretty neat!

Well, that’s it for now.  It looks like the water has soaked in enough I can at least get out there ~ time to ruin the lives of a gazillion more weeds.  I’m trying like mad to get the weeds under control, because within the next couple of days the first round of sweet corn will be ready for picking!  Darling Husbie picked an ear Thursday and it wasn’t quite ready.  It still tasted a little ‘green.’  I picked an ear yesterday, two days later, and it’s oh-so-close.  I stood out there by the plot and nibbled every kernel down to the cob.  Raw.  It’s just that good.  We’re guessing with the shot of water they got again last night and this morning, followed by sunshine and the 86% humidity we’re having, we’ll be picking in the next couple of days!

Don’t forget ~ you can check out the Farmstead Bobble Head now and then.  You may catch a glimpse of Abigail, the Toy Fox Terrorist, tormenting the toads while I wreak havoc on the weeds.  ♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on June 29, 2010

It was so nice having a menu to work from last week ~ not having to put much thought into what to make from day to day.  No worries about having to remember.  Just read the menu and prepare accordingly.  The only problem seems to be the days going by much too quickly!

Unfortunately, the compressor in the air conditioning unit died and it will be 5 – 10 days before the new one arrives from the manufacturer.  So, I have a feeling the majority of our meals will be prepared either on the grill or in the crock pot.  Either that, or I’ll prepare them early in the morning while it’s still cool and then just reheat at dinner time.

Monday ~ Buttermilk Chicken Tender Strips; Mashed Potatoes; Sugar Snap Peas

Tuesday ~ Not My Mama’s Meatloaf; Glazed Carrots; Tossed Salad [possibly leftover mashed potatoes]

Wednesday ~ Smoked Sausage; Homemade Macaroni and Cheese; Sauteed Yellow Squash and Zucchini

Thursday ~ Coney Island Hotdogs [didn't have them last week]; Homemade Freedom Fries; Tossed Salad

Friday ~ Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas; Refried Beans; Spanish Rice; Tossed Salad

Saturday ~ Cheeseburgers; Cowgirl Beans; Sweet Corn; Green Beans

Sunday ~ T-Bone Steak; Baked Potatoes; Sweet Corn; Sugar Snap Peas; Tossed Salad

For dessert, I think I’ll bake a Mexican Fruitcake ~ not anything like the traditional fruitcake you get at Christmas.  That can be our special treat while celebrating Independence Day!  I’m also fairly certain I am going to attempt making some Deep Fried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ~ everyone is gearing up for the State Fair, and this says ‘Fair Food’ all over it!  Darling Husbie will undoubtedly request a pie or two somewhere in there, too.

Category: Menu Planning Mania | 2 Comments »
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Posted By FarmerJ on June 21, 2010

Gracious me!  It’s been quite a while since I’ve planned a menu, hasn’t it?  I am so very thankful for my Darling Husbie who works so hard to provide for us.  We are so extremely blessed with ample food that I’ve been able to get by with ‘winging’ it ~ being able to pull together whatever sounds good at the time.  Praise God!  But, it’s time to get back to organization.  You know me with my OCD!

I’m trying to utilize the crock pot and my Masterful Grill Meister [aka Darling Husbie] more right now.  The house is warm with the afternoon sun, and schedules are full and always changing, so these two options provide great solutions to both issues.  Let’s see what we come up with, shall we?

Monday ~ Red Beans and Rice; Tossed Salad; Sweet Cornbread

Tuesday ~ Sloppy Joes; Green and Wax Beans; Homemade Potato Salad; Sesame Seed Buns

Wednesday ~ Pan Fried Pork Chops; Corn Casserole; Mashed Potatoes; Tossed Salad

Thursday ~ Beef Stir Fry; Jasmine Rice; Crab Rangoons [I love these things!  But, I've never made them.]

Friday ~ Honey Lime Grilled Chicken; Baked Potatoes; Sugar Snap Peas; Tossed Salad

Saturday ~ Coney Island Hot Dogs; Tater Tots

Sunday ~ Beef Stew; Tossed Salad

For dessert, I think I’ll make a Strawberry Crisp as a switch from the Strawberry Pies I’ve been making with the fresh-picked berries from the garden.  That, and a Key Lime Poke Cake should get those sweet taste buds flowin’!

