On the Farm Friday--Is this Farmlife or a Roller Coaster?!?!?!

What a wild and crazy last several days around here we have had! Change is constant, which I find kind of an oxymoron, but so true at least at H&K Farms! Let me offer a little recap...............

A week ago last night, The Farmer and I were named 'Agricultural People of the Year' by our town's Chamber of Commerce. It was very neat to be honored, humbling and a feeling of being blessed. As a good friend introduced us, I was reminded of all the things I love about being in rural America. The blessings of community. Also lifelong friendships. In my mind the award was more about DH than myself, so as we listened to other recipients accept their awards, I looked at him and said, 'You're talking' Not that I couldn't have came up with plenty to say and likely would have gotten long winded, I felt like this was the perfect place to focus the emphasis on the man who is my Ag person of the year, EVERY YEAR!

David accepting the award very eloquently!  

The group of winners, teachers, business people, etc.

Things 'quieted down' somewhat for a day or two............then along came the severe weather of this last Wednesday night. Let me set the stage. Good ol' Missouri and her unofficial motto, 'If you don't like the weather, wait a while, it'll change' It had been a blustery day and the Farmer came in the house about 5pm, which he generally doesn't do till dark and  this time of year, it wasn't dark. They had put 'seeders' in heifers. (that is part of the process to get ready to breed them, in case you were wondering) I kind of gave him the what are you doing in here look and he said, its cold, and nasty and we decided to call it a day. Okay, fine with me, I was doing some computer work when...........

I don't know if the weather service will call it a tornado, but here at Tulip, we are going to call it one. About 5:30 this evening, we got a pounding rain and a little hail. I was doing office work and got this pressure in my ears, like when a plane takes off. About that time The Farmer went to our back door. He could barely open it, it faces to the east. We watched a large piece of tin come off the barn right behind our house. It's laying in the backyard. Moments maybe seconds after that The Farmer said, Oh God, it got the shed! We have a pole barn that houses some of our equipment. Right next to it is a nicer Morton bldg (it was untouched!). The Pole Barn is open to the East and South. It looks like the roof was picked up and possibly spun and then most of it landed back atop the shed. Of course its full of equipment so its resting on top of all of it. The most fragile item is our sprayer and it looks like it has some damage. Not sure about other things. A portion of the roof is quite a ways away from the shed and crumbled up like a piece of paper up in the fence line. We checked our livestock and besides being upset and stirred up, looks like everyone is fine. There was, however, another spot out in our pasture where a bunch of trees are shredded. Thinking it touched down there as well. Quite an evening, but blessed and thankful that all are okay. Thanks for all the words of support. ♥

That was our facebook status that evening................most widely viewed status we've ever shared. 

Interesting how natural disaster makes everything else seem trivial. While I realize that there are bigger tragedies every day happening all over the world, this one was in my back yard, LITERALLY and now we have to pick up the pieces, also LITERALLY. 

But like all rides, this one comes back around again..............this afternoon we go to watch our first born receive, not one, but two awards. It's our Missouri State FFA Convention this week. This afternoon, along with about 40 other kids who are in a roundabout way part of our extended State Fair family, he receives the 'Youth In Agriculture' Scholarship. This is awarded to kids who are exhibitors of the Missouri State Fair, which he has been since he was 8 yrs old and who plan to continue their educate at a Missouri University, majoring in Agriculture, which he's going to do! The other award is the next rung in the ladder in FFA. He is getting his State Farmer Degree. Its the culmination of the last few years of FFA work and activity involvement.

So I am charging up the camera batteries, and packing some klennex while The Farmer is feeding the cows and seeing that all things are as they should be so that we can go watch the next generation prepare to take their turn on this exciting ride called Agriculture.

