Asparagus.

Hopefully after this post you will understand my absence. This past weekend was packed with asparagus. My cousin Luke does organic gardening and that is where you will find me most of the time during the summer. Spring came pretty early this year and so things are really growing. Asparagus usually starts the season off and boy did it start with a bang! 

We had, and still have, sooooo much asparagus! Friday afternoon we picked for 4 and a half hours and got the most asparagus we have ever gotten. I'm not even going to guess how many pounds it was. Saturday night we picked for 5 hours. We got finished at a little after 1 am Sunday. And yes, my positive attitude had left by then. I was cold, tired, every part of my body ached and it had been so long since I ate supper that I was hungry. ha But it needed to be picked! Sunday was another day full of asparagus. There were lots of helpers around though so I mowed the yard and studied most of the day. I only helped for a few hours. 

To give you a little idea of what we do...

On the left is where the asparagus is.

There is about 5 acres of it I believe.

It grows like this... 

We have purple and green.

This machine was pretty much handmade and it is how we pick. 

 This way we can pick three rows at a time. Luke, or whoever is in the middle, drives with there feet so that they can pick at the same time. We just bend over and pick between our legs. This is the biggest problem for me. I can never quite decide where to put my legs. We just snap the asparagus off as close to the ground as possible. So, pretty much, you are digging your knuckles into the ground the whole time.

Picking in the dark... with headlamps... and a face covered in bugs attracted to your headlamp...

It really isn't that bad, and I don't actually mind picking most of the time. Unless it is waayyy past my bedtime, then I will be cranky no matter what I'm doin'! There was just so much this weekend it was really hard to keep up. It was like a wall of asparagus coming at you and my hands only go so fast. I would just be throwing it into the crate sometimes. It did not always look like this... 

Nice and neat and easy to sort later on.

 After it is picked, it's sorted and sold! 

This weekend was full of other farming as well. We transplanted some sweet corn...

Sorry it's so far away... the corn is to the left. You can kind of see the rows and tiny plants.

 My dad finished spreading manure and started planting field corn like a madman. He planted pretty late into the night on Monday. It was supposed to rain Tuesday and he wanted to get as much seed in the ground before that happened as he could. It didn't actually end up raining very much but every little bit helps. 

I have spent the last few days just catching up on school and eating asparagus! 

As you can tell it has been busy around here! But busy is good!! :)

Grody... You've Been Warned.

I'm just gonna let you know right now, this is all about poop. And maybe it's gross, but someone made the mistake of asking me what we do with all the chicken poop... Bad timing. 

Right now my dad is hauling manure so I took some first hand photos. Wouldn't want to you guys to be left out. 

Just be thankful that this is not a scratch and sniff or something. I'm pretty much immune but the scent can be overwhelming to newbies. 

So, here we go. Just think of it as mud and learn something. ;) Seriously, it's not bad if you think of it as mud. 

My dad is the star of these photos.

First, we have to get the stuff out of the house. He hooks up a cable to a truck in a field for a stabilizer of sorts. Then it is hooked up to a blade in the pit (place where the poop is). Finally, it is attached to the tractor. It works as a sort of pulley system. (I'm trying to avoid gettin' to technical here) 

He drives the tractor back and forth and it pulls the stuff out. 

And it comes flying out. 

Makes a puddle.

Then he scoops it up...

...and dumps it in the spreader.

This is the spreader. 

Then he puts his earphones in and he's off. (We're high tech in this here part of the country.)

Once he is in the field... this happens.

 Things start gettin' some major air.

Don't believe me?? Watch this short clip...

Then my grandpa or my dad goes behind and discs or chisels it into the ground. Working it in... then it can provide lots of nutrients for the crops. Especially nitrogen for the corn. It really works out well for us. Saves us lots of money on fertilizer. 

Moral of the story? Don't ask me questions. 

Just kidding. I like questions! 

If you still want to be friends, it must be true friendship. 

For real though, this is a real part of our life out here. It isn't our favorite thing, but I guess I'm just used to it. 

Hope you learned something today!!

Workin' Cows.

So, before we get to the "meat" (pun intended) of this post I have something to get off my chest and that I did not miss over spring break, so here goes. The guy that sits beside me in class has the worst breath ever!! I'm literally nauseous by the end of the morning. Seriously people, it is bad!!! What gets me is that he has a girlfriend and is sitting with his friends. I actually thought he was gay until I found out he had a girlfriend. Why do none of these people help him out?!? Today he kept coughing and I was about ready to just get up and leave. Our classroom is full with no were better to move to. It's a real predicament... 

