The Milo is Looking Good.

The first time I ever saw a field of milo was when we moved out to Kansas three years ago. Seeing as though SW Kansas has been in a drought since we've lived here meant that all the milo I've ever seen has been bad, but I knew that. What I didn't know was what a good field of milo looked like until the past few weeks. 

With all the rain we received in early August the milo is "good" but not "great" as DR described it to me. Good is better than bad.

The plants are definitely taller and the heads are much bigger than I've ever seen them.  There's nothing to complain about from what I can tell. 

I take that back. I can complain. With all this good milo DR is predicting a long harvest. Last year's harvest started in August, that's what you get when you have no rain. DR and the grain elevator is just preparing for harvest right now, it's still hasn't started but he's expecting farmers to be in the fields in the next couple weeks. DR's even thinking that harvest could last till late November or December. 

great. 

Well it is that time of year again, time of the Harvest Widow! 

Foody Friday - DIY Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos

Lately DR has been addicted to drinking Starbucks Frappuccinos. Harvest is usually a time when he hits the caffeine hot and heavy considering all the hours he's working. He's not a big coffee drinker and soda has been giving him heartburn this year. So he's switched to Frapp's and he goes through em' like crazy! 

 I LOVE em' too! They are sooo good! He brought home all these empty bottles from work the other day. I hated throwing them in the recycling and buying more from the grocery store. A four pack costs $5.50 after all. "Maybe I could find a recipe that's close." I wondered. 

And I DID!! 

I searched Pinterest and found this recipe. This blog has great photos to go along with making the Frappuccino too. Check it out. 

I thought there might be a bit of a difference in taste but there wasn't! It tasted just like the stuff I bought at the grocery! 

Here's the recipe; 

Mocha Frappuccino

1 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee*

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa 

1 teaspoon ascorbic acid** 

6 cups whole milk OR 6 cups low-fat milk + 1 Tablespoon pectin***

* Regular coffee can be used. If you’d like the exact taste of the bottled version, Starbuck’s Espresso Roast gives that taste. Brew 2 cups of cold water with 1/4 cup espresso coffee grounds.

** Ascorbic acid is added originally as a preservative, but it does add that hint of flavor. It does not need to be used.

*** Pectin is used in low-fat milk to thicken it. If you use whole milk or raw milk, or if you just don’t want to, pectin does not need to be used.

I didn't use the fancy Starbucks coffee or the Ascorbic acid or the Pectin and it tasted just fine to me! 

But I'll have to see if DR notices the difference! I'm going to encourage a little white lie and let him THINK I bought it at the store. We'll see what he says! 

It's been a while....

Whoa. It's been a while since I've posted. It's not often that a whole week goes by without me blogging about something. But then again it's harvest time. Translation: I'm a harvest widow.

Corn harvest has been in full swing in SW Kansas for the last three weeks. We've had a little rain during harvest but not enough to slow down the combines in the fields. DR has been working from 7 am to 10 pm. Occasionally he's even had to spend the night at work. The kids and I get to kiss him goodbye in the mornings and that's about all we see him these days.

A couple times a week we'll take a crockpot dinner to the grain elevator for DR and everyone else working crazy hours. The kids love going to the elevator because they can raid the candy bucket and watch the scale girls probe the trucks.

I've had photos to go along with harvest before but I've learned it's against company policy for people like me to be taking photos of the elevator. Since I'd kind of like my husband to keep his job I'm posting sans photos:) 

Normally I'd spend my lonely evenings catching up on blogging. However I've found myself watching Netflix and watching episodes of The 70's Show. Sometimes it's hard to find something interesting to blog about. But this fall I've found I just don't have the time to blog. I'm a harvest widow which means I'm reminded once again of all the wonderful little things my husband does in our home. From working in the garden to mowing the lawn. From folding clothes to taking out the trash. It's amazing how many chores I have to remember to do when DR is in the throes of harvest.

Last week was an especially long week for us though. Normally I don't substitute teach more than a couple days a week but last week I subbed one day and subbed at our town library for three days while our librarian was dealing with a family emergency. It was great because I could bring Yahoo with me but it really messed up our schedule and routine last week. Long nights, rushed homework, tired Mom.

I don't think I could be a librarian full time though. All. Those. Books. I was drooling. Libraries are like a double edged sword though; you have all those wonderful books just begging to be read but as a librarian you can't just sit and read all day..there is actual work to do!! It was fun for few days though :)

Hopefully I'll get back into a groove soon. Harvest getting over would help that. I can't complain though. A harvest lasting a month is heaven. I remember a few years ago in Illinois where a harvest lasted for three months....it was awful!

