Rain: by Ryan

As a farmer, I see rain as a funny thing.  I'm rarely happy about the amount, it's timing, whether it arrives in a hard or soft fashion, or whether we even need it at the moment....because I'm apparently a self-designated genius about how, when, where, and how much rain is needed at any given time.

I have no control over the rain, regardless of how much I want to, so I do my best as a steward of the land that has been entrusted to me to plant the right seeds, use the right amount of fertilizer, keep the weeds out, and grow the best crop I know how with the resources I have.  This has been a tough spring.  The saying goes,..."Rain makes Grain"...which is true, if you get the rain in July and August, when you really need it.  If so much of it comes in April, May, and half of June that you can barely find 6 days out of those 70 or so days to do field work it makes me think, "Rain doesn't make grain....it makes grumpy farmers."  I will confess my selfish prayers.  The latter part of May, I was praying to God for the rain to stop.  I knew He could do that, but I also knew He was probably looking at a larger picture my little Ryan brain couldn't get wrapped around, and I was OK with that.....mostly.  But He was faithful.  He did stop the rain (hopefully not for good) long enough for us to get everything planted the first and second time.  The point I'm attempting to make is God's timing often doesn't line up with my ideal mental plan.  As concerned as I get about rain or no rain, I have no control over it.  God tells us to be faithful with what He entrusts to us, which I attempt to do, and He'll take care of the rest.  Nothing I do in the field would be fruitful if God didn't take part in it.

The same could be said for another kind of seed.  There are people I pray for everyday, people I would like to have know about the salvation that Jesus has offered us.  I can pray for them, talk to them, be a friend to them, go out of my way to care for them, but ultimately, I can only plant a seed in that person.  God is the one who controls the rain to make that seed grow too.  We have to trust that he will bring the physical rain for the crops in my fields, and the spiritual rain to grow the seeds we've planted in the people we love.

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." 1 Cor. 3:6-7

In the Spirit...

This morning, Ryan and I got our bodies out of bed (him before me) and headed west to Missouri.  Yesterday he had started using the turbo disk to till the fields his dad farms over there.  When those fields are done, that will wrap up the tillage work they plan to do this fall.  Here is my beloved in front of "Big Blue" and the turbo disk this morning.  

As it would happen, I had been doing some tilling of my own.  Albeit, on a far smaller scale. Here's the "red devil" I used to till up the garden yesterday afternoon.  

I'd like to be able to say that I showed her who's boss...you know...Mad Dog style...really tore her into the ground...
but, then, that might not be completely honest.

So anyway, Ryan and I had an interesting conversation on the way over to Missouri about why we till the ground.  Having a degree in Agricultural Science, he talked about microbes and chemical processes...the importance of nitrogen, etc., etc.  But the gist of it is that tilling breaks up and turns over the old "residue" (whatever's left of the old crops - stalks, leaves, etc) in order for it to be broken down into organic matter that will provide nutrient-rich soil for next year's crop.  God's handiwork at it's best...the waste naturally turns into the food...pretty cool.  

Fast forward to this afternoon.  Things were just not going my way.  I will spare you the details, but it was just one of those times when you feel like everything...seriously...e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. is not going according to plan (*Holla out to all my homies with Type-A tendencies...Here! Here! to To-Do lists, schedules, and plans!).   

Put plainly, I was struggling to keep a good attitude.  While driving home (after I had finally gotten all I needed from the grocery store..the 2nd time), I was at a juncture..."two roads diverged in a wood"-type stuff...
My thought process went about like this...

Grrrr....
Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!....
*deep breathing* 
Ok, if I let [my frustration] go, it's going to ruin the rest of my day.  

I really didn't want to lose the day to my frustration.  By God's grace, I remembered the Bible study our small group did last spring - Lord, Change My Attitude (highly recommended!).  In it, James MacDonald proposes replacing certain attitudes with others.  Namely (and most applicable to me in this moment of acute emotional distress), replacing a complaining attitude with a thankful one.  

Ok, I thought. How can I cultivate a thankful heart?  

I began thinking of things I'm thankful for...especially related to the things that had "gone wrong" in my afternoon.  

And then my spastic brain made a connection...in the farming world, cultivating is essentially tilling.  That got me to thinking...what does tilling up our hearts look like??  

From my time in the garden yesterday, I knew how vicious the red devil was in taking down old stumps and turning over the soil, making it ready for new growth. I imagined the part of my heart that is prone to complaining...to be easily frustrated...I imagined it being ripped out and violently buried in the soil...being broken down by God's Spirit...and prepared for new growth.

So, in the Spirit of ...

Fall Tillage

Thanksgiving

and most importantly, Christ Jesus

This Thanksgiving I am tilling up the soil of my heart and asking God to produce from it a harvest of gratitude.  

