A vacation to watch a parade

Dear Farmer took a vacation for Depot Days in Amboy, IL.  In years past Dear Farmer has gone to the fund-raising event and enjoyed the tractors and the cars...this year it rained.  The rain makes it a little harder to REALLY enjoy walking around and looking at parked tractors or cars.  But we did make it to the parade!  A parade to beat all other parades!!!  Mostly because we had family in the parade, but then there's also the candy.  We waved to our Great-Oldies driving the models named after the alphabet, and each child snatched (easily) a pound of candy each (which stayed at Fabulous Aunt and Uncle's house).  It was actually just a vacation away from the reality of life.  The one where Dear Farmer could watch someone else drive the tractor, see someone else's hard work, and sit back and eat all the cereal he wanted to...
Every so often we need those...a vacation to watch a parade...it refreshes us as we face reality once again.

Off to the Races!

Farm children do play.  They play really really hard!  Favorite past-times of the Hausfrau Farmer's Daughter and the Whiz-Bang! Farmer's Daughter is bicycling.  The joy of cycling away from the farm and down the road, the wind blowing in their hair, and the sun on their backs is great relaxation from the daily chores.  The Hausfrau was given a new bike this year.  She had been without for a couple years, so the new bike was quite a delight!  Within the first week the bike wheezed and whimpered to her that it hadn't been ridden in quite some time.  The second week the bike gave out...off to the Bike Doctor it went!  Thankfully we have an amazing Uncle in our family -the Bike Doctor!  If you're ever in his neighborhood in Dixon, IL you can check out Green River Cyclery , he is absolutely the best(especially if you're a serious cyclist).
While the bike was at the doctor's the Wife questioned the Hausfrau(who was moaning that there was no bike to ride), "Couldn't you run the distance?"  The Hausfrau replied, "Run four miles?????!"  Apparently, that was not in her option list.  During all this, the Whiz-Bang! Farmer's Daughter had been riding an aged bike(previously owned by the Wife)...the Hausfrau confiscated the bike-claiming imminent domain. But that bike was not ready for the four mile ride either, and it ka-pooped.  Now both Farmer's Daughters are without bikes.  Not Daughters to be held down-they turned their disappointment around and into a game for all the siblings to enjoy.  Everyone strapped on roller blades and skates and began racing up and down the driveway.  The Hausfrau procured a silver cup from her treasure trove(also known as "messy room") and it became the "WINNER'S CUP".  The garden hose is the official finish line, the lawn chairs are set up along the drive for the spectators.  Any chance the children can-they are watching or racing!  The Hausfrau and Whiz-Bang! Farmer's Daughters are missing their cycling route to area farms and friends, but they have made another special memory with their siblings right at home-driveway races!

A Saucy-FarmWife

It happens ever year in the beginning of apple-season, the Wife becomes "saucy".  She's gleaning apples from every tree around and cooking them down for applesauce, which happens to be a favorite staple around here.  The hard part, however, is getting to the apples before the cows and chickens.  So, it becomes a daily chore to glean windfall apples by the bucket full and cook them down for sauce.  Yummy!
Now, the Wife could preserve by canning the applesauce...and she has in the past.  But this year the Wife is just full-up on things to do, so she's freezing it in ice-cream buckets.  The freezer will the be happy, the shelves will be a little bare, but that's okay.  The family will eat the sauce however it comes to the table. The favorite sauces we'll make are: strawberry-applesauce, pear-applesauce and plain regular-applesauce.
Applesauce is a side-dish, an ingredient, and a treat.  We're keen on apples anyways-saucing is just one way to love them!

So, you have "feral" chickens?

Yes.
How does a domesticated bird become "feral"?
Good question.  Let's revisit the definition of "feral". The word feral has two meanings. In this case we are using it as an adjective as in "a pack of feral dogs roamed the woods".  Feral means that a domesticated animal has reverted back to it's wild/natural state.  So then, it shouldn't surprise us that any animal that has been domesticated can become "feral".
You are talking about your chickens, right???
Yes.
I just have to ask, how did it happen?
That's fine, I was hoping someone would ask.  So, we had this skunk that ate two birds.  The birds started roosting in the rafters after that.  Then we had an opposum that ate at least three birds.  Then the birds decided that it was safer outside the coop than inside...and they roosted on the deck rail next to the patio door on the farmhouse.  It was at that point that the chickens simply wouldnt go to the barn. Nothing could entice them...food, drink, implements on which to poop.  Absolutely no reason was good enough for them to go back there.  The Wife watched as they began foraging in the woods for food.  Roosting in trees during the day if they needed safety.  They no longer eat the layer feed.  We have no idea if they are laying eggs...those darned birds live in the woods in the day (feral) and roost on the deck rail at night.
Wow.  So, you have "feral" chickens.  Never heard of it before.
Neither had we.