How's your harvest coming along?

What's Wrong with this Picture?

So...

What's wrong with this picture? 

Do you need a closer look?

 A week ago that big pile of corn was covered with a pretty white tarp. 

What happened? 

A lot of bleeping Kansas wind blew the tarp off!

And boy, was it flapping in the breeze. 

I feel sorry for the poor guys who are going to have to fix this mess. 

Foody Friday - Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce

We've been in harvest mode for the last couple of weeks and considering the guys at the elevator have been working late into the evenings, without a fast food restaurant in sight, I've been taking them dinner a couple nights a week. I made BBQ Meatballs from Sarah's recipe over at This Farm Family's Life. Awesome!!! And so easy to make for a crowd of hungry men.

I also made up Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce that I took to the guys this week. I actually found the recipe in a free cookbook I downloaded to my Kindle a while back; Taste of Romania: Its Cookery and Glimpses of Its History, Folklore, Art, Literature and Poetry. It's not free anymore but it has some great recipes! This chicken dish must have been great, I didn't eat any of it, because DR keeps raving about how good it's been!

Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce

3 T butter

3lbs. chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces

(I diced up a bunch of chicken breasts instead)

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch of scallions, cleaned and chopped (green onions work too)

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 T fresh dill sprigs, chopped (I used a T of dill seeds)

4 T sour cream

1 T flour

1 t. lemon juice (I was out and it was still great)

2 potatoes, peeled, boiled and cut into small pieces

2 T fresh parsley, chopped (dried worked fine)

In a large skillet, melt 2 T butter and brown chicken on medium-high heat. When nicely browned, sprinle with salt and pepper, cover and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through).

In a separate skillet, melt the rest of the butter, and lightly saute scallions, garlic and dill on low heat.

In a small bowl, mix sour cream and four well, and add lemon juice.

When chicken is cooked, add sauteed ingredients, potatoes, and sour cream mixture, then stir well. Let simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve with light salad. Serves 4.

Harvest

The sight of all this yellow gold is a wonderful to see in the fall.

Harvest is a hoppin' despite a devastating drought there's still quite a bit of corn coming into the DR's elevators. Of course yields have been low but not quite as bad as expected. The biggest problem so far this harvest has been moisture. Despite the drought the corn coming in is WET. I couldn't understand why until DR explained that because of the lack of rain the corn plants starting cannibalizing themselves back in the summer so that every little bit of moisture went straight to the corn. While the stalks dried out early the corn still hasn't and therefore all the elevators are drying corn continually and running out of wet space.

So harvest is going as well as can be expected. DR's exhausted. He leaves for work at 6:30 and gets home at 10:30. He's worked two weeks straight without a day off. Poor guy. Harvest is always something to look forward to but I'm always glad when it's over and this one looks like it will be over, at least the heavy rush, in a few more weeks.

There hasn't been much milo coming in yet. It might be harvested later and I don't think there was as much planted this year as there was last either. I don't know what it is about milo but I think it is beautiful to look at in the field.

Marker Monday - Pumpkin Paintings!

We've been painting up a pumpkin patch this week and learned about color mixing with hardly any mess.

First, find a plastic bowl with a flat bottom.

I placed some red and yellow craft paint in squeeze bottles and the boys put dots of each color on the bottom of the bowl.

We made sure to have equal amounts of yellow and red but mix it up, more red or yellow, and see how many shades of orange you can create.

Then turn the bowl upside down on a piece of sturdy paper, we used cardstock, and twist it until all those dots of paint are mixed together.

With a q-tip, draw pumpkin lines or jack o' lantern faces.

If you can't get lines to show up you may need to reapply more paint.

With a clean q-tip you can add a stem, leaves or vines.

The perfect, fairly clean, pumpkin painting.

Harvest Crafts for Preschoolers

Yahoo and I had been working on lots of harvest crafts that I was going to post earlier, before I was hit with the band-aid bug. Anyway...thought we'd just share some crafts we've been up to.

#1 - Dress Your Scarecrow

First, I drew up a scarecrow. Feel free to copy the image and use it if you'd like.

Then we dressed our scarecrows with scrap fabric. I cut out a lot of shirts, hats and pants for Yahoo to choose from because we are going to do this craft at our play group next week.

Yahoo went a little crazy with the glue stick!

#2 - Corn on the Cob

Tape down some bubble wrap on a work surface. I taped mine onto some cardboard so
I could easily move it oncde we were done or use it again at playgroup.

