Thankful for Turkeys

Turkeys. One of the areas of agriculture I would say I know slim to none about. 

Except the couple of lesson plans I have done on turkey production. 

But today is about being thankful for turkeys and thankful they bring our family together every year around this time.

My earliest memory of Thanksgiving is of there being a turkey running around my city dwelling great grandparents back yard a few days before Thanksgiving. Then mysteriously after Thanksgiving it no longer being there. 

Then one of my more recent memories..playing turkey bingo with my mother in law and my niece in South Dakota my first year spending the holidays there.

And this year spending the holiday with my family in Indiana, something I have been looking forward to since my morning sickness finally wore off. I didn't think I could ever pass up my Grandma's Thanksgiving meals, now that I am married I have to compromise a little bit here and there. But, I can promise you little Baby K will be getting his or her fill once I get to fill my plate!

This year I am excited to be spending the day with my Indiana family and my husband. I am thankful that we can all be together at times like this through the years. I tend to choose Thanksgiving over Christmas because the pressure of the gift giving isn't there, but the love of family still strong.

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope today you are thinking of family, eating, and of course football.

A Bushel And a Peck

With Harvest 2011 finally coming to a close I really wish I could find a way to add a song to this one blog post- just for fun. 

I am thinking the musical Guys and Dolls. A Bushel and a Peck is a very catchy tune from that musical by Doris Day and when I started this post I was trying to come up with a catchy title and this one stuck. 

Because I am talking about bushels of corn and nearly every time my hubby came to the field to get a load of corn this year he made sure to give me a "peck" on the cheek. 

What is a bushel? Good question. Easy enough answer. A bushel is a unit of volume.


One bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds. 

Immediately I am picturing holding a 50 lb bag of dog food, while holding a small 6 lb yippy little dog. (I have no clue where that vision came from, the teacher in me speaking I suppose.) 

One big and very important thing to a farmer after combining a field of any commodity (corn, soybeans, wheat, sunflowers, etc.) is the YIELD to that field. 

What is a yield right?


A yield is how many bushels/acre came out of the field. 

What is an acre right?


Picture a football field. One football field is equal to one acre. We farm almost 3,000 football fields. And people wonder why we need big equipment, geesh!

So, to calculate all of this you have to do a few simple equations. And I can easily tell you that as it was hammered into my head for 4 years of college.

But, I am guessing that may not be too important to you. 

What I think you will find interesting and important is how our average yields have increased significantly in the last 50 years.

What does that mean exactly? That means that as farmers we are getting more corn off our acres. Which is important in feeding the world. You know, the 7 billion people we have on Earth.

But, in order to continue to have high yields, it means we have to take care of our soil. Which we do. It is recommended that soil tests be conducted every 3 years, which tells nutrient levels in the soil, along with the pH of the soil. 

During harvest my sister in law calculates our yields for each field and we compare to previous years in order to help us make the best decisions for the following year. 

This year she was nice enough to let me help and in turn helped me learn quite a bit about the soil and yields of our fields here on TKF. 

As we work to increase our yields we also work to increase the number of mouths that we feed. 

Some would say that as farmers this isn't something we need to worry about, but if we aren't worrying about it as producers and as consumers- who will?

Thankful For...

During this time of year it's hard to not be Thankful, with holidays coming up and the thought of being together as a family, it's not just the pregnancy that makes me glow!

As I celebrate with my Indiana family this year, I keep my South Dakota family close to my heart.

Today I am guest blogging on The Real Farmwives of America page about one of the reasons I am so thankful to be a part of a family farm!

What are you thankful for this holiday season? 

The Real Farmwives of America

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Well, there was a winner for a new pair of Nocona Boots! 


It wasn't me....but, it was a close call between me and Sarah over at This Farm Family's Life. Be sure to check out her blog, she has a really yummy looking recipe she put up this week. 


Not to mention she is so deserving of a new pair of boots!


I would like to say thank you for all of my followers who voted for me. We must have had luck on our side because as it turns out one of my followers won herself a new pair of boots- all because she voted for me! 


Congratulations Janelle! I hope you enjoy your new pair of Nocona Boots!

To New Beginnings

Today I am spending the day in a small hotel room packed with 11 women all getting ready for our favorite couple's wedding.

