Ag Week Special Blog Post---History of H&K Farms

Since today is National Ag Day and after my ranting and raving yesterday about people finding any excuse to celebrate 'holidays' I fear I may have been a little hypocritical since this post is dedicated to celebrating a very little known holiday. Today is National Ag Day. Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer farmers to celebrate this holiday, but thanks to American agriculture 17% of this country's workforce can trace their job origins to something in the Agricultural field, so if I am half close on my math (and please don't check my numbers, just play along) that means about 1 in 6 people SHOULD consider this day a 'holiday' of some sort. ;)

Our family, August 2008

Now how to celebrate it? I, for one, have no clue. I will tell how we have celebrated it so far. I sorted through the large stack of farm magazines we seem to accumulate and tossed the oldest ones. Got a roast from the freezer that was out of a calf raised on this farm, for tonights supper. Washed a load of towels that were used with baby calves. Now my Farmer is out feeding the cows. He is also checking fence lines. He watches the herd health and gives sick animals needed medicines. He tracks and ear tags new baby calves, he records their number along with the number of their mommas in a notebook. That's all before 8am in the morning. Is this a holiday? Some, if not most would say, no. And that's fine, guess what, if it was a REAL holiday, our routines would likely be about the same. For example on Christmas morning, the cows still get fed and checked. We still eat food produced on this farm. To pick out one day and say we are celebrating Ag seems odd even to this farm wife. Maybe that is because everyday WE celebrate Agriculture. We are thrilled that the rest of the world, or nation, would single us out and give us a day. We hope you celebrate it!

The Farmer (in the middle), his dad, Bob (on left) and his grandfather, Garrett (on right) in the early 1970's 

Now that my ranting and raving about Ag Day is out of my system, I would like to share another aspect of our farm. Today that aspect is the history of our farm. Yesterday I mentioned that the farm we live on is where my husband did most of his growing up. His parents, ALONG WITH HIS GRANDPARENTS, purchased this farm in 1972. That nowhere near puts us in the running at this location for Missouri's Century Farm status. But if they based it on a family staying in the same occupation for running years, we may be over 200 yrs of farming on the Hasekamp family tree. A few years ago, I was very 'into' scrapbooking and dabbled with a little geneology. I have a cousin on each side of my family who had done the work for me, more or less for my family. So with the combination of boxes and boxes of 'Hasekamp' family pictures and memorabilia and Ancestry.com I delved into The Farmer's family history.




Garrett (on right) and one of his brothers, Bill, in 1910 at the farm in Warren County


The farm that they moved from in 1972 had been in the family over 100 yrs before that in Warren county Missouri. Think of where the Rest Stop is on Interstate 70 just west of Wright City, that's where they lived. When I married my Farmer he was farming in partnership with his dad and grandfather. Very interesting and sometimes slightly entertaining, particularly after I realized that they really did like each other, watching 3 generations do ANYTHING together, particularly when you throw livestock into the mix.




Cody and Sam playing on The Farmer's 30+ yrs old Pedal tractor, summer 2000


It's always interesting to me to see what is the 'newest' thing on the market that The Farmer can use to work more efficiently. But when I think back even two generations to the changes that his Grandfather saw in his lifetime, its mindblowing. His Grandfather was born in 1908. When he began farming, he did so with horses. He milked cows, we even have one of the milkcans he sent to the 'milk house' in, with his name on a brass plate on the can. Can you imagine the difference in the team of horses and the 200,000 plus dollar combines that you could readily buy 15 years ago when he passed away at the age of 90? I know I can't. We have an Amish community near us, which gives me a small glimpse at the way of life similar to what Grandpa 'Farmer' lived. The Farmer went to college and has a degree, his Grandfather went to school through 8th grade. Any guesses who could do long division faster and more accurately, in their head? While we have improved many things, there were probably a lot of things we have left behind that maybe shouldn't have been.




Jenna with the bottle calves, Sam in the background, Summer 2008


Sorry sheep friends, but I don't think that I have ever heard any stories about a Hasekamp having sheep. But through the generations, there have always been a diverse amount of animals raised on the farm. Like I said above, The Farmer's Grandfather milked some cows, while I am not sure how many from 'back in the day', I do know that when we first got married there were always two cows here. Enough milk for the family and a few neighbors and kept the barn cats happy. I attempted to milk, more than once, but NEVER got onto how to do it well. Now The Farmer's Grandfather was a 'milking machine' long before there were actual milking machines, LOL! He could sit on this weird little stool, that was sort of one legged and somehow tip the bucket and hold it between the toes of his boots and milk that cow so fast she barely knew what happened. (I should go explore the barn and see if the old 'stool' is still around, I would love to share the picture) Okay, back to the animals raised, besides the 'milk cow or cows' there has always been beef cattle and several of them. Currently they are mostly registered Angus cattle. In the past they raised Herefords (yes Bob Bagnell, there were RED COWS HERE!) Along with cattle, they raised hogs, in a farrow to finish operation. (Farrow=birth, finish=the 'piggie that went to market') There have always been chickens, although at the moment we don't have any.





