A Family Tradition is Buried but yet Grows on..............

I hope you enjoyed the potato pictures that I posted last time.  Growing potatoes, actually seed potatoes, had been our main crop here on the farm up until about 5 years ago. Now is the time when we would normally be getting ready to plant potatoes.  When you have done something for so long, it's hard to not still get a little feeling of loss when you don't do it anymore.  Letting go of this family tradition was a very hard step for my Farmer and me.  His grandfather along with his brothers started planting potatoes here in the 1920's.  In fact, their first crop of spuds were stored in the basement of their house.  This only happened one year.  Evidently, their mother did not appreciated the smell of the dirty potatoes under her house all winter.  When they were growing them back then, this area was a very big producer of seed potatoes.  Over time, most of the growers weeded out, and by the 1980's there were only 2 growers left.  Then in the 90's we were the only grower left in the county that grew seed potatoes commercially.  We held out for quite some time, but finally had to make the tough decision to stop.  My Farmer took a lot of pride in growing a crop of potatoes, and really misses the challenge of growing them.  However, there are many other aspects the are associated with growing spuds that he does not miss.  With out growing potatoes we tease that we are semi-retired.  And some days it really does feel like that.  Oh, we still do plant a few potatoes, just enough for the family to eat (and the neighbors, and their families, and their neighbors).  But we don't get out the big planter when we plant, or the big harvester when we dig them. It's just a rake and a shovel and some good old fashion manual labor.  Which, in a way I think, helps us heal that open wound feeling of not carrying on the family tradition.  We are planting the potatoes in a way that his grandfather may have done some 85 years ago with his first crop.  So within the next week or so, it'll just be my Farmer and me (and any other friend, family member, or sucker that happens along that day), out on our hands and knees, playing in the dirt, and reminiscing about days gone bye, and dreaming about days yet to come. 
If you have a memory about growing or harvesting potatoes, I would love it if you would leave a comment and share your memory.

Old and New, but yet the same.......

Today I would like to share some pictures with you.  They are a mix of old and new.  The old ones date back to my Farmer's grandfather's younger days, and the new ones are from about 5 years ago.  I hope you enjoy

Grandpa on top of a load of potatoes

My Farmer looking over his load of potatoes

Truck load of potatoes in front of barn

old barn still standing (barely)

Grandpa and his brother planting potatoes

Our family planting potatoes with old planter

Old tractor and old planter still usable.
This is the planter we used for small specialty potatoes.

We're off and running, riding, sliding,dodging...........

Yesterday we sorted the fall calves (the calves that were born late last summer or early fall) off of their mommas.  We had 6 this year, and instead of bringing in the whole herd to the corral, Farmer and I just bring in one calf at a time.  Now this is one place in our operation that separates us farmers from true ranchers.  We do not have horses.  We do all of our so called "cowboying" on ATV's, or as we call them "4-wheelers".  So the way it works is that my Farmer and I literally chase the calf to the corral with our 4-wheelers. One of us on each side of the animal and slightly back.  Some times it goes very smoothly and other times it does not.  When we bring a cow in this way, she usually gets pretty tired about half way there, so then we go at kind of a slow speed.  The calves are a different story.  They like to run.  And they can run pretty darn fast.  Which makes for an exciting adventure.  The pasture was pretty wet from all of the moisture that we have received so it was slick, which made for some fun ATV riding!  You can really turn one of those things around sharp on slick grass!  However, when you want to stop quickly, you don't.  Plus any fertilizer that the cows left on the field is also wet and flings very well.  And one other downside to riding a 4-wheeler really fast across the pasture, is the holes.  Our pasture is not smooth.  There are ditches, pivot tracks, dirt mounds, and sunken burial sites.  So as I am riding my ATV beside this calf, shifting into 4th gear (as he's already in high gear), making sure I'm in the right position so he doesn't turn back, keeping my mouth shut so no flying particles land in my mouth, and watching out for holes in the field, I'm thinking to myself, I believe I should be wearing a helmet.  And then when the calf makes a sudden change in direction and I tried to stop but just slid right into the back of my Farmer's ATV, I'm thinking, I believe I should be wearing full protective gear.   But I wasn't, and we did manage to get all the calves to the corral, and no body or animal was hurt in the process.  I did look a little messed up, wet and muddy.  I lost my hat in one of the chases, so I got a little more mud and stuff in my hair then I wanted, but hey this is SOOOOO livin' the farm life!  And I'm lovin' it!!!!

You know you're married to a farmer when...........

Yesterday my Farmer and I took the day off.  What that means is, we needed supplies so we drove down to the valley.  Thus came my idea for today's blog.

You know you are married to a farmer when............

He offers to take you out to lunch.....cuz he needs something from the parts store in town.
  
Your big vacation for the year includes attending an agricultural event.

You're all dressed up for a nice evening out on the town, but you stop(just real quick)to check on the cows,  and  sure enough one is calving, so the evening is cut short.