What are ya’ll havin’ at your homestead? ♥

Graphic by Country Luv'n Clipart

Category: Menu Planning Mania | 4 Comments »
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Posted By FarmerJ on June 20, 2010

We’ve enjoyed an incredibly pleasant week of weather at the Farmstead.  The evenings have been near-perfect with cool temperatures and calm winds.  The severe storms kept at bay all week.  Thursday evening, Darling Husbie and I were outside wandering through the gardens, both admitting it is evenings like that one that give us desire to want to remain in Nebraska.

Darling Husbie captured some of the skyward beauty ~ the time was 9:16:04 pm [the photo above].  I purposely note the seconds because I want to share with you how drastically the sky was changing before our eyes as the sun was beginning to set.

The time was 9:16:28 pm.  The pinks had turned to fabulous shades of orange in just 24 seconds.  Incredible, yes?  Fresh, still air.  Only the sound of rural country blessings.

The time was 9:16:58.  In another 30 seconds, the orange was deepening to red.  I can’t think of another instance when I’ve been able to witness such drastic changes in a mere 54 seconds.  The effect on the green grass, plants and trees was outstanding ~ almost as if they were a rich fluorescent green.

Truly phenomenal, and definitely a God thing! ♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on June 10, 2010

It all started back in April, shortly after I’d finished rejuvenating the living room and kitchen, when Darling Husbie asked when I was going to get rid of the rest of the nasty peach color painted on the walls.  The next room to get a makeover was going to be the office ~ the nucleus of all things happening at the Prairie Farmstead.  It’s the room where Darling Husbie’s and my computers are set up; it’s where the weather station computer is set up, along with the weather webcam (lovingly referred to as ‘The Bobblehead’) which takes snapshots of the front yard; and, it’s normally the room where Darling Husbie and I begin and end our day together coordinating schedules, discussing projects and enjoying our coffee.

Since the office is the hub of the Farmstead, I thought it would be cute to decorate it based on a farm / tractor motif.  I thought that would be something Darling Husbie would get a kick out of and enjoy, so I wanted that part of my scheme to be a surprise.  I did discuss wall color options with him, so he knew I was planning something in my head…he just didn’t know exactly what.

I’d sent an email off to Spark Plug ~ my bestest buddy who held my hand through getting the pictures hung in the living room ~ letting her in on my plan and asking her to get her thoughts sparkin’ because I needed her help once again.  I reminded her of Darling Husbie’s tin ‘Ford Farming’ sign he’d gotten when we first moved here, and told her that’s what I wanted to base the rest of the decor from, both colors and style.  Oh, and I told her my budget for this makeover was just a little more than nil.

Darling Husbie had to go to Guernsey, Wyoming for a couple of weeks in May [Gah!  That was a month ago, already!], so the timing was perfect.  He left on a Monday morning, and I immediately went into action.  A quick phone call to Spark Plug giving her the secret code words, “He’s Gone,” and away I went in Dinkie Doo ~ I was on my Search & Nab mission.  I was on the hunt for anything farm / tractor related and some picture frames…with a self-inflicted budget of just a little more than nil.  After visiting what felt like seventeen stores, but in reality was only seven, I had an ample little arsenal of goodies ~ the little metal tractor coaster set in the photo above, being part of it.

Now, part of the great humor in this whole sneaky adventure is that I’m a terrible liar, and I’m not all that smart when it comes to being devious [well, I'm not all that smart any time, but particularly when it comes to being devious].  And, nobody on this earth knows me better than Darling Husbie.  So, the fact that I’m trying to be sneaky with him only raises the bar on the funny factor gauge.  You see, generally when Husbie is away from home, he’ll call at night for a daily SITREP (SITuation REPort) ~ and, me being me, I’d normally go into painstaking detail about everything that happened throughout the day.  But, not this time.  I couldn’t tell him I’d gone to seventeen seven stores looking for tractor motif, and I couldn’t make something up, so when he asked me what I’d done all day, I just said, “Oh, just ran some errands and piddled around.”  Clue Number One I was up to something.

