Part of the Team

Over the past few months, we have been slowly knitting ourselves into the farming community without even knowing it. Being city kids, there are certain things we don't really know about the culture. I will explain the most recent "odd look" we received from a neighbor.

Right after winter ended and the ground was dry enough to start small fires, we burned off about three of our acres that had been tall, pushed over grass. I mentioned it in a previous post- about how excited we were to clean up the property so easily. Well, it was pretty, flat, and nice. Then the rain came. Along with sun. And then the grass started to grow. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever tried to mow 4 acres of grass....but it happened once before Phil was talking about getting a goat. Or a sheep. Or a cow. Or anything that would eat up that grass so he wouldn't have to mow each week.

Then the mower broke down. It's something that happens to 1961 Farmalls. While they are fixable, they do need a bit of massaging and maintaining. Well, even though the tractor was out of commission, the grass was not. We managed to keep the grass right around our house mowed down. That was still time consuming, but not nearly as cumbersome as the west half of the property.

When it got to be about waist high, we pretty much gave up. Well, I did. Phil, however, started looking for "sickle mowers". "Oh, Tracy, we could get one for only $400...but we have to drive to Wisconsin..." And when that wore off he started talking to farmers about animals.

Then we come to this week. We happened to be visiting one of the neighbors down the road and Phil mentioned he was looking for a Scythe (which is basically a hand tool about the size of a hoe that will cut down long grass by hand). The farmer happened to have one on hand...but asked Phil what in the world he wanted with it. When we explained our long grass predicament, he got a big grin on his face and chuckled a bit. "You ever used one of those things?" Phil had, maybe once. Another chuckle. "Well, I'll let you have a shot at it - you bring it back when you realize how much work that would be." Then he kind of smirked a bit and asked if we planned on keeping that grass mowed to the ground. We informed him that we thought it looked better, and though it was work, well, we couldn't just be letting our property go like that.

Two days later, the same farmer drove up. He and Phil walked through the fields a bit, talking. Afterward, he asked to cut a "business deal" out of this. Being a cattle farmer, his cows would eat that hay- he cuts, rakes, and bales the hay, and takes half of it as payment. The other half would go to mulch our garden next year. Ha, people actually GROW hay out here...and they have guys like this mow and bale it for them. It's something that inadvertently we had found ourselves doing. And instead of sitting around mowing each week, we were able to feed some cows and mulch a garden! And, it didn't cost us $400...which made me happy!

I should update you all on Ryan, too. We went to a 15 month checkup today, and he was healthy and happy (well, as happy as a boy can be after 4 shots and a blood draw!) He weighed in right at the 50th percentile for everything.

He is very much an explorer now- once he is set down anywhere he just motors off to see what he can get into. No concern to where mom is until we have reached the destination, of course. While we were at Grandma and Grandpa's in Des Moines, he asked for a "manana" and realized that he actually was given a "banana". Well, now every time he is hungry, he says "menumenum" and points to the kitchen. We give him things other than just bananas, though. The cutest thing he does now is whenever he sees something new or exciting he says "OH WOW!" I have no idea where he picked it up, but it still makes me laugh to hear it. He says "uh oh" quite a bit, but mixes it up, too. Sometimes it's "uh, uh uh UH Ohhhhh" and various renditions.

He has quite a personality when it comes to pushing the limits too. If he wants to do something that we say "no" to, he will usually point to it (very closely) and say "oooooo". He looks back, inquisitive, and then points closer.

He picks up the phone and says "ello?" and makes high pitched talking noises. I think to myself "is that what he thinks I sound like on the phone?" Flashbacks of Charlie Brown's teacher run through my head...

Curious and not about to be told he can't get into something, he has become creative in his approach. He will purposely drop something wherever it is he is "not allowed" point, saying "Uh oh!" and make a fresh attempt at it "Just getting that cup, mom!" What a character!

Cleaning and Lightning Bugs

So, our garden is still taking off. It is really exciting to see it grow each day. Our beans (now begging for the poles we have yet to put up) are growing little vines and our broccoli and cauliflower are getting bigger each day. Scroll down to the last post to see what these plant sections looked like just a few weeks back. I am amazed how they have exploded.



Our zucchini has been growing extremely well - we have 6 hills that are just bursting with leaves and vines!
















The landscape has turned all green. Driving through the hills you can see various shades of green depending on the corn or beans you are seeing- but all green nonetheless. So very pretty. I keep forgetting how far out in the country we are (we just get used to the scenery and the drive) but last week we were reminded once again. We had some people over from our church last Tuesday. We live about 15 minutes from Zearing (where these people are from). One woman remarked upon entering that "Wow! You guys really Are out in the sticks!" I just had to laugh and ask "what sticks?" Maybe she meant "stalks".



That same night, a wonderful summertime legend came to life. I have always heard of lightning bugs, but had never seen them for myself. Mostly, I kind of pictured little bugs...that kind of lit up. Didn't sound too neat or too exciting, let alone something to look forward to.

Phil and I were standing outside, and he pointed to a burst of light and said "look, there's one!". I looked and replied with a cursory "neat..." And then I looked a bit further and saw the cornfield next to us. The entire patch looked like there were a hundred little sparks shooting up from it. That got an "OOOH!" I had no idea that they could be so plentiful, and I find myself drawn outside at dusk each night, walking through the yard and garden looking over the acres and acres of small shooting sparks.

I wish it were something that could be caught on camera or that I could bring each one of you here to see for yourself. I tried many a shot attempting to capture the experience, and the best I got was the one above. You can see a few little light spots - that's them. They are only light for about a second, and they look like tiny shooting stars on the ground.

