New Beginnings

August is such a funny month. Everything outside is winding down. The sweet corn is done. The zucchini plants look tired. The beans have been decimated by Japanese beetles. The flowers are beginning to look leggy and spent. But things on the inside are just starting.

Kiddo 1 started school yesterday. We love his teacher and are excited about the new year.

Kiddo 2 started her second season of soccer yesterday, too. I don't know where my brave little girl disappeared to. She would not go out on the field unless I went with her. Definitely not what I expected. If I had, I wouldn't have worn flip flops.

Today I helped welcome the 1,900 students in the freshman class to Northern Illinois University. A team of students in the program I work with were chosen as one of two in the entire university to be featured at our academic convocation. They presented a project they completed for McDonald's last fall and did such an amazing job! Watching the university leaders and faculty present and singing 'Forward, Together Forward' in the NIU fight song gave me chills. 'Forward, Together Forward' became the university mantra after the 2/14 tragedy and the last time I saw the university leadership in that kind of context was for the memorial service.

Tomorrow I will run my first fall 10K. I challenged my 26 year old male colleague to the race. I know he's going to win and I'll have to reward him with his Monster Energy drink. My real challenge is to beat my own time. Hopefully all my training will pay off.

Monday my students will return and I'll start my last semester working closely with students. It will be bittersweet.

My CSA Project

For a long time I have been trying to figure out how to make money from my garden. Eventually my plan was to have the kids help and earn money for college. My first though was to do farmer's markets. After researching a bit I decided that I did not want to deal with all the regulations and have to spend a day sitting there each week. My next thought was to do a road side stand. After all, we plant way more sweet corn then we will ever use. Then I looked around. There are people selling sweet corn and other veggies up and down our road. There is too much competition and little that can be done to differentiate our corn from the neighbors.

Then, last summer I stumbled upon the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSAs are designed to ensure a local food source and connections between people who grow and buy food. This concept guarantees a market before the crop is planted and each customer receives a half bushel basket to a bushel basket of fresh fruits and/ or vegetables every week or every other week according to the subscription. This was perfect!

I decided to start small this year. I donated an every other week subscription to my sister's foster parent organization's auction fundraiser. So far it has gone better than I could have ever expected. My recipient has gotten baskets with lettuce, spinach, radishes, green onions, onions, red potatoes, Yukon potatoes, cabbage, green beans, yellow wax beans, jalapeno peppers, mixed hot peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, herbs, and sweet corn. When they are ready, she will also receive Roma tomatoes, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pie pumpkins.

Along with the basket, my customer also takes on some of the risk of unpredictable weather, pest damage and disease . For example, this summer has been extremely cool. Without the warm weather to push them toward maturity, the melons are very far behind. If we experience a frost in early September, my customer may not enjoy melons this season.

Also, not using pesticides to control insects or diseases means some of the produce will have visible insect damage. In most cases, the ‘nibbles’ are just cosmetic and do not harm the plant. You can eat the scarring or eat around it. Sometimes this damage is an entry point for diseases that can kill the entire plant.

This test has been so successful that I now have five people wanting information for next season. As I look at my priorities, my increase in hours at my 'real job', and all the running around I do for the kiddos, I'm a bit terrified. How much more can I take on before I reach a breaking point?

I'm definitely getting a housekeeper.

Rain, Rain Go Away My Lawn Needs to be Mowed Today!

I just finished mowing half of our three acre yard, in the rain. It may look a bit 'clumpy' but clumpy is better than knee high. I'm praying the weather forecast is wrong and I will be able to finish mowing the back half tomorrow or Tuesday night.

As much as I love summer, I'm always happy to put the lawn mower away in the fall. That's when I get to reclaim the three plus hours I had spent mowing each week. As a self proclaimed type A personality I thrive on my 'to do' list and those three hours are quickly used up on other tasks. Since my college kids come back next week, kiddo 1 starts school this week, and my 10K throw down is this weekend my list seems a mile long. I don't even know where to start.

No more wandering around. What a difference a week makes!

My Lazy Days of August

I'm getting lazy. I have lots I should be doing: weeding, watering, mulching, picking and freezing sweet corn, making cherry jam, labeling the jam I've already made. I've been off this week so I really have no excuse for not doing any of this, except that I've been lazy.

Here's what I've been up to:

8:30-9 a.m. - Wake up. I love waking up when my body tells me its time rather than to my annoying alarm clock.

9-11 a.m. - Watch the Today show in bed. Drink coffee. Wander around my house thinking about all that I should be doing. Tinker with my leaky hot tub.