So, with coffee freshly brewed and phones fully charged, Spark Plug and I set about redecorating the nucleus of all Prairie Farmstead happenings…together…with 1,400 miles between us.  I started on the east wall of the office, because I thought it would be an easy wall and sort of get me in the groove of things.  Well, my thought process was wrong, but I was tremendously happy to have that wall finished.  That wall is the wall with the window, the built-in cabinets, the built-in desk…and Darling Husbie’s weather station.  My original thought process led me to believe that with all that cabinetry, there would be less wall space, and therefore, it wouldn’t take all that long to have it painted and to be able to see some progress.  Wrong.  What all that cabinetry really meant was a bunch of masking that needed to be done before painting could even begin.  Tedious and time consuming.  And, Darling Husbie’s weather station?  Well, in my devious scheming mind, I knew I didn’t dare shut the computer down and disconnect all the cables and cords so that it all could be moved out of the way and allow me easy access to the wall space behind it.  Oh, no.  For if I’d done that, it would have undoubtedly been the precise moment Darling Husbie dialed up the weather station and would have wondered why it was down, and I surely would have had to account for that in the daily SITREP.

You understand now why I say I’m glad I got that wall out of the way first, yes?  I persevered, slowly and steadily, trimming first where the wall adjoins the ceiling; then the window frame; then the cabinets; then the baseboards; then underneath the counter of the built-in desk; and, finally, twisted like a pretzel, all around the cables and cords of the weather station.  When initially discussing painting the room with Darling Husbie, we decided we wanted to use the same colors we’d used in the living room.  And, we decided we wanted the east wall painted the Designer White color to add a little brightness to the room, as that corner always seemed to be a little dark.  It did a fabulous job of bringing out the natural beauty of the pine cabinetry, too. Several hours later, the ‘easy’ wall was finally complete.  Spark Plug had checked in on me throughout the day to make sure I was working like I was supposed to be ~ and Darling Husbie called late that night for his SITREP.  “So, what’s going on around there?  What did you do today?”  Ummm…”Not much.  Just piddled.” Clue Number Two I was up to something.

The next couple of days went much the same way ~ a fresh pot of coffee, a fully charged phone, a loving wake-up call from Darling Husbie shortly followed by a Plan of Action call from Spark Plug.  I painted the remaining three walls with the Linen color, extremely thrilled to cover up that nasty peach color.  I took this photo just to show you the difference in the two ‘tan’ tones, and why Husbie finally agreed with me that the original color was ‘peach.’    I thought this was going to be the difficult wall, because this is the wall that my computer desk is against.  It’s not exactly the easiest thing to move, but fortunately I had the Pecks-O-Steel [aka oldest son] around to help me.  I’d decided that I’d go ahead and leave my computer connected since I’d learned to paint around the weather station ~ and this one had to be easier than that because at least I wouldn’t be contorted under a desk.  The daily SITREP: “So, what have you been up to?”  “Oh, just kind of piddling around.”  Clue Numbers Three and Four I was up to something. For four days had gone by now and my Beloved Husbie knows me better than to not be busy doing something, and to not blab on to the point of overkill in details.  There was a chuckle on the other end, and a “What are you up to?  Are you and Spark Plug sparkin’ again?”  I guess he’s got my buddy’s number pegged to, eh?  I finally confessed, “I’m just workin’ on a project, boyfriend.”  He knew by my ways I wanted it to be a surprise, so he didn’t press the issue too much.  Good thing, too ~ remember…I’m not so good at being devious.

I don’t know what it is about this house, but something in the design creates the need for dangerous drastic measures in order to reach sections of the walls.  There was no way ~ believe me, I tried all angles ~ I could reach the wall in the corner above this cabinet from the safety of the 7-foot ladder.  It just wasn’t going to happen.  So, once again, I got a little creative with my step stool.  I really do not recommend this!

Day five rolled around and it was time to start putting the room back together.  This is where I rely on Spark Plug the most.  It was time to get the curtain hung.  There were three renditions of curtain rods, including one I’d purchased one and one I’d tried to resourcefully make from a piece of hoe handle [how 'farmy' is that?  a little too farmy!] before the final rod was put into place.  I ended up going with one I’d taken down from elsewhere in the house and had tucked in the corner of the closet…completely forgotten.  It was white, so I painted it with my favorite hammered metal bronze spray paint.  It matched the motif magnificently!