Seth feeding summer, 2012



Sam feeding, summer 2012




My Farmer's dad was an only child. He and The Farmer's mom farmed with the Grandparents. When my farmer graduated from college, he was brought into the operation. Now as the years have progressed, the operation has evolved into an operation that includes my brother and sister in law. Our future plans are that some, if not all, whoever is interested of our collective children will continue to farm this land that we love. All of our children have varying degrees of interest and specific areas that they are interested in. I know that agriculture is one of those jobs that will always be needed, as long as they are willing to do the work, evolve with the technology and embrace the changes as they come.




The next generation is about here, hoping as farmers we've been proper stewards of the land and as parents we've raised these kids to take their turn in Agriculture and further it until their children are ready, its a cycle we are proud to be a part of.


Now thinking that I will 'celebrate' some more and go put the load of work jeans on the clothesline,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Ag Week Special Blog--Monday, The Farmer

As many of you already know, I refer to my Farmer as DH (his initials, although he is a 'dear husband' as well) or The Farmer. It kinda started when he didn't want me talking about him on Facebook.........he's 'tough' like that! LOL Anyway, in celebration of Ag week, I am going to blog about what I know about Agriculture, and since I learned most of it from him, he's up first!




Adding hay to the feed grinder, he laughs and says his hobby is 'grinding feed'


We've been married almost 23 years. We live on the farm that his parents bought when he was about 5. We live in the house that he grew up in. We are raising our 4 kids on the farm. We farm in partnership with his youngest sister and her husband. Our farm is located mostly in SW Monroe County MO, with a little bit in western Audrain County. Our kids belong to an Audrain County 4H club, and go to school 'two counties' away, at Centralia, in Boone county. (granted two counties away is about 10 miles)



The Farmer and me at Senior Football night, last fall.


We have a mostly registered Angus cattle herd. We also take care of a herd of Gelbvieh cattle owned by our neighbor. We feed them silage all winter, then graze and feed  a little hay through the summer. We usually sell the calves at around 600-700 pounds. We feed out a few to sell as butcher beef. Our kids mostly pick their show cattle from our herd. With our partners being ABS dealers, we serve as the 'testing grounds' for new bull semen, it's helpful for them to see what kind of calves certain bulls produce.

MSF 2008, hard to believe that picture is almost 5 yrs old, but looking at our boys today, they've changed a lot since then.

The Farmer sells seed corn and soybeans through a company called Big Cob out of Nebraska. It helps pay our seed bill, plus adds a little income. We generally plant a test plot each year to show the neighbors the different varieties we have available. Planting and harvesting that are both labor inducive jobs.

We raise corn and soybeans. We usually plant some wheat. We also have several acres of alfalfa. We do some custom work for neighbors. Mainly knifing on anhydrous or harvesting. Although we have been doing several custom baling jobs the last several years as well.

Chopping Silage, this is our cattle's winter feed.

We aren't 100% 'Green' or 'Red' there are some of each in the shed. My Farmer says it can be purple as long as it runs and gets the job done. We are lucky to have good John Deere and Case IH dealers locally when the need for parts arises.

The Farmer went to NWMSU in Maryville and got his BS in Agricultural Mechanics. Most of the time if something breaks down, he can fix it. The same goes for anything, not just tractors..... It amazes me how he can look at a problem and start thinking how it can be corrected. Definitely a talent, I am glad he has.

I feel very blessed to have The Farmer in my life. He takes very good care of us, he feeds his share of the world.

From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Sunday (I know its usually Saturday, but wasn't here for much of it)

Macy really enjoyed the warmer weather this week, potty breaks seemed to take a LONG time.

One of my favorite shots to get, Sam's arm raised by the ref after the match, in Victory!



A quick shot of him 'getting ready' to wrestle, he has to go out in the hall and paces back and forth, listens to iPod, gets in the mode.


Busy week, ended with Sam getting 2nd at Regionals and a trip to State Tournament in two weeks.


