We got our new anniversary apple trees planted! One is Yellow Delicious and the other is Red Delicious. Our orchard consists of two pear trees and two apple trees now! Thank you mom and dad for our trees!
Redbeard did all of the planting for me. Thanks to him for doing the heavy lifting! I am so excited to see our orchard grow! Our orchard will double in the next month again. We have two Honeycrisp apple trees and two peach trees on their way! I can't wait to start harvesting fruit in a few years!
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| Planting apple tree one |
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| Apple tree # 2 is in the ground! |
Our pear trees are getting ready to grow a lot this spring and summer, or least I hope so! We are so excited to have a little orchard!
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| One of our pear trees from last year. |
What other fruit trees should we add to our orchard?
We are starting to come out of the winter season filled with feeding cattle and planning for the next year of crops. Now is when the long days of fertilizing, planting, harvesting, spraying weeds, and making sure everything else gets done in between. Redbeard has started fertilizing our irrigated fields that will have corn or soybean planted in the next couple months.
The long days have been easier for Redbeard this year. He takes our (not so) little Custer with him. The boys have so much fun in the field!
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| Tired puppy! |
So I will sit back and enjoy the last moments of the Winter schedule and look forward to great opportunities for farm photography!
Flat Aggie had the opportunity to visit our farm this last month. He came to learn about our cattle, but also got to attend meetings about raising crops. The first thing he did was go out and buy farm clothes.
For once, I didn't have to open the gate! Thank you Flat Aggie!
And he climbed the windmill for me too! It was pretty high climb! He was careful and we made sure he was climbing safely.
Flat Aggie was tired after all the hard work! He took a nap with our puppy, Custer.
Flat Aggie went with us to a weed control meeting. He came prepared!
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| Flat Aggie has his iPad, notepad, and pencil ready for the meeting. |
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| Flat Aggie learned the importance of rotating herbicides! |
Flat Aggie had a great time at the meeting. He had a few questions after it was over so he asked the experts.
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| Flat Aggie met Dr. Curtis Thompson, Extension Weed Specialist at Kansas State University |
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| And we had a chat with Dr. Dallas Peterson, Extension Weed Specialist at Kansas State University |
Flat Aggie had the opportunity to see the cutest part of the farm, the bucket calves! They needed us to take care of them since their mommies weren't able to get the job done. He really enjoyed meeting the babies.
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| Flat Aggie liked helping feed this calf. |
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| He helped keep this calf calm. |
Flat Aggie showed us his muscles yesterday! He didn't even know he was that strong! With the warm weather and the ground thawing, it is time to pull up the electric fence around the corn stubble that the cows have been grazing on all winter. The cows are like vacuum cleaners for a field! They get every kernel left over from harvest! Redbeard was so glad that Flat Aggie came along. Redbeard was a little tired in the afternoon, so Flat Aggie took over pulling posts.
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| Flat Aggie is proud of his hard work! |
We really enjoyed having Flat Aggie visit us!
A couple days ago I went with Redbeard out to the field by our house to visit the cows. These cows are going to be new mommies very soon. They met their perfect match in May and now is the time for the cute babies to arrive! I can't wait to get out and take pictures of the new bundles of joy! So what do cows do while they are waiting to have a calf? They eat, drink, and wait. I caught a few pictures of them that I wanted to share.
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| They weren't taking their eyes off the stranger with the black object in front of her face. And look at the belly on the cow in the back! |
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| This old girl is eating snow and any food she can get her mouth on. |
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| Still looking for the perfect bite! |
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| Number 51 was photogenic. She is hired! |
As you can tell, the cold weather and snow hasn't gotten them down. Now the weather is going to be nice for about a week. It would be a good time for them to have their babies. (Hint, hint cows) My good friend Sarah Jane at The Bos Lady wrote about cows and snow. They can learn to eat snow as a water source in a matter of days! Amazing! If you want to learn more you can check out her blog post, Snow As a Water Source.
That is all for now from the Moo-ternity Ward. :)
I recently read an opinion article from Outdoor Life called What Happened to our Quail? Observations From an Old Quail Hunter. It was authored by Gordon Jones, M.D. Here is the link to the article:
The article is basically his opinion of what happened to the quail population in Texas. His reason for the quail numbers decreasing is the use of herbicides. He believes the herbicides reduce the amount of seeds available for the quail to eat. This shouldn't be a total surprise because one reason to use herbicides is to reduce the seed bank in agricultural fields.
I won't repeat the entire article, you can view the link. What I'm getting at is that I don't think the author knows as much about pesticides as he thinks he does. He says that herbicides kill insects and can harm humans. Well, not exactly. Herbicides kill plants. Insecticides kill insects. Herbicides cannot kill insects. Maybe it was a typo on his part. I don't know. I will admit there are a few herbicides that can harm humans. But for the most part, those herbicides are not used anymore. Some of the comments on the webpage were bashing Roundup for being toxic and harmful and wiping out fields, when in fact Roundup is one of, if not, the safest herbicides farmers use. Its mode of action is an amino acid inhibitor. More specifically it is an EPSP inhibitor. I won't bore you with the details of that, but what Roundup inhibits only exists in plants! Also, the farmers of today are much smarter about their herbicide use. You might have heard of "Farmer Logic." That is, if x lbs of atrazine per acre will kill weeds good, then 2x lbs per acre will be even better. Those high, probably off label rates can contribute to runoff into streams and could potentially contaminate surface waters. However, research has indicated that lower rates of atrazine can actually increase the herbicide efficacy and reduces runoff potential. Farmers are realizing this and practicing it!
