It didn't flood!

I posted earlier that we were afraid it could flood in our area.  Well, we were safe.  The auction at work went off without a hitch, but it was REALLY deep!  I tried to get out of the office long enough to get a few pictures. 

Believe it or not they weren't stuck here...

The equipment...

The swimmers bidders...

Jon (my boss) taking bids...

The auctioneering truck...

It was a looong day for everyone!

National Agriculture Week - Class Visit

Last week was National Agriculture Week and Maci and I visited Quentin's 1st grade classroom to talk about farming.  We told them about the things we have and do on our farm.  We brought along a duck and a chicken egg.  The duck egg brought lots of questions and so did the brown chicken egg.  We also brought some of our farm toys.  We brought a tractor, round baler, mower/conditioner and a semi with a grain trailer.  The mower/conditioner really stumped them.  One little boy knew what it did, but he couldn't think of what it was called...pretty good anyway. Then we read them a story about farm animals and gave them all a kids farm magazine.  The magazine was Little Green.  Quentin has a subscription to Little Green and he really enjoys it.  The people at Little Green were so kind to donate enough for his whole class.  They were all SO excited when they got their magazines.

We had a great time!

Will it flood?

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for our county.  As I said earlier, we've had a ton of snow this winter and now it's all melting....and it's raining.  I included a portion of the official advisory because I thought it was a little funny.  Just read, you'll see:

DO NOT DRIVE CARS THROUGH AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR VEHICLE TO PASS SAFELY. TURN AROUND...DON`T DROWN!

Don't drown!?  They actually put that!  Funny!

Anyway, at our house this just makes a mess of...

boots...

coveralls...

my pickup... 

 

..pretty much everything!

However, at work we are getting ready for a farmer's consignment auction on Saturday....and we are about 1/4 of a mile from the river. 

Here's what the river looks like today.

It's pretty full, but it looks like some of the water from the fields around is flowing INTO the river.  Which is good.  If the water in the field near the river was flowing away from the river that would mean flooding. 

We sure hope it stays that way.  Everything is already lined up and ready to sell.  Much of the equipment that was brought in earlier is already on the lower ground.

For now, we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best!

The river has been out the last two years in a row.  Here are come pictures from two years ago when it flooded.  It got clear up on our lot and up to the sidewalk, but not in the building.

I only work part-time, so today Maci and I are at home, inside keeping dry.  We decided it was a good day to make rice krispie bars!

 

I was published!

Okay, we're not talkin' Newsweek or anything, but I was excited.  I wrote an article for the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman and it was published in last week's edition.  Here it is:

Pride in our Farms, Strength in our Numbers

By: Christi Slater

My husband and I have recently returned from a Farm Bureau Young Farmers Conference. While we were there, speakers Troy and Stacy Hadrick told us the importance of being an ‘Advocate for Agriculture’. They told us that there are many aspects of farming that people are simply not aware of and it is up to us, as local farmers, to speak out.

 We have only been home for a few hours and I have already seen the same television commercial three times. It is for the Humane Society of the United States . Most of you have probably seen this commercial. It has those awful images of abused and neglected dogs and cats, a horse and dairy cow. It stars actress Wendi Malick asking you to give a monthly donation to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

 This commercial is very disturbing, but it also paints a very untrue picture of how agriculture and, more specifically, livestock production actually operates. I found many falsities within this advertisement. One in particular that I would like to touch on was the dairy cow getting pushed with a forklift. As life goes, livestock does die. Whether it be from illness or to feed families. Pushing them around with machinery is NOT normal practice. However, the fact that we have to use machinery to move deceased animals is the truth. These cattle are massive, heavy creatures. Overweight people in nursing homes are moved with a lift system.

We care about our animals, even when we have large quantities of them. Our cattle are fed at night before we even feed our own family. We take pride in our herd. We take pride in all of our farm. It is our life. If we don’t have a healthy herd of cattle when it comes time to sell, then we don’t have money to put food on our table and clothes on our kids.

 We know each one of our cattle individually. Some of them even have names...until our kids ran out of names for them. Just like children, these cattle each have their own personalities. We can tell you which one will be first to the feed bunk every night. We can tell you that ‘Red Cow’ (told you we were running out of names) likes it when you pet her right there on her head. We can tell you that every night when we feed them ‘Barb’ will nudge the other girls out of her way. While most producers don't give their cattle names, they can individualize the cattle in their herds. Whether a producer has a herd of five head or 500 head. They can stand at the gate and tell you about those cattle.

