Sowing Wheat

The last few weeks has been another busy time on the farm. It was time to plant next year's wheat crop. This year the job was made a lot easier by our new seed cart.

In the past, we have used our little, old grain truck. This is much safer than lifting the bed of the truck and it works better for this set of drills since you can raise the spout on this cart. The cart will also hold more than the truck did.
Rodney and I drilled most of the wheat while Leon and the girls cleaned and treated the wheat and kept our drills filled. The whole cleaning, treating operation reminds me of the game Mousetrap with all of its round-about contraptions.

The wheat comes out of the grain bin via the auger and into the silver cart. Katie was in charge of keeping the cart filled. Notice the auger coming out of the cart. It carries it to the cleaner.

The red, round machine is the actual seed cleaner. The drum rotates as the wheat travels down and it is sorted. The clean wheat comes out the end while the chaff, straw, smaller kernels, etc. exit into a different tub.

The cleaned wheat travels into the truck. This truck is what we used to use to fill the drills. Emily was in charge of scooping the wheat to the back so it would run out of the door to be treated.

The wheat runs out of the back of the truck into another auger that is used to treat the wheat. We treat the seed to prevent diseases that can live in the soil and affect the wheat. It then runs into the auger that takes it into the seed cart.

After this process, the wheat is brought to the drills to be planted. We finished planting all of the wheat Monday. We have done all that we can. Now it is up to God whether we have anything to harvest next summer.

This is the tractor that I drive and I called it the Little Red Hen during wheat sowing. The drills are folded up for the last time and parked. Notice the wheat that was planted earlier is up! We will clean them out soon and put them in the shed for the winter.

Trash to Treasure

I love taking old things and turning them into something useful. At an auction this summer, I bought a dining table, chairs, hutch, cart, and end table that all matched. My mother-in-law wanted the hutch and it all went for such a bargain I couldn't resist. The end table had a nice size marble top and a drawer. I had already decided to use the marble top in my new kitchen for rolling out dough. I am going to build an island and make a place to keep the marble.
I took the legs off of the table and will use those to make an ottoman. The legs are still attached to a frame so I will make a new top and then upholster it. I took the drawer and sanded off the finish. The wood itself is not particularly pretty so I painted it a light blue. I just used a light coat and now it looks aged. I found some scrapbook paper to put on the inside and now I will hang it in the bathroom and use it as a shelf.

Old drawer

Handles removed and painted blue

Finished shelf - I just need to hang it on the wall!

Grout Nitty Gritty

I got the grout applied to one of the platforms today. I think I might need more grout than what I have left to do the other one so I will wait on it. Home Depot run! I love that place. The label on the grout said wait 4 hours to wipe off the tiles. My Home Improvement book said wipe off soon after it is applied. I followed the label. Next time, I will take the book's advice. We got the excess off but it took a lot of elbow grease! That is one thing I like about DIY projects...I am always learning something new. Even if it is the hard way sometimes!

The grout is actually a sandstone color and is darker than appears in this pic.

My First Tile Project

We have new propane stoves to heat the house. They are the type that look like wood burning stoves complete with fake logs! I like to have a heat source that I can back up to - a bun warmer! Leon built some platforms for them and I tiled the tops of those today. I learned how to use a tile cutter and how to apply tile adhesive. Tomorrow I will apply the grout.

The first tiles...

The first platform

The second platform

Tiling has turned out to be fun! In the past I had been intimidated at the thought but the more I read, the more I thought it was doable. Now I am thinking about what other projects I could tile. Maybe redo the bathroom counter? I would like to make some end tables and tile the tops.  I will post more pictures as this project progresses!

A Rainy Day

Today was much cooler and drizzly. I love this weather! Leon picked up some chicken on sale so I fired up the canner. I love to have canned chicken on hand for casseroles, soups, etc. We will start drilling wheat soon so it is wonderful having chicken ready to make a quick supper when we come in from the field.

A Snake in the Driveway

When the girls and I came home from 4-H yesterday, we found this little guy in our driveway. At first, we thought it might be a rattlesnake but upon closer inspection we found it wasn't. We are not really sure what kind it is but he was fun to watch. As long as it is not a rattler, it is welcome to stay around and eat mice, bugs, etc.

Cooler Weather

 First pot of chili for the season!

These past few days have been relatively cooler. Not the 110 degree days that we had! I put a pot of beans on this morning and made a batch of chili for supper. I love the cooler weather when we can have soups, stews, and chili.