Thank you, Lord, for saving my day and for saving me. 
S.D.G.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Well, here are a few miscellaneous updates from the farmstead - 

1. Our brood is down to nine. How could this be?!?!  I know, such tragedy is hard to bear.  *sniff*  
No really...we're doing ok with handling such a blow... 
*soft sobbs* ...
*soft sobbs turn to ugly crying*
Baaaaaa!!!!

Really...Really...I'm doing ok...I'm working through the stages of grief...I was in denial up until 8:30AM this morning... but I'm on my way toward resolution.  I should be there by Tuesday.  *sniff*  

So here's the story...Last Friday our suspicions were confirmed - Kinzie was the chicken assassin.  I was casually washing a few dishes when I glanced out the window around dusk.  And what should I see? Kinzie, at the edge of our lawn....in a heap of SOMETHING!!  This cannot be happening, I thought.  So I flamed out the back door and past our precious other dog, Casey. And horror of horrors - in front of Kinzie, amid a bounty of auburn feathers, lies a Red, open from stem to stern.  And Kinzie, being the nonsensical dog she is, sat up and started wagging her tail.  "BAD DOG!! BAD DOG!!" I said with all the sternness in my body.  Her tail continued to wag.  

*Grrrrrrrrrrrrr....*

(that was me, not the dog.)


2. I've been asked by some for a picture of our house (more correctly, the house we rent).  So here it is... 

Some have called it the Red Roof Inn...but we like to call it home. 

3. AMAZING RACE STARTS TOMORROW!!! *All hearts rejoice*  

Yes, get ready for the premier of Amazing Race, season 21, which will start tomorrow (8/30), at 7PM (Central, 8PM for you folks in the Eastern time zone). 

This is consistently THE show Ryan and I always try to watch...every week.  And I think you'd enjoy it too! 

4.  Last, and most important, my Beloved's birthday is this upcoming Wednesday (10/3). I'll give you a hint as to how old he'll be...Take the number of pictures below times 10.  

(He is a sight to behold, if I do say so myself.)

 Equal parts masculine, sweet, and cool.  

The Harvest Hoedown

Leaves are changing, the weather's coolin',
Fall's a-comin' 'roun'.
Sit back for a lesson in rural (Agri) culture,
It's time for the harvest hoedown.

Swing your farmer to the combine,
This giant Transformer is key.
Pick your head - either corn or bean,
Then headin' to the field you'll be.

But don't get ahead or jump to fast, 
some jargon you must know - 
Corn is "shelled" and beans are "cut",
it depends on the seed you sow.  

The combine does three things in one-
it reaps, threshes and winnows.
Separating grain from chaff,
we could all sing along with banjos.  

Now it's time for the tractor promenade - 

The combine bows to the wagon.
The wagon curtsy's back.
With a turn and a twist, and a do-si-do,
The grain is transferred - whack!! 

The tractor pulls the wagon full,
to its new partner in this jubilee.
The wagon alongside the semi runs
to auger off its bounty of botany.

The semi, not such a nimble thing,
Is next in our autumn dance.
It takes the grain to a bin or elevator,
to keep while the price will enhance! (hopefully!)

These steps repeat many times each day.
The farmers spin and the farmers sway.
'Til headin' home real late each night,
Little sleep is the farmers' blight.  

Kissin' their wives, g'mornin' and g'night.  
The farmer is busy and always a-flight! 

Doin' this dance, they can't slow down,
Runnin' to do the Harvest Hoedown!

Wrapping up & Gearing up

August has come to a close and we are at the doorstep of Labor Day - what the young and young-at-heart recognize as the end of summer as we know it.  
Auf Wiedersehen to long evenings and endless sunshine.  
Good-bye to that carefree, laid-back attitude.
Hasta La vista, Baby, to beach balls and swim suits.  

I'll miss you, Summer.  *sniff*

*ugly cry*

----

Ryan and I are bidding summer "adieu" with his family on a vacation in gorgeous, yet quaint Galena, Illinois.  However, to kick off the weekend, on Friday, the boys all took part in the Nascar driving experience in Joliet, Illinois.  Here are a few pics of the fast-paced feat.

 Ready.

Set.

GO!!!

He was a pretty happy lover-of-fast & powerful-things afterwards.  His lap average was 145.7 mph.  

And since then, we've been chill-axing, sight-seeing, applesauce-making, boating, and celebrating two very special birthdays (Ryan's sister, Carrie, and Brother-in-law, Bill).  Did I mention we've been eating scotcharoos??  Those very wrong, but wrong in a right-sort of way, peanut-buttery, corn-syrupy, rice-krispie, chocolate & butterscotch-topped decadent morsels.  (Just a side note - Scotcharoos should really have their own Facebook page...or the U.S. should celebrate Scotcharoo Day.  Just sayin'...they're that good.)

