Shout out to C!

My sister in law, C, has been invited to sing the national anthem for a certain Presidential Candidate with the initials JM.  Go C!  This woman has a beautiful voice AND a beautiful heart.  So Break a Leg C (not literally) we will be thinking of you!

A new thing that I am going to TRY to do is Farm Fact Fridays!  Instead of a Word of the Day I am going to do a Farm Fact on Friday.  This Friday I have exactly 23 min to get it in before it becomes Saturday. 

Today we are going to explore the wonder that is a Soybean Aphid.  My handsome husband came up with this particular word for Farm Fact Friday.  Per usual I will tell you what I think it is and then tell you what it actually is.

My Definition:  I actually have NO IDEA what this could possibly be.  I know it has something to do w/ Soybeans and while I am usually pretty good w/ vocabulary words I am at a loss as to what Aphid is.  I am going to guess that it is some type of shell on the soybean that has to be taken off… ???

Actual Definition:  OK, so… EWWWWWW!!! THis is a BUG!!!! And a VERY GROSS looking BUG at that!!!

Soybean aphids cause damage by sucking plant sap. Symptoms of feeding damage are  plant stunting, yellow and puckered leaves, and reduced pod numbers. Yield loss is related to aphid density at specific crop stages and on the condition of the crop.  Risk of yield loss is greatest when aphid populations peak at beginning flower because of the impact on pod set.

Definition found at http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/soyhealth/aglycine.htm
Photo found at www.ars.usda.gov/…/Soybean%20Aphid2.jpg

10 teenages, 1 video camera, and 1 near heart attack…

For you to understand my near heart attack story I need to give you a little background on where my handsome husband and I live.  We live in a second floor condo with a deck.  The deck is VERY far off the ground… I would give you an approx # in feet but i think my handsome husband would die of embarrassment b/c I am ALWAYS wrong on those approximations.

The other night my friend M and I were had just finished with Awana’s and returned to my place for an evening of Project Runway while we waited for our husbands to finish with their respecitive activities.  We had just gotten settled on the couch with our glasses of water when all of a sudden we see a BOY outside the patio door on our SECOND FLOOR DECK!  (Mind you there are NO STAIRS to get on said deck)… I FREAKED OUT!  M on the other hand nonchlantly said “oh that’s my husband J’s cousin”… like this sort of thing happens all the time… Then we see a crowd of teenagers on the lawn yelling at us to open the door… So after having M confirm for the FOURTH time that it was indeed someone she knew… I proceeded to open the sliding glass doors to find a group from the youth group at our church on our lawn, video camera in hand.  Apparently they were tasked during a scavenger hunt with finding a FARMER so they thought it would be a good idea to scare the pants off The Farmer’s Wife… After I told them my Farmer wasn’t home they figured that a Farmer’s wife was a good enough “item” so they did a short interview about the wonder’s of “cowpies” and what you would drink w/ that delicious treat…  Then they ran joyfully off our lawn, happy in the knowlege that they had gotten one more item for their treasure hunt… while I on the other hand… still shaking from the experience went back inside w/ M and waited for my heart to return to it’s normal rhythm… all i have to say is that boy am I glad that M was there… b/c I had no idea who that boy was and my husband takes home security VERY seriously…

Return from my Sabbatical

I have returned from my posting Sabbatical.  During my time away “The Farmer” and I have:

Packed

Moved

Unpacked

Painted

Decorated

Made Friends

Swam A LOT

Bought Furniture

Returned Furniture

Found new Furniture

Traveled to Des Moines a few times

and, Had a few visitors

All in all it has been a busy couple of months in our household.  During my break from blogging I realized that readers (well if there still are any)… might be interested in not only our immersion into the world of farming but also about our everyday lives… So my posts may change a little but rest assured that my education on farming is not over.

Word of the day: Disc

(Picture From http://www.farming-equipments.com/)

Thank you G’pa Bill for this word of the day, Disc. When I think of the word disc I think of a compact disc. I can’t imagine what you would use that for on the farm besides listening to some Alan Jackson tunes on the tractor. “Well I learned how to swim and I learned who I was, a lot about livin’ and a little ’bout love”…

The correct meaning of Disc:
Apparently a disc in farming terms is used on a chisel plough (wikipedia uses this spelling). The disc digs into the ground about 3-6 inches turning the dirt over. You do this after the corn is harvested to break up the root system. And, by putting the stalks under the dirt you are adding nutrients for the following year’s crop.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to you… Happy Birthday to you… Happy Birthday Dear Michelle… Happy Birthday to you… Since I am not there to sing a Happy Birthday song, I am posting a Happy Birthday song to you. Happy Birthday, Michelle!!

An All-Purpose Apron…

An Apron is really an all-purpose item. I have been reading up on their attributes and am amazed at their many uses. They are used for protecting clothes, gathering items, fanning the wearer in heat, hiding shy children, protecting hands from hot pans, etc.  There have been countless poems written about aprons and they have been in use for years.  After hearing of their many wondrous uses, I decided that as a Farmer’s Wife I should have one of these almost magical tools.  My Mother graciously offered her sewing skills and crafted the lovely aprons pictured above.  Now I just need some cooking lessons and I will be on my way…

Word of the Day: Power Take Off (PTO)

There have been a few suggestions for my word of the day segments. One of which was supplied by my sister. She thought it would be interesting if instead of just writing the definitions of words, I would supply my own definition and then research the “actual” definition.

The following word of the day was supplied by my father-in-law: Power Take Off (PTO)

My Definition: Extra power supplied to a rocketship when it takes off. That is what I think it is but how that could correlate to the farm, I have no idea. Maybe it is some sort of button you push on a tractor when you want to go really fast… like they do on the cars in those racer movies…

Real Definition (as supplied by my husband): The power take off is a drive that protrudes from the rear of the tractor providing power to the implement that is behind it. For instance, the power take off will run an auger (see earlier post for definition) in the auger wagon. Another example; it drives the “vac” which is used to vacuum the remnants of grain out of the bin. (these examples were offered after my husband received a blank stare while telling me the definition)

I will begin taking submissions for my word of the day posts, so get out your thinking caps and reply to a post with your farm related words.

Word of the day: Auger

The grain auger is used in agriculture to move grain from trucks and grain carts into grain storage bins (from where it is later removed by gravity chutes at the bottom). A grain auger may be powered by an electric motor; a tractor, through the power take-off; or sometimes an internal combustion engine mounted on the auger. The helical flighting rotates inside a long metal tube, moving the grain upwards. On the lower end, a hopper receives grain from the truck or grain cart. A chute on the upper end guides the grain into the destination location.

Found at wikipedia.org

This word of the day is from my husband… all I have to say is “huh???”….

Laundry

Laundry is one of those things that you take for granted in life.  If you are like me you have known how to do laundry since middle school.  Well… When I got married I found out there is a big difference between doing my  laundry and doing my husband’s laundry.  For those of you who don’t know, I am a bit of a germophobe so dirt/grease does not sit well w/ me.  Since I have been married one of the most challenging things about being a farmer’s wife is laundry.  It has been a real challenge for me to not only figure out how to get my husband’s work clothes clean but also to love him even when he forgets and wears his good clothes out on the farm.  To my husband’s credit the times that he does this, it is b/c he is already out running errands and is called to the farm.  He is very dedicated so the last thing he thinks about when something needs to be done is what he is wearing.  God is helping me to recognize his commitment and love him because he is committed and not in spite of the fact that he wore his good clothes on the farm.