Dear Farmer vs. Ground Bees

Dear Farmer has two allergies...broccoli (which he didn't know existed before he married the Wife) and bees.  Prior to Dear Farmer being a full-time farmer the whole bee-allergy wasn't too big a deal.  Stay away from landscaping in the spring and fall and you're pretty good.  Now, however, Dear Farmer is always in the landscaping.  So, in the past five years Dear Farmer has gotten stung once each year...this year was no different. Dear Farmer isn't just allergic...it can be deadly. So, each year we arm the arsenal cabinet with a couple more new and exciting wonders "just in case".  The other day the Wife was thinking of the arsenal cabinet, and wondering if it was up to snuff  when the Farmer's Daughter came in with a puffy lip.  She had been stung!  Quick as a wink, her dear older sister zoomed and retrieved a beautiful bottle of essential oil and before we could do anything else, the oil was on the Farmer's Daughter's face and the swelling and sting was gone.  The Wife made mental note of the oil, looked in the cabinet and also made note of several other things missing which we would get on our next shopping trip.  Apparently Dear Farmer did not get the memo...today he was stung while moving the manure pile.  He ran inside shouting "STUNG, STUNG!" and tearing off his clothing.  The family went into action: the Baby was passed to the House Frau(Farmer's Daughter No.2), the Pied Piper of the Farm-boy Trio ran to get the bath salts, Honorable Son No.1(on his way home) retrieved the antihistamines,  and the Wife grabbed the oil.  Dear Farmer swelled and hived, but he was anointed and bathed quicker than you could imagine!  Pizza was ordered for dinner and Dear Farmer was breathing just fine.  Whew!  Crisis averted!  We're not challenging the bees to a duel, but if it happens again, we feel pretty prepared.

The Ducks Cross the Road...again!

There is a road that divides the farm, it makes life...interesting....
When mid-July hit, and the rains stopped, the ducks went in search of a quieter and more moist home.  It involved stopping traffic one last time and vanishing to wetter pastures.  The ducks left, and for the past four weeks we were sure they were never coming back.  But we got a phone call from a neighbor down the road a few days ago,"Are your ducks missing?"  We answered that they were gone from here. "Well", he said,"I think they've been here in my pond for the past month.  They'll be coming back home soon, the pond is nearly dried up."  And sure enough, that night, we saw traffic stopped on the road in the middle of the evening rush.  It was the ducks.  They were crossing the road and coming home.  They've grown quite a bit in four weeks.  They look a little leaner, a little taller.  (They haven't been here eating the feed!) Maybe they look a little more mature since they left home...maybe I'm reading too much into this...regardless, the ducks are back.
Since they are now back among us, we've made their lives interesting again...the Pied Piper of the Farm-boy Trio has hugged them and carried them around.  He's given them rides on the goat, and offered them wild plums and sauced apple peels.  They've played tag with the dog, and moved back into the barnyard.
I wonder how long they'll stay now that it's started to rain again.  Maybe the neighbor's pond will once again call them to cross the road, or perhaps they'll stay the winter? Stay tuned.

Taking Turns spending time with Dear Farmer

When Dear Farmer goes out to work there is inevitably a small person left in the driveway crying. So when Dear Farmer is driving the truck to get supplies or drop off a load of something, he tries to take someone with him.  Dear Farmer and the Wife try to do this democratically...we go in order of age and take turns.
The oldest of the children are usually the "silent sufferers".  They will cheerfully step aside to let the smaller (and louder) children go with Dear Farmer.  But still the offer is made to them..."I'm going to the implement store, would you like to come with?"  If that one refuses, the next oldest is asked.  Every so often someone refuses to go, the next oldest goes instead, and when another turn comes up there is confusion and tension..."well, it was MY turn last time!"  Sorry, but you'll have to wait until we go down the line and come back around to you.
This week, while Dear Farmer is not cutting hay, there have been lots of opportunities for children to spend time with him while running around.  The children have been very very pleased to have one-on-one time with their Papa.  Dear Farmer, has also been very happy and pleased to get to connect with all of his children.

