Archive - September, 2012

Struggling Corn Plants

September 9, 2012 in Fresh Off the Farm with 0 Comments

Randall Grabau Copyright 2012

The summer of 2012 was an exceptionally dry year, not only in our area, but also across most of the nation.

young corn plants, corn plants, garden, corn patch,

A Young Crop of Corn

Corn planted in April or early May had germinated and grown quickly.  My corn did not get planted until after the 18th of May.  By the middle of June, the drought was in full swing with most all of the corn showing signs of stress.  The corn on our farm did not look too bad early in the morning, but by noon much of it had curled up leaves as the corn plants tried to preserve what little moisture they had.  This continued with only small, insignificant showers through Independence Day.  It amazed me that there was any life left at all in these young, struggling, corn plants.

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Harvest Sale

September 7, 2012 in Cards with 0 Comments

pencil sketch, corn husking wagon, corn husking, wagon, bang board

Click to view on our site

Grabau Heritage Cards introduces our Harvest Sale.  The sale extends from now until September 30, 2012.

Let our Pencil Drawings of Antique and Vintage Items from our sesquicentennial dairy farm bring you back to days gone by.   Memories will come cascading back in such a way you’ll embrace the sights, sounds, and even the smells of a hayride.  Use these cards to help others reminisce about the old days and their dear ones.

Prices for this limited time will be for less than half-price!  This a perfect opportunity to stock up on 99¢ notecards with the “Fresh Sketched Look of Country”. 

Be sure to check our products.  New cards have been added to our inventory!

 

A Leap of Flame

September 5, 2012 in Fresh Off the Farm with 0 Comments

This morning started out like a normal one.  It included hay baling.  In addition, I planned to process apples, grapes and tomatoes.  I popped a beef roast into the oven and set about to work on the rest of our dinner when I heard the wild ringing of our doorbell.  No guests ring the bell like that, so I knew my husband needed me to unlock the door-fast!

firewood, wood pile, piled firewood,

What We Lost

Words I had never heard before came tumbling out of his mouth.  “The woodshed is on fire!!!”  He made the 911 call for help.

I struggled to get my sandals on in order to run outside and to see what he meant.

Just out the front door I looked to the east at a shed where lumber is stored.  It looked normal to me.  So then, I looked to the west where our winter supply of firewood is stored.  Smoke billowed from behind the buildings on that half of the farm.  Fire made its home here on our place today.

We ran to the site to see the charring firewood being consumed.  Along with that, orange flames climbed up the tall trees in the background.  “Oh, Lord, help us,” we called out.  My husband, Randy, and I moved a hay wagon away from the fire.

I ran in the house for better footwear.  I called my daughter in haste, to let her know that we needed  prayer.  I called our pastor and left him a message as well.   When I got back outdoors my husband was running 5-gallon buckets of water to the hot spot.

The Welcome Help Arrived.

I filled  pails for him at the calf shed trough.  He was dousing a nearby shed that housed lumber.  Losing the firewood was a concern, but home-sawn lumber was another matter.  That could not easily be replaced.

As I filled the pails, I heard the sweet sound of a siren.  It was music to my ears this morning.  Three trucks came to help us.  Once the hoses were unloaded the firefighters sprayed the flames to a smolder.  The tree fire stopped.  They located hidden hot spots and showered them with thousands of gallons of water.

Fire, a Formidable Foe

Fire is a force that has uncontrolled power.  One can easily see his helpless state when the flames roar upward.  We give our God thanks for His help.  The wind was minimal.  The emergency crew dealt handily with a force that we were not able to control by ourselves.

The leap of flame could have overtaken our home and our business.  But God watched over us and those who intervened on our behalf.

If you have a situation that you see is out of control in your life, call out to God.  Jesus Christ has already intervened on your behalf.  Place your life in His capable hands.  Then your life will not be overcome by a leap of flame, but, rather, a leap of faith in Jesus.  He will not disappoint you.

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A Piece of Yesterday

September 3, 2012 in Family Ties, Smorgasbord with 0 Comments

planer, wood planer, hand tool, hand wood planer, wood, pencil sketch, pencil sketch of hand tool, wood working,Since I have lived here on heritage farm, I have become acquainted with a part of life that was new to me.  Yet, in my heart, I knew that many people had similar history.   The  story of our ancestors immigrating to this country and starting a new life has captured my imagination in several ways.

Tools made life easier.  Family made life endearing.  Farming and gardens supplied material needs.  Art-styles and needlework added beauty to necessity.  Hobbies of our kin became of interest.

This is to say, then, that I like to capture a piece of yesterday on a piece of paper as I sketch.

Since there are old tools on the farm,  I can sketch them.  My own dad had many of them when I was a child.  When I see them here,  I have an attachment to them from my past.  They bring back fond memories.

Living on the farm opens up opportunities that city- or town-dwellers rarely experience.  Preserving food has fallen by the wayside, so to speak.  But on the farm, we grow, freeze and preserve much of our garden produce and our meat.  These unique activities, bring me ideas for subject matter.

Some days I see beauty in a flower in the yard or garden; it comes from our Creator.  At other times, heirloom plants in the house capture my attention.  Things that He has done or provided may trigger an idea for my sketching or writing.

The buildings in which we work and live also become my subjects.  Those things in our lives that are “normal” and “everyday”, will someday be changed or gone with no memory left behind. 

My family also provides me with subject matter.  Their faces, their unique interests become fodder for creating pictures or stories.

Keep vigilant.  You, too, can look for ways to preserve some of your own heritage and things that God Himself has made.

Neutral Not Always Safe

September 1, 2012 in Snippets with 0 Comments

corn crib, double corn crib, truck, pick up truckc ear corn, corn storage,On the farm we have a pick-up truck.  It has a standard shift.  That means that in order to run it, one must learn to operate a manual transmission.  There are 1st- through 5th-gears, reverse and neutral.  Not everyone can handle it.

One sunny summer morning, the truck was parked just outside of the double corncrib. The east and west walls of the corncrib hold ear-corn.  The roof between them protects the machinery inside.  The north and south aspects of the building are open with a large sliding door hung on the north end.  Much of the time it houses the truck.  But this day, it was out in the sunshine perched on a slight incline.

I don’t recall now why I slipped the gear shift into neutral, but I did.   All too soon gravity started working.  I could not believe my eyes.  The truck rolled right down the slight hill and I was powerless to stop it.  The aging truck hit the old wooden fence post by the calf  pasture.  Fortunately no large damage came from this incident.  But it broke the fence post clear through, and it had to be replaced.

Lessons to learn from this scenario:

  • Gravity is a power to be respected.
  • Neutral is easily overcome by forces stronger than itself.
  • Damage can come about as a result of being in neutral.

In life there are times when one might dare to think that a neutral position is safe and prudent.  But that’s not always so.  Be careful about using neutral.  Just as in this example, you can be unpleasantly surprised.

photo credit: Bretta Grabau

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