10.19.15 Making Sugar

My favorite harvest of all, and some of my most happy moments happen during this time of year. The sugar beet harvest. This weekend we made our annual pilgrimage to the beet field to enjoy rides, donuts, watching the seagulls and gleaning beets.
I love this  harvest because it is fast, cool, and it reminds me so much of my beloved now deceased grandparents. My family has a long history of growing sugar beets, in fact in high school as part of a sales contest I sold the sugar beet company. It was unique and fun- it was really happening at the time the company was re-structuring and moving from private cooperation at farmer owned. I even dressed in the huge sugar bag costume and gave out sugar in the local mall when I was a youth. Think mascot size, and that's when our mall was a happening place.

Here we are all excited to be spending a day in the field!

 

The trailer. We use the beets to feed our small herd of livestock. I told each kid they had to pick up 5 buckets of beets before they got to ride. I thought this would get our wagon close to full. While there are a lot of us and that would be 40 buckets (7 kids + 1 mom) it was far from enough. 

Everyone helped. Of course the kids found fun ways to complete the task at hand. Sugar beets make perfect footballs, they are aerodynamic and abundant. Mark is shown trying to receive the pass from Harold.

 Afton getting refueled. She is a hungry hippo these days. She must be growing. We prefer feeding her to her feeding herself. She was determined to eat the dirt! She only succeeded a little bit.

After the trailer was about half full the kids started dispersing to various pieces of farm equipment. Mark was most concerned and excited to get in the tractor to drive with Juan. Juan is patient and generous letting Mark learn the intricacies of beating the tops off the beets. Mark is sure that Juan needs his help and is very concerned about the harvest being successful without his assistance.

After picking up beets, which helped mom be patient and kept everyone occuppied for the hours we were there, uncle Kevin came to empty his auger...He topped off our trailer with beets so he could grease the machine. Really we picked up a lot, but the mounded top made Greg smile. That's what he would have done had he been there.
When we got done one of our sweet young friends asked if we had gleaned beets to make sugar at home. I guess knowing me that might be a legitimate question. WE do draw the line at such a complex process. Although it made me want to try it just a little bit. Kids firmly said no! 

With some more memories made, we had a nice picnic lunch after polishing off a box or two of donuts thanks to some nice truck drivers, and headed to town to do many errands and shopping. The kids were great and it was a really nice day with them. I dread town but it was seriously a very nice that day.

 I love days that are peaceful and unified. I love sharing highlights of my childhood with them. I love that we are able to continue traditions started long ago. It is easy to doubt the longevity of the earth and our country with all the changes and negatives happening around, but simple pleasures and activities like this refresh my spirit and fill me with hope and happiness. The future is bright and life is good. I know this when I look in my children's eyes and I feel the strength they absorb from simple activities like helping with harvest, refining their donut taste and watching the grace and beauty found in the scavenging seagulls. Making sugar means more than just the stuff you add to cooking and food, it is also the pleasurable peaceful times we spend together. It is the time we spend enjoying our world and relaxing. We made lots of sugar and it is stored until next year when we add some more to our reserve.
Best to you today.

10.14.15 Boxes

Would you could you in a box? 
I would not could not in a box! 

I do not like that Sam I am
If I try them Sam will you let me be?
Say I like them!
(Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss)

 Often lately I find that I have put myself in a box. A box that I have good reasons for allowing in my life.
 I will try to illustrate it this way.

Long ago I would watch a movie when I folded clothes and matched socks. Something like the Andy Griffith show. Then I wanted to be more spiritually fed so I switched to general conference talks. Then we declared no more TV wasting time so I don't turn it on as it would undermine our decision. This has led to large piles of laundry accumulating on the couch and the socks being matched sporadically. Some of this is the result of LOTS of clothes so it is almost impossible to get them all back in the drawers, and really I don't have gads of time to match socks AGAIN! However I really don't like these tasks now. But I am following my rules of no TV and not wasting time.


I made the box and I have my reasons for being in it.
Yet I cringe at every picture taken with clothes in the back ground.

I made the box and I have my reasons for being in it.

Do you see the point? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who has made a box for them self that they chafe against. Kick against the pricks anyone?

So as it's fall and pre-Christmas and I'm trying to dig out my house, AGAIN, ugh! I'm realizing some of it is a mental problem not just lack of organizational talent or efficiency. I may just plug in the ol' tube and enjoy some days of movies and laundry and organizing. I really like movies, I need to be distracted to get past the sentimentality of clothing management for our family.

