Working Man

It seems like only days ago I was carting this toddler around with me in the corn truck for hours and he'd sleep the days away.  Now look at him!  Hudson is becoming Brent's right hand man.  He has had a new excitement about harvest and can't get enough.  He used to get bored of just bouncing along in the chopper with Brent, but now that he has real, bonafide jobs he loves contributing.

It is a race to get out to the crew as soon as he's home from school.

He is still good kitchen help too!  He makes up a mean batch of peanut butter bars to take out to the field.

He's right in the thick of the other men, unloading equipment and setting up the scale.

He spent a good week of harvest break with the crew, taking moisture tests.  That 2-way radio gave him all the confidence he needed for the long hours.

Of course, he still enjoyed us visiting and bringing food.

He also helped open the tail gate for John to unload in order to speed things up.

His job was to engage the PTO and steer the tractor when we were harvesting and bagging high moisture corn.

It's amazing how much Brent depends on this guy.  He's such a responsible and hard working kid.

Harvest Time

We had a good harvest this year.  The weather was cooperative and the machinery got by with minimal breakdowns.  Consequently there were no part runs to Jerome for the kids and I and there were no hard frosts that really put the pressure on from customers.

As always, the kids love being involved in anyway.  The first two weeks were tricky when the kids were still in school.  They just wanted to ride in the chopper until bedtime.  This made music practice and homework a bit of a struggle, but we survived.

When Brent was close, the two younger girls and I would take our shift riding in the chopper earlier.  This made more time available for the school kids once they got home.  We would usually share lunch and Ruby would get some time driving the chopper (thanks to the GPS.)

It bugs Brent to no nth when he has to wait on trucks, but we quite enjoyed the time he could give us more of his attention.

The kids were a bit disappointed that we were not going to Grace or Sauers as those jobs have been a bit of a mini vacation for them.  I on the other hand didn't object a bit.

Turning off the handlines, we women hold down the fort.

Grilling up burgers in Lake Channel

Thank goodness for Ruby's back pack.  She took it every time we had to go somewhere and it provided entertainment and snacks when we were out and about chasing.

One day, the girls and I had to help Alan move the pipe off of the fields.  Dalanie ran along side Alan while the other two helped me drive the tractor pulling the pipe trailer.

Dishing up the food

Tool box dinner table

Lunch lady

High moisture harvest, close to home!

Canning

It took some mental preparation to get geared up and going this year.  Once I was filling jars of beautiful fruit and vegetables, it wasn't as bad as I remembered.  I actually included my kids and their cousins in several canning adventures.  It provides lots of time to be together and they all just want to contribute by having their own jobs.  I am getting much better at delegating, coming up with age appropriate jobs that actually help, and not stressing over the mess.  We ate lots of fresh peaches and put up a bushel.  We rode our bikes over to Marsha's to pick up some.  This is how the girls had to ride in the bike trailer home.

Here's the corn husking crew.

We moved to the shade when it got too hot.

We cut the corn outside.  I enjoyed not having sticky floors, but it took a bit to set up and clean up.

All the kids covet the cutting job.  Who wouldn't when you use electric knives.

Apple picking

Yummy pie filling.  And all but two jars sealed.  I'm finally learning not to overpack my apples.

My peach peelers.  Dalanie and Ruby make a pretty good team slipping the skins.

The only fatality of the season, my huge stock pot lid.  Sniff.  My own fault too.

I met up with Nikki at Julia's in Pocatello to get pears from the Caldwell Church Farm.  Nothing like killing two birds with one stone.  It was fun to catch up with them.  We figured that it had been over six years since last seeing Nikki.  The pears were big and beautiful, perfect for bottling.

I had to quarter them to fit them in the jars.

My counter top was decorated with lined up jars for several weeks until I finally made more room in the storage room.  I usually enjoy looking at them a few days just to feel a sense of accomplishment, but it was borderline ridiculous how long they sat there this year.

We did a few new things this year.  We lucked into some grapes to juice and jelly.  That was a fun project.  The kids were so intrigued by the juicer.  We also got a recipe for sweet and sour that will be nice to have.

Although I didn't plan on doing a lot of canning, we put up peaches, pears, salsa, corn, grape juice and jelly, pie filling, and sweet and sour sauce.  I used up all of the bottles I acquired over the summer from garage sales.  I took it as a sign to quit when all of the jars were used up.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma came up for the kid's primary program.  We all enjoyed her visit.  We went up to Town and Country's fall extravaganza for Mexican Crazy Corn.  The weather was beautiful and we fit in Reed's Dairy ice cream too.

I managed to turn a rather gooey mess over to her and the girls while Hudson and I gleaned potatoes from the neighbor's field.  The beginning process of carving and paper mache-ing styrofoam pumpkins.

 Once we got to the field, he was more interested in driving the four wheeler than picking up spuds.  He did an awesome job of bouncing out the potatoes I picked up.

Dad had to stay home and conduct at the single's ward, but we enjoyed Mom coming to spend the weekend.

Finishing up the pumpkin project.