Blessed to be on the Farm,

From Tulip~

KH

:)

W4DW--Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

So now that wrestling season is over at our house, at least for a few months, I can go back to baking! So this weeks' recipe is a cookie recipe. It's not my original recipe, but I am more than happy to give credit where it's due. I use the recipe that comes with Crisco Sticks.

yes it lives taped inside my cabinet door, although, I have made them often enough,  I rarely look closely

15 min 12 min 4 dozen 4.8 / 5 Read all 13 reviews Write a review Rate Review For a Chance to Win  Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray 3/4 cup Crisco® Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening OR 3/4 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar 1 large egg 1/3 cup milk 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats 1 cup raisins (optional) 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional) 1. HEAT oven to 375ºF. Coat baking sheets with no-stick cooking spray. 2. BEAT shortening, brown sugar, egg, milk and vanilla in large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. 3. COMBINE flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat into shortening mixture at low speed until smooth. Stir in oats, raisins and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. 4. BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Here's the link as well............ The recipe

The only things that I do differently is this, I bake mine slightly under 11 minutes and let them sit on the pan another minute or so. I don't get to put raisins or walnuts in mine, as my family doesn't care for the 'extras'

I baked a batch yesterday, here are a few pictures. :)

Some tools I won't bake cookies without are............the ancient old metal spatula for taking them off the cookie sheet, a double cookie sheet I got over at the Amish last fall, I can still bake a double batch, start to finish in less than 45 minutes with that big guy; and the Pampered Chef Medium Scoop I like the consistent size of the cookies and they are thicker and remain chewy and moist..............not that they last long enough to dry out here anyway.

Enjoying the freedom of post wrestling season and getting my list of to-do's that have been put off checked off,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Mondays in Missouri--Budweiser Clydesdales

Clydesdale Ranch Opens for Tours | KOMU.com | Columbia, MO |

About 40 miles from home is a new 'attraction' that many may not know of. There is a breeding facility for the Budweiser Clydesdales in Cooper County Missouri. Many will remember the new baby in the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial. Her name is Hope, she lives there with her momma, along with the first male baby born this year who was named Stan, after Stan 'The Man' Musial. You can go on tours and see these beautiful animals. It's officially open today.

Thinking that Jenna and I will have to go on a 'field trip' soon and see them. We will report back when we do!

Enjoying the sunny day, wishing it was a little warmer and thinking its about time to plant some garden,

From Tulip~

KH

:)

Silent Sunday--Wrestling and Easter

Opening Ceremony, State Wrestling

First Win!

I love to catch the ref slapping the mat as Sam pins a kid!

Another Pin!

190# bracket, medal winners on the podium!

Sam and Seth after the medal ceremony

6 little Easter Egg hunters this afternoon

What a week, what a weekend, blessings have been many,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Thankfulness Thursday--Our Wrestling Family

Today begins the Grand Finale of my middle son's youth/club wrestling career. Tonight is the weigh-in's and tomorrow and Saturday is the State Wrestling Tournament. When I think back to his first year as a 1st grader, I can't believe what a ride it has been. We went from knowing NOTHING about wrestling. The boys convinced me that this would be a great sport to participate in since it wasn't over summer. They never really got to participate in Little League Baseball as it competed with their other summer love, cattle showing. At the time, the only other thing that they did was 4-H, so I thought okay. We had a pretty good set-up, our neighbors, the Schmidts were in charge of it, so that helped with rides. Two other neighbor boys joined the same year, so we did lots of carpooling.

Win at Camdenton, this year.

I will admit I spent the first few years missing my winter love--basketball. But how does that song go, if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with................Well 8 years later, that is certainly the case, my family loves our wrestling family very much. Not sure I can describe it, but you all know me and of course I am going to ramble on and attempt to!

For Youth Club Wrestling, endurance is the name of the game. The season begins in the fall, just as football is winding up. Practices at least twice a week throughout the season gets long, especially for moms who are drives back and forth, 20 miles round trip for each practice, and of course that's saying that I stay in town for the practice, sometimes in order to maintain civil obedience at home there was a mad dash bad home to finish up supper, progress homework supervision, whatever was the fire to be put out that night and that was just in the last few years. When the big boys first started wrestling our little kids were basically babies........... that as some of the younger moms in our club can attest has its own set of obstacles to overcome just to get kids to practice.

The next point on endurance would be that there aren't many schools around that offer wrestling, we only have one or two tournaments a year that are closer than a hours' drive away. But let me put that in context, for most tournaments, which are held on Saturdays throughout December, January and February, we had to be on the school campus usually around 7am, so with your math skills, add in that hour drive, probably around another hour of getting ready, getting kids up, packing the cooler, etc.......... to say we are wild party animals on a night before a tournament would probably be a SLIGHT exxageration! Bedtime is strictly enforced, mostly so mom can get enough rest to make it all happen the next morning.