 I may even get my kids a screen habit and enjoy them a bit more because they will be distracted some and not always at my feet. And I may not. As I work through the in's and out's of my decisions I hope I can be brave enough to crawl out of my box and try something new and see if I might like the Green Eggs and Ham! (which I do, sauteed peppers and onions make eggs delish!).

10.12.15 Animal YUCK!

 Fall is quickly descending with cooler nights and leaves raining all day. We have glutted on fresh garden produce and are just starting to miss having an abundance of produce around the kitchen. Thus we went for a scavenger walk to the garden to see if there was anything fresh.

I should state that the deer our nemesis to all gardening efforts have effectively outwitted the numerous hunters. Two have been harvested and that was about 10 too few! As I'll illustrate.
Reed is enjoying some of the bounty we found but note where he is. At home by the sink....

These are the Juliet bushes. The most prized of our tomatoes. They are an elongated grape and delicious to the taste. We love them. The plants are ginormous and abundant producers. Until the deer come.

Then they decimate the crop and only leave their unwelcome remains behind. Notice the words.
I was picking/gleaning what they had not already nibbled on and as per the reward of work was snacking on fresh sun ripened tomatoes. I always wipe of dust and check for mold or bugs. Well the last and I mean very last tomatoes I picked were a bit wet but looked gorgeous so I popped it into my mouth as I finished a relief society phone call and all the sudden spit it on the ground. Spitting the more profusely as it left. Oh no the only idea was deer pee on the tomato! Oh my goodness I'm going to get some weird disease because I got animal waste in my mouth!! Gross. And my hand stunk the whole way home.

I washed the tomatoes with dawn dishwater and rinsed them a few times and Reed finished them. Not sure on my tomato desire from here on out.

On my way back to get these pictures to tell the story Livy was my escort. She stepped in cat offal and well stopped crying to clean her foot thus spreading the mess to her hands then her face as she wiped her nose from crying! Oh the smell and the day. So we are staying home and done with the garden. Dang deer. Really don't like those pests. And the cats well they are not much higher on my list.

So another day on the farm sharing the land with animals, that leave not so good remains to be dealt with. Thank goodness for running water and lots of soap!

10.8.15 Building Fence

One of the challenging opportunities of Jay being gone is the fall fence building projects. This year the muscles are growing on my kiddos. They recently attained my height and are on their way past. Additionally, they are gaining strength as well.

Fences here at the farm are constructed of this post and wire. All these rods are pounded into the ground with muscles and endurance.

This is the area to be sectioned into smaller paddocks which causes the cows to more efficiently graze the leaves and stocks that are left after harvest. I read an article a few years ago in the Farm Journal that suggested this was a beneficial plan as it helped the cows trim up a bit before calving and they actually calved better healthier calves on stocks than in a feed yard. Exercise and the lighter diet make for a better finish! (maybe I will try that next time too:).

 I watched this cute, very proud team as I was learning how the fence is built. Grandma drove and carried the post. Addie counted steps to determine how far apart to space them (27 of her steps). Reed was the muscle handing the posts across the ditch. He was so happy to help.

The muscles!! Harold smashed his thumb the night before and learned to wear gloves and be more attentive to the job. These two are so thankful to be two not just one pounding these long rows of posts.

Removing a post that isn't placed in the correct line and position something about out and in maybe the bumps on the post matter?

Even the little kids find ways to be involved. Thank goodness we don't dig all those holes for posts. Dirt is the best toy ever. And baths are a close second. Childhood is so much easier than we adults think.

The reward, a ride when done or when dusk comes. Everyone loves to ride on the 4 wheeler. Maybe we should just take a sharpie to the riding instructions as we never follow them.

Walking put this little one out. She was then entertaining until 1 am, but I really enjoyed the beautiful evening watching my kids grow a little more confident and stand a little taller.

Or just play out doors. Winter is hopefully coming fast and nice nights enjoying the sounds, sights, and tranquility of the world around will be gone. It was especially rewarding to walk back hand in hand with Reed and hear him and John tell of their jobs on the crew. Oh and have John try to scare me with tales of mice and bats. Sweetheart that he is.

