Done!

Well, it's done -- another good harvest off the fields. Here is the last load, unloaded into the bin at home on Monday. Hooray!

I'm just going post some of my favorite pics from this month (though I realize that they look just like harvest every other year) (and I, too, used to think how boring that was).

Anna was a good passenger in the trucks and combine.

Tractor girl, indeed.

[caption needed: what's the significance of that haunted empty old house between Ramont and my dad?]

Someone left the hatch open...[and it wasn't me. Or Anna.]

The last few days of combining were so beautiful: sunny, colorful, dry. One evening I came early-ish to pick up the kids from my parents' place, and we had such a lovely evening. The kids played outside,

we ate supper and drank mate,

and took some pictures. They sure have gotten to know their Oma well this season!

And in the midst of all this, Anna turned 5 (on Oct. 22nd)! We had a bit of a party with her favorite friends, her third cousins and brother, and some cake and balloons. Happy birthday, dear girl.

Update: October

Well hello. A few things have changed since I last posted. For one, we live in a different house!

Mid-September we moved into my folk's house, which they had moved out of and across the road to the neighbors', which is now ours (or rather, after 10 years)! This is the house we moved into when I was nine years old, so would consider it my main childhood home. It's exactly two miles south -- or closer to town -- than we've been living these last four years.

It already feels like home, and has been quite cozy as the weather turns toward cold. We decided to all live on the main floor at first (to conserve warmth), so the kids are off the kitchen in the former office and we are in the bedroom also off the kitchen. There is also a living room off the kitchen. So, the kitchen is clearly the hub of operations. There are three bedrooms upstairs just waiting for guests. The basement is very much unfinished, but Ramont has already moved the farm shower more to his liking and his dad built a number of shelves down there.

Oh yes, harvest is in full swing. All the soybeans were finished on Wednesday evening (great yields), while most of the corn is yet to be cut. I'm waiting for the call this morning to come out with "my" red truck to start hauling -- or, if I'm lucky, drive the ginormous combine.

The photo above and below are (shamelessly heisted from my cousin Esther :) taken on the Ewert land that Ramont and I rent out by Delft.

The other big excitement in October so far was Grandma and Grandpa Schrock's annual fall visit! Grandma spent some good quality time with the kids, especially Anna.
 

Grandpa built all those shelves for the basement, as well as these lovely desks for the kids' room - just what they needed. Now the night owl can work on his Legos and electronics projects late into the night, and the early bird on her art projects and Playmobil at 5:00am when Ramont goes out to milk.

[The picture below looks staged, but it's not -- just a typical Sunday morning before church. Or rather, before wrestling before church.]

The elementary school had a cross-country event last Friday. Even the pre-schoolers got to run (1/4th mile); above is Anna's class warming up and below is Jonathan finishing up his half-mile. The kids loved it -- probably the excitement/friends/popsicles more than the actual running, but what a great introduction to a sport!

So that's a glimpse into what's been going on. Some day I'll post some September pictures, but it was such an eventful month that it seems a bit daunting.

August so far

Ramont kindly fished my good rechargeable batteries out of the kids' walkie-talkies, and I've been taking photos like crazy the last two months. Probably too many, since they're just sitting here on the computer wasting away.

Anyway, I will post the July shots yet, but first here are the ones from this month so far.

 We've had some lovely evenings all summer, perfect for making guiso.

This time - for my mom's birthday - was with pasta and deer sausage. My favorite this summer has been just plain rice and beans (and garden veggies).
 

The kids decided on their own to make some birthday cards for Oma. The cut-out on the left is a depiction of her (Matisse, anyone?) and on the right is E for Eva, of course. We would all have much drearier, less creative lives if I had to give them ideas...

This was birthday 64!!

What would either one be without the other?

Fort-making in the lilacs. Decorations by Anna.

Joanie and Gracie out to pasture.

Grapes this year! Juice and jam will be made next week.

Luckily we don't eat much at the dining room table.

Children's book author, Nancy Loewen, was here this morning to read to the kids (Believe me, I never felt a pea!) and have them test out some projects she'll be doing with kids at the State Fair.

And now off to pick up some more apples for applesauce...

The view in June

Here's a bit of a tour of our yard in this last week of June. We've had a fairly wet summer overall, but no rain for more than a week.

My main garden is so-so this year. Not all the seeds came up (planted too early? cheap seeds?), and there's never as much variety as I would like.

At least the tomatoes and peppers are doing well - they're the real reason I have a garden.

The flower/kitchen garden is getting rather overgrown with grass and weeds - I've clearly not been keeping up with this one. Even so, we like to sit on the park bench and gaze upon it in the evenings.

This honeycrisp tree makes us think this will again be "an apple year" - quite exciting!

Raspberries are starting to abound.

And the grapes this year are crazy abundant. Is it the weather? the severe pruning I gave them this spring? In any case, Ramont is really looking forward to grape juice again.

What a lovely yard we live on!

On to the barn...Ramont is now milking Gracie and easing Joanie into pre-natal leave. Our neighbors (some quite far flung) and friends purchase three-four gallons each day, coming to the milkhouse on the right of the barn and taking it straight out of the fridge. We also have frozen cream, butter, and cottage cheese available, as well as yogurt and Farmhouse Cheddar cheese upon request (as well as regular customers for each).

A glimpse of Ramont's cobbled together milking system, which he keeps quite orderly.

This summer we're trying something new...hiring a neighbor to round bale some of the ditch hay. These bales weigh about 1000 pounds each - almost 50 of these and about 300 smaller square bales got made yesterday afternoon!

And these two keep busy in summer. They spent about an hour giggling like crazy as they wheeled this "go cart" in and out of the garage, down the slightest little slope. A pail with water, a squirter, helmets, and shin guards were added after this photo. Creativity abounds when they're left to their own devices!