Okay it's 7:05am, your son made weight, is happily eating his biscuits and gravy from the concession stand................now let's get ready to rumble! No? Oh yeah the tournament has 47 scratches and has to rework over half the brackets, will we start on time, probably not. Okay, say we did start on time, most of these tournaments hosted a few hundred, yes I said a FEW HUNDRED wrestlers............so we have to take our turn. Everyone gets some mat time. After the local talent shares the National anthem hopefully sometime shortly after 9am, they do get ready to rumble! They start with the little guys, approximately 40 pound 6 year olds and so on until they get to guys like Sam, 190 pound 14 year olds. Every wrestler works his way through his bracket every Saturday. Sometimes he's in a 4 man round robin or he might be in a 16 man double elimination bracket, you really never know for sure what you will get. You might get bumped a weight class, I have even seen kids get bumped an age class just so everyone has someone to wrestle.

By the time say 300 boys wrestle an average of 4 times, taking their turn on a huge mat that covers the entire gym floor, around 8 matches going on at a time, if the hosting club is organized and keeps things rolling, if you've done the math and I didn't this time, because I know the approximate answer................you are there ALL DAY....... average time to leave a tournament is about 3pm, if you have an older boy, likely its later. I have said this next phrase so many times, those who have heard it over and over are probably tired of it, but most of you blog followers may not have heard, so here goes, I describe those tournaments as '9 hours of sitting for 9 minutes of wrestling...............and if your son is having a good year, sometimes not even 9 minutes'

For Youth Wrestling we have our very own March Madness and that's our District, Regional and State Tournament Series. This weekend is the finale of that series, Missouri wrestlers from all over the state will head to St. Louis for our biggest tournament. For some kids it will be their first trip, for others, like our family, its our last  trip. Not every kid gets this far. We have been lucky enough that Sam has qualified three times. It takes a lot of planning and organizing to get there, but what a neat end to the season.

I have shared most of this post from the eyes of a parent, what I have to do to make this happen for my kid, and this post is certainly not about me. There are some very important people that after I get my wrestler to practice, take over and are a very important part of his season and really his life. That would be the coaches. Some are the dads of kids wrestling, some are older boys who have recently 'retired' their headgear...............all of them volunteer their time to make my son the best wrestler he can be. For that, I am not sure that I can thank them each and everyone enough. There are no words. When you see your son have that relationship with another adult, one who can teach them things that you can't its heartwarming.

There's Mike Vitale who could stop Sam's bloody noses in record time, besides his nursing skills, he's a great technique coach as well and always has a funny story to share. There's Tim Gilbert who among the many wrestling skills he taught the boys is a great example for them to follow about how to grow up to be a responsible community member who gives back. There's Bryan Schmidt who has probably forgot more about wrestling than the rest of us will ever know. He can find that switch in every kid that makes them take off and do their very best. Gale Adams and Pete Schmersahl, some of the greatest conditioning coaches the boys ever had, they both say that. Pete Anders, who my oldest always said no matter how loud it was, he could always hear Pete.

Kevin Jennings, what 6 foot plus guy is involved in wrestling? A guy who would do anything for his kids and mine, I think he probably gets the perfect attendance award, can't remember too many tournaments that he ever missed, especially if we were sure to tell him some one was bringing Mt Dew. Eric Logsdon will tell you, he doesn't know a thing about wrestling, but what he does know is that he is behind these boys and supports them 100%, and that to a mom is about as important as the skills taught, they need to know someone is on their side.

As we progressed through the years, with younger wrestlers beginning, we got to know  more coaches. Casey Gallegos, girl coach extraordinaire.........better not call her a girl or she will show you just how tough a woman has to be to be a part of the wrestling world. Two other coaches that come to mind are two that aren't just coaches to us, they are good family friends, which make them even more effective coaches for our son, Jason Cooley and Dwain Shelton, they know what Sam can do on and off the mat, because they see him both places and they can play to those strengths and get so much out of him.

