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Archive - July, 2013

The Storm Racers

July 31, 2013 in Farming Fancies with 2 Comments

Farmers are storm racers.

Today the temperature ranged in the 60s. Winds were brisk. It had a definite affect on our workday. So much depends on the weather.

Two days ago we eagerly baled hay. The weather forecast, rain, made getting the job done an urgent matter. The dry hay lying in the field was ready. After baling the fifth load, the sprinkling began. Heavy rain slammed into the landscape. We had to leave the last two loads still lying in the field. But we felt upbeat since the five loads we got were more loads than we expected to bale.

Today my husband raked the rest of that field of hay. Unfortunately the forecast predicted more rain. But the hay had dried sufficiently that it was ready. Right after lunch we headed out to the field. The chilling winds forced me to wear a parka. That was a first for me.

White fluffy clouds skimmed through the blue sky swiftly. We got started and had trouble with the knotter on the baler. The delay added to the tension of our job. My husband got it fixed, but by this time, the blue sky was gone and the gray clouds overtook the sunshine. Black clouds loomed in the west.

As we hurried to beat the coming storm, about a dozen birds swarmed around the tractor while we sped along to put up the hay. The farm dog trotted along side, playing tag with the darting, swooping swallows. They made a delightful spectacle. They provided a pleasant diversion as we worked under the pressure of the coming storm.

Finally, we finished the field. We took all the short-cuts in baling that we could. I drove in 4th gear rather than in 3rd to finish before the rainclouds drenched us. We got less than 2 full loads and the field is clear. Now the new hay can grow unhindered.

As I drove, the parka and gloves kept me cozy. This is the first time that after baling, we eagerly came inside the house for a cup of hot chocolate.

Yes, farmers are storm racers. We give thanks to the Lord that he enabled us to get this bunch of hay done. This time, He let us beat the rain.

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photo credit: Nomadic Lass via photopin cc

Raspberry-Time Again

July 29, 2013 in Fresh Off the Farm with 2 Comments

We got the first picking late last week. The second picking came yesterday. What a help it is to have my daughter here to help with the harvest. She picks the red raspberries while I cultivate and weed the vegetable garden. When she finishes she cleans the berries.

Weeding can seem like a passive activity to some, but, on the contrary, activity abounds. Birds sing and a few flies buzz around my head as the sun rises higher and hotter. Our mother cat purrs at my feet as she attempts to lie down in the very row I am cultivating. The humidity makes the temperature more oppressive as I work. The weeds are growing very well. I have worked hard this year to pull them. I find a good place to stop my work in the garden and go rest indoors to eat breakfast with my husband and daughter.

Berry bugs are not a big problem at this time of the harvest. At the end of the harvest we will need to be vigilant in ridding ourselves of the raspberry bugs. At this time we have only seen a few in the red raspberries as we clean them.

We have a black raspberry patch that is also ripening. They are a brambly bunch of plants. Even in the heat of the day, my daughter and I must wear long-sleeved shirts to protect ourselves from the thorns that seem to reach out for us as we pick berries. We took time to pick them today, too. Since the patch is small, we can not predict how many we will get. Yesterday we got 2 quarts of berries. That is enough for one batch of jam and lots of good sauce for shortcake. We have at least the same amount of berries still on the bushes for another batch of jam and maybe a pie.

Last year we planted a new small patch of yellow raspberries. The plants look healthy and have some berries ripening for us. We can only get a couple of handfuls this year. But it will be a treat to taste them. Maybe next year will give us enough to preserve or share.

photo credit: Wenda Grabau
photo credit: Bretta Grabau

Heart to Heart: Part 4

July 27, 2013 in Smorgasbord, Snippets with 0 Comments

She started to read her Bible in her alone time. God’s Word became more and more important to her. One night after church, she went back to her room and in private she prayed, “Lord Jesus, I am not sure that I am forgiven. I believe in you. I want you to live in me. Will you forgive me?” Again, Jesus’ voice did not speak out loud, but this time He reminded her of a Bible verse that she had memorized as a little child in Sunday school. It is I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Did it say she was forgiven? It sure did. If she confessed her sins this verse promised God’s faithfulness and justice to forgive her. Now she could be sure that Jesus had forgiven her. Doubt finally left, not because of a good feeling, but because the Bible said so.

The fear of hell disappeared because Jesus paid for her sins and forgave her. Assurance took its place in her life where fear had been been in control for so long. Besides that, she had found Jesus to be her best friend, one who would never leave her.

Our little girlfriend has the most wonderful friend now. What is His name? It is Jesus. Does she still get afraid and lonesome? Sometimes, but that is when Jesus helps her. He reminds her of His promises in the Bible. She can feel safe because He is in charge of everything.

Is she glad she is a Christian? She sure is and I brought her here to tell you so. Her name is Wendy. I am that little girl. I hope you are all busy learning about Jesus at Sunday school. Listen well, memorize your Bible verses, because Jesus will remind you of the things you learn here when you grow up. He will talk to you from the Bible.

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Heart to Heart: Part 3

July 24, 2013 in Smorgasbord, Snippets with 0 Comments

Some things in life changed for the little girl. She became a young lady and she would soon graduate from high school. She chose a college and made plans to study nursing. This move she faced with excitement and a little fear. Sadly, she left some friends at home and had to make new ones all over again at college.

While she went to the high school, a war had started to take young men to southeast Asia. Her cousin was one of them. He was just 18 years old. He believed in Jesus. He was a Christian. Word came that her dear cousin died from the wounds he suffered in that war. He was now in heaven.