  Before hearing the Hadrick’s speak I was not aware of the challenges that face all of us in the agriculture industry. The HSUS uses more than 95% of it’s budget for travel and lobbying against family farmers. None of the $19 per month that they are asking you to donate goes to your local animal shelters. They are not affiliated with local shelters or Humane Societies. Perhaps if you want your money to go to better use you should donate it directly to your local animal shelter. This is where there are kind, caring people that volunteer their time to help animals in need. Many of them are even family farmers just like you and me.

 It is not just this organization that portrays us in a false manner. Family farmers need to be aware that these are the images of us that are being portrayed. More importantly, these are the images that people believe to be true about us. Let people know this is not who we are. Many people are simply not educated or aware. Get involved in your local organizations. Just join. You don’t have to sign up to be president, committee chairman or even bring a covered dish. Just become a member. Farm Bureau offers a number of opportunities to connect with other farmers and hear speakers that educate within the agriculture industry. There are also many online groups you can join that will increase your agricultural awareness. There is strength in numbers. It is not just my family that loves our livestock, land and lifestyle. It is every farmer, rancher and cattleman. Take pride in yourselves and your farms. As the saying goes, a day in the country is worth a month in town.

Clover Kids

Last night Quentin attended his first Clover Kids meeting.  Clover Kids is a 4-H club for kids that are still too young to join 4-H.  They have a booth at the county fair where they display their projects (that aren't judged).  They also have a carnival booth that they have to work at during the fair to raise money for their club.

I have just begun my term on the Page County Fair Board this year.  I explained to Quentin that I go to meetings about the fair and that I would be helping with the fair.  He has been bugging me ever since to let him join 4-H so he can be a part of the fair too.  Last night was the first meeting that he has attended and he had a ball!

One of the projects they did was to make snow.  They put a tiny bit of 'snow' in their containers, then added some water.  Then, the snow grew and grew and grew.

After the projects they all got cupcakes for treats.

Quentin can't wait for the next meeting!

Hooray! Hooray! Today is the day!

Today was FINALLY the day that our kids got their new chicken house.  They were SO excited!  It all started last year about this time...Ryan took the kids with him to the farm store and they had their spring chicks and ducklings in stock.  The kids loved them and, of course, wanted some of their own.  So, being the coolest dad in the world, Ryan told them if they would do jobs around the house to earn money they could buy some.  Then arrived the two most helpful little kids you have ever seen!  They earned their money and we brought home 8 chickens and 4 ducks.  We had an old chicken house that was on the farm when we bought it, so my grandpa fixed it up a little and we were in business. 

We don't know anything about chickens or ducks, but I will say that we have had so much fun with them.  We had one fatality, Chicken Little died shortly after we brought them home.  Other than that everyone appears to be healthy. 

Throughout the summer my grandpa (who helped fix up the old chicken house) realized that the little chicken farmers were pretty serious about this and things were going well.  He decided that the kids needed a nicer chicken house. So, this fall he started in on the project.  He did an awesome job.  It has nesting boxes, roosts,  a window...the works.  With all the snow we've had this winter we haven't been able to get it moved from his shop in town out to our farm.  Today was FINALLY the day!  The kids were so excited.  We went to town to watch them put it on the truck...

Quentin and Great-Grandpa lead the way to our house...

they unloaded it...

Great-Grandpa put a few of the finishing touches on it...

Quentin checks out the inside again..

Two very excited kids and one proud Great-Grandpa!

We won't be able to move the chickens and ducks for a little while yet.  We need to wait until it drys up a little to get the outside fence put up, but at least it's here now.

Thanks Grandpa!

My Birthday Cake

Yesterday was my birthday and one of my favorite things is lemon cake.  Not just any lemon cake, THIS lemon cake.  See, I don't like lemon cake otherwise, but I love this recipe.  So, since it was my birthday, I decided to make myself a cake. 

You'll need:

1 pkg. Betty Crocker Lemon Cake Mix

1 sm. pkg. Jell-O Instant Lemon Pudding

Vegetable Oil

Eggs

Orange Juice

Powdered Sugar

Put the cake mix, pudding, 4 eggs (unbeaten), 3/4 C. oil and 3/4 C. water into your mixer.  Beat for 10 minutes or until smooth.

In the meantime, grease...

..and flour a cake pan.

  

(Try to just flour the cake pan and not the stovetop like I did!)

Once your mix is smooth pour it into your cake pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

While it is baking mix together:

1/3 C. Orange Juice

2 C. Sifted Powdered Sugar

2 T. Oil

While the cake is still hot prick with a fork lots of times...

then pour your orange juice mixture over the top

It will sink down through the fork holes.

This cake is so moist and delicious.  Enjoy!