Brush on some corn colored paint. Yellows, oranges and browns make some neat Indian corn.

Then roll or blot toilet paper tubes onto the paint covered bubble wrap.

Let it dry and attach green or brown leaves cut from construction paper.

I was so happy to come up with the corn craft because I've been saving toilet paper tubes for months and I haven't been able to use them up. Do you have any suggestions on using toilet paper tubes?

Have you been doing any fall crafts? Share a link in the comments!

I'd love to see what you are up to.

Guess the Grain Game Answers Revealed!!

If you missed it, check out my Agricultural Product Guessing Game I posted here yesterday before you read the rest of this post.

And now, the answers revealed... (drumroll)...

I know, you are sitting on the edge of your seats in wild anticipation.

#1 The Mystery Grain is....

.....Canola!

 

That's right! I don't know how they are harvested or processed but somehow those little seeds are squeezed until you have a nice bottle of oil sitting in your kitchen cabinet and we have some growing right here in SW Kansas!

And how about #2 - Mystery Mulch??

None other than.....

....Cottonseed Hulls! Everyone has some cotton in their house right?

Thanks for playing along!

Guess the Grain Game!!

Welcome to Prairie Mother's Kansas Agricultural Guessing Game.

We've found two agricultural products out here in Southwest Kansas that I've never seen before. Let's see if you can guess what they are!

#1 - The Mystery Grain.

These pods are about 1 1/2" long and dried out.

DR just brought them straight from the field to me this week.

The seeds inside (small little buggers) are what are harvested and processed.

More than likely you have a bi product of this grain in your kitchen right now.

Give me your best guesses on the mystery grain!

#2 - The Mystery Mulch

DR came home with 4 bags of this...this...stuff to mulch our garden with. It's very light weight.

Need a closer look?

So far this has done really well at holding in the moisture; my tomatoes have really perked up after mulching them with this stuff. I know that everyone has some of this stuff in their house as we speak.

So, leave me your best guess in the comments below! The winner receives.....well, they receive the bragging rights of having a lot more agricultural knowledge than most people! I'll reveal these mystery products on tomorrow's post. Good luck!

Old Time Wheat Harvest

Wheat harvest is just about finished in this part of the country. About one more week is the estimate. Although the drought has been bad and the harvest poor the local farmers have had a better crop than they expected. Better, but still not good.

Every year the locals get together for a day and have an old time wheat harvest to show how it used to be done.

No, this combine isn't an antique...it's just waiting to finish the job that the old time machines start.

I can't imagine harvesting fields of wheat with this little guy.

And look at that tractor! No cab, no air conditioning.

But there were three old time harvesters running in the field and dumping in an old grain truck...not a huge semi truck like farmers use now a days.

Looks hot out there doesn't it? Well, it is. The temps have been in the 90's and 100's for the last few weeks. Today's high is 106. (After I finish typing this post we are going to the pool!)

It was funny because there were probably 50 people out in the middle of this hot wheat field just watching the harvesters run. I'm sure they wouldn't have been so cheery if they'd been harvesting this way everyday for two weeks.

 This was a chance for some of the guys in the area to share some of their old toys too.

 Antique tractors and antique cars.

I was really looking forward to the old time harvest as being a wonderful educational experience for the boys. Honestly though it was too hot and dusty and we were all in a raging bit of a grumpy mood  so we didn't stay very long.

The most interesting thing for the boys to do was pick up wheat the old harvesters had missed. Yip and Yap kept holding up handfuls at me and hollering, "Is this enough wheat to make some bread Mom?"

I kept answering, "Not quite."

So a couple large handfuls of wheat are sitting in the back of my car and maybe this week will try to thresh it and grind it into flour and use it in some bread. I think the boys will be pretty disappointed with how little flour they'll get though! Maybe next year it will be a bit cooler on old time harvest day...I hope!

Knee High by....

What a gorgeous green field!

Yep, despite a drought, the Kansas corn is already knee high...

...of course the beautiful green field can only be attributed to irrigation rigs.

Wheat harvest is in full swing here with just another week or so to go.

The yields are bad but at least there is something in most of the fields to harvest. The custom wheat crews are moving through at a pretty good clip.

Believe it or not though this field was planted to wheat that never came up. For months DR and I have watched the soil dry up and blow away. Today I could see the blowing dirt two miles away. It's a pretty sad sight.

Overall the farmers are doing pretty well though.

Now, if we could only find a market for yucca plants we'd have ourselves a Kansas Gold Mine!