Just another day on the farm

While it doesn't really seem right that the first picture of Phil's tractor is on the website without Phil, I know he would be proud that it is these two guys driving it. During their visit, they would go out and work even when Phil wasn't here! I thought it would be neat for you to see a picture of his old farm tractor - 1961 to be exact. Not a day goes by that Phil isn't outside tending to something on that tractor. On Easter, I ran inside after church to make some rolls to bring to dinner at our Pastor's house. I asked Phil to watch Ryan for me while I was doing so, to you know, take a walk around the yard or whatnot. When I came back out , ready to go, Ryan was back in his carseat. I asked Phil how their walk went, and he said "Ryan really enjoyed his Easter Day Tractor Ride." You can imagine my reaction...

And then this morning, when I had gotten over the "momma's fear" of her one year old on a tractor, I told Phil that I was really bummed I had missed a great picture opportunity with Ryan's first tractor ride. Phil said he enjoyed being up so high, looking at everything. Ha. I bet he did. Too bad he will be thirty before his mom lets him back up there!

I also wanted to put up a picture I just got in the mail from Sonja of we three womenfolk and our baked goods from our big day of cooking. Note Ryan trying to sample the cinnamon rolls! Sneaky! From left to right, it's Tifani, Me, Ryan, and Sonja.

On Saturday we had another round of storms. In researching all of this, I am learning that these are very common...and that this is also very early in the season (it usuall lasts unyil mid-summer. I thought I would give you a small idea of the feel of an Iowa thunderstorm.

Saturday afternoon, Phil and Ryan sitting and enjoying the front yard. They looked so tiny to me compared yo the acres of land around them!

Three hours later, a storm has rolled in. Though it is still evening, most of the sky is dark.


The clouds take on many sizes and shapes- the wind picks up sharply. Though a storm here will last many hours, there are only bursts of rain. You can see the storm move over you if it's day or evening. Phil and I joked that during the day, it is like watching a movie- we just sit there in our front room exclaiming "oh! do you see those clouds? Did you see that bit of lightning?!" for hours.
As the storm goes on and the hour gets late, you can see the many forms of lightning from miles around. It is so far off that you can see 50 or 100 strikes without ever hearing thunder from it. Instead of one strike, often they come in bursts of three or four one right after anohter. There are long streaks of lightning like the one pictured below that never touch the ground, but just go parallel with it. It really is captivating.


Now, if you are like Phil and I, we are also checking the web constantly - where is the storm now? How much further do we have to go? I've said it before and I will say it again, thank goodness for the technology we have nowadays!

On a lighter note, we need to start our planting. We have received all of our seeds and starter plants except for the raspberries. We turned over our strawberry bed with some spades early on Saturday. Got ourselves a patch 18 feet wide by 30 feet long - enough for six rows of strawberries. Phil ran a rototiller over the patch yesterday to try and break up the clumps. The dirt back here is so hard - great for growing but a lot of work for tilling! I am going to go out now and rake it, trying to get the rest of the grass out.

I am most excited for the asparagas plants we got - they are only supposed to take one year to come up instead of the normal three. I just have no patience when it comes to growing things! We also got many other things- from corn to peas, carrots, squash, and pumpkins. If even half of what we got comes up I will be thrilled. Though I have never been one to enjoy the outdoors, it certainly calls to me in this weather. It is hard to stay indoors and vacuum when the sun is shining and the sky is bright blue.

Though it was tough work, it was that Amish blood in Phil that kept him turning over that ground by hand. I am praying that we get ourselves a plow this week- I think it would make it much easier on us! We tried to run the tiller through unbroken ground, and it just won't work very well. The dirt is too tough- and this tiller has an 8 horse motor on it! So, instead of heading out to spade our planned one acre of land, I am just going to keep hoping on this plow coming through! For now, though, we need to get those strawberries in the ground before the raspberries show up!

In the picture above - all of our seeds - the stuff on the right is our strawberries - 100 plants in all.

An Iowan Pace

Now I’m back sitting here in the rat race,
Wishing I was still living at an Iowan pace.
Grossmann Farms is where I’d like to be,
Eating yummy bread and drinking iced tea!

-Satisfied Guest Tycen, Grossmann Farms






This past weekend we had four good friends from Washington come back to stay with us. I think all of us thoroughly enjoyed our way-too-short visit. It's been awhile since I posted, so we have a lot of ground to cover.

We visited the Amana Colonies (although it closed about 15 minutes after we got there... it was still neat to see). We should have taken more pictures of the place itself, but we did get a picture of this old well pump and you can kind of see the front of a house in this picture. Ok, we did a bad job of being tourists, you can just say it.