This last year, there have been three of Sam's "older brothers" around, Marc and Mitch Schmidt and Austin McBride. They can work with Sam in ways that the adults can't as they used to wrestle with him, just a few years older, they remember the mat quite vividly and can still be his wrestling partner at practice and have gave him so many more skills. There's one other person that no I haven't forgot to mention, but they say save the best for last and that's got to be without a doubt, John Gramke. John not only has the skills to teach the boys, he finds a way to teach each one of them, in the way that works best for that kid. This last year, he hasn't been at the youth tournaments since his kids are all older, but every time, Sam always says did you text John? He still values his opinion and I think always will. He's another one of those guys who besides teaching the kids a sport he has taught them many life lessons as well.

Like so many other youth activities there are many people volunteering many hours to make it all happen. As parents we appreciate your labor of love and we love each and everyone of you for it.

I could go on and on about my love of wrestling and likely there will be a  few more posts in the next few days on this theme but its about my turn in the at the motel in the shower,
NOT From Tulip (from STL)~
KH
:)

PS--I probably missed several people, but know even if I didn't get everyone named, the sentiment is the same to all of you!

What's for Dinner Wednesday--Coconut Cream Pie (not faking it, all from scratch!)

Well last night as I ate a less than wonderful new recipe that I had planned to share today, I wondered, what will I post for What's for Dinner Wednesday? Throughout the week, there are two days I try to never miss, today and Saturday (or sometimes Sunday, whichever one) that is 'Silent' (just pictures and captions) These are the two easiest ones for me to come up with and since I cook 15 to 20 meals a week, finding something to write about is usually simple as well. While working around the house I threw together the items for a crockpot dish that I had ran across that LOOKED mouthwatering............. when we had it last night, eh, not so much. So that was the basis of my dilemma...

As I lay in bed last night, for some reason the time change still seems to be affecting me, I lay in bed at night and can't go to sleep, then drag around in the mornings......... Finally I came up with the recipe to share. For me, it isn't totally so much about the recipe, it's partly that I wouldn't have a picture of just anything to share..........which I realize shouldn't matter. Case in point, the recipe I  had tried that LOOKED pretty and didn't deliver from supper.

This last weekend our church had their annual Pie Auction. This year we raised money for the Relay for life, as we have a team within the church this year. Normally I steer pretty clear of pie baking. My mother in law is a master and her pies are known for miles and miles (I am not exaggerating, they rock!) Since she does a great job, I just generally don't try to compete. But, this event is about the auction. While I sometimes just go with what I know and bake a batch of cookies. Cookies ARE my thing, I would put mine up against anyone.

I sucked it up this year and got to work Saturday afternoon. First the crust, and here's The Farmer's mothers recipe: 3cups flour, 1 cup shortening (or LARD, she always uses it, if she has it on hand, but I can't bring myself to so mine is usually good ol' Crisco) 3/4 cup water, and 1 tsp salt.
Cut the shortening into the flour/salt mixture, then mix in water. She says you can get 3 bottoms, 2 tops out of this recipe, I do good to get 2 and 2............but alas, I am not pie baker. ;)

For the Coconut Cream pie, you need a baked pie crust, which I baked mine about 15 minutes at 375. While it was baking, I made the filling and meringue.

For Meringue, 4 egg whites, beat until frothy. Then add 6 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

For filling, in a small bowl, beat 4 egg yolks and sit aside. In a medium sized saucepan cook 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 cups of milk. Cook over medium high heat until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Continue to to  boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Add about 1/4 of the hot mixture to the beaten eggs and combine well, then add back to the sauce pan. Cook and stir over medium heat for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and quickly add in 2 Tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 cup of flaked coconut. Pour into pie shell.

Add the meringue to the top, making sure to seal it to the edges of the pie crust. Sprinkle a little more of the coconut and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the meringue and coconut are toasted.




My finished pie ready for Auction

 I would never call myself a pie baker, but I would like to invite anyone to try this recipe, I think if I can make it, anyone can. The only thing I will say is that last Saturday, I only made HALF of the pie crust recipe and had some 'leftover' that got thrown away. (my kids were mad, Grandma usually bakes the extra and puts cinnamon and sugar on it for them, sigh) This recipe can made in about 1 hour, probably more like 45 minutes. So in my opinion, that qualifies it as a quick dessert and it certainly WOWS the crowd.

