And here we go...harvest 2016 has begun. Captain started yesterday on soybeans. So far, so good! We are only 24 hours into the deal, but sometimes those first 24 hours are the worst! That's when all the kinks have to get worked out and everything running smoothly.
Captain is on his own this weekend as Sparky had prior commitments to take care of. I'm sure he'll be around daily from now until the bitter end, though. It's actually okay for Captain to fly solo with soybeans since the amount of time it takes to fill the semi is two, three, or four times what it is for corn.
The weather the last couple of days has seen everyone heading to the field. Diane and I had occasion to go to Austin yesterday for a baby shower for Captain’s cousin, and along the whole route, rural rush hour was in full swing.
Fall is the time of year when it is human instinct to start storing things. Captain harvest and stores his crop. I store summer paraphernalia.
While Captain is in the field, it is my job to “winterize” the deck, patio, and yard. So, this morning, I spent time on the patio sanitizing Shannon’s swimming pool, some of her outside toys, and then I sanitized our Igloo cooler. Pretty sure we aren’t going to need that in a few weeks!
I did get laundry hung out on the line...probably one of the last times that will happen this year. I love the smell of towels and sheets that have line dried, don’t you?
I need to start emptying all the flower containers around and about everywhere and get them stored away from winter. I am surprised that there are still a couple of them blooming very well! Others have given up the ghost and called it quits for this year.
I even washed some windows this weekend...and that’s a high accomplishment for me. I hate washing windows, and Captain usually takes care of that for me.
Getting the glass clean is easy with my Norwex cloths. It’s the gunk in the track that is beyond nasty...lady bug and fly carcasses everywhere. Eeeuuuwww!
I have discovered, however, that if you blast it with a can of compressed air, those little dead bodies come flying out of the track like greased lightning, and then you just vaccum them up off the floor, wipe down the track, clean the glass and call it good. Yay!!
The other thing I like about fall and winter is that the whole meal planning thing gets easier. I have a list of 21 different meal options that we rotate over the course of all and winter. Since Captain did the grocery shopping this morning, we are set for meals for the next week or so.
The menu rotation consists of stews, casseroles, soups, and other things that reheat well for when Captain comes in hours after supper was ready. The grilled things that we have in the summer don’t do that so well.
Last night I put a ham in the oven before I went out to Calf Country to do the feeding. By the time I got back in, the savory scent of cured pork was wafting throughout the house and made me hungry!
Before I went to bed, I put kidney beans in water to soak overnight, and this morning they went in the crockpot with leftover ham, onion, celery, and garlic to make an extremely fragrant soup.
The other thing on my winterizing to-do list is defrosting the chest freezer. The ice buildup is getting....impressive. Since we have a hog being processed at the locker right now, I need to get that done so we have room for Mr. Piggy when he is done in a couple of weeks.
I remember my Mom doing that job. She would wait until the chest freezer was almost empty, put everything that was left into a cooler, and then put a large pan of hot water in the freezer and shut the lid to melt everything...or at least soften it so she could chip it away and scoop it out.
Me, I blast it with a hair dryer. I don’t know what the proper procedure is a la Heloise, but this option works for me. Then again, my chest freezer is half the size of the one my mom had!
For all of our farming friends who are also busy this time of year, please be safe in the fields. For all of our non-farming friends, please say a prayer for the safety of everyone working long, late hours to get things stored away before the nasty Minnesota winter hits!
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