12:30 p.m. - Make lunch for the kiddos. Wonder why kiddo 2 is still in her nightgown.

1:30 p.m. - Tinker some more with the hot tub. Wander around my gardens thinking about all I should be doing. Read. Sit in the sun.

4 p.m - Get kiddo 2 dressed. Get kiddo 1 ready for football practice. They really need a class for first time football moms. Lots of pad in strange places. And, who knew that you had to wear shirts under and over the pads? And that you were suppose to boil the mouth piece to shape it? They need a class.

5-6:30 p.m. - Run while kiddo 1 is at football practice. Nicole, Thanks for the advice on embracing the hills because they're good for me. It's all about perspective. I am now thinking about the my soon to be nice bottom because of the hills rather than dreading them on approach!

7 p.m. - Get all the pads off kiddo 1. Run to Wal-Mart to pick up last minute things I might need should I choose to cook dinner this week.

8 p.m. - Return home and wander around.

10 p.m. - Put the kids to bed.

11 p.m. - Shower. Go to bed.

Not such a bad way to spend my week off after all.

My tomatoes are out of control

Tomatoes are one of the last plants I put in the garden each year. This year, I did not leave much room. I planned on having nine seedlings. The seeds I started in the basement were not thriving so I bought Roma, Slicing and Cherry tomato seedlings at Shopko. When it came time to plant them, I knew it would be tight but I though two feet apart was plenty. Little did I know that I had purchased the jungle hybrids.

These plants are at least 4.5 feet tall. They've long since grown through their cages. I had to put up a fence to keep them separated from the cucumbers. (Also planted way too close together.)

I'm a bit worried about how I am going to pick in between the plants and what the tomatoes will look like with so much competition.

Lessons learned for next year:

1. Dig up more of my lawn to make the garden bigger. Darn.
2. Plant the tomatoes at least three feet apart.

I am not your typical farm wife, or am I?

Lately whenever anyone learns that I am married to a farmer, they reply, "Really? I would have never guessed." This really struck me when a second cousin who I hadn't seen since I was 13 said it to me a few weeks ago.

Does this say more about the image I project or their stereotype of what a farmer's wife should be?

I don't think I have a prima donna persona. I consider myself to be pretty versatile and down to earth. I can wear a business suit to work, then two hours later be covered in dirt and sweat working in my garden in cut off jeans. I like to have my hair styled, jewelry on, and be clean because it makes me feel good about myself. At the same time, I have no qualms about running errands with wet hair and no makeup in my yoga pants and flip flops. I like to tent camp and my dream is to reclaim the jacked up 1979 jeep wrangler with glass packs my dad gave my sister, brother and me to drive as teenagers.

I am not meek. I believe in being self-sufficient, working hard and paying your dues. I have my own specific professional and personal goals and I am part of the goals for our family farm.

The above description sounds a lot like my other farm wife friends. We are all strong women with careers; some linked to agriculture, some not. We are all moms. We all support our husbands and our family farms in our own ways. (No, I do not bring meals to the field. The only person who brings meals to me at work is the Jimmy John's delivery guy. If you are hungry, call him.) I think I am your typical 30 something farm wife.

So why is this incredulous "Really" happening? Is it because I am surrounded by people who have no real link to those who grow our food, fiber and energy? Since I was around people from small towns and people related to the agriculture industry through college and in my first five years of work, have I started to take for granted that people know that farming is a serious profession? And, that I, as a farm wife play a part, both on and off the farm?

So my question to you: How should farm wives look, act, live? What am I doing so wrong?

Overwhelmed

So it's been about two months since I have posted. A lot has happened in and around the gardens. There is a lot to update! So tonight, I will steal a thought from my friend and fellow blogger, Nicole: I'm not behind, I'm just getting started!


I started delivering the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) basket I donated to my sister's foster parent fundraising auction in early June. Every other week I deliver a half bushel basket to the family that purchased it. So far they have gotten lettuce, spinach, green onions, rhubarb, radishes, sugar snap peas, potatoes, green beans, yellow beans, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, squash, carrots, onions, and gooseberries.





Each week as I deliver the produce I am reminded how lucky I am to be able to garden and have such easy access to fresh fruits and veggies. When I am working outside and need a snack, I simply walk over to my peas and pluck one off. When I am wandering about the yard, I can stop at my red raspberries bushes and have a couple.



I am truly lucky that my parents instilled in me a love of fresh food, whether they realized it at the time or not. I grew up watching my parents garden, eating out of their garden and transforming their backyard into an oasis. I am a lot more like them then they realize. I hope, someday, my kids will feel the same way.