Scenes from Media Day

Just a few of the people who came out yesterday.  Leah (foreground) is with NAEC and works with Casey, so everyone was very comfortable with her.  3 of the others were with the local newspaper, and one was with the radio station.  Several reps from the county conservation office came out, too.

The kids had to show the newspaper guy the horses.  Hooter decided, since they didn't have anything to eat, he would just go back to grazing.  Boon (Casey's horse) was very curious, he wanted to be part of the action.

 Taking shots of the kids on the tractor.  Shortly after they left Chris went to the hayfield, hence the baler attached to the tractor.

 One of my favorite shots from the day, Chris was answering a few more questions and Logan was chillin' on Dad's knee....okay, he was really wanting to make the bucket go up and down, but Dad wouldn't let him...he wouldn't even start the tractor!

I had to be a few of the shots, but I don't have those, I really don't like to see photos of myself...maybe if I looked like Cindy Crawford or some other supermodel, but I don't, so I'll just enjoy pictures of my family.  

One amusing happening of the day, Austin was showing the newspaper man his show steer (notice I said STEER).  The man asked him if he was going to raise him and breed him with our other cows.  Austin had a befuddled look on his face like he was trying to decide if he was kidding or serious, and he said, "No, he's a steer not a bull."  At this point the newspaper man asked, "What's the difference between a steer and a bull?" (yes, he was serious)  I choked...maybe even snorted a little.  Austin just cut his eyes at the man and said, "A steer has been castrated, a bull hasn't."  Good answer, son, I was so proud...I'm just glad they didn't ask Logan that question because he would have gone into detail about exactly how Daddy used the bander and the impending results of said bander on certain parts of a calf's anatomy.  It was an interesting day.  I'm glad it's behind us, but I was definitely honored and more than a little surprised to be chosen as the Fulton County Farm Family 2010. 

Farm Family media day

Wow! What a day.  Today was our "media day" with the press (local radio & newspaper), and NAEC (sorry, Leah, they should have told you so you would have known not to wear heels to work today), and NRCS (otherwise known as the Conservation office).  10:00 am was the start time, but I was ready by 9:30...good thing, we had some early guests.  We answered questions, took photos (yes, I had to be in the pictures....yuck!), and had snacks.  The kids showed off their animals (Austin had to explain to one reporter the difference between a steer and bull, he handled it with much tact and decorum....I'm glad he didn't ask Logan).  I did manage to snap a few photos myself, and I'll share those tomorrow; I'm just too tired tonight!

Logan also had his last regular season t-ball game tonight, which they won, so it's been a really busy day.  I'm pooped; I just hope I don't fall asleep in the bathtub (hey, it's happened).  I only have a couple of errands to run tomorrow, then we will finally have a day to relax.  I'm looking forward to it.

I also forgot to mention what my sweet Logan said yesterday morning when he woke up and wandered into the living room.  He looked at me, grinned, and said, "Well, Mom, you don't have a 5 year old anymore."  No, now we have a very grown up 6 year old.  June 23 is also my brother and sister-in-law's anniversary.  Happy Birthday, Logan, and Happy Anniversary Gary & Alanna!

The finished project....almost

Here's the latest from the farm.  Our squash and cucumbers are producing.  I only wish I had sound so you could hear Logan saying, "Hurry, these are stickery!"  He was a little surprised that squash and cucumbers had "whiskers"; and yes, he is in his pajamas.

Here is the deck, nice and stained...many hours of sweat equity went into it.  I am going to pick up an umbrella to cover the table...I'm thinking green to balance out all the redwood.  You can see my little model, still in his jammies, peeking over the rail.

Here's the front.  This one was taken this morning with the jammie clad boy posing on the rock steps for me. (He loves to have his picture taken when it's on his terms).  Mom made the cushions for the chairs pulling in lots of red and yellow.  I have red and yellow flowers and the front porch needed color!  (I just realized Logan matches in red & yellow Transformer pajamas.)

A shot taken this evening, excuse the lens flare, but the sun was shining right toward me.

This is just a small vignette of some of my treasures.  The plow belonged to my Papa Tom, and the big, white, sparkly rocks are quartz that he took out of the zinc mines at Rush, AR in the early 1940's.   More info on Rush

We have worked really hard every weekend for the last 2 1/2 - 3 months to get to this point, but I think our hard work has finally paid off.  We haven't had time to do much of anything else, but it's been worth it.  With that said, I guess I can tell you the reason for all our hard work....we have been selected as the Fulton County Farm Family of the year.  I'm still surprised, but honored.  We don't have a large cattle herd, and we don't have lots of farmland (a few hayfields, but nothing like the row crop farmers in central & south AR), but Chris's business is geared toward helping farmer and ranchers, and he has participated in the grasslands conservation and watershed projects, and is always looking for ways to improve our land.  I'm proud of him.

