for your viewing pleasure

My husband went out to help some Amish friends he has met over the last few years. They were harvesting their corn...the "old fashioned" way!
This first and third clip is sideways. So adjust your computer and head as necessary! And don't worry the clips are only a few seconds long!!

I hope you enjoyed the videos!
I have some pics to follow. But not tonight. It's been a busy day and I'm too tired to talk about the!! haha
Have a great night all!

pig pen

SO I was asked about the pig pen. So maybe I have some answers for you!
 We used some green wire as the perimeter and then a strand of hot wire on the inside of that. It's hot, the pigs squeal when they touch it. I feel bad, but it keeps them in, and they have not tried to get out. My husband informs me that is good because chasing a pig is NOT something I want to do! It is attached to the horse barn where we first had them, in T.O stall. There is a ramp for them to go up and down, but they like to pretend they are acrobats and jump in and out. It's kinda funny to watch them. Sometimes they land on their feet, but other times they land on their side and jump up and shake it off. It's nice so they can get out of the rain.  They rooted up the grass that was there. The pen goes to the back of the barn to the manure pile, and they are wonderful little piggies and go to the bathroom down there too! We found out quickly that it is a little too small, and will make it bigger next year for the spring pigs we get. They still can run and play, but we think it should be bigger for them. I was surprised at how busy pigs can be!
And here are a few pics of their pig pen. As you can see it's not huge, but at least they have the whole stall inside about 10x10 and some space to play outside. And this was the first year we had them at our house. So we learn with each new thing we do!

 Here is the green wire on the outside of the pen. It's not hot. There is a hot wire fence on the inside of this. It's probably about leg high on the pigs.

 This is the back side of the barn. We blocked off the underside of the barn to keep the pigs out with the boards. It goes about halfway back the barn.

 They wanted a pic of all four of them! How cute!

This is the front side of the pen.
It's about 200 square feet outside. Plus the stall.
I hope that helps! Have a great afternoon!

lunch break

 I don't really have lots to say other then what I've already said. Life is busy! And not a whole lot is going on. It's getting closer to the end of my pigs life and that makes me sad. Never had pigs on the farm before and I've enjoyed them. I also like to eat them too, but... anyways
Here is a recent pic of them! See how cute she is smiling at the camera!!

Yup, I'd have to say we have happy pigs here and gave them the best life a pig could want!!

A neighbor recently combined his dry beans! See the pic! We've gotten beans from him. How convenient, a neighbor to get them from. Cheaper then the store.

The cows are doing well too. Just thought I'd throw that in there in case you were wondering.
The gardens are done for the winter. We didn't get many pie pumpkins this year or winter squash. Bummer. Hate to buy them at the store.
The leaves are rapidly changing and the days are getting shorter as well. Gets dark early around here. I hate that. I'll see if I can get the camera working long enough to get some when they look better and show you a New England fall!
 Well that's all I've got time for. Gotta get back to school! Lunch is over!
 Have a great day!

poppin johnny

For those of you who don't know, and asked here is "Poppin Johnny"! Our fully restored Model H John Deere. I forget what year it is. I know, my bad. But when it runs it sounds like it is popping. So that is the name it was given. And for those of you who don't know this tractor was actually my great grand fathers first tractor. On my mothers side! Kinda cool how we got it.
 No this is not our place, it's where we had it stored temporarily. My boy loves it, and has driven it around too.
Have a great day all!

yup, this is my life

Good grief, it's been a while since I posted anything. I'm still around. Still busy. It seems like my days are just running together, and I can't keep ahead on anything. Home school is in full swing and I'm having a hard time getting everything done now. Just a new routine to get into. OK, so I've never in my life gotten "everything" done, and I know I never will. It feels like things just keep piling up, like laundry and the dust bunnies on the floor that I swear I sweep or have the kiddos sweep everyday. I'm up early and to bed late trying to "finish" something I started but never finished. Between school and well my life I'm just busy.  Most days it's good, but boy once in a while it's not! So don't think my life is all sunshine and roses, it's not and I don't mean to give that impression.  On my living room floor right now I have squash, melons, dust bunnies, crayons, jars, boxes, boxes of full and empty jars, onions, paper my kiddos were drawing on and forgot to pick up, boots shoes, dirty socks...I could go on, but I think you can "see" enough! My husband is in the process of making me another cupboard for my canned goods, so once that is made and home I'll show you! I can't wait to get it. Then my boxes and jars and boxes of jars will have a nice new home! But his cabinet making got interrupted by haying!
My gardens are just about done before I put them to bed for the winter!. I have some carrots to finish. Then squash and pumpkins, but I don't can or freeze them. I just put them in my house and eat them up! Wish I had a root cellar for them. Maybe someday...
Today my husband is haying. We finally have some nice weather all in a row to get some second crop done. Seems like this week a lot of farmers are putting down hay. No pics of it again this time either. The batteries are dead in the camera, he's haying with the "poppin johnny".  Maybe next year I'll have things together enough to get a pic of him haying with it! It's kinda cool!
So have a great day all! I have to go find my living room floor!

storing the harvest

OK. I have said on more then one occasion that I have been up to my eyeballs in tomatoes. It's true. I don't dare say how many pounds of tomatoes I've canned. But, it's a lot. Believe me. I also said I had lots of plans for my tomatoes, and I did. But due to rain, horn worms, chickens, and a new crop of tomatoes we have never planted, we didn't get much. Will never do that again. Hard lesson learned on our parts. But we are fortunate that we know other farmers that had a bounty. And I'm very excited to say that everything I wanted to do with tomatoes I was able to do!!!  So thankful for that!  So...

Here they are! This is what you are looking at from left to right V8 juice, Tomato juice, Salsa, Pasta sauce, Soup starter, Canned tomatoes, and the little one in front is Pizza sauce.
There that is what I've been up to and that is what my tomatoes are doing now. The above is the reason I haven't been blogging or commenting on your blogs lately. But I'm still around. Just been busy. Now you know!
Have a great day all!

haha for monday

This makes me laugh every time I have to stop at it!!!

This is on one of the many roads to my house in the country. Not something you see everyday way out in the sticks. It's up because they are fixing a bridge abutment just around the corner. I just think it's funny and looks out of place.
Happy Monday all!

wheat harvest, part 2

OK. To answer a few questions from part one! I think I must have been a bit vague on that. My bad, I've been busy lately. But feel free to ask, I'll do my best to answer them, via a comment or a post!
It's about 2.5-3 acres of wheat.
Yes the combine and the tractor are ours. And both are paid for! So even better!
No we are not allowed to bale the straw, due to the owners saying we can't. So we won't!
It's a hard red spring wheat, called Glenn. 
Now on with the cleaning!

It comes out of the gravity box, down the auger

 And into some buckets.

Then dump it into this part of the

 SO here is a picture of the whole thing. Dump in the dirty wheat, it gets shaken and shimmied down the screens, then the cleaned wheat berries come out to the right, and the hulls and chaff go out to the left.

Then you grab some kiddos who have nothing to do (ahem) and they hold the bag to hold the wheat berries.

Now what will we do with all this wheat?
We gave some of the chaff, still has some wheat berries in it away, and we plan to feed some of it out.
For the use of this wonderful cleaner we traded some man power and wheat berries for the use of it.
We will save some, maybe plant some...
 Defiantly use some to make some bread. I'll have the kiddos grind it fresh because wheat starts to loose it's goodness once it's been ground. It gives the bread a whole different taste and texture.
It's only taken me 3 days to get this post done. I've been up to my eyeballs in tomatoes. Literally.
Any more questions feel free to ask. Now I've got to run and tend to my canner...have a great weekend all!