Now, the curtain didn’t come like this.  With Spark Plug’s brain and my brawn, we made this curtain.  Thankfully, my sewing skills have improved a tad since my bedroom curtain adventure.  The tan curtain is one Spark had found on clearance in her JCPenney store and just had to get it for me, knowing I’d use it one way or another in the office.  The stripe section is actually a piece taken from a remnant of drapes she had left over from a project and had sent to me quite some time ago knowing I could use it for something someday.

We’d gotten the bottom sewn on ~ she, over 1,400 miles away, but on ‘speaker’ and tucked into my apron pocket ~ and discussed how it was going to be hung…whether we were going to use a tieback, etc.  Leaving my computer up turned out to be quite handy, as I could send her photos of our progress and whatnot.  It was almost as if she were here with me.  Anyway, we decided against the tieback, so it needed a little something more for color.  So, we cut and sewed another section of stripes from the drape remnant.  It turned out too stinkin’ cute!

Once we were finished with the curtain and had it hung, it was time to find just the right thing for atop the cabinets above Husbie’s desk.  Spark found a guy who makes wooden silhouettes and sells them on eBay.  They were absolutely adorable and perfect ~ and they were handmade…even better for the atmosphere of the Prairie Farmstead hub.  So, I ordered them.  Whoops!  Do you recall the part about me being not all that smart when it comes to being devious?  Well, yeah.  There was just one little hiccup with me ordering the silhouettes.  I used Darling Husbie’s eBay account to do it, which meant he got the confirmation emails in his inbox.  Oy!  Just brilliant.  Not!  Well, okay.  So he doesn’t know what I’m doing with those silhouettes, right?  Shortly after that snafu and regaining composure after realizing my complete idiocy ~ I was, afterall, supposed to be sneaky about this ~ Darling Husbie called for the daily SITREP.  Um…er…yeah.  Let’s just say it was Clue Number Five I was obviously up to something.

The next day, with yet another pot of fresh-brewed coffee and a fully charged phone, was picture frame day.  Here, you can see the tin ‘Ford Farming’ sign which was my focal point all along.  I found the large frame for it on sale at Wal-Mart, and the 8 x 10 frames were on clearance at my second-favorite store of all time, Gordman’s.  [I apologize for the poor color quality of this photo, the time of day was wreaking havoc with the lighting.]

It was Spark’s brilliant idea to utilize some of the heirloom seed packets Darling Husbie and I had ordered for the garden this year as the ‘pictures’ in the smaller frames.  How much better can you tie into the farm / tractor motif than that?!  And, really, these seed packets are vibrantly colored and just plain beautiful, as far as seed packets go.  Once again, with her brain and my brawn, we utilized more of the stripe pattern from the drape remnant to create the corners of the small frames.  We’d gone back and forth over what to do with the tin sign.  I finally came up with this final version in the wee hours…probably long after the daily SITREP on this day.  Oh, and regarding the SITREP ~ at this point, I just had to say, “I’ve been working on my secret project.”

Over the next couple of days, I continued working on the final touches.  Spark Plug had other things to do besides hang out in my pocket all day, and I was ready for this project to be complete…not to mention, Darling Husbie was due home in just a few more days!  Here, you can see a cover I made for the vinyl cutting / printing machine using the second tan panel from the curtains and more stripes from the remnants of Spark’s drapes.  The corner of the desk you see is my desk.

The silhouettes I’d ordered finally arrived and I was able to strategically place them where I’d been instructed by Spark.  The one on the left is a farmer man and his dog at a Farmer’s Market stand.  The one on the right is a farmer man on his tractor pulling a disc behind.  The wooden tray in the center is from a cheese and sausage platter we’d been given a couple years ago as a Christmas gift.  I used the vinyl machine to cut ‘Prairie Farmstead’ using a Ford tractor copycat font, of course!