Reminds me of my wedding day two years ago. How I felt...the emotions...the rush....the excitement of spending the rest of my life with my husband.

Sadee and Nick have been together for nearly 9 years. A common law marriage in some states. When she called to tell me he had proposed I was so excited for her to start the next chapter of her life with her best friend.

So here we are in St. Petersburg, Florida celebrating her special day with her closest friends and family on a beautiful beach right before sunset.

So here's to love, happiness, and all the wonderful things that come with wedding days.

Fashion On The Farm- Boots

When I first moved to South Dakota in the Fall of 2008 (Chopping corn silage is actually my anniversary every year!) I brought with me my beloved black muck boots. I love them so much I wear them almost every single day.

When it's cold, when it's hot, when it's raining, and when it's not!

My husband has pretty much hated them from day one. Hated them so much after popping the question of "Will you marry me?" he followed it with, "Well now that we are engaged I think it is time to get rid of your muck boots." I just smiled and said "Okay Honey", when I was really thinking "He's CRAZY if he thinks I am getting rid of those muck boots!".

I just think they are so great to slip on and I never have to think twice about entering a cattle lot on short notice or of stepping into a muddy garden.

So, a few months after our engagement we are at our wedding dance. There is something in South Dakota they like to call the "Garter Auction", yep, never heard of it until I came here.

Anyway, basically the idea is they auction off the garter, instead of constantly raising the price, guests just keep giving money. When the money giving dwindles down, the last person gets the garter.

Well, much to my husband's dismay a few weeks before the wedding my Dad comes up with this absolutely priceless idea and the only people that knew anything about this plan was my Dad, my sister in laws, and my mother in law. So, they were all prepared with their cameras!

Our lives seem to have so many defining moments involving boots. From the moment I set foot on our farm with my black muck boots to wearing them during our garter auction and then to taking these pictures back in September to send to my parents to let them know we were expecting our first little one.

I would say boots always put a smile on my face and now it's time for me to put one on yours!

The Real Farmwives of America and Friends is giving away two pairs of Nocona boots.

There is a chance that one of my readers could receive one of these pairs and there is also a chance that I can receive a pair of boots- these boots in particular (Yes, I already picked out a pair that I love...)

Nocona Fashion Line

 

Are they not adorable?!

Here's how:

 All you have to do is go Real Farmwives of America and Friends and leave a comment to vote for me! There are two ways you can do this:

1. Head over to their website: Real Farmwives of America
2. Head over to their facebook page.

I am hoping to win this pair of boots to add to my collection of much loved boot stories. Plus, I would love for one of my readers to start a boot story of their own!

Corn Harvest 2011

Wow, the rush of season is finally coming to a close. 

We set records here on TKF with finishing Harvest by October 16. But, don't let that fool you. Even though we finished early, we still have lots to do.

I was just having a conversation with another farmer about how even though harvest finished up early this year, it seems we got even busier once the combine rolled out of the field for the last time. 

After we finish combining we still have equipment to clean and field work to be done. Not to mention we have been buying cattle and selling cattle the last couple of weeks. Which means lots of early mornings and lots of cattle to work.

A farmer's job really is never done.

Here is that promised video on Corn Harvest 2011. My sister in law was kind enough to do most of the video footage for me since I spent most of my time in the tractor this year. 

This video is a video of us combining corn for feed. The corn that is coming out of the truck and going through the long pipe looking thing (auger) is actually getting cracked into smaller pieces and being wet down so it can be packed into the bunker so it is easily accessed for feeding our cattle during the winter. Once we get enough corn for feeding our cattle we either do one of two things 1) Haul the corn to town to the local co-op to sell or 2) Store the corn in bins to sell at a later date.

The corn is hauled from the field by semis and grain trailers and weighed in our scale shed so we know how many pounds (and later converted into bushels) we are getting out of each field and how many pounds we are putting into our bunkers for feed.

All of the corn combined in our fields is for our animal feed. We do plant a small patch of sweet corn for us to enjoy :)

One thing I didn't get video footage of is of us tarping this particular corn pile. We actually have two bunkers that we use for corn (very similar to our silage bunker). But, it just so happens this year the day we tarped the first one it was raining and the next time we did it in the dark. 

Here's to the end of another harvest year!