Wordless Wednesday: Fall Smiles

Fall is beautiful in the Midwest.  And a great time to take some pictures of my family.

My young lady. Not sure when she grew up.

My other young lady.  I'm biased but believe she is so beautiful.

And this little guy just makes me giggle!

Lucky me!!

I must thank my friend Mandy Miller at MK Photos.  If she can take my kids and make them look so happy then she can do miracles with your kids too!

A Coat of My Own

I grew up envying my Dad and Grandpa's farm coats. Whenever you walked into the garage of my grandparents house, there would be a line of warm coats and coveralls, many emblazoned with a seed corn company name, chemical company logo or feed company name.  My Dad's closets held the same.  And I'd often try to steal one of his coats to wear to the field.  But there were big and bulky! But I felt pretty special wearing them.

In the past 16 years, I've done the same thing to my Farmer. He has Carhartt's with the farm name on them and I keep stealing them.  But they are big and baggy. And they make me look like a boy!

I was very excited when Carhartt partnered with The Real Farmwives of America to give us a Carhartt of our own!  And I got to choose one that is a Women's design! 

It took me days to decide which coat I wanted. Although I could have chosen boots, overalls, sweatshirts, or even shorts.  I knew I wanted a coat.  And one that looked like the ones I borrowed from my Dad and my Farmer.

I finally decided on this Carhartt Women's Canyon Sandstone Jacket. It is a work coat and that is exactly what I did when testing it out.

It's not often I pose for pictures.  I'm not a big fan of being in front of the camera, but my Farmer took great pleasure in taking my picture for this blog.  So the photos are compliments of him!

We are currently in the middle of soybean harvest.  Normally my Farmer is the one driving the grain cart.  He drives a big tractor with a wagon on the back.  He drives alongside the combine while they are harvesting and the combine dumps their soybeans on the grain cart.  Then the cart dumps the beans into a waiting semi, which taken them back to our farm, dumps them into the elevator and heads back to the field.  Using a grain cart keeps everything moving so the combines don't have to stop.  I kicked him out of the seat for a few rounds so I could drive!

Sometimes you have to stop and fuel the tractor. 

My Farmer decided I should then do maintenance work on his tractor.  So he handed me his grease gun and told me to grease the articulating joint on his Buehler Versatile 435 tractor. This is an awesome tractor and needs to be cared for properly!

I really want to drive the combine.  This Massey Ferguson 9895 combine has a 40ft soybean head on it in this picture.  When we harvest soybeans we run two combines in the field.  So we can cover 80 feet of field in each pass.  And with as many acres as we have to harvest in a few short months, the bigger machinery helps us get harvest done quicker.

And while I may be standing on the combine, I'm not the driver.  We have some great farm employees who have driven our combines for decades!  And they don't move from their seats.  So I just get to stand on the combine!  My Monkey is even in this picture, playing behind the soybean head. 

You will find me at least once a week cooking meals for the entire field crew.  With three little kids and a full time off-farm job, I don't get to spend long hours in the field everyday.  I look forward to the day when I can spend an entire Saturday driving equipment.  In the meantime, I help when I can, do parts runs, move guys from one field to another and cook for a crew! Every Saturday night I cook for 10 guys.  Below I'm packing up a meal I made for harvest sometime this month.

To win a Carhartt of your own please visit http://www.realfarmwivesofamerica.com/ to sign up for their giveaway.


Carhartt did provide me with this product to review but the thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own. 

 



Cookbook Giveaway

It's finally time for me to give away a cookbook!

By now, you know I've been cooking recipes from Gooseberry Patch's 101 Homestyle Favorites. And I've made some really good recipes!

So now you can have your own copy.  Rules are as follows:

1. Leave a comment letting me know which recipe you are most excited to try.

2. Follow FenceRow to FenceRow and leave a comment letting me know how you follow me.

3. Follow Real Farmwives of America & Friends as well as Gooseberry Patch through Google Friend Connect. Leave a comment on each of their blogs while you are there so they know you are new!

4. Become a fan of FencRow to FenceRow on Facebook and/or follow Indianawinebabe on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you are a fan.

5. Become a fan of the Real Farmwives of America on Facebook and write on their wall letting them know FenceRow to FenceRow sent you.

6. Become a fan of the Gooseberry Patch on Facebook and write on their wall letting them know FenceRow to FenceRow sent you.

7. Join the Gooseberry Patch Circle of Friends email club (http://bit.ly/GBPjoinourcircleoffriends)


Do all of this by Sunday, October 9, 2011. The contest will end at 12pm EST.  I'll announce the winner later that day!  You get one entry per thing you do.  Just leave me a message and tell me which items you chose to do!  Good Luck!