6 practices till we say good bye to our Wrestling club days and yes that kinda makes me sad,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

What's for Dinner Wednesday--Bread (fakin' it AGAIN)

When I got my bread machine years ago, I used the mixes, and tried a few recipes from the owners manual, but never found anything I was all that excited about until I found this recipe. If I could remember where I got the recipe, I would give the credit where it's due, but I have no idea where I got it and have had it so long, it's hard to tell.

ONE HOUR WHITE BREAD
9 oz warm water
2 T oil
2 T sugar
1 t salt
3 C flour (I usually use bread flour, if I have it)
5 t yeast (also I use the bread machine version of this as well)

Add ingredients in the order listed, making a 'well' in the flour to hold the yeast.

Set your bread machine to 'express bake' (one hour loaf setting) and start it baking. One hour later, you will have this:

Let it cool.............................

Slice and serve, you might want some butter and maybe a little home canned grape jelly with it. At least we did as you can see:

If your family likes it as much as mine does, pretty soon, you will have this:



I think what I like about this recipe is that it is a one hour recipe. I never plan ahead well enough to do the 3 hour recipes that come with the owners manual. I like that I can start this recipe and then make the rest of supper and it's all done at the same time. My family must agree, they gobble it up everytime. I would tell you how long it keeps but it's never lasted through a meal here.

So now go dig that bread machine out of the cabinet and try this---TONIGHT!

Glad to share another 'comfort food' that isn't hard to make,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Saturday-Famous Missourians, Relay Quilt, Wrestling



District 7, 14U, 190lbs, CHAMPION!




Tulip CC  Relay for Life Team Raffle Quilt




Famous Missourian, Harry S. Truman (AKA Jenna Claire)



What a week, more so, what a day!
From Tulip~
KH
:)

What's for Dinner Wednesday--Chicken Noodle Soup, 'fakin it'

First off I will admit, this isn't as homemade as it could be, but I didn't open a can of Campbell's so I am calling it homemade. This is my Chicken noodle soup 'recipe'

I buy the large can of cooked chicken at Sam's club, use boxed chicken broth, Knorr chicken stock, egg noodles and frozen mixed veggies. Add everything but the noodles and bring to a boil.

 

Add noodles and turn it down to simmer until noodles are tender. Nothing super complicated, but my family loves it, and I pretend I really worked hard making it! ;)

Of course you could use your own cooked chicken and use the broth from cooking it, and make your own noodles, but this is as close to homemade as I generally have time for at this point in my life. This quick version of homemade allows us to eat this soup even on a busy night.

Loving that comfort food doesn't have to be complicated,

From Tulip~

KH

:)



Sewing Sunday's--Lots of Projects!

Well we didn't have LOTS of other things going on this weekend. That was a good thing for lots of reasons. The Farmer is still battling the massive snow and lots of heifers who don't seem to have their calves without his help and none of them getting the memo that Labor and Delivery is open 9am to 5 pm! :) Macy is getting into a routine. Our niece and nephew had their birthday party last night. But I have LOTS of projects that I need to get sewn, so in between all else that is going on, I have taken over the dining room table turned it into sewing central.
I have been working on some quilts for a friend. The last one is finally pieced. Here it is:

It's for her son's new baby. He played football in college and the center is part of his old jersey. The squares are made following a tutorial I found on You-Tube 3 Dudes Quilting they are made with Jelly Rolls Strips and twist on the Half Square Triangle blocks. I didn't use an actual jelly roll, just cut my own strips 2.5 inches wide. These turned out cute, but so much sewing on the bias made the quilt difficult to put together as it was easy to buckles and humps.

The other project I am working on a is a quilt for our church's Relay for Life team. It's a pattern I found on the Moda Bake Shop, Field of Tulips. We are taking some creative freedoms from the original layout. Here are a few of the squares:

 

 

We chose 'Little Black Dress' from Moda fabrics as we thought that it was both neutral and would go well with school colors. The tutorial has been a challenge, now that I figured out the modifications needed, the squares are coming right together. Hopefully I will soon be able to show you some pictures of the completed quilt top.

 

For now, I should get back to sewing. So many projects to finish, with graduation coming up, several gifts need to get completed! In a perfect world I would sit and sew all day long (and the house would be clean, food cooked, laundry done, etc, etc..............)