Now don't get me wrong, I wish I had more quail around to hunt. I love to eat quail. I love hunting quail. One of my best hunting experiences was hunting quail with my dad. We started out walking on a cold brisk mid-morning hunt with our two labs, Blackie and Jade. A fair amount of walking was involved. We saw a couple different coveys and ended up with 6 birds total. We each shot 3 times and never missed. The dogs worked like professionals in flushing and retrieving. It was about as good a quail hunt as I've ever been on. My point is, I like quail hunting as much as the next guy. But I also like to eat. I can't shoot enough quail to live off of each year. The world can't be fed on shooting quail. The world needs proper herbicide use to raise enough food. By 2050, there will be about 9 billion people on Earth. We need genetically engineered crops and herbicides in order to feed the mouths of the world. (Here's an interesting tidbit: For those that say that all herbicides are unnatural, just take a look at the herbicide known as Callisto, or active ingredient mesotrione. It was actually discovered from a tree that didn't have anything growing under it. A scientist noticed this and looked for the reason. They found the tree was putting out its own natural chemical for defense against competing plants).
He mentioned his frustration with Quail Unlimited because they won't spray their plots with herbicides. He thought if they sprayed the areas, they would find that herbicides were hurting quail. What I think he fails to realize is most of the time there isn't a need for a herbicide application on a wildlife area. Why kill the plants that the quail use for a habitat?
One way that herbicide usage could impact quail has to do with the efficiency of farming. Technology has advanced so much over the years that farmers are able to produce more food. They are able to get more done in the same time. Wouldn't you if you could? There are pastures that are ripped up to make crop fields so that more wheat, corn, soybeans, etc can be grown. The habitats are getting somewhat smaller in that case. Urbanization has also taken away good wildlife habitats. There are so many reasons that could contribute.
Also, the purpose of this post was not to suggest to people to bash and rail against the author. I don't think he necessarily has a political agenda or anything against herbicides. I think he is just a hunter that longs for the quail population of years past. Maybe there are more reasons for the declining quail population. Maybe the quail are going through a rough patch right now. Who really knows?
There is one thing I hate about Christmas coming...SNOW. I absolutely hate winter and the temperature and snow that comes with it. On the upside Christmas and deer season happens when it gets cold, so I tolerate the weather until the snow falls. My dad shares my dislike for snow. In our minds, snow means digging out of the house, driveway, and gravel road and chopping ice for cattle. Not fun! Snow also means bad roads, especially if the snow starts to melt, only to refreeze over night.
Now to show what the snow has messed up in 24 hours. Sunday we were supposed to have a potluck at church to celebrate new members. That means us. Our transfer to First Lutheran is finally complete. It was hard to say goodbye to St. Paul's, but that is part of growing up. I knew the recent snow would interfere with our plans. Redbeard has cattle to give food and water to and with snow and frigid temperatures that means chopping a lot of ice. Plus, the roads were less than ideal.
While he was off tending to cattle, I made a dish for the potluck. I decided macaroni and cheese would be a good addition to the potluck since I didn't have any eggs left to make a dessert. In a short thirty minutes, I let the noodles stick to the pan and boil its slimy noodle juice onto the stove. Yuck! I was trying to do too many things at once. Next time I will focus only on the noodles. I blame it on the yucky snow! It has me going crazy!
Redbeard finally got home right before 11 and church starts at 10:30. We hopped in the truck and made the trip to town. We entered right as they started playing the closing song, but at least we made it for the potluck. Better late than never, right?
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| Here is what the roads looked like on our way to church |
We had a great time at the potluck. I think it was the best potluck I have ever attended! Between cheesy potatoes, macaroni and cheese, beef and pepperoni Pizza Hut pizza, and Hawaiian rolls, I was stuffed! I didn't even eat supper last night!
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| The road on the way back from church...much better, but still not great. |
After church and the potluck, Redbeard and I went out to give a few bunches of cattle some more water. They sure drink a lot, even though it is cold out! Custer came along for the ride and loved every minute of it!
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| Sniffing around |
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| The puppy sits weird sometimes |
Our cattle live on the fields harvested this fall during the winter. This includes corn and grain sorghum fields. The nice part of having the cattle in the fields is they are gaining weight while cleaning up after us! They also leave behind some fertilizer. The "girls" pick up the corn or sorghum reside that was lost out of the combine during harvest and eat it. There is little waste then! They get a bale of alfalfa or other yummy forage to supplement the corn or sorghum. I think they deserve a little treat when they are doing so much work!
