Corn Harvest 2014 & a few other things

It felt so good to be able to take photographs yesterday of my family farming!  It brings me joy and I didn't realize how much I have missed it.  I wish I would have recorded Milton's conversation with our daughter today.  He was teaching her about the header, and how it picks the corn, and how there are different headers.  She is six and I think she is starting to remember things from one harvest to another.  She mentioned today, "Dad, do you remember when we saw a bunny in the field (while they were cutting another year)?"  I know that isn't much to others, but that's what family memories are made of, and it makes my heart swell!

Before harvesting today, Milton decided to update a few things on the corn header.

Here he is putting new gathering chain on the header. He will put the rest on today as we received rain this morning.  

Milton's view for the day!

Heading to unload!

Unloading.

Yesterday morning,  PV and I cleaned the chicken coop, I think the chirps were pleasantly surprised when they got to get back in to lay their eggs!  When we were gathering the hay for the coop, Charlie was with us.  I got this photo of them! I love it!  She really has taken to this pup!  I'm glad she has a friend here at the farm!

Today she started first grade so I am home alone attempting to get a routine going.  The past month has been a roller coaster so perhaps I can catch up on some things.  I do miss her already though, and she has only be gone for about 30 minutes!  :)  She was VERY excited to start school though, which I am very thankful for!

I hope your summer is winding down in a good way.  Our Fall harvest will include harvesting corn, milo, and soybeans.  It is spread across a few months, so you will be hearing about the different harvests here and there!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Scratch Agchat

Last week I was to be heading to my first ever Agchat conference in Austin, Texas with my friend Nicole.  Unfortunately, due to life circumstances  I was unable to attend.  I was looking forward to the roadtrip and getting to learn more about how to agvocate. Sometimes things happen and they take a different path. Perhaps next year though!

I have some great pals though because they brought me back some Agchat Swap goodies! 

Don't forget to stop back on September 15th for our celebration of our 2 year anniversary giveaway!  Some of the items that will be given away are the ones I had planned to take to Agchat this year!

I leave you with this my friends!

May you days be filled with joy, and even when they aren't let's rejoice together.
When the sun is shining upon your life, be sure to share it with another.
Extend the love that lies in your heart, don't keep it all for yourself.
Lift up those around you, take a hand, hold it tight. Tight enough they can feel your heart pounding.
On dismal days, find someone else to lift up and focus not on yourself. 
To the ones you truly love,  be sure to hug, kiss, and tell them you love them.  For the time may come, you can't any longer.

Thanks for stopping by,
Julie

Time Flies, Milo has heads, and 1st graders

Since August 4th I have been pretty absent from not only this blog but other things in my life.  I had good reason, honestly I did.  My Dad took ill and I spent almost every day at the hospital with him and the Lord decided it was his time to "take the big ride in the sky" as Dad liked to call it.

So, when I finally had the opportunity to go for my morning walk a couple days ago I seriously was surprised.  As I strolled down the dirt road, and glance around my surroundings I saw that the Milo had heads on them and they were taller than I anticipated they should be.

Had I been so busy that I didn't even notice the Milo heading out and the corn tasseling and being taller than my six year old now? Sometimes we have to just forget the things in our life and focus on the most important aspect.  Since August 4th, that for me was my Dad and spending as much as I could with him.  Organizing things for him and our family, being where I was needed, and now.... well now I have an incredibly messy home office, and my daughter is starting 1st grade this next week.  I'm thankful I got her school supplies early!

My husband spent this past Saturday changing the concaves in the combine to prepare for fall harvest. He continued to do some maintenance on the grain drill too.  The weather here in Kansas has reached 100 degrees daily and humidity is present as usual.  He did not come home smelling like a rose and had worked hard all day!  Our littlest farmer took glasses of water to him to keep him hydrated! :)

This morning before church, he made his way to the field where he plans to sow Alfalfa tomorrow. There was an old gas well in that field and alot of rocks and pieces of concrete left over.  So not to hurt our equipment he did some early morning labor! Just alittle workout for him right? :)

The corn is being irrigated behind our house.  It's so very tall now!

The chickens are still laying and we had quite the stockpile to sell at church today! It's a good thing folks!  Not much else to report and I hope you all are doing good in your neck of the woods!  I hope when life gets alittle more into a routine I can get back to blogging regularly over here.

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Party Announcement - Happy Anniversary!

Changes and Update on the Farm

There hasn't been much time for me to blog over here on the Sunsets since I changed occupations.  In reality I should have more time.  I am now  a stay at home farm mom, this was my second week.  Unfortunately, I have had to spend alot of time in a hospital with my Dad this week verses time at home.  I'm just very glad I can be there without worrying too much about my job elsewhere.

I have gotten some jelly and jams made.  The sand hill plums are really in abundance this year!  I could make tons but don't have the time, energy, or funds!  

So far I have made 9 batches.  I am not sure why, but 3 of the batches were not the best.  I ended up tweaking the amount of juice from the plums and the rest turned out fine.  The jelly tastes great but it is too runny to sell, in my opinion.  My oldest daughter doesn't mind, she loves it.  I might need to get creative to use it up! :)

Our blackberries are really producing this year, and it makes me SO glad!  I love going out and picking them.  It relaxes me and I love to find those black little treasures! This is our first year of it producing this many! So I was able to use them in the jam I made.

The Farmer is beginning to do some work on his grain drill and continuing a construction side job he started last fall.  I saw it today and his work is quite good, if I may say so myself! :)  Dad in law is hauling grain periodically to the elevator.

The chickens are down to 10, and not producing quite as many eggs as before.  But it is enough to supply us, the grandparents, and a couple people at church with eggs.

The dog Charlie is running all over and you would never know he broke his leg! Seriously, this dog can jump and run like crazy! 

The littlest gal in our home is preparing to head off to the 1st grade this year! Crazy how fast the time seems to fly!  She is ready  she says! We will see that first week when she has to get up earlier! :)

The crops are growing and we are doing our best to maintain them.  Fall harvest will be here before we know it!  

That is all for now.  I hope you will hang in there with us as there might be few blogs.  I am on a 365 days writing commitment on this blog if you are interested!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

No Bake Cookie Dough Cheesecake

As I have mentioned before, my husband likes to have a dessert or cake on hand to nibble on. He grew up with one, normally a sheet cake for them to munch on throughout the day.  This week I made a recipe that was for small dessert servings.  I doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x13 cake pan.  It made quite abit so it would be good for a large family, potluck, or gathering.  I didn't use all the cookie dough mixture either.

I found the recipe over at Wine and Glue and adapted it to our liking.  The recipe below is doubled. I put mini chocolate chips on top for garnish but if I would have had more Oreos on hand, I would have crushed those and sprinkled on top!  I hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

No Bake Cookie Dough Cheesecake

• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 2/3 packed brown sugar
• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 16 oz cool whip
• 16 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 3 tsps vanilla extract
• Entire package of  Oreos

Directions

1. In the bowl , I used my stand mixer, cream the butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Beat in 1 tsp vanilla.
2. Add the flour slowly and be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl periodically.
3. With the mixer still running, slowly add in the sweetened condensed milk. Scrape sides if needed.
4. Once it is fully combined, stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Whip together the cool whip and the cream cheese until fully combined and smooth. Mix in the 2 tsps of vanilla.
6. Form the cookie dough into small balls and drop into the cream cheese mixture. Stir them in gently.
7. Crush Oreos and line 9x13 pan. Top with the cream cheese and cookie dough mixture.