The three guys did a lot of work outside. They took down at least two trees, and moved nearly all of the wood to the other side of the property and split most of it. The outside looks a lot different now. I think they all took some tractor and chainsaw time, and cleaned up the border of our property a lot.

















While the boys were outside, the women were inside working. We made a great pancake breakfast, three loaves of bread, cinnamon rolls, the kind of dinner rolls that need to rise, a pork roast, and cookies for desert. I think we all got a small taste of what those Amish and pioneer women used to go through when cooking. We were so worn out at the end of the day, and we still had dishes to do. We would have to admit, the food was wonderful, though!

We had a bonfire last Saturday, trying to burn up some of the branches the guys took down. It was very neat, but very hot. Something we could not have done in Mountlake Terrace!

While we were at the bonfire, I noticed something interesting; there were lights in the field next to us. It is spring, or "plowin season" out here, so we have seen a lot more trucks on the road, and even a few farmers here and there. However, with the amount of turned-over ground, we definitely do not see as many as we should out working their tractors. Taking a look around, I noticed more and more of these lights.

They were tractors- at 10pm at night! I asked Amanda and Chuck why they would be plowing in the dark like that when we didn't see them during the day. They explained that many corn farmers also have pigs. So, when it is plowing season, they tend the pigs during the day, and they plow through the night. I guess it goes on for about a month and a half, depending on the size of their farm. No doubt farmers know how to work.
So, this is a bad picture, but since I rarely see tractors out plowing in the day, I thought at least you could see a tractor plowing at night.



And, no Washintonian gets through a 6 day trip without wondering where the nearest Starbucks is...so we took them past our Iowan version of the famous coffee company. They weren't too impressed...but I bet they even serve coffee! Says quite a bit for brand recognition, doesn't it!












Before everyone got here, we needed to paint and un-carpet two of the bedrooms upstairs. It was a rush job, and and we sacrificed a night of sleep to get there, but I can't believe how well the rooms turned out. I am still looking for the "before" pictures, but at the very least, here are the "after pictures". The first one is of the master bedroom, the second is of the room that will soon be Ryan's.


You don't get a very good view of this room, but you can get the idea of the colors...etc. I will be searching for my before pictures, as that does make for the complete story.

Phil is in his play tonight, the Living Last Supper. He is playing "Philip," and we have decided that he might just get up there and tell his own story rather than that of the disciple. Anyway, two more days until the weekend...we will try and get some planting done this weekend. My calendar says that we are supposed to plant between March and April, and you know, we missed the boat on the March plantings. It was so quiet around here, we really should do more!

Small Town

Anything missing, here?

You know you are really in the country when a postcard shows up that has no street address. I mean, I know we are the only "Grossmanns" in Clemons, but really, it's not like we have been here forever.

It has been strange that people we meet from a town fifteen miles away know who was in the house before you. They know who used to live down the road and what your neighbors do for a living. I have learned more about my neighbors from people I have met at the library than from the people themselves.

I suppose that for some people this gets old- because not only do they know you, but they know most everything about you. At this stage, however, I find it comforting. I have something in common with people I meet for the first time. For example, the people who sent this postcard are from New Providence Hardware, (about 15 miles away) where we bought our stove. The owner delivered the stove, and told me how he grew up just down the road, where there used to be a house. He used to come over to this house and sit with the old owners. She made him cookies. He has worked on our house before, done some plumbing and heating.

Now, if this was the first or only occurrence of an odd coincidence, that would be one thing. But it seems like everyone we talk to (ok, most people) have some tie to us. The man who installed our cable internet is friends with the old owner's grandson. The gun shop where we transferred Phil's firearms from home had an owner who knew what our septic tank was and how to take care of it, because it is older and they were made different back then.

There is just something kind of homey when after only four months of living here, I actually recognize people in town. Not that it is a huge town, mind you. And, we go further than our actual "hometown", because it has only a post office. For fun, you can check out the Zearing homepage. It lists all of the businesses and fun attractions. The funny part is that in town, there are only about 3 actual businesses - I think the others are out of people's homes.

www.zearing.net As the homepage boasts, it is home to more than 700 people and businesses!

I also thought I would post a picture of Ryan after his very first haircut. You know you are a first time mom when you have your baby's hair in a baggie...for who knows what reason. He looks so grown up without all of those long hairs. It took both Calli and I chasing him down to complete the project!

Also, scroll down to the picture of our living room - I added a picture of what it looked like before we move in. We loved that carpet!