Here’s Darling Husbie’s corner of the nucleus of all Prairie Farmstead happenings.  You can see the little cork board I made for him, covering the old icky one with a canvas-type fabric I’ve had for a long time now, and using the stripe remnants to add the color in the corners.  The corners are actually useful little pockets Husbie can tuck stuff into ~ like the photo of his airplane.  The other two silhouettes are there, too.  The one on the cork board is a farmstead, complete with a little tractor parked beside the barn, and the one in the frame is a little farmer hoeing his corn rows.  Cute!  I gave that frame the same corner treatment I did with the seed packet frames.

I used the vinyl cutting machine to make this to put above the laundry closet doors.  It’s one of my favorite scriptures and seemed to fit so perfectly with the farm / tractor motif, yes?  It also quite accurately describes things around here, for we are seldom idle here on the farmstead.

I got the rooster clock hung because, well, no farmstead office seems complete without a rooster clock.  This gives you a distance shot of the scripture above the laundry closet, too.  I guess I took this photo before the silhouettes arrived, as the little corn man isn’t in his frame here.  Heehee!

Last, but not least, here is the final wall.  This wall is to my left as I sit at my desk, just to give you a little [perhaps unwanted] perspective.  The frames contain actual photos of happenings at the Prairie Farmstead.  The top one is of Darling Husbie in Winston the Windrower making the first cut of alfalfa this year.  The bottom left photo is of Darling Husbie on Samson the Ford 8N planting his first eight rows of sweet corn this year.  And, the bottom right photo is of both round and square alfalfa bales on the field during the summer of 2008.  These pictures are perfect for adding just the right amount of personal touch to the whole farm / tractor motif, don’t you think?

Now, if you’ve read along this far, bear with me just a little bit more.  For we have reached the most humorous part of the story.  The entire time Darling Husbie was away, I was trying to be sneaky and devious about this project.  My goal was to have everything absolutely perfectly in place when he walked in the door.  The whole scenario is one I had choreographed in my head, and Spark Plug and I were both about to burst at the seams in anticipation of Husbie’s reaction.

Well, all that perfectly planned business?  Completely out the window.  You see, in the process of printing those three photos of Darling Husbie working on the farmstead, the printer ran out of yellow ink.  I’d gotten two of the three photos printed, but the bottom left frame remained empty.  Perhaps Darling Husbie wouldn’t notice, at least not right away, in all his excitement over everything else.  Yeah, well, that’s something we’re going to have to ask him about because I ended up not even being here when he got home!  Can you believe it?!  I’d agreed to help a friend out of a jam, and I was gone until well into the evening.  Darling Husbie had made it home before me.  So, he walked into a lonely house…and into a dark nucleus…with an empty frame left hanging on the wall.

And, that, my dear, is about typical for how things happen around here on the Prairie Farmstead!  ♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on June 3, 2010

The sky was quite the display of Mother Nature’s wonder and awe again this evening.  There was a massive thunderstorm to the north of us moving eastward.  The EBS radio was blaring constantly, alternating between severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings as the front made its way.  But, it was all north of us, so I wasn’t too concerned.

I was marveling over the cloud formation above, which was directly north of the farmstead.  The latest tornado warnings were for locations within 11 miles of us.  Close enough to pay attention, but no need to panic.  I continued to ooooh and ahhhh over this cloud ~ it looked just like a whale.  It was low, it was huge and it was incredible.

A few minutes later, Darling Husbie mentioned something about every active storm he’s experienced so far spins off to the southeast.  This storm was just to the northwest of us.  Great.  We’re directly southeast.

My whale cloud had completely disappeared and the formation you see above had immediately formed.  That got our attention.  Why does Darling Husbie have to be right about these things?

The radio is still blaring about severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.  The prettiness in the roll cloud is being replaced with the look of business.

There’s a definite distinguishable rotation at this point.  The top of the clouds are moving to the south, and the bottom of the clouds are rotating back to the north.  Lovie, should we go to the shelter yet?

With the distinct rotation now, along with this piece that reached down to tap Darling Husbie on the shoulder [he was outside on the upper deck], he told us to be ‘on the ready,’ but we probably didn’t need to go yet.  If we were going to have to go into the shelter, I’d prefer to do it before all the rain and hail arrives!

