No Planting Today

Last night we had heavy rains so we were not able to plant today.  However, there was plenty to do to get ready for the next opportunity to get back into the field.

Chuck loading and unloading seed for customers.  With the
delay in planting some customers are switching corn hybrids
to shorter season hybrids.
 

We were fortunate last night.  Areas to the north and west, Howard and Floyd counties specifically,received 6 to 8 inches of rain, while in central Iowa there were tornadoes and damaging straight line winds.


It looks as though the Midwest is in for another

tough night of storms so be vigilant and

stay safe.

Amos, the intern, washed up equipment after
7 days of hard running.

Travis and Dad hauled corn to the river barge terminal.

It was a good day to visit with the neighbors and see
how every one is doing.  Congratulations Ben!
Glad to see that the diploma was signed ;-).

Tonight we did something that we haven't been able to do in over a week.  It seems longer than that maybe because it's so important to our family.  We actually sat done at the dinner table and had supper together.  To celebrate I made the family favorite Puffy Pancakes.

I added this recipe to the Family Favorites tab at the top.

The Winter So Far

Typically the months of January, February, and part of March are meeting months.  Joe and I attend meetings the learn about crop insurance, crop inputs like fertilizer and crop protection products, marketing our crops, as well as new technologies.  But this winter January, February, and March so far have been the months of meetings AND snow days.  I'm pretty sure the boys have not had a full week of school since before Christmas. 

With the regular snow storms showing up like clock work the boys have been keeping their rooms pretty tidy and the piano practiced.  But, Mom isn't keeping up with all of her work with extra bodies roaming the house and farm during the week days. (I had to throw in a third person sentence in for Joe)  Yesterday was one of those days.  School was called off for yet another snow storm.  While it was a nice snow in the fact that it did not blow around and the snow plow guys did a great job of keeping up it, winter is getting old. 

So here are some pictures of what we did during yet another snow day:



I'm pretty sure #1 son spent the entire day picking out
and designing his class ring.  It doesn't seem possible
the my little guy should be old enough to order a class ring.



#2 building a barge with Legos (I think he was told
to pick up Legos if I remember correctly)

I made a poppy seed cake from scratch that was darn good if I don't say so myself.  Poppy seed muffins are Joe's favorite, however, not yesterday as the cake was in a 9x13 pan instead of little cupcake papers.

Here is the conversation.  I'm in red and Joe is blue: 
"So, how do you like the cake?"  "It's not bad."  "So, what's wrong with it?"  "Nothing.  Why do you ask?"  "Well, you said not bad which means not good.  So what's wrong with it?"  "Well usually you make this in the little round cupcake papers."  "This is more environmentally friendly."  "I like the little round cupcakes."  "It's faster to make a cake in a pan than messing around with cupcake papers and tin."  "So what did you do this morning?"  A long pause.  "If I ever decide to make poppy seed cake again and put it in cupcake papers will it taste better?"  "I think so."

Thus, ended lunch conversation between Joe and I.



 

#3 coloring Shrinky Dinks

 

Joe moving snow

 



 

Waiting on those Shrinky Dinks



 

Friday's Favorite Farm Recipe

Iowa had it's 15 minutes of fame in December and January leading up to the Caucus.  Some of the media attention was good while some left a lot to be desired.  I'm here today to set the record straight - Iowans do not eat Jello at every meal.  I will admit that I slip a Jello salad into the lunch boxes every so often in the fall and my boys do know how to slurp jigglers with the best of them.  However, it is not considered another food group!  So, I'm starting what will hopefully be a weekly blog entry of favorite recipes from the farm.  Some of the best cooks I know are farm wives or farmers. 

The first recipe I'm highlighting is from my mom, Judy.  Some of my earliest memories are of riding on the floor of the combine coloring and taking naps while Mom combined.  Mom always said that combining was the easiest job in the fall.  It beat having to hook up and unhook grain wagons and take them to the bin site to unload. 

After Joe and I moved back to Iowa, Mom retired from the combine and Dad moved into the combine.  Now Mom is the chief cook and runner.  Mom knows where most John Deere and Case IH parts depots are from Minneapolis to Moline.  In the spring and the fall Mom is pretty much on call at all hours to get parts and necessities.  One spring she took off to get a part for our Hagie sprayer 9:30 at night and got back home at 2:00 am and the repair man had the sprayer running by 5:30am.  Judy had one very thankful son-in-law.  Another spring she did a 10 hour road trip for me to get more product to keep our soybean seed treater running over a weekend.  I consider Mom of the oil that keeps everything running smoothly in our family farming operation.  It may not be the most glamorous job but it is one of the most important.

Babushka and Grandpa with their grandsons

This recipe is one of Mom's fall comfort foods.  She takes this casserole to the field as it travels well over the corn stalks and the guys like it.

Chicken Rice Casserole
    5 cups cubed cooked chicken
    2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
    2 cans sliced Water Chestnuts
    2 cups cooked rice
    3 cups diced Celery
    1/2 cup Mayonnaise
    Dash of Lemon Juice
    1/4 cup melted Butter
    1 can sliced Mushrooms
    1 4 oz jar Pimento
    Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and put in a greased 9 X 13 inch pan and sprinkle with crushed buttered corn flakes.  Bake 1 hour at 325F or until heated through.