Month of Gratitude

It's the last day of November and we're enjoying a relaxing, family-filled Thanksgiving holiday weekend at my mom and dad's house. I love how people have used Facebook to declare their gratitude for various things. I also love how they've expanded it from one Thanksgiving post to a whole month's worth of posts.

I admit that I haven't joined the masses in posting my list of things I'm thankful for. And I feel guilty about it. However, I know that my heart is filled overflowing with appreciation. In fact, that's probably the reason I don't post about it on Facebook - it's too hard to find the words to capture it all. I do have a couple highlights though.

This year, I'm especially thankful for babies. My own sweet little one (who's sleeping peacefully in my mom's arms right now!), my two new nieces and 2nd cousin who were all born within the past year (bringing our total niece/nephew count to 13!) and new babies to come during the coming year.

I'm also thankful for my new work position. I still get to work with FFA and do projects that I really enjoy, while being able to more time and attention to our family and farm. It's exactly the balance I was hoping to achieve!

I'm thankful for this fall's harvest. After the disheartening yields last year due to the drought, this year was especially appreciated! I'm also grateful for a husband who is continually trying to improve and find better techniques. And I loved being a contributing member of the fieldwork this year.

Now onward to December...the month when we celebrate the One who gave it all!

Family Time

I cherish my childhood memories of riding in the tractor with my dad. Even though that includes many times of banging my head against the window repeatedly (that explains a lot...!). It's a lot of fun now to see my girls create those same memories.

Rose really loves her time riding along. She gets quality daddy and papa time, which is tons of fun for her! She takes her Elmo binoculars in case they see any deer, make mustaches with electrical tape, sing songs and tell stories, eating lots of candy and even some fun learning mixed in that she doesn't notice is happening.

This year, she rode in the combine three or four different times, ranging from 2-5 hours! She also got to ride in the combine with her other papa (my dad).

Molly got to have her "ceremonious" first ride this year. She seemed to be taking it all in!

Getting the picture

Working with your family or friends always poses some unique challenges. It's something my Ben and his dad - like most farmers - have dealt with all their lives, so they are sort of used to it.

Ben and his dad have very different work styles. Ben is very precise and gives a lot of attention to detail, even if it's something where detail might not matter. His dad is more about getting the job done quickly and efficiently, even when it's something that requires exactness. See how problems might arise? They complement one another well, but they both admit that it drives them crazy at times.

A recent situation demonstrates it well. Ben got a nice buck the other day. Like any proud hunter, he wanted a good picture with it. By the time he found it and dragged it out, it was already poor lighting for our smartphone cameras. So he set it up the next day to take some, except the only person available to take the picture was his dad.

Let me tell you, I've come to learn how Ben likes his "trophy" pictures taken - have to be able to see each tine separately from each other and from the background, deer has to look "presentable" (no tongue hanging out, etc.) and he usually likes his bow displayed....and last on the list is that he should look decent.

I can just imagine both of their frustration. His dad took rapid-fire pictures and declared that one of them must be good. Ben looked through and found the obvious faults of each. In the end, it always seems to work out.

The winning picture!

More than weather

My Facebook newsfeed had two themes this morning - Veteran's Day and the first snowfall in southeast Wisconsin. The first theme is very well-deserved - there should always be this many accolades shared for the men and women who have served and are currently serving.

As for the second theme, it made me realize how differently farmers react to the weather as compared to the average person. Today's dusting of snow meant the combines sat idle again today. This is about five days now of being "shut down" during corn harvest because of precipitation. While it won't affect the corn much, it will delay the fall plowing. On our farm, we only have Ben, his dad and a little bit of seasonal help. That means that they can only really focus on one "task" at a time and obviously harvesting the corn is top priority. However, fall plowing is still a crucial task to prepare the soil for spring planting. What does or doesn't happen right now will have a big impact on next year's crop yields.

So the clock is ticking against the invisible wall when the soil will freeze too deep to plow. The little bit of rain the past couple of weeks, snow today and rain again in Friday's forecast are so much more than hot topics of conversation for us. It directly impacts crop yields a full year from now.

Don't get me wrong. We still have those same distain and delight at certain weather, but it usually comes second to reacting through the farm perspective. Through it all though, we are grateful that we trust in the One who controls the weather. What a beautiful day He gave us today!

I like dirt!



First post....it's daunting. So I'll go back to what has been prompting me to start blogging in the first place - farming. I've been farming my entire life. First on my parents' dairy farm that they still run, and now I'm married to a crop farmer. The past couple of weeks I've discovered it's not just that I like the idea of farming, I actually like doing it!

Ever since Ben and I got married, I've considered myself involved in the farm through talking about it with him. We really talk about all aspects of it - sometimes because I'm asking all sorts of questions, sometimes Ben wants me to help him decide on something and other times it's just so he can let off steam about a frustrating project or weather pattern. I have learned a lot about crops in the past couple of years!

The past couple of weeks, however, have made it more clear to me that I also like to be physically involved in the farm. I finally got out and did some fieldwork on my own. I say "finally" because it took me four years to muster up the courage to jump into a "Nelson" tractor, even though I've been driving "Schmidt" tractors since my early teens.

I've been talking the talk; now I'm walking the walk...again!