Well I feel better now that I have shared that with the world. 

Now to the fun stuff! Fun is maybe a relative term. I think it's fun! :)

I helped my cousins work cows last Friday. We work cows every Thanksgiving {check out pictures from this past year here} but there are always fall calves that need to castrated, so we do a few in the spring.

Things look a little different in the spring and it isn't quite as wild. Seriously, go look at those pictures.

The sky was blue and the grass is green.

The cows were rounded up with there calves. Kenny dewormed all the cows. It is a spray that is sprayed on there backs and really helps prevent other parasites as well.

The cows were sorted out and we split the babies off into a separate pen to be worked.

In the fall (Thanksgiving) we vaccinate all the mama cows as well as the babies. This takes a lot longer. This time we just had to work with the calves.
Each calf gets a shot and there ear notched so that they can be told apart from neighbors cows. Everyone puts there notch in a different place on the ear.

The males all get castrated as well as a shot and ear notch. Some people don't really understand why we have to castrate the males so I'm hear to fill you in. In order to get good meat from them, they must be castrated. Meat from a bull is very tough because of all the testosterone. So we take away the testosterone. I'm actually vegetarian but this is what I have learned in all my classes.

I know, I need to work on not making weird faces. 

 I gave vaccines, Kenny castrated and Luke and Elisa tackled. I guess we all got in on a little of the tackling though.

Luke would twist the head and then expect Elisa or me to grab the flailing back legs. I think we are going to switch things up next time. He had the better end of the deal and didn't understand why we were all the sudden afraid of calves.

Proof that I got kicked. It is actually looking better than it did this weekend. I have got my arm smashed so bad I thought it was broken but it never bruised or anything, just really sore. Nobody every believed me. I don't even remember getting kicked and I get this.

There were a few calves that must have got missed this fall that gave us a bit of trouble. (they were big boys) Other than that, it went pretty quick, even though we had about half as many people.

Questions?? Please ask! I like talking about cows. :)

Homeless Shelter

I'm still alive and I have lots to blog about just not a lot of time! I have been really busy the past few days and have got to do some fun stuff. I'm back at school now and am NOT excited about it. I'm pretty burnt out. Sad, I just had a break and I'm still having a hard time studying. I think it should be against school policy to have a test a day after spring break. I have one on Thursday as well but at least I have all week to study for it. Anyway, on to happier things. 

Saturday, a small group of us went to the Day Center in Tulsa. We had a really good time and it was nice to get out and do something to help people. 

{I think I need to just start every blog post off with "Warning: picture overload"}

We started the morning off by handing out a snack we had brought. I never knew that eating at 9 am was considered snack time but that's when we did it.

We made some juice and gave them all Nutrigrain bars. (We had to consider that most of them have no teeth when choosing what to bring)

I didn't bring my camera in at first so these were taken with my phone.

My mom bought Tang for us to serve. I hadn't seen this stuff in years!

 It was pretty entertaining because after the people came through and got a bar and drink they would come back through like it was a whole other day to get some extra. We didn't mind because we had plenty and eventually they figured that out and just asked for another. 

After we gave out the snack, we headed to the laundry room. They have a small clothing "store" and we spent most of our time putting clothes out and organizing them into sizes. The shelves were a mess. 

Dad and Luke. Not quite they are used to doing on mission trips but they were good sports. :)

We also put shampoo and conditioner in little ziploc baggies for one time use. They have showers there for people and they can give them small amounts of stuff to use for each shower. 

They had an assembly line going.

Lexy, Julie and I stuck with the clothes pretty much the whole time and we found some very stylish interesting things. 

The man told us to throw out anything we wouldn't wear... well that was kind of the majority of it. 

Lexy found this totally awesome, handmade sweater. The different textures that you can't see in the picture are what really made it special.

I tried to convince her to keep it for next winter... 

 I actually found these but Julie modeled them for us... aren't they awesome?!

All joking aside, we had a great time! Hopefully what little we did was helpful! 

After we finished at the shelter, we headed to Woodward park for  a picnic. It was one yummy picnic! Pretty much everything we had was homegrown and from the farm. :) (minus a few things)

Woodward Park is a gorgeous place and we spent the afternoon walking around looking at all the flowers and enjoying God's nature.

The azaleas are already starting to bloom and they are beautiful!