 

Trying to type while stopping every 3 seconds to take another thing away from puppy but must get back to sewing,

From Tulip~

KH

:)

 

Week of Milestones

So my last post was my official 200th post. (I thought I had hit it earlier, but realized the counter included some rough drafts, so the actual one was today's post) Also today I received my 5,000th page view. Kinda cool. I started this blog to share about my family. It's evolved into something much more. I really try to share about our farm, our family, the things we eat and places we love. I sometimes wish I was more knowledgable to make this a true farm blog, or that I took better pictures so that you, the readers could 'see' the story more clearly OR that I was a more productive quilter to share all the projects that I do, but well after 200 posts, you probably realize that isn't me.
One thing that is me, is I am a person who likes to share the things I love with others. So in celebration of my 200th post and 5,000th page view (that's the count of how many times people have came to my blog to read my crazy stories, in case you didn't know) I am going to do a give-away. I will randomly draw a name of the people who comment on this post. I haven't decided 100% what you will get, but it will be handmade and somehow tie into our farm.
Thank you for indulging me and continuing to come back and see what we are up to here at H&K Farms in Beautiful Downtown Tulip!
Typing while listening to overactive puppy complain about being put to bed and thinking of heading there myself,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Saturday (or as 'quiet' as I can be!)



Before the Tourney at Camdenton, love that my wrestler has friends from all over!




The 'look' I always feel sorry for his opponents when I see this look, be nice Samuel!

  

And its a winner! (was three times last week!) My favorite shot to get, outside of the ref smacking the mat when he gets a pin!

JH giving Macy her bath, a little smaller than what my Cattle Whisperer is used to bathing.

She stood there and didn't try to jump out or even cry. While she looks dejected, I think she knew a professional was in charge.



Clean and beautiful again!

 Since I am not supposed to write anything but captions and a closing--guess that's all--hoping you are having a GREAT Saturday,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

So you wanna Quilt?!?!?!?

Over the last few years, I have taken up quilting, or to be more specific, piecing quilts. Like most people my first sewing experiences were 4H projects or Home Ec assignments. Over the years I have always had a sewing machine. I have always sewn something. Particularly the big boys had many homemade Halloween costumes. Alot of the curtains in our house, I have made. In the last few years, many of the gifts I have given, have been quilts! Our little town has a great quilt shop, Material Girl Quilt Shop. It's ran by a good friend of mine, Meredith. Over the years I have exercised my creative impulses by crafting, scrapbooking, now quilting. I have to say I love it.

I not only sew for my family, I have taken it a step further, I teach basic sewing and quilting classes. I know that if I can do it, anyone can. Plus I find it so satisfying, I want others to enjoy this hobby as well. There's no better way to get them into it, than to show just how easy it really is. I would like to share some advice for things that have helped me. The first piece, I sort of already mentioned. That piece of advice is find a quilt shop and develop a relationship there. The people at quilt shops likely 'think like you do' and usually understand when you have 'crazy' questions.

One of my other goals is to help others gain confidence in their sewing ability. Not everyone will hand piece and quilt a postage stamp quilt, but everyone after gaining a few basic skills can make and enjoy making quilts. There are many tools out there to help you along the way. I am a visual learner. Taking quilt classes is great way to learn. You can watch the teacher create the project, bounce ideas off the other students and so much more.

If a quilting class isn't something that you can get to, there's many other choices out there. One of my favorites is, You-tube. There are gobs of tutorials for many quilting techniques. One in particular that I like to go to is Missouri Star Quilt Company, MSQC you tube link  they have a channel and update with new videos weekly. The thing I really like about them is that you can go back and watch over and over.

There are many great quilt blogs out there as well. One of my favorites in Moda Bake Shop go here. While it looks like a blog, each and every entry is a 'free pattern' Most of the patterns on MBS showcase great ways to use Moda Fabric Company's 'precut' retail items. Precuts are another 'quick and easy' tool for beginning quilting. Moda offers precuts in several popular sizes, 'Charm Packs' contain 5 inch squares, 'Layer Cakes' have 10 inch squares, and 'Jelly Rolls' have 2.5 inch strips. Many MANY projects can be made using these great precut packets!

Another quick tool I really recommend that a beginning quilt invest in would be a rotary cutter, cutting mat and ruler. The speed that would will be able to cut out projects will amaze you. Sure you will need the basics like a sewing machine,basic tools, like scissors, pins, thread, seam ripper. You will also want to have on hand a good iron and ironing board.

These are just some of the few speed tools and I sure there are an million more. If you are interested, I generally teach a monthly class on a basic quilt that you can likely complete over a weekend. Let me know if you'd like to join our group.
Enjoying the sharing of a quilting post and wishing I was actually quilting, instead of merely talking about it,
From Tulip~
KH
:)