Dear Farmer builds the fence

Seems pretty mundane that Dear Farmer would build a fence, however the fence he built this weekend served only one purpose...to make his wife happy.  Wow!  What a guy!
The containment fence he had built when we moved to the farm runs the length of the property.  It is wood posts(non-treated), about six inch round, and has four oak boards that hang on it.  It took a full spring, summer and fall to dig each post in and hang the boards running the twenty acres to the south of the drive.  There was a 200 ft. section in front of the house that posts were dug, but never had boards hung...why do it right away?  Reasons not to were legitimate: it was winter and too cold...there weren't any animals grazing in the yard...it's really just about looks...and about a thousand other things had to be done before spring.  That reasoning had been used for five years.  This year the Wife kindly asked Dear Farmer if there wasn't some way he could eeek out time on a "slow" day to finish the fence in front of the house.  Her reasons were legitimate: it would look nice to have boards on the naked posts in front of the house...it would contain the children nicely...it's not cold outside...it's really about looks...and she'd like to have it done.
Dear Farmer heard his Wife, and obliged. He was so excited(not really) to pull out the tools and spend a day finding them from other people who were borrowing them from all over the county.  Then he asked(drafted) the children to help him.  They were excited(over-the-moon-thrilled!!!) to be working with Dear Farmer on the fence in front of the house!  It took a total of five hours...children held boards, Dear Farmer screwed them in, children handed screws, got water, served Dear Farmer iced tea, and at the end of the day...the fence was beautifully finished and the Wife gave Dear Farmer a kiss.  Wow!  What a guy!

The King of the "Selfies": Honorable Son No.2 and the Farmer's Daughter

[this is a picture of me at the fair]
[this is a picture of me in a car]
[this is a picture of me with a friend, in a car, at the fair]
In Dear Farmers day...there was no such thing as a "selfie".  Dear Farmer and the Wife had cameras when they were young(we're not THAT old), but rarely, if EVER was there such a thing as a "selfie".
The next generation...they do "selfies"(see above).
Have you noticed there are no farmers doing "selfies"?
What would a farmer's "selfie" look like?
[this is a picture of me with my tractor]
[this is a picture of me with a cow]
[this is a picture of the cow killing me because I wasn't paying attention while taking a "selfie"]
No good can come of that.
Honorable Son No.2 and the Oldest Farmer's Daughter compete for the prize as "King of the "Selfies" in our home.  Apparently there are unwritten rules for "selfies".  Your lips have to stick out in a pucker, your eyebrows have to be up to make your eyes bigger, or you have to look like you're screaming.  The two of them tie on these.  They take "selfies" stealing eachother's hats, hugging animals, kissing babies, and sitting on tree limbs...do they ever work?  (In all fairness, they do work)
Ahhh...maybe that's the REAL King of the "selfies"....the one who's bettering themselves by working, instead of taking a picture of themself. Hmm, what is it Dear Farmer tells them?  "If you're doing all the things we're supposed to be doing, you don't have time to do anything you shouldn't be doing."
[there is no picture of Dear Farmer, he's in a field cutting hay, providing for a hundred head of cattle and a family, not complaining, not whining, just working] 

Laundry Lines

Through the years Dear Farmer has blessed the Wife with different laundry lines.  The first was a line under three walnut trees, in a neighborhood where country hospitality was not, and birds thought that the line was their target-practice.  The second was an umbrella line.  That worked well for about five years.  The line had a hole in the backyard for nice weather, and Dear Farmer filled a bucket of cement for inside use with a woodstove running.  The next was a line strung between two oak trees using an old hammock frame.  Balance was delicate so a support pole in the middle was needed, and eventually the lines disintegrated.  The current line, uses the old hammock frame, but was made more like your fence line, so that as the lines loosen, it can be tightened(Dear Farmer hates drooping lines).  It all goes well until Dear Farmer sees it needs to be tightened...and there's a load of laundry hanging on it.  So, he went to tighten the lines, and instead the weight of the laundry pulls the lines down, the entire thing landed on the ground.  The Wife tries not to think of the amount of chicken poop on the ground where her clean laundry landed....
Two Farmer's Daughters, the Wife and a frustrated Dear Farmer got the line back up(and drooping) in about fifteen minutes.  The quest for the perfect laundry line continues....

Three Cheers for "Splash Canyon"!!!