Your farmer tells you to take the day off and enjoy a day with your girl friends.  Then you receive a call asking if you wouldn't mind stopping by the parts store and picking up some parts.

It's planting time, and the only way to have some quality time is to ride in the tractor with your farmer.  (And the older I get, the less room in the tractor there is.)

As I am writing this, my mother-in-law calls and asked how our trip was yesterday.  As I'm telling her about the day, she proceeds to tell me that she remembers that no matter where they were going on a trip, long or short, they always had to pick up parts.   She didn't even know I was blogging about this today!  SO weird.  But I guess that goes to show that somethings never change.  However, the upside to this story is that although my Farmer did get a lot of parts and supplies that were needed, I also got a much needed item, a new printer.  Plus I got lunch and dinner out of the deal.  So, once again, I'm happy, lovin' life, and still lovin' livin' the farm life.
Do you a comment to add to my You know you're married to a farmer when"......
I would love to hear it!!  





     

Bare is good......

Wow, we finally have bare ground!  We were starting to feel like the snow would never leave, and then just like that the fields are bare and it's time to start farming.  Time to shift gears from cattle to tractors.  But for now, I am just enjoying finally being able to walk around with out my winter gear on.  I totally feel 50 pounds lighter!(brave or not brave)  (and I am actually 10 pounds lighter for real thanks to Visalus!)  So I guess my winter gear only weighed 40 pounds. Anyways, I thought I would just like to share some bare (no snow) pictures today........

Finally spring flowers like the rest of the world

Even the cows are happy for bare ground

 

a little play time

a new helper

A Watched Pot Never Boils................

Yesterday my Farmer was gone for the day so I was left in charge.  Normally its no big deal, but every once in a while, I am tested.  This was one of those days.  On my ride out through the cows, I came upon a first year heifer that was calving.  I could tell she was calving from sign number 5. (read ready...set...calve )  (the feet were handing out).  So far this year only 2 of our heifers have calved, one we had to pull the calf and the other calved on her own, so I figured I had a 50/50 chance she could do it on her own.  (gotta have that positive thinking)  After checking to make sure the feet were pointing in the right direction and not backwards, I left her to do her thing.  I parked a ways away from her, got my trusty little binoculars out, and just sat and watch and prayed she would have it on her own.  After watching her for what seemed like a very long time (about 30 minutes), I decided to call my Farmer to see how long before he would be home.  He was over 2 hours away.  No big deal, I can handle this.  After another long time (probably 15 minutes), and she still was not progressing, I was starting to panic.  I headed to the corral and got things ready to bring her in.  Trying to decide who to call for help and if I could bring her in to the corral by myself, I was really starting to hit panic mode.  I headed back out to the cow, this time saying all the prayers I could come up with all the way out through the field.  I could see from a distance that she was still laying down. (The panic meter was going up a little more.) Then as I got closer, she stood up and, yay,  there was a new calf laying on the ground. YES!!  What a relief.  See, I knew there was nothing to panic about. (ya, right)  I guess my first mistake was just sitting there watching.  You know the saying, a watched pot never boils. Well, the saying goes for cattle too.  Here are some pictures......

Just born

a couple hours hours old

The Ingredient.......the rest of the story

Here is my story that I give along with my gift of a tin can filled with secret ingredient.  If you missed my previous blog, please read it for a little background.  secret-ingredient-preview
          After being married for over 50 years, it was a hard adjustment for Bill to be at home alone.  With Glenda still in the hospital, Bill was trying to keep up with the household duties on his own.  The hardest part he had found was the cooking.  Although questionable during their early years, Glenda had become, in Bill's eyes, the best cook on earth.  Glenda's meals were always so wonderful, and no matter what he did, his cooking just didn't taste the same.  Same recipes and same ingredients, but not the same taste.  One evening Bill eyed a small tin can that had sat in the kitchen by the stove for as long as he could remember.  He had seen Glenda use the can, but never asked what was in it.  Maybe that is the ingredient that has been missing, he thought to himself.  Smiling, he reach for the tin can, thinking that he may have just found Glenda's secret ingredient.  He slowly opened it, and to his dismay, the can was empty.  Now what, he thought.  As he inspected the can closer, he noticed a piece of paper folded up inside.  Thinking about his beloved Glenda and what she would think of him as he snooped, he carefully pulled out the paper and unfolded it.  Tears started forming as he read the faded words printed on the paper,  "to everything you make, add a dash of love".  Slowly, he placed the paper back in the can, put it back in its proper place, and finished cooking his meal.  As he sat down to eat that evening, his thoughts were still on Glenda and their many wonderful years together, always full of love.  His dinner that night did taste better. 
I hope you enjoyed my little story, and aren't too mad at me for making you wait.  And like I said, I am still looking for my Reminisce Magazine with the original story in it.  But until now, this is my story, and I'm sticking to it.  And by the way, that original little tin can that I gave away and later found is still sitting by my Farmer's grandmothers stove, where I now live and cook.