I put the Mon-kay in her carrier ~ boy, she hates that thing ~ and the boys were told to pull their heads out of their video games.

Everything was probably going to go north of us, but how do we really know for sure.  It would be really silly of us to get injured in a severe storm when there’s a nice storm shelter just a hop, leap and a jump outside our front door.

The clouds were becoming massive and incredibly low to the ground.  That’s what kept amazing me.  I felt as if I could just reach out and grab a piece of it.

Nope.  It hadn’t cleared up.  This is a picture of the humongous wall of rain and hail that was headed directly for us.  There was literally no visibility beyond the front slough ~ you’d never know our alfalfa field was just beyond the slough.

So, the rain gushed.  The hail knocked, then pounded [of course, I'd just finished planting the last of our plant babies in the garden this morning].  And, finally, it all passed.

And, as with every one of these massive storms, behind it follows a most phenomenal sunset.  The winds are calm, the frogs are croaking, and it’s a beautiful night.

Spectacularly amazing, yes?  ♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on May 30, 2010

…on Sunday.  I’m not getting any better at this, am I?  It’s quite obvious spring sprung a few weeks ago ~ all the country critters are active, and so are we.  However, not a lot of it was aimed at farming this week.  Our schedules and the weather had other plans.

Nonetheless, the farmstead plants are active, too, despite being pelted with hail and getting tattered by 35 – 45 mph winds.  The plum tree has put on little plum babies.  We’ve never actually been able to eat a plum from this tree, though.  It puts on loads of fruit, they slightly ripen, and then fall.  We’re not sure why.  This will be our third summer here, so maybe this will be the ‘charm’ year, yes?

Darling Husbie returned to the farmstead Tuesday evening after having been gone a little over two weeks.  He had to coordinate and command the aviation piece of a pre-deployment training exercise in Guernsey, Wyoming [the weather gave them everything from record-breaking snowfall and cold temperatures to funnel clouds].

While all of us, his loving family, were elated to have him home again, the weeds…not so much.  I’d been telling him the weeds in the slough and the back forty were trying to overrun us.  I tried to keep them tamed as much as possible with Kitty, the Cub Cadet, but the slough is too rough for her.  Ya’ll know how ‘seat time’ sets Darling Husbie right with the world.  Well, he got all the seat time he wanted on Thursday.  I think he spent somewhere around eight hours in the seat.  Tym the Tractor and the brush hog got a workout along the edges of the slough, alfalfa field and the back forty, and then he cleaned up the slough with good ol’ JD [the John Deere lawn tractor our neighbor gave to us because a steering link had broken and so he just went and bought a new one...a new lawn tractor, that is!].  JD is older, so we feel a little better about running him over the rough stuff rather than beating up Kitty too much.

While the weeds around the slough were trying to overrun us, the grass in the sweet corn plot did a superior job of making its annoying presence known.  It’s hard to believe that less than two weeks ago, I went up and down each row on my hands and knees pulling every weed and grass stem that dared rear its undesirable head.  It was pristine, if dirt can be pristine, that is.

So, Thursday’s task for Husbie was cultivating the corn plot.  Yep, more seat time for the man.  The process horrified and killed about a gazillion weeds, but there was still at least a half gazillion left.  Later, Tym and the tiller took care of all those you see in the ‘runway’ ~ the six foot path between each variety of sweet corn.  Unfortunately, we’re still going to have to get down on our hands and knees and pull a bunch of grass that remains in and around the corn baby stalks.  That sounds like a great job to enlist the help of two unsuspecting teenage boys!  Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!  Anyway, despite the annoying grass, the corn babies seem to be doing quite well.

The two 150-foot rows of potatoes seem to be pretty happy, as well.  The first row [the one with the soaker hose in it] is the row of ‘mystery’ potatoes.  They’re seed potatoes we made from last year’s crop.  They’re mystery potatoes because Darling Husbie and I disagree on what variety they are.  I say they are Red Pontiac, because it was the Red Pontiac potatoes I left in the bin because they didn’t keep as well as the Yukon Gold and they were too far sprouted to try to save them for eating.  Husbie says they are Yukon Gold, because he cut enough Red Pontiac seed potatoes we purchased this spring to know they are not Red Pontiac.  So, they’re a mystery until fall when harvest time arrives!  Heehee!  Perhaps we’ve created a hybrid Prairie Farmstead Spud, eh?!

