You know you're a farm family when . . .

your kids ask "WHO are we eating?" instead of "WHAT are we eating?"

Yes, we were having chicken the other night and Eden asked this of me. I had to tell her that we were having chicken from the grocery store, not from our chicken coop.

Oh, and speaking of chickens . . .

I Spy . . an egg. And another egg. And another egg. 40 of them in all! Yes, it would appear that my chickens have a secret stash in the barn. I was so bummed to throw all of them out since they've been there for who knows how long. So now, my chore of collecting eggs also includes a walk through the barn since I know their hiding spots.

Pickin' Ear Corn

Saturday afternoon, the 24th, we had the opportunity to "help" Seth pick ear corn at his parents' place. We borrowed the corn picker from a neighbor. The idea behind picking ear corn is to eventually grind it into feed for the calves that we're raising to sell and to butcher.

A few pictures of Eliza on the fence that is our ear corn pen.

And Eden, looking so serious.

The kids could ride with Seth, two at a time. Ephraim and Eliza went first. Here is the tractor, corn picker and wagon.

These two had to be patient waiting for their turn to ride.

Sharing a tender moment.

Emmet is the one who knows how to pester. But then he also has a tender side. When Seth announced that two could ride, he said "I'll go." But then Ephraim was going and Eden wanted to go, too. So Emmet said, "I'll wait." Ahhh. Maybe some of what we try to teach them is actually getting through!

Finally, Emmet and Eliza get to ride.

Sharing a flower.

Not really a comfortable bed.

Little Miss Drama.

Eden always has a story to tell. And she's pretty animated and imaginative.

Love the body language!?

An evening of picking ear corn . . .

is about to get a little more exciting . . .

. . . this is reality. Forget all those reality tv shows. Let's sit in a wagon and dodge ears of corn. I felt like I was in a video game.

As dangerous as it looks, we were pretty safe. We were at the far front of the wagon so we weren't really getting pelted.

The boys started at the front and then crept toward the center . . . until Emmet took one in the cheek (on his face).

All in all, it was a good evening. We were able to enjoy it together. The calves now have enough ear corn to last them a long time. And we have the memories to last a lifetime.

Don't worry mom . . .

Yesterday (the 28th) this is what I hear from Eden in the bathroom . . .

"Don't worry mom, I'll change myself and clean the floor!"

I didn't hear this just once from her.

And not even twice.

And not even three times.

It was a long day.

I heard this at least 5 times!

For some reason, she was having issues not getting to the potty quick enough. Sigh.

To her credit, she did get changed and she did wipe the floor. But she didn't do the laundry that was generated by not being quick enough.

Oh, and did I mention that the first time that morning she peed from the kitchen, through the laundry room and into the bathroom. Ugh.

The girls just seem to wait until the last possible moment and then when they have to go, they have to go "bad, bad" to quote Eliza. I guess they're just too busy in their preschool lives to take wasteful minutes going potty. But if they did take a few minutes to go potty, mommy wouldn't waste as much time on the laundry and the floors.

For now, that's too much to ask. We'll enjoy these moments of motherhood and hope that they pass sooner rather than later.

Chicken update

Here's an update on the mother hen . . .
all her eggs, at least 20 of them were just yolks. Bummer. But that's okay. We've moved her back to the coop. She was picked on a little bit but I think all is well now. I don't think I could handle another "pecking/picking" episode. As Seth says "I didn't know there was so much drama with chickens!" Me neither.

In other news. . . .there have been no eggs. Since September 9, my chickens quit laying eggs. All of them. All 11 of them. Hmm. Why could this be? I consulted Google and found several theories. Not really sure which one, if any, applies to my scenario. One theory had to do with being scared or stressed (either by predators or children). Maybe this applies. Another theory had to do with their feed, but I didn't think that really applied. Yet another theory had to do with the weather (too hot). Hmm, not in September. So, who knows. I did put up my chicken fence to keep them contained for a while, although a few of the smart ones do know how to get out, or maybe they're just the strong ones who can fly out.

Come Saturday, the 17th I had one egg. And on Sunday the 18th, I had 2 eggs. And now, today the 19th, I had 4 eggs!
At any rate, now that they've started laying eggs again (at least 4 of them have) . . . they will be saved from the Amish man in Kalona ;p

Saturday with the boys

(Seth Posting)

I had a big day of cattle work to do last Saturday while Jenny was busy making applesauce. With the help of my dad and the boys I was able to accomplish everything for the day.

We weaned the calves earlier in the week and now I needed to work on the them. Pictured are the boys running the ally-way staging the calf for the chute. They worked together to pull the gate open to let them through.

The boys make great cowboys. Pictured is cousin Josh, he was my vet for the morning. He also let me use their corral on my Grandpa Elmer's farm.

We moved the calves to my parents' place to feed them on out. Pictured is an ear-corn picker a neighbor let me use. Ear-corn makes great feed. The boys liked riding in the wagon, dodging the ears as they came into the wagon.

My dad is also in the wagon but I couldn't get him in the picture.

Then we had to grind the corn into feed. Thanks boys for shoveling!

After a long day, Ephraim and Emmet were able to feed the calves.

