We Don't See Any Daffodils Yet.

There has been great discussion in the house about where our daffodils are.  In the fall the little farmer's daughters and the Wife went and bought two bags of yellow daffodil bulbs.  Then we opened the bags and threw the bulbs in the front yard near the ditch...hang on, I know that sounds strange...wherever the bulbs fell, we planted them.  It has a natural effect when they start popping up-like there was never a time there wasn't a daffodil there.
When we lived in Wisconsin we constantly drove past a neighbor who had been doing this for ten or so years-in the spring his front yard was "a bloom!".  The Wife was thinking ahead!!!  If we start now, in ten years...it will look amazing! All winter we have been looking forward to the spring, because of the promise of the daffodils.
Here in lies the problem: the Spring has been hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold...everyday is a little different from the day before.  So, on the hot days we are out searching for the daffodils to peek their heads above the ground...and on the cold days we PRAY they will peek their heads above ground quickly!
The Wife has read that daffodils planted in protected areas will rise and bloom earlier than daffodils planted in a field.  I guess here on the plains of Illinois, we would be considered unprotected.
Yellow and happy faces of flowers welcoming everyone who passes by, welcoming all of us home on busy days, welcoming warmer weather for a season, these are reasons we are desperate for daffodils.
Where are they?
Are your daffodils blooming?

Farmer's DIY Daughter

Do It Yourself = DIY

Dear Farmer has daughters...six daughters. Each daughter has a gifting. Something that sets her apart from her sisters. It gives her an identity. And it can change as they grow. Hopefully the emotional daughter grows out of it, and the pianist never stops. One of the daughters is an avid DIY-er. She loves all things DIY! Crafts, food hacks, furniture building, musical instruments...you name it!
The favorite in the house is food hacks.
The hardest thing about DIY is the contagious effects. When a DIY project begins...all want to partake! "So cool!" ,  "Me too! " ,and "Next!" Echo through the house. Usually these things are best done in the singular, but in a family of twelve homeschooling, good luck with that one!
So, when Farmer's DIY Daughter comes to the Wife with a great idea to try the Wife has to multiply the list of supplies by fourteen, add to it the amount of unwanted help, divide it by the sanity she has left on a hectic day, and decide if it's a go/no go.
There are times that the answer is a shrill laugh followed by a flat "no". Other times we all plunge in with vim and vigor! Regardless, there will be more DIYs right around the corner to try!

The Last Beach Days of Summer

In town the pool closed mid-August when school started. But the beach never closes. Hooray for the beach!
So we gravitated North to the lake...to the beach...when all those poor children had to be locked up in a classroom, we took our classroom outside. Walking by the lake, finding dead fish, crawfish, mussels, snails, minnows, rocks, and shells. Ahhh, this is the life!
Many farm kids don't get this lake life as well as farm, so we feel double blessed!!!I
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler, swimming days are coming to an end...but we have a couple more months of beach combing. Ahhh, treasured last days....

Springtime Sharing

There is a joy to be had in springtime! And for all of us, it usually starts with a cold.  Either from the overly anxious child who has run outside coat-less, barefoot, and in shorts proclaiming "It's WARM!"; when the thermometer is barley registering above zero. Or from the extreme temperature swings: 70F degrees one day, down to 30F degrees the next, and back up overnight to 60F.  It's absolute craziness, but also a good reminder...it's springtime!
March is coming in "like a Lion" on our farm.  The wind blows to 45mph gusts, the temperature swings back and forth, and the grass greens one moment, and freezes the next. The livestock wander out to the greening paddock to nibble on what little they can find. The people in the house wander around looking for chocolate. And then there's the sounds of spring...cough, cough, achoo!  And being a family that shares, everyone is making sure to be generous in the giving of cold germs with the family members they feel "deserve" it most.
O the joys of springtime!

Ice Skating in Ditches, The Wife is Encouraging it.

So, there's been no snow for the month of January. Though we have had rain. When the temperature gets cold enough, the ditches freeze. For the children(ours) who are used to the frigid windmills of Wisconsin, and having ponds, lakes, and frozen fields...they find any hint of frozen water to play on. Hence the gravitation to the frozen ditches.
They were supposed to be doing chores...instead they were skating down a half mile of frozen ditch. Then there were the races. Obstacles of tree trunks, cattails, and drain pipes making the race that much more exciting. However, my personal favorite was "ditch wars". Where the sisters stand on the road and pelt brothers with whatever alongside the roadside they skate down for the best time. A little much like some sort of survival games movie...but it kept the occupied on a dreary day for three hours! Outside the house!
The chores had to get done before they came inside...giving me an extra half hour of a clean house!
I love ditches!

To Mow a Lawn

The Keeper of the Flame has had the esteemed job of mowing the lawn. Not just your average postage stamp of grass, but rather a couple acres. By push mower.
As parents we were super impressed with our forward thinking that the mower we gave him to push is gas powered. The Keeper of the Flame dilligently pushed for three weeks of the July heat index beyond 100F. The lawn is large enough to make it divisible into five smaller parts so that it was five days of an hour or two of lawn mowing. Small complaints were breathed, but no large blow-ups. And then the day came when the request was made, "I don't need any birthday gifts. Save the money to buy a riding lawnmower." This is the way to any mother's heart, through humility and self denial. Willing to give away all worldly pleasures for a simple riding mower with which he could bless his parents and continue to cut the lawn. So when the neighbor was selling his riding mower, the Wife was willing to pay whatever he was asking for her dear sweet boy. The haggle was short, and the mower drove to its new home. At dinner that night the conversation was light and good humor abounded. Tomorrow the Keeper of the Flame would be cutting the full lawn in one day. Everyone was jovial! Soon the conversation became something new to the Wife's ears..."Hey, Pop! Could we hook up a trailer to the mower to haul water buckets?"
...Such a thoughtful son, she thought, helping do his brother's chores...
"Pop, I could drive the mower to weed the bean field with the neighbors.."
...ahh, everyone should have a son so willing to be a blessing to everyone...
"and we could hook a trailer up to the back for the canoes going down to the canal, maybe we could tweek the engine to go a little faster? How do we lift it for four-wheel drive? do you think I could drive it to the gas station to get ice cream?"
...eh?...who's child was this?
And this was when the Wife realized...she had just bought her son his first vehicle...which just happens to cut the lawn.

(He is still a sweet boy, thoughtful, and diligent.)

The Adventures of Dear Farmer and Indoor Plumbing

Disclaimer:this is probably one of the more disgusting posts. But in our family everything is shared news. Everything! It is part of Dear Farmer we love. However, the Wife does not believe that this is part of country hospitality....though, should you visit, you should know this beforehand.


No, We do not have an outhouse. Yes, we do have indoor plumbing. However, we have the indoor plumbing from when indoor plumbing was first made. And then in the ninteen sixties someone thought it looked old, put a new pink face on it, and made it appear hip and trendy.
A mere fifty years after the facelift, the bones of the original plumbing are brittle and clogged...and needing replacing.
Insert Dear Farmer's newest adventure...indoor plumbing.
To give Dear Farmer more time to research the "how to" his family has come up with a jingle you might have heard in a playground, " If its yellow, let it mellow. If its brown, flush it down." This is the core of playground humor, and reality in this old farmhouse. Well, reality until Dear Farmer has figured out how to fix and replace the old plumbing.
Insert the family joke: "but what do you do if its green?"
Now you can screw up your face, giggle and laugh. But really...what do you do?
Here in lies the adventure every time we open the toilet lid. What did the person who used the bathroom before you do? What did they do with the green?