Working Hard and Hardly Working- And counting our Blessings.

It seems as though there is always some new project going on at the farm. Whether it is fixing fence or equipment or building something to help something else. March was busy with many different activities. We had some fun, we gave back and we worked hard.

A few things that went on during good ol' March. We sprayed numerous fields, dealt with many sprayer issues (frustrating and annoying is all I have to say about that darn sprayer), moved some corn and built a few things. But we also took some time off and gave back to the community.

At the beginning of March, Josh sold his corn that we stored in the new bin on the farm, so we got to test out the unload system to empty the bin. The guys hauled several loads of corn to a local feedlot.

Inside of the bin with the sweep auger moving through the corn

Coming from the sweep auger into the other auger bottom

And finally into the semi trailer

I was so lucky to help sweep the last bit of corn into piles for the sweep auger to carry out for the last load. At least farm work has some health benefits of making you sweat and keep in shape!

We got a new sprayer, I have nothing nice to say about it. I don't like it. It makes me frustrated therefore I am not going to blog anymore about that darn thing!!! However, it did give Handyman a good excuse to get out his welder and make a stand for the shuttles so that it is easier to unload the shuttles and switch them in and out when needed.

AJ welding in our garage the new shuttle holder thing

The finished product holding shuttles

Handyman really likes welding and wants to teach me but  I always tell him, "It can wait" I will learn some day but I kind of have a motto when it comes to certain things. If I learn it and no one else is around then I have to do it and well if I don't know how to do it, I guess one of the guys has too! -- I will just stick to milking cows, managing cows and breeding cows-- that's more my thing!


Those were just a couple of the things going on during March on the farm. Off of the farm, we went to Oklahoma with hubs parents and we went Spoonbill fishing. It was my first time ever catching that big of a fish! It was a lot of fun and was well worth the trip down there! I was lucky enough (and it was on St. Patricks Day! Luck of the Irish!) to catch the first fish. It only weighed 29 pounds so I threw it back and kept trolling on. I caught the second fish and it was a beauty! I kept this big fish weighing in at 62 pounds! After that I just enjoyed riding on the boat watching hubs and my father in law fish. They had a lot of fun and the best catch of the day was my father in law got a whole whooping 5 pounder! Boy, was it cute!! Overall, it was a great trip and nice to take a small break from working for some fun.

AJ and I with our catches

My father in law with one of his fish

Lastly and one of the most important days of March came where we, as a family, donated $2500, to the St. Anthony's Family Shelter in Wichita. It was a true blessing. My grandfather had his name entered into a Monsanto Grant Program where they generously give a $2500 grant in different family farms name to a place the family chooses. He was selected for Sedgwick county and my grandparents chose to give the money to a family homeless shelter. It was a privilege to be there as they presented the check and we got to tour the facilities. We are so proud that we can help others in need and it is very important for our family to give back to the community.

This program helps many families in their time of need and get back on their feet after so many different situations. I encourage you to go to your local homeless shelter or any other organization- ask for a tour, volunteer or just give back in any way possible. It is truly life changing experience helping others in their time of need. I know one of my many goals for this year is to do more volunteer work and I can't wait to get started with another program that I found in Wichita.

Many blessings to you and your family, we hope your March was a great as ours!


The Milkmaid

March-- The Month of Prepping

Hello dear reader friends—sorry it has been a while, seems life has gotten in the way. Between being sick, busy at work, taking some me time from the Facebook, blogging, social media stuff and writer’s block, I am happy to say I am back and it is more than time to get back in the game.

It seems today’s lovely high of 65 and the beautiful sun shining all day has brighten up my day. Minus that time change this morning, which the cows and I agreed was not cool. But while I didn’t like losing an hour of sleep I am done milking and sitting here watching the sunset and enjoying the beautiful weather instead of coming home to a dark house and it being too dark to see anything. I love it and it reminded me of being thankful for everything this year.

Hello Beautiful Sun!

Now, as March has so graciously came from the middle of nowhere… hello spring! Spring is one of the two busiest seasons for us. I like to call March the prepping month because we aren’t the busiest but we are getting ready for it. We have two big things to prep for: Planting and Working Cattle.

Ah, my brother’s favorite time of the year, he is one of those who can get in the tractor at 6 (sometimes even earlier) in the morning and stay in there until 10 or later at night lost in thought and enjoying every minute. He is even crazy to skip meals, but no worries I am around for that job! J I am the go to lady—Pick them up, bring lunch (and I know to make a lunch that is a snack and dinner too… I may go a bit overboard when I feed them but they are working hard and so skinny!), drop off seed, fill the planter boxes, help unload stuff, follow them to fields, pretty much ready to jump to whatever they need when my phone rings… I am there!

So what will the next few weeks consist of?

Planting- Prepping the planter and tractors, getting seed ready and picked up, making sure we know all the fields that will need planted, checking the fields, getting fertilizer and strip tilling done before planting or after depending on the situation and many more smaller tasks. Also, my brother does plots for a company and so we have to have the field worked and ready for the plot and flagged off. Plots take a while to plant and harvest but it is worth every minute to see the data and find out the statistics of that particular variety/seed for the company, us and other farmers. (Another thing my brother loves to do!)

Cattle- one of my favorite times, the moment you really know that spring is here. As you see the cute little calves off with their mommas to pasture, it is just a precious scene! Anyway, we will be ordering vaccines, tags and various small things to prep for the upcoming transition from pens to pasture for our beef cattle. We will have to prep the horn cutters (unfortunately not all of our cattle are polled) and the branding iron is prepped and ready for the day. Along with working all the cattle to get them their yearly vaccinations and prepping to keep them healthy for pastures we will be picking up a new Angus bull that we purchased and getting him adjusted to our farm and ladies. This day is a long working day but worth every minute too. While I am more a dairy girl, I love helping work the beef cattle and seeing all the babies. Look forward to many pictures of the little cuties when the day comes. Also, we will be working our dairy heifers here in the next week or two giving them their vaccinations, tagging and dehorning.

Of course, during these weeks we will still have all of our other work to do. I will still have to milk twice a day, clean the barn and pens, feed all the cattle, grind feed, help deliver babies and take a few naps when I can sneak away. J

Happy almost spring—I sure can’t wait for the warm weather to stay!

The Milkmaid

A.J. spoiling Annabel and Little Pineapple