Feeding a replacement heifer. Her and 2 others were last year's calves. They're looking nice, and I hope they turn out to be good cows.

Working together.

Everyone got a turn to feed.

Content and healthy calves. The boys were able to see the results of all their work for the day.

Fencing with Daddy

(Seth Posting)

One of my summer projects was to build electric fence at my parents' place. This project involves posts, insulators, and barb wire. For those who have never been around an electric fence, its an effective and inexpensive to keep livestock where they belong. The cows respect it, and it doesn't harm them.

I started this mid-August day by myself . . . by the end I had my dad, mom, Jenny and all the kids. Once I got everyone steered in the same direction we were putting fence in very fast.

Eden showing off her girl power, but it is Eliza actually using hers.

Emmet carrying a post around for me. Didn't take long and I think he was telling me where to put the post.

Ephraim helping my dad, the kids were great help. They caught on quick on how to assemble the yellow insulator that holds the wire on the post. My dad in this picture is tightening the insulator to the post. The cows respect the yellow insulator, like the fence, they know what it holds up.

Not sure what's going on here, I think I'm supervising the kids. Did I mention that the weather was perfect, 70 degrees, no humidity and beautiful. That helped keep the the younger help around a little longer.

Hooking up the second wire, this is a smooth wire that is to keep the calves in. The wood post is a hedge post that is cut from a, you guessed it, hedge tree. Hedge works great for posts if you can find a straight one. They last a long time but good luck pounding a nail into them. A few years ago my dad, I and I think brother Paul helped cut these post from a grove that is on my Grandpa Elmer's farm. The grove was planted by my Great-Grandpa Henry years ago.

Emmet found a rock in the corn field and is trying to get through the fence.

This happens to be my favorite picture of that day. I was unrolling the wire and the kids were hooking the wire to the insulator behind me. This task was no problem for the boys, Eliza was determined to keep up and help out.

Thanks everyone for helping!

Pictures of the week, Sept 11 to Sept 17, 2011

Another week into September. . .

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The local memorial for those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attack. It is a Musco lighting truck that helped at the scene of Ground Zero and at the Pentagon.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Grandparents Day is usually the 2nd Sunday in September. We made cards for the great-grandparents and gave clocks to the grandparents. Our cards were pictures on photo paper with clock hands that said "We love you . . . all the time."

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

On Mondays and Tuesdays the kids go to Grandma Donna's house. Between Grandma and I, they've got a list of crafts and science experiments to do. This is their activity from last week. With one branch and some twine they created a holder for their nature things. Each child got to make one and they were all a bit different. This one is Ephraim's.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Playing on the gate after the rabbits have been fed and watered.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Seth had ordered some fish and they were delivered to the feed store on Thursday morning. We brought four buckets and they were each filled with a bag o' fish. We got bluegills, hybrid bluegills, sunfish and some minnows. We drove to Grandpa's pond and released them.

Friday, September 15, 2011

We're homeschooling this year and so far it is going well. I do hope to do a post about our curriculum and our daily schedule. Here is where the girls sit and they've gotten a little "tape happy" in hanging up every piece of paper that they write on. Above them is our calendar. We talk about the month, day of the week, season, weather, a Bible verse for the week (or more), our address & 911, and we cross off a day of school from our countdown of 150. Ephraim and Emmet also have to make the date in money (i.e. if it's the 17th, they need to count out 17 cents). Several of the pictures you see hanging around them are their fingerprint pictures. We did those when we were talking about how each person is unique. I think they caught on to that concept but they did LOVE the stamp pads.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The only picture I took of the kids at the Fremont Parade . . . watching the Casey's float come down the street. It was a chilly morning for a parade! I thought the crowd and the parade floats were both down in numbers this year. The kids had a good time playing on the playground and seeing some friends from their classes last year.

It was also a busy day for Seth and I. Seth spent the morning helping a friend with some yard work. Then in the afternoon, the boys and Seth left for their Cadet campout. My parents came after lunch to take the girls for a while so I could help at this friend's house with cleaning and simple house repairs. We were able to put together a ceiling fan and get it ready for installation. Then it was time to come home and prepare for Sunday . . . church coffeetime and teaching the 2nd graders.

Meet Samson and Coco and Aubrey . . .

What's this? A new addition to our farm! We've added three new rabbits to our farm family. We bought them from some friends in Fremont last week. They had three for sale and we bought all three. Seth grew up raising and showing rabbits and we wished the same for our kids. It'll be a good 4-H project for them. It'll also be good for them to learn responsibility as they do the chores. Emmet is holding Coco in this picture. Can you tell that he's excited about the rabbits?

I'm holding Samson.

Emmet took this picture of Coco.

This is Aubrey (f/k/a Onyx). She's the only female and she's the smaller of the three Mini Rex Rabbits.

A good look at Samson. Or maybe Samson is getting a good look at us.

Ephraim with Aubrey.

Cat meet Coco. Coco meet Cat. Please try to get along. We've been busy getting their cages set up with food, water, shelter and even a few rabbit treats! The kids are in charge of feeding them twice a day. Soon we'll be learning the proper way to hold them, how to groom them, etc.