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| Some of the cattle eating corn |
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| Redbeard is the official ice chopper |
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| Redbeard ice chopping in action. Don't be fooled, he isn't the only ice chopper. I put the camera down sometimes to chop some ice, also. |
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| The girls eating some alfalfa |
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| "What are you looking at?" |
I blame my long, cold, yucky day on the snow and my long-time hatred for it. It causes problems in our days, but it is nice to go chop ice and feed with Redbeard and Custer even though it is cold.
1. I am not super woman - No matter how hard I try I can not do it all. I feel like I should be able to keep the house clean, be active in the community, help out on the farm, and work on my hobbies, but I can't. Something has to give. Sometimes the house isn't as clean as I would like it to be because of everything else going on in my life. It is definitely a balance. I am learning to be okay with balance instead of perfection.
2. I get mad at the long days - I know, I know...I grew up on a farm, I knew what I was getting into, right? No amount of preparation can truly get you ready to marry a farmer. I will admit I had an idea, but an idea and real life are far from the same. It is hard when all the plans in the world won't guarantee a trip to town with your man. It gets easier as time goes by. I find things to keep me busy when the hours get long and thank God for every minute I have with him.
3. I don't mind getting dirty...as long as I have WORK clothes on! - I have never been accused of being a REAL country girl. I love participating in activities like working on the farm, hunting, and fishing, but I really like being girly, also. I suppose I don't let people see the "farm girl" side of me much. Most people see the dress and heels on Sunday morning kind of girl. I am learning to embrace my "farm girl" side. This starts with putting on Redbeard's hunting clothes and walking around the wilderness in oversized head to toe camoflauge. Would I rather be dressed in purple head to toe with jewels and sparkles all over? Yes, but somehow I think the deer would see me.
4. I cry...sometimes a lot - People who really know me, know that I am an extreme crier. Every emotion causes me to cry. I will let tear gush out of my face when someone I love has happy news and will share the pain with someone who is hurting. This is the way I was built. As I have matured, I have learned how to control my tears. Sometimes all the control in the world isn't enough to stop me from crying...and that is okay.
5. Life didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but I do have the life I needed - I am a control freak. I LOVE to be in control. That is probably why I tend to get over-involved. I dive head first into activities. At one point in college I was taking 18 credit hours, helping teach a class, serving as president of three organizations, and trying to be a good girlfriend all at the same time. Redbeard told me I was crazy and I thought it was normal. This led to me taking a break from the craziness after college. I only planned a wedding with my mom, helped my dad on the farm, and prepared to marry my best friend for four months after graduation. When we got married, I decided it was finally time for life to be the way I wanted it to be. I would be this trophy wife, dressed up every day with full makeup catering to my husband's every need. That didn't happen. I take care of him, but I also take care of me. I never thought I would be sitting in north central Kansas as a stay at home farmer's wife, but I am sure thankful for the life I didn't know I wanted.
The farmer and his rural housewife. Obviously he has to cover up his beautiful red beard. :)
"I'll tell you when you get here." Ladies of the farm, this is a trap. This is what farmer husbands say when they need help and know that their wife will turn them down if they know what the task is. This happened today.
I got a call and Redbeard was on the other end of the call. He said he needed my help and I should bring my purple Muck boots. I asked him what I was going to do and he responded with "I will tell you when you get here." I am a crazy, gotta know everything that is going on kind of woman so that didn't fly. He preceded to tell me that I would be crossing a river (his words, not mine) to put an insulator on a t-post. I thought, "I don't want to do this, but it will be nice to help Jake." What he didn't tell me was that I would have to climb down a cliff. I am a baby when it comes climbing around steep terrain, as you will see in pictures.
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| I don't know about this, Jake |
At this point I was close to tears. I don't know why I am so afraid of going down steep terrain, but I am.
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| This isn't so bad |
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I will just slide down, I guess.
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Wading in the water in my boots! Why did I wear Redbeard's big jacket?
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| Caught the pliers AND walked to the t-post without falling! |
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| Fixing the t-post insulator, getting handy with the pliers |
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| Making my way to the other post |
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| Job completed! |
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| I even pounded a few posts in before leaving! |
Well, I fell for the trap today. I am glad I went to help Redbeard. I started to conquer my fear of steep, rocky terrain. Maybe next time I won't look like a weirdo sliding down the hill. In the words of Redbeard, "I wish we had this on tape." It would have been entertaining, but then again I think the pictures are embarrassing enough.
The sunsets around here have been amazing lately! It was definitely worth getting out of the house when it is cold out to capture these pictures. What do you think?
This week has been crazy between cleaning house and getting ready for this weekend's barn quilt block class. Here are a few snapshots of what barn quilt block class preparation looks like.
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| Little paint cups ready for participants to choose the colors they want. |
I have poured the paint colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, white, and light brown. There should be plenty of colors to choose from for the attendees.
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| My quilt block priming station. I have fancy boxes to help me paint! |
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| Barn quilt block, primed and ready to paint |
If you are in the Phillips county area there is still time to sign up for a class! You can check out our Facebook page,
Snapshots of a Kansas Farm, for more information.
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