On the Farm Friday ~ Butter

Sorry if that post title was a little misleading. Mmmmm butter.  Yah, baby!  Melting on my blueberry muffin as we speak.  It also happens to be the proud name of this little gal:

That's our little Butter Baby, the newest member of the boys' 4-H bucket calf clan, proudly belonging to Henry. Mr. Henry is a big 4.5 years old, but he's a tad too young to really care for a calf and enter it in the county fair. One of the mammas in our herd abandoned the little darling, so we scooped her right up and brought her home for Henry anyway.

I'm not exactly sure how his ornery little mind narrowed in on the name butter.  The older boys' calves all have names that begin with "B" - Billy, Blaze and Blake - so maybe he was just keeping step with his big bros.  He also automatically assumed that his calf was a boy, just like the others, and when we told him that it was a she, he began rethinking this whole baby calf gig. His disappointed response was, "It's a girl? Girls are creepy.  I don't want a girl!"

I, on the other hand, was super-pumped.  I mean, so what if the only other girls around here are a golden retriever and a calf?? You really have to celebrate the little things when you're outnumbered as big as I am!

Once he decided that he would keep her, even though she was a girl, the boys quickly took him under their wings, teaching him how to bottle feed her, and of course conversation regarding the all-important name soon followed:

What are you going to call your calf, Henry??

"I dunno.  How about Bob?"

Well, Hen, Bob is not a girl's name. How about Daisy or Princess?

"What about Jed?"

No, Jed isn't a girl's name either.

"Okay, then, I'm going to name her Butter."

Oh, like, Buttercup or Butterbean??

"Nope, just Butter."

Just Butter??

"Yep. That's what I said."

Alright, Butter it is.

That's my son.  Follower of practically NO ONE.  Just himself.  Silly and ornery and smart, but not gifted in the creative calf name category.  Love him, love him!! The county fair is just around the corner. This weekend, we'll be haltering the calves and working with them for show.  More to come on that! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

On The Farm Friday - Water Wars

Welcome to this week’s edition of On The Farm Friday!

Now that wheat harvest is over, my two older boys, Benedict and Andrew, are focusing their energy on every open opportunity to run the swather for their grandpa.  Whenever alfalfa or wheat straw is on the schedule to be cut, they want nothing more than to get in on the action.

I love that they are rising early on their own.  They hustle out to feed their bucket calves and return to the house for a heaping bowl of cereal and a gathering of supplies for the day.  While I assemble their lunches and water jugs they take turns explaining to me (as recent experts in the knowledge of swathing) all the ins and outs of running the machine. 

They even express how beautiful and full the circles of alfalfa look, and how much fun it is too be out in the middle of the blooming fields.  My heart always swells a bit when they give me glimpses into their worlds - their hearts, their imaginations.  Such a joy!

As for the younger brutes of our bunch, while they love having full run of the house and act as captains of the Legos and Nerf guns, they really do miss their older comrades when they are gone.

The schedule of work on the farm is always unpredictable.  Sometimes the boys are out in a field for several hours, other times it’s only one or two.  When they come home, it’s a big uproar of wild excitement....wrestling, jumping off furniture, and relentless teasing - like they haven’t seen each other for ages.  

One day, determined to beat the heat, I found them out in the yard having an unltimate water fight. Living on a remote farm, we do not live close to a swimming pool.  They never complain, though (thankfully). Instead, they channel their energy into the next best thing:

As I was snapping pics and trying to stay out of the line of fire, I kept thinking about how different the view through my lense would be if we had girls.  While the boys didn’t even take time to kick their boots off, the girls would most likely still be prancing around the house trying to find their perfect swimsuit.  Then, they would have to make sure that their toe nails were polished, flip-flops matching, and hair put up in a perfect pony.

For the boys it’s all about seizing the moment, engaging in the battle.  

They are free, wild spirits, bonding as brothers in a moment of sheer spontaneous ramble. 

It's pure joy - for me, and for them.

I hope that they will always remember these times.

Remember them, and smile.

On The Farm Friday - Harvest Time!

This weeks "On the Farm Friday" post is dedicated to a fellow Wildcat and future farmboy, George Desch.

George is the son of a very good friend of mine from college.  (We are K-State wildcats through and through!) Even though he lives miles away in the beautiful state of Virginia, he loves the farm and has been praying for rain for all of the farmers in Kansas! (Don't you just love him already?) He is about the same age as our son, Henry, who is also all about everything farm.  Maybe they will meet someday!!  This is for you, George! (P.S. Keep the prayers coming ~ it rained twice last week!)

Without a doubt, summer is the busiest time of the year on the farm.  Every farm across the country is unique in its own way.  Some raise only crops, others have crops and animals and some even have special equipment for doing custom work, as we do, such as swathers, bailers, seed drillers and semi-trucks.  

Our farm primarily consists of alfalfa production.  You know this better as hay, and can often see the large round or square bales lined up at the edges of the field waiting to be trucked to a feed lot or dairy.   Only a small portion of our acreage is dedicated to growing wheat and corn.  In fact, this year we didn't raise any wheat at all, and the boys were very sad about this, because they LOVE to watch the combines roll through the fields, and sometimes get to ride along!

Henry was especially sad, but thankfully, he has an uncle who was running his combine this year and said, "Yes!" when Henry asked if he could tag along. After gathering up his snacks, water bottle and favorite hat, he was ready to get down to business!

One of the most beautiful sights across rural America in the summer is a field of golden wheat being harvested by a roaring combine.  This is a Case combine.  You can see just how big it is, as Henry stands at the top by the cab.

The part of the machine that cuts the crop is called the header.  This one is 36 feet wide. Different headers are used for harvesting different crops.  

If you own a toy combine, it probably came with both a wheat and a corn header, so you know exactly what I'm what I'm talking' about!  This is a corn header.  Doesn't it look like it's ready to chomp up the acres of corn??

After the combine cuts the wheat, a machine inside separates the grain from the chaff. The chaff is blown out the back and the wheat berries are collected inside of the grain bin.  When the bin fills up, a tractor with a grain cart is always nearby waiting for the combine auger to transfer the wheat into the grain cart.  Then, the grain cart is driven over to the edge of the field where the semi-truck waits to be loaded with the grain.

Once the semi-truck is full, the driver hauls the load to the grain elevator. Semi trucks are also a favorite topic among the men around here. Henry was all smiles after riding with his uncle Doug and his cousin, Ethan in their semi during harvest.

If you look closely you can see the trucks pulling in to a narrow opening between the bins.  After weighing in on a scale, the driver pulls the load over an open chute.  The trailer on the semi is called a hopper bottom trailer.  The bottom of the trailer opens up releasing the wheat into a pit where it is then transported on an elevator system up into the bins where it is stored for future use.

Sometimes the elevators can look as though they are abandoned or unused. There are many of these along the highways of Kansas, especially in our area of the state where so many farms exist. Now you know that they serve a very important purpose! If you had cereal or toast for breakfast, the wheat ingredients may have once been stored in one of these elevators! Think of us the next time you have a bite of Cheerios! 

We hope that you will come and visit us one day on our farm, George! You and Henry would have so much "work" to do!!