Dear Farmer and Wife took the family on a mini-vacation this weekend to Fabulous Aunt and Uncle's house. It was wonderful!  Fabulous Aunt took the Wife and children (and oodles of Cousins that joined us on vacation) to "Splash Canyon" Park in Oregon, Illinois.  It was AMAZING!
First of all, Oregon, Illinois is a little town of nearly 4,000.  It's riddled with history and beautiful houses, but then they have built a fantastic park system!  So it just keeps getting better!
Good luck finding "Splash Canyon", you have to know someone and know the area, the town has tucked it back there so that not just anyone is going to find it, meaning it's basically a local's haunt.  But we had a five hour bliss with eleven children ages 13 and under and three adults. Fountains that spring up from the ground, spray tunnels, a lazy river, and "Russian roulette" with dumping buckets of water...but that's not all!  The designers must have had a mother on the team because there were benches set up strategically in the shade AND a free library AND a park all in the same area!
Unfortunately, in Illinois "Splash Canyon" is something we can only enjoy about three months of the year.  It is worth enjoying!  Three cheers for "Splash Canyon"!!!  Three Cheers for Fabulous Aunt and Uncle!!! Three Cheers for vacation days!!!

A moment for a "spot of tea" on the tractor

Dear Farmer has been brewing tea.  WHY? Glad you asked!  Let me tell you...
He brews a "compost" tea to spray on the hay fields.  By spraying compost on the hay fields he is able to give the fields a healthy and fast dose of all that's good to bring the micro-organisms in the dirt to optimal health.  It's like if you or I were feeling "yucky" and we were to start taking a multi-vit...in a few weeks we'd start feeling better.  But if we were to eat right AND take the multi-vit in a few days we'd feel better.  The "compost" tea is like if we were eating right and taking a multi-vit...but for the field. Just like compost for your garden can get kinda stinky, the tea can a little too.  However, it gets really stinky because Dear Farmer adds to it liquefied fish.  Uber stinky and highly healthy-making the tea go from "good-for-field" to "WOW-for-field".  So, today Dear Farmer is driving the tractor spraying a "spot of tea" on the fields.  Making the grass grow healthy, so our cows are healthy, meaning our meat is healthier for you!

Sunday afternoon and Cows

Dear Farmer and the Wife spent four hours yesterday watering cows.  The cows have water-tanks filled by hoses off the hydrants, but the hoses failed and the tanks were dry.  A herd of mad, thirsty cattle is not the place you want to be on a Sunday afternoon, but there we were-getting cows water as fast as we could and in as many different ways as we could.  Farmers don't get weekends off.
While overseeing the pushing and shoving by the cattle, the Wife was able to get a little more experience being around the herd, and watched Dear Farmer and how he cares for these (ungrateful) cattle. The Wife did ask if she could be up on the tractor, instead of on the ground with the cattle...Dear Farmer said no.  Apparently Dear Farmer actually was USING the tractor, and the Wife would have just been up there because it looked like the safer place to be.  It really wasn't the safer place to be, it was just higher up.  The Wife watched the way the cattle bumped and jostled the tractor, Dear Farmer did not have an easy job!
 It was a long and dusty four hours, Dear Farmer and the Wife both had sweat and water mixed with dust and mud covering arms and necks, all over faces and in noses.  Ick!
"Did you catch the game?"  Nope.  No game could have been nearly as exciting as watering a hundred thirsty and mad cows.  Nope, we LIVE the game!  We're farmers.
 

"What kind of animal are those?" Dear Farmer answers..."Cows."

Understanding that there is a disconnect in society between the animal and the food that is eaten, Dear Farmer is more than patient with questions from customers...
"Where do the eggs come from if you don't have roosters?"
"How do you get the chickens to go in the coop at night?"
"When do the cows know it's time to birth?"
But the best was when we had a couple of visitors pull up in our driveway, a husband and wife.
They were having an argument, and waved us over to help them.  Dear Farmer and the Wife walked over to the car, pretty sure we were about to be giving them directions to somewhere else.
They were, however, arguing about what kind of animals were grazing in the fields.  The wife in the car said they were cows, the husband said they were pigs.
Now, there's a first. Even in city schoolbooks we thought they had pictures of the different animals...but apparently one of them hadn't paid attention. Dear Farmer, kindly answered, "Cows."  They thanked him and drove away.  Just in case anyone out there drives past our fields...we'll answer your questions, no matter how strange they may seem.  But we will publish the strangest ones we've ever heard in a story like this. {smile}