The sweet pea babies are finally taking a hold, and I am relieved!  They were painstakingly slow in germinating this year, so much that I was afraid I was just going to have to start over with new seeds.  But, their timidness in making their appearance was undoubtedly because the soil had cooled off so much again during the wacky weather we’d been having.  The 80 and 90 degree days we’ve had this past week have certainly sprung them into action, and they are already ‘reaching’ for their trellis ~ which isn’t there yet, and the installation of such is on Husbie’s Honey-Do list.

The strawberry babies are coming on strong.  This is one 4 x 4 box of the June Bearing plants.  Darling Husbie picked our first two ripe berries Thursday.  Do you think I got even so much as a nibble off of one?  No!  He had them both snarfed down before I could even bat my lashes at him.  Heehee!  He said, “I’m sorry, Honey.  It just happened.”  Umm, yeah.  Heehee!  He redeemed himself the next morning, though, by picking me one little one that was almost ripe.  See why I love this man?!

That’s about it for this farmstead report, but things have kicked it into overdrive!  We did more yesterday than we did all last week, but that will be in the next report.

We hope you’ll stay tuned…♥

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Posted By FarmerJ on May 22, 2010

Well, gracious.  I know I likely sound like a broken record, but I really am amazed at how quickly time is passing.  Not only am I a day late for this Friday’s report, but I seem to have misplaced an entire week in between.

Although the actual ‘farming’ report will seem scarce this time, things have been humming along at a mild roar around here.  May will soon have passed, leaving behind just a blurred vision of what I think happened.

You may recall from the 07 May report, Darling Husbie did an early cut of the alfalfa and had ended that week by raking over the windrows in preparation of baling it with the New Holland round baler we were all absolutely ecstatic over.  Well, that all didn’t turn out quite as we’d hoped it would.  The baler is awesome, but it seems that Tym the Tractor needs just a little more PTO horsepower to operate the chain drive sufficiently once the bale reaches a certain size.  To make a long, painful story short and to minimize Darling Husbie having to completely relive the experience ~ my most patient beloved husband spent two days clearing the alfalfa from the field…not baled…and it is now providing nourishment back into the soil around the slough.  I did what every farmer’s wife is not supposed to do, and sat beside him in the tractor cab long into the dark of night, trying to show my appreciation for his hard work and empathy for the disgust he was feeling.  We’ll just leave it at that.  [We did have a little fun watching a coyote follow the tractor and baler in hunt for any 'rodentia' scurrying from the windrows.]

To help break up the hay monotony, Darling Husbie hooked the 2-row planter to Samson, the Ford 8N, and planted the remainder of the sweet corn.  He quickly drove another 8 rows of Ambrosia seed and another 10 rows of Incredible seed into the ground.  So, we have a total of 12 rows of Ambrosia and 14 rows of Incredible.  I’m still hoping the natural 10-day variance in germinating coupled with the staggering of planting helps in allowing me to successfully manage processing the corn a little better this year!

Sunday, 09 May was Mother’s Day.  It was also the day Boy #1 graduated from high school.  I think I walked around in a fog all day in utter disbelief.  It is true when you hear mothers say they remember walking their child to their kindergarten class like it was just yesterday, and now they’re watching that same child move that tassel from left to right as a symbol of embarking on a new season of life.  Well, I haven’t come to terms with moving my motherhood tassel from left to right just yet.  Yes, I’ve been working on letting this adult child stretch his freedom wings ~ but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up denial just yet!

I’d been purposely procrastinating planting the broccoli babies because of the wacky weather we’d been having.  The lows were still dipping enough to generate freeze warnings…or it was raining…or the winds were howling 30 – 40 mph…or…  A quick study of the weather forecast revealed that Tuesday, 11 May was the perfect day to plant the broccoli babies.  The daytime temperatures were going to be cool enough not to shrivel the tender leaves; the nighttime temperatures were going to remain warm enough there was no fear of frost; the skies were clear or only partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain; and, the winds were calm.  Perfect.