So that's it, that's the big secret.  One day this week is media day when all the press will be here taking pictures and doing interviews.  I wonder how they will react when I follow them around with a camera?  This could be interesting!

Changes

These aren't in the order I had planned, but I don't guess it really matters.  These are a few of the changes that have gone on around here. 

The black barrell is just another form of recycling.  It was once held minerals for the cattle, but I couldn't let it go to waste.  I washed it out, drilled some drainage holes in the bottom, and used it for a container for tomatoes and cucumbers.  There is another one with more tomatoes, too. 

On the left is one of my baby cucumbers.  I get so excited when I see another blossom.  If all the blooms turn into cucumbers I'll be making pickles!  The plants are very happy!  On the right is Logan's little gourd patch.  He thought birdhouse gourds would be so much fun, but he was afraid someone would try to get them, so he stuck toothpicks into the ground to "protect" his seeds...the seashells (picked out of the pea gravel) are supposed to be some kind of protection, too.  They've started coming up, and when they get bigger they will trail over the retaining wall so the gourds should be easy to pick.

Here is the brand new, rocked out front porch.  Before it was a mixture of concrete blocks, concrete basement slab, and it was NOT very pretty.  Now it's beautiful!  I love the rock.  I have several other ideas of what I want rocked next. (one end of the garage and the retaining wall are at the top of the list)  Once I get the plants, border rocks, and pea gravel in it will look lots better.  If you look really closely you can see Darrell (our blue heeler) lounging by the front door.  He doesn't have a weird pink spot on his face, he was just licking his nose.

And here's the deck.  It's clean but still unstained.  I plan on working on that little task this afternoon because it looks like the rain isn't going to happen.  I should have taken a before shot when there was nothing but an ugly weed patch under the deck.  We rolled out landscape fabric and topped it with pea gravel.  It looks so much cleaner and cooler than it did before, plus, it will be much less inviting for creepy, crawly critters.

My next project for the back is a flagstone patio just off the deck with a fire pit.  I'm trying to talk Chris into some kind of water feature,  like a pool, but he won't go for it.  Maybe I can talk him into a little waterfall...but that's a project for next summer.  I'm about landscaped out for this summer!

Blog makeover

Time for another change. The whole Red Dress project was just stressing me out, so it's time to move on to something more fun. I'm still trying to get into the red dress, I'll keep you posted if it ever happens, in the meantime, I have a new project. Lots of big things going on on the Jennings farm, exciting things are happening around here, so keep checking back to see what's going on. (I promise, it's going to be good, but it's still a secret!) Intrigued?


Let's start the new direction with some cool cloud photos. This was yesterday (I think it was yesterday...maybe the day before). I'd never seen clouds like this, apparently it was a pretty big storm and people several miles (an hour away) even saw them.

Where do you rest after you've been running through the sprinkler?  Why, in the wheel of a John Deere tractor, of course.

Why do boys think if they poke a piece of dried grass at the face of a red-eared slider turtle it will somehow make a transformation into a snapping turtle?  And the bigger question, why would you want it to be a snapping turtle?  Boys!

So that's just a peek of the direction this blog will be going for a little while.  You may see lots of photos of my baby squash and cucumbers (tomorrow), and the heirloom tomatoes I have growing; there are also lots of landscaping projects going on, too, and then the big thing....I can't wait!

Oops!

I guess it's time to change the blog header, if you notice today was to be the last day of the red dress project.  I have no idea what the scale says, but I'm sure it doesn't say I'm down 25lbs.  The big Oops of the day, I was supposed to go back to see the doctor...darn, I forgot....I hate it when that happens.  Instead of going to see the man who was going to scold me for not losing more weight, I opted to work outside in the yard.  The front is cleaned up and ready for plants, and I started staining the deck but am not totally thrilled with the color.  I'll have to give it a day or 2 to grow on me.    I honestly did forget about the doctor's appointment, but I had our school nurse check my bp just before school was out and it was back to normal, so I'm not going to worry about it.  I don't need him to tell me I need to lose some weight, but I personally think he needs to eat a cheeseburger, he looks a little too thin!
Stay tuned, a blog makeover is in the works, and I have another fun idea....and it's NOT about losing weight.