If you get time to try, please let me know how it turned out for you. And if you are a master pie baker like my MIL, please share any tips! :)

Looking forward to the end of wrestling season so I can go back to cooking and baking anything I want to and the guy watching his weight can eat whatever he likes as well,

From Tulip~
KH
:)

Tune in Tuesdays--In the Garden

So the other night we were watching the Alan Jackson 'Precious Memories' show on GAC. Now I love Alan Jackson for his country music, but this album was all gospel music. As we sat watching it, AJ started singing,  'In the Garden' I had noticed Sam perk up. I asked do you like this song, to which he answered, I guess. I went on to tell him that this was the song I used to sing to him when he was a baby rocking in my lap. His answer to that brought tears to my eyes, when he replied, "Then that must be why that song is always in my head, I never knew why I knew it so well." Thankfully he went back to playing his iPod and didn't ask anything else, as I sat there in tears, I wouldn't have been able to answer anything else.

As parents we wonder if we really have any influence in what our kids think, those words reassured me in that moment that my 'words/song' would always be in his head. It's been a rough time in my family with my Aunt who we all dearly love getting so close to the end of her life. Her mother, my Grandmother, loved the song, 'In the Garden' It was played at her funeral, and for years, I couldn't hear it without crying. And the song still makes me think of her. It makes me think of all those I love, now I can hear it and be reassured that the next generation knows love, HIS Love, and that he walks with us and talks with us, even if we don't know where the love came from, we can hear it in our heads.

For anyone who is interested in the Alan Jackson Gospel CD, it's available here. Also today he is releasing Precious Memories II here. I added CD links, but I believe both are available in other formats.

Adding this post while sitting here trying to keep my feet warm wearing my 14 yr olds slippers which are WAY to big for me and feeling blessed to have him in my life,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Saturday

Sam wins one of his matches last week at Regionals

Always interesting watching him 'get ready' for a match, he has a routine, sweatshirt, iPod, paces in the hallway.

When he walked by, I could tell from the walk that the other kid was smoked.

Tablerunner that I am donating to be auctioned this evening at church. Fabric is Moda Deb Strain 'Coming Home'

My sweet Macy

She's growing so fast, look at those long legs!

Cooking and baking in preparation for church fellowship night with my mind on loved ones far away,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Ag Week Special Post------What's for Dinner Wednesday---Sweetheart Pudding

I planned to do a beef recipe today, but life got in the way. I wanted to tie every post this week to something Ag related since its Ag week, well, the closest tie I can bring into this one is that it is my Farmer's favorite dessert and one that I have served to hay crews, off the back on the pick-up, at fairs and it seems like it was one that I made when The Farmer did customer appreciation days for his seed corn customers, so that's as close as it gets.

Here goes, enjoy:

My grandmother is definitely of the generation that cooks everything from scratch. The recipe this week is an old one. It's one that she got from my Great Aunt who got it from one of her Amish neighbors about 60 years ago. Guessing with their families, this recipe was likely a cut down version of the original.

Sweetheart Pudding (no idea why its called Sweetheart, always wondered if there was a story behind it)
One package Graham crackers (1/3 of a box) crushed
1 C sugar divided
1/2 C butter, melted
2 T flour
2 C milk
2 eggs, separated
1 t vanilla

Combine crushed graham cracker (reserving a little bit to garnish the topping), melted butter and 1/2 C sugar and press into small baking dish (8x8 or equivolent) Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan combine rest of ingredients except vanilla. Cook until thick. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Pour into pan. Beat the egg whites. Add a little sugar.

Spoon over the pudding (my grandma's always looks so nice and neat, mine not so much) then sprinkle the remaining graham cracker crumbs. Brown in the oven, and serve.

I used the Pampered Chef oval baker and made a double batch. My family gobbled it up.  No leftovers at this house.

I loved sharing this recipe as it's on of my family's favorites. It's likely one that anyone could make as all the ingredients are generally found in your cabinets. Hope you enjoy this one as much as we do.

Knowing I shared a 'winner' this week as its one of my Grandma's favorites and she's a cooking rock star,

From Tulip~

KH

:)



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
:)