You and Me Go Pickin' In The Dark

Well, the title says it all.  I got to go pickin' in the dark a few nights ago.  There is just something about being out in the field that is so relaxing and peaceful, even at night!

Farm Girl Tip #53: If you ever need a place to go after a long day, this is the place to be! 

Welcome Home!

Well the cows are back home from the pasture.  They are happy as can be out in the corn fields eating and becoming fat! I drove by them the other day and they are out there just chomping away with smiles on their faces! They love this time of year because it is the best food they get to eat all year! (I know this because I go out and talk to them).

 Farm Girl Tip #52: When the cows get to come home to eat in the corn field, they are the happiest animals ever!

Playing Farm Girl

Well tonight I was a lucky duck and got to play farm girl.  First off, Michelle calls me and asks me where I am at.  She was wondering if I could help move everything back home from Groton.  I told her I would be home in about 20 min or so.  I get close to home and I call her to see if they still need my help.  She says yes, just go home and the guys have a plan that someone will meet me there.  Just go home.  So home I go.  I get there and there is no one there waiting for me, so I go inside and change.  Logan calls me and says take my work pickup and drive up to his mom and dads house.  Off I go.  I get about 1/4 mile down the road and Michelle calls and says don't worry about coming up here, we don't need you anymore.  So I turn around and go back home.  It is about 6:45 and I decide I'm kind of hungry so I start making supper.  Not even 3 minutes later, Logan calls me and says that Rick (the hired man) needs stuff out of the service truck. UGHH! All I want to do is EAT!! So back outside I go, drive the service truck up to Rick and sit there for a solid 30 min.  7:15 rolls around and FINALLY I get to go home and (hopefully) stay there! Sure enough, I get home and......the guys show up and are done for the night!

Here I am playing farm girl driving the service truck around for the night.

And here is my "rig" for the night:

Farm Girl Tip #51: Never plan to just come home and eat supper.  Plan to go inside, come back out and drive, turn around, come back home, go inside, go back out and drive to the field, and eat supper at 8:00. 

  

It's Corn Time

Well you guessed it! It's that time to switch from bean harvest to corn harvest.  I witnessed this first hand yesterday.  I have always known that farmers haul their corn/bean head around on a long, narrow trailer.  But how do they get it on there?  Well here's how! They do some unhooking of stuff to detach the head from the combine.  Then the driver of the combine raises the head up, puts it over top of the trailer, and lowers it onto the trailer.  

Here is Logan doing the duties of putting the bean head onto the trailer.  For the record, Logan was thrilled that I was taking this picture.  After I took the picture, I looked at him and he was shaking his head at me.  Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep the blog up and running!!

After the guys took the bean head off, put the corn head on, and moved fields, it was time for corn! Here are a few pictures from the beginning of corn harvest!

Farm Girl Tip #49: Take pictures of everything that is new to you even if you get the look and the head shake.

Farm Girl Tip #50: If you are ever stressed out from school or an upcoming test, go out to the field to enjoy harvest and the beauty that God gave us to look at.  It is so relaxing and peaceful!

Screws

What happens when you try to make your house look all festive, but you live in South Dakota where the winds never stop blowing? Your corn husk decorations fall over of course!! The only way to fix this problem is to somehow wire the corn stalks to something.  And what is that something? A screw of course!! There are just a few steps you take to fix this problem.

1. Obtain an old house that no one cares about.

2. Find a few screws, wire, and power tools.

3. Use your power tools and screw the screw into the side of the house!!

4. Wire your corn stalks onto the screw.

5. Your corn stalks will stay standing! (That is of course until the wind blows 35 mph and your corn stalks fall over because you didn't do a good enough job.)

Farm Girl Tip #48: If you want your decorations to stay standing up, just put a few screws in the side of your house! Problem solved.

We Are Festive!

Well I decided that I needed something festive for fall outside to dress up the gross old farm house a bit.  I decided the answer was some pumpkins, corn stalks, and straw bails.  Logan and I were up in Aberdeen last night and I made him stop at WalMart so I could get some pumpkins since the pumpkin patch in Watertown wasn't open when I was there! (BOO!!)  After being sick and tired of sitting on the couch this afternoon, Logan and I went over to the neighbors house to get a few straw bales, stopped to cut a few corn stalks, and waaaalaaa! Your house is decorated for fall!!

Farm Girl Tip # 47: If you have a gross old farm house, get some pumpkins, corn stalks, and straw bales to deck it up a bit for fall! 

Here Kitty Kitty

A few weeks ago, Logan pointed out a cat that we had that roams around the yard.  I assumed that this cat was around because it is eating all of the mice! Well, the other day, I was getting ready to go out to supper and I looked out the window and I see a cat in the bushes.  I said to Logan- Oh look! Our cat is back! I acted like a 3 year old and sat at the window and watched the cat as it came out of the bushes and walked around close to the tall grass.  I watched as this cat would walk, then stop and look like it was ready to pounce! (It was going to pounce MICE!)  As the cat came out of the grass a little more, I realized that it was a different cat than the one that Logan told me about a few weeks back! That means we have 2 cats roaming the yard for mice!! (Hence why I haven't had many mice in the house this year!!) Score for the cats, even though I hate cats!  They can stay though, as long as they don't become my friends.

Here is my mouse catcher.

Farm Girl Tip # 46: If you have mice in your house, invite the stray cats over to take care of the problem.  They will! Just don't become friends with them because cats are gross!