Where was I??  I lost myself in the Scotcharoo goodness.  

oh yes...
So last week before we left for all of this fun, Ryan and his dad started Harvest. 

Ask any Ol' Timer, and he'll pull out his tooth pick and put in his dentures to tell you that this is one early harvest.  Last year all the talk was about the early harvest in September!  Who knew this year we'd have combines in the field in August!!!  

So as vacations and fun in the sun wrap up, we are gearing up for the rest of harvest.
And of course, for all of those things that *are Autumn*.

scarves.
pumpkins.
bonfires. 
hay-rack rides. 
crisp air.
hot apple cider.  
football games.
snuggling under blankets.
combine lights in the cornfield at night.

Oh, Autumn, how I've missed you.    

So long, Summa!!!

Nesting

Let me give you a little background from the past week - 
Sunday night, Roxanne, the woman who boards her horses behind our house, came to our door with a coffee can full of eggs.  Evidently, the girls had been laying their eggs in the horses' hay in the barn.  Ryan and I had been wondering if they had been laying eggs outside of the coop, as we seemed to only get one egg each day (which seemed a little too...coordinated?!..shall we say, for our chickens).  

So I was distraught. 
The nail-biting and lip-chewing commenced.  
Why didn't they want to lay in their home??  

I felt like Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore...
"Are you too good for your Hooommmee??"  

Ryan and I pondered.  And we deliberated.  And then it struck me - they hadn't had a chance to make the laying boxes (which we had recently added) home.  Many a' pregnant woman can tell you - the nesting instinct can be strong.  Who wants to bring home their child (or in our case, their precious egg) to a unprepared, muddled mess??  

So Ryan stuffed the laying boxes with even more straw and we left the girls in the coop for two days straight.  They needed some concentrated time to make these boxes "home".  And nesting they did! 

So much so, in fact, that the second day this is what Ryan found - 

THREE EGGS IN THE SAME NEST!!! Evidently, there had been some competition for this particular box.  Everyone wants the corner lot, I guess.

And today, this is what I came home to - 

An egg (or two) in three out of the four laying boxes!!  

That goes to show - with a little nesting...a little effort to make one's environment "home"...we can let down our guard, and eggs, to relax in comfort and familiarity.  

I Can Can!

If visions of french saloon girls doing high kicks in black stockings have entered your mind - 

Forgive me.  This is a farm life blog.  

I am not about to do the Cancan. Nor should anyone with the limited flexibility and balance that I experience.  

No, I mean, I can can. And so can you! 

Not I cancan.  

In fact, my sweet friend (and lucky for me, my sister-in-law) Sara came over on Friday to do some canning.   Neither of us had formerly done any canning.  But we decided it was for us.  I have an abundance of tomatoes and have always wanted to try my hand at making strawberry preserves.  Now, after having finished two rounds of canning, I am definitely a fan!  And I wanted to share the general process for those of you who also might be interested in partaking in this centuries-old practice.  

The general process is as follows - 

• Clean/sterilize jars and lids
• Prepare food to be canned
• Fill jars and cover with lids
• Process in boiling water bath
• Cool and test lids

Here are the ingredients for the strawberry preserves (aka strawberry jam).  Get yourself some jars (we used Ball and Kerr) with lids, strawberries, fruit pectin (I used Sure-Jell), and sugar....LOTS of sugar.  Actually, copious amounts of sugar.  

Wash and rinse the jars thoroughly.  This recipe calls for processing jars in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes once filled, so there is no need to sterilize them ahead of time.  However, if you are using another recipe where the jars are not processed for 10 minutes or more, you will need to sterilize the jars and lids ahead of time.  You can do this by boiling them in water (water needs to be an inch above jar tops) for 10 minutes.  Regardless, once the jars and lids/bands are clean, throw the lids and bands in a pot of boiling water to keep them hot until you're ready to use them. 

Prep strawberries by washing and stemming them.  Crush berries one cup at a time, leaving bits of fruit intact.  I used a pastry blender instead of a potato masher - just personal preference.  I stole a few bites of the strawberries because they were just too good to pass up...but that isn't a required step.   

Unless you're in the Wood household.  Then...it is.  

All for the sake of quality control, of course.

Meanwhile, get water simmering in a large pot (like the one below, right) so it's ready to go when the jars are filled.  

Just FYI - in order to use quart jars (we used them for other produce), you will need a very tall pot.  I borrowed this one from my aunt and uncle, because my regular stock pot wasn't tall enough to accommodate the jars plus the required 1" covering of water.  