I happily set about planting all of the broccoli babies ~ twelve of them ~ talking to them all the while.  I was introducing them to their hardworking friends, the Worms, as I dug their new homes, telling them they were going to be so happy with all of the wonderful organic matter they were going to have to feed from.  You know, doing everything you do to help make someone feel comfortable in their new environment.

And, they all really were oh-so-happy in their new homes.  They were delighted to be out from under the artificial lighting and in the great fresh outdoors, just itching to sink their roots into that chocolate angel food dirt we’re blessed with.  All was incredibly well.

Until about 3:00 a.m. the next morning.  That slight chance of rain turned into one of the worst hail storms we’ve experienced since living here.  It wasn’t so much the size of the hail ~ pea and garbanzo bean size ~ as it was the amount of hail.  I thought I was going to have to get the snow shovel out of storage to clear a path from the front door!

The next morning, the girls and I ventured over to the garden plot while they tended to their morning ‘business.’  Tender broccoli babies.  Slaughtered.  Didn’t even make it through one night.  The aftermath is too gruesome to share with photos.  I’m still trying to determine if any are going to survive and revive enough to produce anything.  At the moment, it looks like possibly four of the twelve might pull through.  Poor babies.

Also, on Tuesday, I spent the afternoon planting some Phlox Darling Husbie had purchased.  For three years now, we’ve been meaning to do something around the storm shelter but didn’t know quite what we wanted.  The first summer, my Bestest Buddy and I put the landscaping timbers around it and leveled out the dirt piled up around the side of it.  But, that’s as far as we got and it’s just been a place for grass and weeds to thrive.

There’s six Phlox plants in the top tier, with a Snowball Marigold planted between each one to add color and height contrast this year.  The Phlox are perennials and are supposed to spread out, so my hope is they do well and the top tier will be considered finished.  I have yet to do something on the bottom tier, but I am thinking about yellow daisies and perhaps some other bright-colored annual.  We shall see.  The hail knocked some of the flowers off the Phlox, but otherwise didn’t damage the plant.  I was happy about that.  [Some day, when there's nothing else to do, I intend to paint the storm shelter.  For now, it will just have to remain ugly raw concrete ~ perhaps indicative of the ugly skies we sometimes witness that make us dive into that shelter, eh?]

Wednesday, 12 May I began a fairly significant project that consumed an enormous amount of my time.  I cannot go into detail ~ yet ~ about that project because it is sort of a surprise for Darling Husbie.  He’s been TDY in Wyoming for a couple of weeks now, so hasn’t been home to see it yet.  He knows I’ve been up to something, though.  Normally, when he asks me what I’ve been doing all day, I’ll dive into great detail.  This time, however, it’s gone something like this, “So, what have you been doing today?”  “Oh, not too much.”  Trigger number one.

Trigger number two may have been when I ordered something from eBay under Husbie’s account, which means all the notification and payment emails also went to him.  Doh!  I’m not very smart when it comes to being devious, obviously!  He hasn’t said anything about it, though.  He’s probably not wanting to let me know I’ve half-way ruined the surprise.  Only half-way, because even though he may have seen what I ordered, he doesn’t know exactly what I’ve done with those things.  Still…sigh.  Anyway, I’ll post photos of that project once Husbie gets home and has had a chance to see it in person.

Oh, the other bad thing that happened, in addition to the hail slaughtering the broccoli babies, is that last Friday, Peanut killed my baby bunny I told you about that was living under one of the strawberry plants.  I don’t even want to go into detail about that event.  It was sad.  I cried.  And, I was so incredibly mad at that dog!  Still am.

No other ‘farming’ report to speak of, really.  Between the rain five out of the seven days this past week, and the secret project, there hasn’t been any gardening going on.  Still, it’s been plenty busy.

I’ll have to update you soon on the sewing and quilting.  I’ve become very involved in the Quilter’s Guild and am really enjoying it.  It’s a fabulous group of ladies, their work is incredible, and the activities are just downright fun!

Thanks for stopping by ~ please come back soon!  And, in the meantime, may your blessings be abundant.  ♥

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