Cousins!

We couldn't have asked for a better day! The sun was shining and it was nice and warm! It was so nice to get out and do something for others and I felt like God returned the favor by giving us a perfect afternoon. :)

I'm linking up with Kerrie today!

Just Call Me Martha Stewart.

I have been studying the last 2 days. I'm on spring break, and I'm studying. boo! It should be against school policy to give tests the week after spring break. Anyway, I'm very thankful for this break. I studied until about 5 today and then made some sweet treats. I got in a baking mood and have been craving summer desserts. Something lemony in particular... so I found these on Tasty Kitchen.

Lemon Blueberry Crunch Muffins

They were yummy but didn't have a very strong lemon flavor so I'm going to have to try something else. 

We are FINALLY taking down the wallpaper in our living room. Well, more like my mom is taking it down. It is a wee bit outdated but it's kind of sad to see it go. If that wallpaper could talk... 

While my mom worked on that project, I made peach cobbler for supper. Peach cobbler is one of my favorite foods! and yes, I said for supper. :) I like the kind of cobbler that has a more of a cakey feel. Not the biscuit kind or the pie crust kind, or whatever other kind. 

It starts out like this, with the fruit on the top. I used peaches that we froze last summer. 

Then the batter ends up on the top and it is oh so good. I actually made 1 1/2 the recipe for the batter because it is my favorite part. :) 

I forgot to take my polarizer off for these shots. Sorry for the blur...

Such a healthy meal. I am so ready for summer. I would have made some homemade ice cream to go along with this if it were summer. 

The day ended with the clouds finally breaking up a little and allowing the sun to peak through before it set. 

I had to go for a jog to work off all those calories but it was nice to get outside. I have big plans for being out in the sunshine tomorrow! 

Tag!

Elle from Elle-oh-vee tagged me awhile back and I'm just now getting to it. 

1. post these rules.

2. post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.

3. answer the questions set for you in the original post.

4. tag some awesome bloggers.

5. go to their blog/ twitter & tell them that you have tagged them.

11 Random Things:

1. I love quilts and everything old for that matter. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong era.

2. I hate to write but love blogging.

3. I used to barrel race and compete almost ever week and ride horses everyday and I miss it oh so much.

4. I'm single for the first time since I was 15. (I know, crazy, and I have only dated 2 guys in that time.) Not a fan... It's very lonely.

5. I live on a farm where we have about 30,000 chickens. You can read more about that here.

6. I have only moved once in my life and it was when I was about 3. We just moved across the yard to the new house we built. (I'm not counting every time I go back to college)

7. I have a really big family. I was going to try to count my cousins but it was taking to long. But I have 9 1st cousins and I love each of them dearly. I have ALOT of 2nd cousins and some of them are my best friends. 

8. I love cows.

9. I LOVE to be outside. 

10. I can't go to sleep unless I have brushed my teeth, but can pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow after working outside all day without taking a shower. I know, GROSS! I guess I'm just so tired I don't care. (This rarely happens but I'm just saying it is possible. ha)

11. I have the best friends and family a girl could ask for.

Answer these questions:

Q: what is your favorite color?

A: Depends on the season and what I'm choosing a color for (flowers, clothes, etc.). :)

Q : what is your fondest childhood memory?

A: playing in the horse/hay barn with my cousins. We would build forts out of hay and the horse barn was our "house." Oh, to go back to the good ole days.

Q: if you could meet someone famous who is no longer living who would it be?

A: Maybe he isn't super famous but I would love to meet James Herriot... 

Q: what is your biggest dream in life?

A: Meet the love of my life and live happily ever after. 

Q: if you won 100 dollars what would you do with it?

A: 100 dollars isn't much but it might make a very tiny dent in my student loans. 

Q: if you had to move to another state which state would you choose?

A: I'm going to say Wyoming or Montana. I would still be able to have a big ranch...

Q: if you could do something illegal no consequences what would it be?

A: I think speeding is the only thing I have a hard time with. ha

Q: if you had to choose a super power what would it be?

A:  Invisibility.

Q: what is your favorite song right now?

A: Working on a Tan by Brad Paisley :) I'm ready for summer!

Q: what are you most afraid of?

A: Right now?! Being single forever...

Q: what is the best item on your bucket list?

A: I don't have a bucket list. I should work on that...

I tag: 

Kenz @ Beau & Kenz: Our Life.

Kerrie @ The Williams Post

Sandra @ Beat of My Heart