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.
It is fall harvest time on the farm! More specifically we are cutting soybeans today! Soybeans are used to make a wide variety of consumer and animal products. Soybean oil can be used to make edible cooking oils, biodiesel, herbicides, fungicides, paint, shampoo, and plastic to name a few. Soybeans are also used in cosmetics, crayons, adhesives, and pharmaceuticals(1). They are everywhere you look!
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This is our first soybean harvest together!
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Like I said in Life Lessons From a Farmer, things happen during the day that are not according to plan. We had a brief breakdown!
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Pulling soybeans out of the header |
After a short intermission, we were back to cutting soybeans!
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| Soybean plants coming into the combine. |
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| Unloading the combine into the grain cart while cutting, otherwise known as "unloading on the go" |
We finished cutting soybeans today and moved to some of our rain fed corn! Next time you buy makeup or crayons, you just might be buying a soybean product!
Source: 1. http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/soybean/uses_soyproducts.html
Many people have asked me over the last six months, "what does a farm wife like yourself do throughout the day?" The answer is a little bit of everything. Some days I get the dreaded call to go get parts for Redbeard. I don't like these calls, (as much as I enjoy parts runs) because it means something is broken. Broken equipment means that the day's job is usually on hold, so I hurry off to the store.
Three days a week I work in the farm office. I help pay bills and make sure the office work is completed. It is nice to be able to walk 15 steps to work and I enjoy the job. It gives me something to do half of my mornings.
Redbeard would say my most important job is preparing meals for him. The man loves to eat! I must say I am not very good about planning meals ahead of time. Mealtime decisions usually start with a look in the refrigerator and pantry to see what we have. As I said in Harvest Meals, I like to just throw in random ingredients.
And then there is laundry and dishes, not my favorite task, but I get them done. I try to get our laundry done at least once a week. Luckily, Redbeard has enough work clothes for a week! Usually I clean all the laundry in one day. That way I don't get too bored. Occasionally he comes home with mud, grease, or unidentified (or at least I don't want to think about what it really is) stains on clothes. This calls for an emergency load of laundry.
The most important part of my day is taking time for myself. The hustle and bustle of farm life can be overwhelming at times, especially during harvest. It seems that making harvest meals and spending every second I can with RB takes up my whole day. I try to take walks and crochet when the housework gets boring or stressful. Our driveway is exactly 0.75 miles if I walk down and back, so it is the perfect break from the housework.
I have had to adjust to living over an hour from a Wal-Mart or Dillions. It has been quite a difference from the 30 minutes I grew up from Manhattan and almost four years I lived in Manhattan. Luckily, I watched how my mom would stock up on ingredients and then take the random items and make a masterpiece for supper. I am definitely not up to her standard, but I hope to be one day.
Well, I guess you could say the life of a farm wife is a circle. Everything I faced today will happen again tomorrow, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am blessed to call the farmer, my husband.
Fall harvest is upon us....at least for now, so I will share my favorite harvest meal with you! The men love it too! It is easy because it is not messy to eat in the combine! I wrap them up in foil straight out of the oven and keep them in a cooler until I get to the field.
Writing about recipes is a new challenge for me. I love to cook, but when it comes to sharing a recipe I made I run into a challenge. I don't use measurements. It seems that I have turned into my mom. She doesn't measure ingredients before throwing them in the pan and her dad, my grandpa, is the same way. I guess you could say I come from a long line of ad-libbers! This recipe makes about 15 calzones, the smaller recipe is at the bottom of the post. So here it goes....
Beef and Pepperoni Calzones
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| Start with two pounds of hamburger |
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| Fry it up! |
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Add the spices:
2 T garlic powder
2 T onion powder
2 t crushed red pepper
1 t chili powder
1 1/2 t oregano
2 t Italian seasoning |
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I use about 50 slices of regular pepperoni and 50 of turkey pepperoni.
Stack the pepperoni to cut into quarters |
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| Stir in pepperoni |
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Add 1 cup green peppers, 1 cup chopped onions, and
1.5 24 oz cans of spaghetti sauce |
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| Finished product! |
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| Filling up close |
I make the dough in the original recipe size and make as many batches as I need. Each batch makes about 5 calzones.
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Start with
2 1/2 c flour and 1 package of quick rise yeast
Whisk together and add my secret ingredients...
3/4 t garlic salt (instead of regular salt)
3 T garlic powder
2 T onion powder
2 t oregano
2 t crushed red pepper |
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Add 2 T olive oil and 1 cup warm water
Stir until all ingredients are combined and
knead vigorously for three minutes
let rise for at least ten minutes with the bowl covered. |
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| Separate the dough into 4 ounce sections |
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| Roll dough into a flat, football shape |
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| Add meat and mozzarella cheese |
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| Fold dough over and press down |
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| Roll the outside of the dough onto itself to make a double seal |
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes
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| Make butter sauce with butter, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese |
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| After 15 minutes brush on the butter mixture onto the top of the calzone |
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| Put oven on low broil for 5 minutes or until browned |
Take them out of the oven and enjoy!!!!
Beef and Pepperoni Calzone Filling
Makes 8-10 calzones (depending on how much you put in them)
1 lb hamburger, browned
50 slices pepperoni
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1 t crushed red pepper
1/2 t chili powder
3/4 t oregano
1/2 t Italian seasoning
1/2 cup green peppers, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
18 oz spaghetti sauce
Prepare as stated above and enjoy! :)
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