Once berries are mashed and ready to go, throw them into a stockpot and stir in one box of pectin.  I also added 1/2 teaspoon of butter to minimize foaming.  I'm not quite sure it worked, but how could butter be wrong?? Really?!?  

Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil - keep stirring, too!!  

While the fruit mixture is getting to the rolling boil, measure out all seven cups of sugar.  (In the Bible doesn't the number 7 represent completion or perfection?!?!...hmmm???).  

Once the fruit mixture is at a rolling boil, stir in the sugar quickly.  Here's what the fullness of goodness looked like...

Stir that puppy all up!!  And return to a full rolling boil.  

And here's where things get a bit tricky... Ready?!?!

Once at a full rolling boil, boil for exactly one minute...that's uno minuto.  (How to know when you've entered the realm of "rolling boil" and then to calculate exactly one minute...I'm not sure.  Just do your best.  That's what Mom always said!)

Oh yes...and KEEP STIRRING FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

Once the minute is up, remove from the heat and skim off any foam.  (Again, this was a little difficult to do because I had more foam than I anticipated, since I had added the butter to reduce it...but you get the idea).

Now to filling the jars.  Fill your jars (I used a variety of pint jars) up to within 1/8 inch of the top (for those of you who may one day be serious canners - this is called the "head space").  

Wipe the jar rims and threads.  You can see Sara doing that to her tomatoes here...

Here the jam jars are without their lids...

Pull your lids and bands from the hot water and apply them to the jars, screwing the lids on tightly.  

Then lower them into the large stockpot of boiling water you have ready.   Here's sweet Sara - they're ready to go! Make sure the lids are covered with 1-2 inches of water.  

Now they stay in there for 10 minutes.  If your water isn't boiling when you put them in, start the time once the water is boiling.  Also, for higher elevations, the time needs to be adjusted.  

Pull out the jars and allow them to cool upright.  This may take quite some time.  

Once your jars are cooled, test their seals by pressing the middle of the lid.  If it springs back, then it didn't seal.  While disappointing, it's not a complete loss.  You can refrigerate the jar and use it right away.  This happened to me.  My oldest jar (one I believe my grandmother used) that is tinted blue didn't seal completely.  I think it's because the rim or threads of the jar weren't completely clean before I placed the lids on.  Oh well...I'm eager to try the jam anyway!

Who knew canning is so much fun!?!?  Do it with a friend and the pleasure is doubled!  

Ryan and the chickens came to offer encouragement...

And here are the fruits (pun intended) of our labor...

Now go can.  Because you can can, too! 

Sure-Jell Cooked Strawberry Jam Recipe

5 cups crushed strawberries (this was about 3 1/2 lbs for me)

7 cups sugar

1 box Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin

1/2 tsp. butter *optional*

Helpful canning websites:

www.freshpreserving.com - the Ball website for preserving with good recipes!

nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html - National Center for Home Food Preservation

The Drought

The thunder is rolling.  I hear the sound of heavy drops on the windows and roof.  The dogs are barking at lightning and running around like the crazy animals they are.  The hens are running for cover.  It's raining.  


*sigh*


God's salve for our thirsty land.

(Here is a picture of the corn bending under the wind and rain.) 

If you live anywhere in the Midwest, there is little chance you've missed the news about this year's drought. Here is the latest drought monitor.  If you look closely, our area (West Central Illinois) is considered to be "severe" to "extreme".  What's incredible is that much of the country is also.  

Signs of the time - Crop yields are expected to be significantly below average.  Farmers with livestock are selling off their animals because it's too expensive to buy feed and their pastures are burned up.   Corn stalks literally baked in the sun without relief.  In town, usually green lawns are brown and crisp.  On the news, reporters talk about the possible increase in the price of food and other goods.  Countless prayers for rain.  


This brings to mind an Arab proverb I heard recently - "All sunshine makes a desert."  
It certainly has felt that way this year.  


But an interesting thing happens to corn when there is little rain.  Because there is no moisture in the top soil, its roots must drive deep in search of water.  Strangely, the (temporarily) dry weather can serve to strengthen the plant and its root system.  A larger root system then allows it to absorb optimal moisture when it does rain.  What a beautiful metaphor for life.  


The dry times in life - the difficult or "desert" seasons where Jesus may at times not feel close, can, with His help, serve to grow and deepen our faith.  They force us to dive into His Word...to cry out for His help...to press into His Presence in order to find the solace, reassurance, and relief we need.  These spiritual "roots" that are formed can later steady us during hardship, and ultimately will help us grow more mature in Christ.  


So while we pray for showers of His Spirit, love, grace, and blessings, let us praise Him in the "drought".  It, too, God can use to grow us.