our little farm...

**sugar beets**
contrary to popular belief (one that i had before i started dating a farmer...), sugar comes from more than just sugar cane. sugar beets are another way they process granulated sugar. they use this sugar to sell in stores, as well as to sweeten candy bars, etc. my dad is pretending to eat this ugly little beet (isn't my dad's tour-of-the-farm hat cute?). hopefully the beets will be twice this big by harvest, which should start at the end of september. they are not a beautiful product once harvested, although the green fields are amazing. but because of their purpose in life, i LOVE the little guys!!

**soft white winter & hard red spring wheat**

soft white winter wheat is planted in the fall and grows until frost, goes dormant, and comes back to life in the spring. this is what is used mostly in the US to make processed foods like cereal, malt-o-meal, etc., etc. it can also be used as cow feed. conrad has done excellent with this crop, beating his average yields every year since he started. this year he got close to 135 bushel/acre. one bushel of wheat=60 pounds. prices have been up and down with the economy. we're thankful that we have some contracted with a local feed lot for a good price. we already sold some to general mills and have about 7,000 bushel in a bin waiting for the prices to go back up before we contract any more. the bin below is just the beginning...about 1/5 full at the time the picture was taken.

my parents came out a few sundays ago for the farm tour. conrad gave them a ride in the combine, and i think they both liked it a lot. God blessed us with a great combine. the header (where the wheat goes in) is 25 feet wide. the first year conrad farmed, he used an older combine with only a 15-foot header--talk about slow moving! he said the widest header they make is 40 feet. usually farmers with a lot of ground and/or custom cutters buy these bigger machines.

full house---the cab of the combine with conrad and both my parents above, and the hopper (where the kernels go after they've thrashed through the combine) below.

once the hopper is full, a little alarm beeps in the cab. that's when to go to the truck, put the unloading auger out, and fill up the truck.

once the truck is full, this is what it looks like to get the wheat into the bin. simply back the truck up so the belt is over a bin which is hooked to a large auger that uses a spiral motion to get the grain up into the bin.

hard red spring wheat won't be ready to cut for another 2-3 weeks. because it was planted in the spring, it takes more time to mature. this wheat typically goes for a higher price, but bushel/acre is usually a little lower. conrad's goal for the year is 90 bushel/acre this year. the protein in this wheat is higher, and it typically gets put on a barge to japan to make noodles, etc.

**malt barley**

these are the barley fields in rockland (maybe you recognize this from earlier pics before it was ripe...). barley is measured by 48 pounds/bushel, and is contracted by the hundredweight. God blessed this field with a plentiful harvest and it was extra great because at one point, we thought conrad would have to replant due to some crusting issues (dirt too hard to let sprouts through). thank God we didn't have to buy another $3,500 worth of seed!! i think ripe barley is beautiful with the rich color and long beards...it may be my favorite:)

thankful for the blessing of our home...
tonight we decided we should bring the previous owner's grill to her (we've been meaning to do it all summer, since she called and humbly asked us, saying, "my kids won't go get it"). she and her husband moved into town because they were having trouble getting around and maintaining the home and the acre lawn, garden, flower beds, etc. this was a very bittersweet time for them (99% bitter, 1% sweet). they'd raised their family here, both sons got married in the back yard, and they loved country life. how thankful i am that when she decided to sell (and her kids didn't want it), she came to conrad first. last june (2008), we went over and she showed us the house. each room held a memory. she modestly explained the upgrades/maintenance she and her husband had done throughout the years, and said "this home just really needs a family with kids." despite random people knocking on her door and offers over $100,000 more than what she offered it to us for, she held true to her word and we got the keys in december.

sure, there have been changes we've made, like changing the tangerine walls in the living room to a more modern dark khaki, the peach walls and lacy curtains in the master bedroom to deep garnet and shimmering bronze, and pulling out some evergreen bushes. there's definitely more we'd like to change to update. but, the fact remains, it's a great, solid home with an EXCELLENT location that we plan on being in for a long while.

when we went over tonight, after a few minutes of small-talk outside, she asked, "would you kids like to come in?" we said, "sure." she shared that it was still a hard adjustment living in town and she misses "that place" a lot. i told her i absolutely love all the flowers the planted--the tulips, peonies, roses, oriental poppies, daisies, lilies, etc., that all bloom in their cycle and then make way for the next blooms to show off their beauty. she was thrilled that i admired her flowers so much. she told me to be careful if i dug out by the rosebush in the garden because their one-eyed cat sylvester is buried there..."if you start digging into a yellow towel-stop!" at one point she said, "you kids are so sweet." more than once, she got tears in her eyes as she talked about the old house, or the changes she and her husband were trying to adjust to in town. when we were going to leave, she shook conrad's hand and then reached her arms out to me for a big hug. and i mean BIG hug...it was a genuine, long but not too long, heartfelt grandma hug. she said, "now you guys have lots of kids to fill up that house. that house needs kids." conrad said, "we'll work on it." she walked us outside and after a few more minutes, we said good night for real this time. again, she reached out to me for a hug. it was another *good* hug:) i thanked her for doing such a great job with the home and for giving conrad and i a chance at buying it. as we pulled away from the embrace, she had tears in her eyes and said, "i'm so happy for you two." i told her i'd like to have her and her husband out for dinner sometime after harvest and she said she'd love that.

thank you, God, for everything you've done to provide us with a beautiful home. we're so undeserving! help us to be good stewards and bless this precious woman and her husband who passed the home on to us. help her to see You in us in every interaction.

back to part-time...

today was my first day back to my part-time schedule--mondays and wednesdays off. full-time had its perks; more money to put toward emergency fund/getting prego, getting to know my co-workers better, becoming more competent at my job. throughout working full-time for 8 weeks, i would always think if i was home, i could be doing ______. or ________. or ________. after work, i didn't feel bad about acting like a zombie after 8 hours on my feet and dealing with the public. now i'm back to part-time. it was nice to sleep until 9:30. it was nice to do some yardwork with my kids until i couldn't stand sweating one more second. it was nice to not get ready for the day or have to find an outfit to squeeze into. it was nice to do laundry, put a movie in, and try to organize part of the office. and it has been nice to see conrad a few times during the day.

all that said.......i think i'm coming to a realization that i have to find a balance between overachiever mode and being a lazy butt. sure, there are things that need to be done, and i'm not going to let my house fall apart, but i also need to enjoy my time off. today i made the comment to conrad "i kinda wish i was still working full-time", which was my way of saying i wish i felt more productive today. i have to admit, i loved his response. he adamantly responded, "no! i want you to be able to relax. read, take a nap, play with the kids. now you have a few more days you can spend time with them, and i won't get to for a few more months. that would be awesome." isn't that cute?? :) jack and gracie love, love, LOVE attention and even "talk" to us now (now i'm starting to sound like the crazy cat lady...). i'm glad conrad doesn't have lofty expectations of me. now if i can let go of some of the expectations of myself... how can i resist more time with my kids:)

**jack&gracie**