During the talk with the group from church, a funny story came out. I have to share it with you because those of you know know us would think this is interesting. An older lady- very grandmotherly - told us of her first impressions of us when we came the church for the first time. She is one ofthe sweetest, most positive ladies we have around here, and so it was funny to hear such words from her. She exclaimed "When I first saw you at church, I just knew you weren't from Iowa. I thought to myself, these people are from Pennsylvania - Dutch country!" Mind you, on Sunday's Phil doesn't wear his suspenders...and he had not purchased his straw hat. I don't remember what I was wearing, but I don't even own a plain blue dress. I just think it was cute that someone who had no idea who we were, had thought we must have been out of Amish country. Phil and I laughed as we told her about our friend's going away party, where they had cut out beards from felt and made old fashioned aprons for us- for we were moving TO amish country!

We have also been jokingly accused of being in the witness protection program. And while the people who bring this up (it has been multiple groups now) don't act like they really believe it, I am sure that if we told them in hushed tones that we were part of some secret scandal, they would believe it in a second. I think we are just that odd to them.


I don't know where anyone would get the idea we were amish from...


















On another note, Ryan has been helping me with my cleaning. He has quite the fascination with the broom - and each chance he gets he hunts it down and carries it around, squishing it on the floor here and there...and other times, he helps me "fold" my laundry by taking it all out of the basket and putting it on the floor. I don't know why I don't get more done in the day with all of this quality help around!

The Garden Really Grows!!!

Our good friend Sonja asked me in an email today if the weather girl on this blog every started to sweat. I think not, because she certainly would be if she had the ability. Spring is definitely in full swing, with above 80 weather each day for the past few weeks. Honestly, though, it has not been that bad. We get great air circulation throughout the house when we open the windows, and that plus our ceiling fans have kept us cool enough so far. We make a lot of iced tea and iced coffee - it's a wonderful-good excuse for yummy drinks!

The biggest news (at least for me) is that things are actually coming up in our garden! Being such a novice, I got a bit discouraged about halfway through planting (all this work, probably nothing will come up!). As days and weeks went by, I would gaze forlornly over the dark brown patch and sigh. Backbreaking labor...time...tears...nothing!


Well, on my trip back to Washington for one week, little sprouts finally peeked through. Phil told me over the phone, and when I let our a squeal, my sister looked at me puzzled, and then just laughed "I never thought I would hear you actually excited about a garden!". I had to explain to her that was before we spent three weeks off and on, and hours and hours planting! Ha!

My previous scare with the Asparagus hunters and Peter Rabbits have somewhat subsided. However, much to my dismay, there is another predator on the loose. Shortly after the small shoots came up, I got another call. It seemed that where we had a nice row of corn, now we had only half of a row. Now this was discouraging! He searched and found no paw prints.

Well, our friendly neighbor farmer stopped by a few days later. He explained how these cute little ground squirrels were probably the cause of our problem. It would explain the lack of prints, since they are so small and light. Some back here call them "Squinty's". We had watched them all winter- exclaiming over how many of them we saw, and how cute they were. Oh, how we enjoyed watching them, seeing how close we could get before they ducked into a hole.

And now they have become "Garden arch enemy number one". Why is it that all of the cute little animals need to eat? And, why do they need to eat my garden?Couldn't they be in love with dandelions? Or how about errant grass that has come up in my garden? Oh no, tender shoots are much tastier! Oh yes, the worst part is that they don't even eat the whole thing. They just wait for ths shoot to come up, run over, pull up the shoot, and eat the corn kernel at the bottom. Did their mother never tell them to eat their greens!?

So now, we are exploring ways to protect our new garden from them. The good news is that they leave alone pretty much anything unless it is sweet and yummy (corn and peas). The beans, zucchini, squash, watermelon, onions, garlic, cucumbers, potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli seem to be untouched.

So, beyond that excitement, we have been dabbling in a few "extra curricular" activities. I have started knitting once again. Still a complete novice, I finished a baby sock while I was in Washington (picture to come). My sister in law Tara is an amazing knitter. She is my inspiration, because her first "project" was a baby sweater she knit for her son Tate- and it looked store bought. Here is a comparison picture of "a few days" of knitting. Hers is on the left.

We "re-milled" the castille soap we had made about a month ago and added lavender essential oils and leaves. We tried putting them in molds (ha, or candle holders!) and they actually turned out really cute. We have had a lot of fun trying out new soaps, and being creative. It is definitely a team effort, and I am thankful to have a husband who is unashamed to have creative fun making soap with his wife!

Speaking of my trip to Washington- I had a really great time. It was too short (maybe I will have to stay over a weekend next time!) but still, we got to see the family, and it was a nice break from the weather. It's amazing how loud the city can be- while at home I actually heard the trains, and the cars, which I had always seemed to block out before. Coming home, I again realized how very quiet it is out here in the fields! I also was amazed at how tall the trees seemed - we have trees in Iowa, but they are shorter, broadleaf trees...bushier, if you will. There are trees three times as tall as any I have seen in Iowa in the neighborhoods around my parent's house. And, who could forget the beautiful water? How different it is to fly over the checkerboard of farms through the midwest and then to see the mountains and water throughout the Northwest. Both places are so beautiful in their own right. The bad thing about visiting home? Only when I returned to Iowa did I recognize the injustice I had done by not taking more pictures! It is a place so familiar to both Phil and I, I thought, why do I need to take pictures? But when I got back, I would have loved to show him (and post) pictures of the northwest, and family and friends.

While we were there, Ryan started walking really well. Now, the critter is running around the house. He started carrying my broom with him yesterday (yes, the big person broom) and is just enthralled with it. He will walk around the entire kitchen, stop, squish it on the floor a few times, and is then off running again. This picture is of he and Tate (his cousin) and Grandpa Grossmann with the wagon. Ryan got pushed around a few times in the backyard before Tate realized that he was missing out on the easy life and hopped in, too!