She had to face the fact that even young people die. “Everybody,” she thought, “should be ready when it is their time to die, even me.” This sobering thought gave her the desire to read the Bible. She wanted to “be ready.” She wanted to go to heaven some day. The old question came back to haunt her, “Am I really forgiven?”

As a college student she made a desperate attempt to find good people to befriend. She looked for them at a church youth group. She expected to find young people and adults at the church who would support the life-style that she had chosen.

She wanted to serve Christ. She experienced joy with these new friends she had and with learning about Jesus. They encouraged her to follow the Lord.

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Heart to Heart, Part 2

July 20, 2013 in Smorgasbord, Snippets with 0 Comments

It took time, but the little girl grew. She passed from sixth grade into seventh grade. The coming changes in her life made her fearful. She was going to a big new school…the high school.

Life got a bit frightening for her. Her class alone had 180 seventh graders in it. Each classroom she attended was full of strangers. That uncomfortable beginning of school made her ask herself, “Does anybody else feel like I do? Am I the only one?”

Even playing softball with the neighbor kids she found threatening. She did not know how to play and expected the kids to laugh at her. So she retreated from the games and talked to a good friend of hers…her gray tabby cat. He always seemed to understand; he was a good listener, but still she was lonely.

The little girl’s mom taught her how a good Christian girl should live. She believed with all of her heart that her mom taught the truth. She did not want to live her life any other way. You see, Jesus still had not told her that she was forgiven…at least, she did not know that He had. So, she figured she ought to live and be as good as she could. ” That way,” she thought, ” when I die and God measures my good works and my bad works, there will be more good ones and He will have to let me in to heaven, right?”

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photo credit: Clara S. via photopin cc

Heart to Heart, Part 1

July 15, 2013 in Smorgasbord, Snippets with 0 Comments

(When our youngest daughter was just 1-1/2 years old, a Sunday School group invited me to speak to the children. What an opportunity! The following is from that message to young children. I hope you enjoy it and can share it with some of your favorite kids.)

Once there was a little girl who lived with her Mommy and Daddy and her little brother, Jimmy. They lived in a 2-room house. The house was built on a piece of swampy land. Cattails grew in the back yard.

Most days she heard the cry of seagulls and saw the view of Superior, the lake so big that no one can see across it. When riding with her parents, she often could see choppy waves and whitecaps on the huge lake by her house. On hot days, she swam in it. The sandbar stretched out far into the lake, and yet the water only came up to her knees. She loved to splash in it and play in the sand that blanketed the beach.

Artesian wells are not uncommon where she grew up. Cold, refreshing drinking water just bubbled up out of the ground all by itself. To those living in other parts of the world, the sights she saw as a child are special.

Sometimes her Daddy took her miles away from the lake into the thick birch and poplar forests. They picked wild blueberries that grew ripe in July. Black bears lived in the woods. But she never saw one unless it was in a cage or at the dump where bears ate garbage for supper. She wasn’t afraid of bears. She was just glad that rattlesnakes did not live where she did. Now that made her feel safe!

Many times Mommy took her and Jimmy to Sunday School. She learned about many things, such as sin and hell, Jesus’ love and His death on the cross. Sunday School helped her to want to please God even at her young age.

Hell, that terrible place for people who do not go to heaven, frightened her. People had to sin to go there. She knew that she had run away from Jimmy when he wanted to play with her. Besides that, she remembered that she disobeyed Mommy and Daddy sometimes. “Wasn’t that sin? Yes,” she thought, ” it was.”

Whatever could she do? She did all she knew to do. She said, “Forgive me, Jesus.” But Jesus did not say anything back to her. So she really did not know if He did or did not forgive her.

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Crimping, Raking and Baling: The Long Day

July 13, 2013 in Fresh Off the Farm with 2 Comments

The day began for me at 5:30 AM. The sun had risen and came up behind the grove and the old red-brick school house just east of the farm. My husband hitched the conditioner to the tractor. I hopped into the John Deere 2520 tractor seat, revved up the motor and was off to start my work as my husband finished his chores before he began milking the cows.

I pulled out of the driveway onto the paved road that led to the hayfield. As I accelerated the cool air pressed against my face. I drove to the field to crimp the hay that had been cut a day earlier.

As the hay is fed through the conditioner it is crimped. The crimping breaks the hay stems in several places. The extra breakage provides for the hay to dry more quickly. In view of the rainy trend we had been having, we needed to speed up the drying. We wanted this hay to be ready for baling tomorrow. That job took 2 hours to get done.

At 8 AM, I returned to the farm and had a quick breakfast. When the milking was finished, my husband and I were off to the next field. He drove the John Deere B pulling the hay rake to the field of dried hay. I followed in the farm pickup. My husband started raking, left me with final instructions and took off in the pickup for the farm. He took the tractor and the haybine out to cut a fresh crop of hay. I finished the raking.

We finished by 12:30, just in time for lunch. We ate heartily. He greased the baler and hitched it up to the tractor. To the B, he hitched up two hay wagons. I washed dishes. Upon finishing, I donned my straw hat and headed out the door to start the baling. I put gas in the 2520, hitched it and the baler up to another wagon. We were ready!

I drove. My husband rode the wagon and stacked the bales. After we baled the first load, my daughter came to relieve her dad. He took the loaded wagon to the farm to unload it, while our daughter and I filled the next loads. Our son was on hand to help unload bales at the farm. We made about 14 loads that day.

My daughter and I finished baling and bringing the loads home by 8:40 PM. Fortunately the sun was still up so that we could safely take the machinery back to the farm. My husband had to milk cows in the evening so we left 4 loads of hay that did not get unloaded.

The long day was tiring, but very rewarding.

Photo Credit: Wenda Grabau
Photo Credit: Wenda Grabau