We try to soak up as much outside time as possible right now. And I try to get myself out of the kitchen to be present in the action of my children, so we can be ready for a long winters nap! Best to you today. 

10.7.15 Vacuum Review

I posted a while ago that we tried the Kirby vacuum and were impressed. Well we sent the frist one back after seeing how much thy go for second hand. We bought this one off of ebay for a fraction of the new price. It is nice to have a one piece set up. It is easy to use in the regard of no big motor to roll down the stairs or over baby playing in the room. However, it is not the end all of vacuums. Nice thing of having two is I can switch which one I use. Now of course both lead you to believe that if you use theirs no other vaccum will get anything else out of your carpets.

Not exactly true. I think we are the ultimate testing ground 12 people, farm, the infamous dirt of our area coming in through our open windows and our floors get super dirty!

Both vacuums suck dirt and have plenty to show when we are done using them. The novelty of a new vacum makes us use it more, and it's easy. I do like the water of my rainbow though as I can see what we've sucked up and it is a lot lighter to maneuver on our steps. I am still getting the hang of the head hook-up on the kirby and I miss being able to just detach the hose and suck up the edges of the room. But it does suck well and the carpets seem to have more loft or fuzziness to them. could be the renewed interest in vacuuming them more often too though.

I'm mostly just thankful to have gotten both my vacuums for a fraction of the new price because I know their job is extreme and their users are in training. Now off to clean some more. Best to you today.

10.6.15 looking out my window

This day Addie was home sick. She has a pulled muscle in her calf and it was pretty sore compound that with lack of sleep and it was time to have a day resting at home. Addie isn't down long and soon had her siblings learning from her. I love that Afton is even paying attention to teacher Addie.

Of course this was after she had woke up early to see the kids off, she gave in and went back to sleep by 7:30. She was tired after cat napping all night. She is teething or being a baby or something but long periods of sleep have disappeared from my life again thanks to this crabby girl.

However there is still work that needs to happen and this day we proceeded to make 6 pies. The apples are fresh from the tree and screamed to be made into pies. I love fresh apple pie. The kids love turning the apples. We live in such a wonderful garden of Eden. I am so thankful for this valley and kind neighbors who share with us.

Another of the suggestions given in the recent conference was to stop looking so much in the mirror and look out your window to see who you really are. Sometimes I struggle with who I am in the mirror and even more so what I see out my window. The responsibility and the reality of this large family is staggering and difficult sometimes. Yet it is fun to see in the pictures how they grow and love each other. How they take opportunities and turn them into gold. I think the blessing of pictures is it turns straw into gold. Meaning the floors were a mess the house was chaos Addie was not comfortable the baby had slept little but in the pictures they are sweet and the memories are precious. I guess motherhood is what we choose to remember, not necessarily what it is just in the moments that run us over.

How thankful I am for these kiddos of mine who are always coming up with some new adventure right outside my window. And how humbling it is to realize the trust placed in me by their first father even God. Wow! Best to you today.

10.5.15 Conference Weekend

Just a few of the peaceful moments from conference weekend. I love the edification and up lift that comes from being still and listening to the word of God through his servents the prophets.

These were just quick moments in the next second we were skirmishing over who got which part of the blanket of floor or couch. But it was good to learn together and to share in the spiritual experience. There is much to be said for sharing a experience with those you love. It's so nice to have someone to talk to about what you felt or heard and how you are going to apply those feelings. Or to try to work out what was meant or how it applies to our situation. It is interesting as the kiddos get older to learn how their minds work and to see what they are dealing with in their lives. And heart breaking and pride endearing. It is a relief to know we are doing many of the best practices suggested, and I can testify how important they are.

 I loved the talk about counseling with your kids on the level they are at and helping them through each stage of life. I also liked the ponderize meaning choose a scripture to ponder and possibly memorize each week. We did that last night- form  Nephi 1:1 I Nephi having been born of goodly parents..., to John 14:15 If ye love me keep my commandments, Helaman 5:12- Remember my sons to build upon the rock of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, Abr 3:25-26 Now we will prove them herewith to see if they will keep the commandments, John ? Greater love hath no man than this that he will lay down his life for his friends. Good to be thinking of the scriptures.

And a final take on the day. Not sure what prompted this but I feel like it too. Is my family crazy? Possibly, but I think we are equally crazy together. And quite possibly in this day and age it is good to be crazy different as the norm is not so normal in the long run. Best to you today.