Movie Review: WALL•E

Go see WALL•E. We don't care what your age is, you will enjoy it.

Crops Update

After reviewing our feed levels for our cows, we decided not to harvest first cutting of hay for ourselves. My dad sold the hay to a local farmer. 1st crop is usually best for haylege (a fermented chopped hay for you non-farm types), but we have enough left over from last year. The next cutting we will most likely make dry hay bales for ourselves. Above is a snapshot of them harvesting.
My Dad and Zachary have been fine tuning a spraying rig we purchased this spring. Our spraying needs for our crops are not very complex. So to save some money, we decided to do our own this year, instead of hiring the job done.

South of the Border Weekend

This past weekend we were down in Illinois for Kristanna and Bob's wedding in Lake Forest.
Here is Zachary with his sister, Kristanna.
Later on Saturday, we went to Marengo Ridge Conservation Area and camped for the night. It was fun to use our gear for real. Here Zachary is manning the camp stove in the twilight.

On Sunday morning we traveled back to suburbs to have brunch with the Newlyweds and Zachary's Dad at Walker Brothers. Yummy!

Mike and Seth covered the farm chores for us Saturday night and Sunday morning. They did a great job.

Birds of the Farm

We had a special request for pictures of birds from around the farm. Here is sampling from our photo library:

Somewhere Under The Rainbow...

Peonies in Bloom

Our peony bushes are currently in bloom. We have two beds of them measuring about 8 feet by 16 feet.
Here is one of the beds. There is a bed of Asparagus between the two.

Today we helped my parents with their rummage sale at their house. A lot of people stopping by and great weather. Hopefully tomorrow will be as busy at the sale.

Happy Friday

Growing Cow Food

The corn is up. So are the soybeans. We've been getting a lot of rain lately and more planned for the days ahead. Standing water in saturated fields and crops do not get along.

Baby Boca

This is one of our cows when she was a newborn, about 3 years ago. She is now a rookie in our milking herd. Her name is Boca, like the soy burger. She is the third generation of a cross between a Herdford (beef breed) and a Holstein (dairy breed). She is 3 times removed from a pure beef breed, so we think of her as a "beef substitute".

Sunday: Roadtrip

Thanks to my brother Mike and our nephews, Jordan and Seth, Zachary and I went on a road trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They handled the evening milking and chores for us. It was our first milking off since our honeymoon four years ago.After some aimless driving, we arrived at Craig Lake State Park.
A view of Craig Lake from the hiking trail.
Demonstrating this was one of the more rustic hikes we have been on, here is a down tree used as a river crossing.
Near the end of our 8 mile hike, we get a call from Mike letting us know the milking went well. Note: cell phone service in the U.P. is spotty at best. You can see our healthy trail snack next to Zachary, Swedish Fish. :-)

Later that night on the way home, between Iron Mountain, MI and Niagara, WI, we nearly hit a black bear on the road. And we were worried about hitting a deer...