Flabby Farmwife Trains For 5K: Ten Days Left Until The Big Day!

Greetings from the land of temperature swings,


mood swings,

auger swings

and yard swings.

Just as fall was cooling down, it heated back up to 90 degrees, and then back to the 30's again.  We've begun harvest, and with a strange twist of events, the corn was ready before the soybeans. The combines and grain cart are rolling (except for some breakdowns) and the kids are enjoying these last few weeks with no snow and bitter wind so the swing set in the backyard has been as busy as ever.

This also means is that I am having to re-balance my entire schedule (and life in general) to accommodate harvest and had to figure out some new ways to squeeze in running.

However, I am STILL running!  I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for having stuck with any sort of athletic activity consistently for over a month.  This is a new record for me.

I set another new record last week too.

I forgot my phone when I went into the YMCA.  Which meant no Couch to 5K app.

So I winged it, and decided to push myself to run/walk a whole 5K (3.1 miles) just had to see if I could do it.

By golly, I DID IT!!! It took me 47 minutes, but I DID IT!

So for the next week, I'm going to "just keep running" (as I'm sure "Dory" would tell me)...



And I'm going to keep fueling up with delicious and nutritious beef...



(I didn't make this salad, some great folks at a restaurant did, but boy was it GOOD!)

 

 

 

My family likes this new exercise routine so much, even the farm cats want to go running :)

Looking forward to seeing some old friends and making some new ones on October 6th at the Beefin' It Up- Fuel For the Finish 5K!

 



 

Thanks for stopping by! - Sarah :)

Thankful Thursday: Mama's View of Wheat Harvest

Oh how I long to be behind the wheel of one of those big machines, be it the combine which collects the grain, or the tractor trailer (aka "semi") hauling grain to the storage bin or the grain elevator.  I only get to be a farm equipment operator on rare occasions these days. 

You see, as the only child in my family, I was expected to help on the farm and be son my father never had. 

No problem for me, I was quite the tomboy, so I grew up running farm equipment, helping Dad repair equipment, sand blasting, etc.  Even in our dating days and early marriage, Jeremy was teaching me to be an official farm hand.  I loved it, but it seemed that God had other plans, because we were only 5 weeks into our marriage when we got pregnant with C.W., which was such an answer to prayer :) 

So today, having been blessed with three little ones ages four, two, and three months, and two jobs off the farm, one with a farm organization, the other as a professional speaker, I'm not only booked up, but it isn't a safe situation to have such little ones around such large equipment with Mama's attention divided. 

 

I know my time will come, when the kids are a little older, and I will wait patiently for the "equipment operator" chapter of my life.  Okay, those of you who know me, know that, in reality, I wait patiently for NOTHING, but I'm hoping the good Lord will help me "embrace my place" and enjoy these precious moments with my little ones for the precious gift that they are. 

 

So here's a little glimpse into the view from Mama's seat, not the one high up in the combine or the semi, but from the driver's seat of the family pick-up that the children named "Hi Ho Silver".  I'm the official "go-fer"...I "go-fer" supper...I "go-fer" parts...you get my drift :) 

The day I snapped these pics, we were working on wheat harvest. Yields were disappointing due to the goofy weather we had this spring/summer, but I always say something is better than nothing to harvest.

I had parked on an approach (little driveway across the ditch) into the field. I knew that a truck would be arriving soon to get filled with grain, but I stayed there because I didn't want to leave the pickup running in the tall wheat stubble (can we say fire hazard?) and we needed some air circulation and the Curious George story on CD to keep playing :)

So there I was sitting, when the baby got hungry. Sure enough, as soon as he'd settled into nursing, I had to move the pickup. So I put it into drive and got out of the way of the truck. I think this earns me a gold medal in multi-tasking :)  Of course, I would NEVER do this on a road, but in a smooth field, for a short distance, it worked. And it made me laugh. Being a farmwife and mother, I am constantly doing things that I'd never imagined doing in a million years. 

I love my life :)

- Sarah

"Farm Tech" Exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry

WELCOME...

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the "Farm Tech" exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I hope that someday you will get a chance to see it too!

The place is HUGE! As you enter the exhibit you are greeted by a real-life tractor!

I had fun trying out the combine simulator. Inside the cab a recording of a local ag report was even on the radio! You'll see they've got some real corn plants that blend right into the GIANT screen.

This combine simulator is a real combine, it's just running really sssssllllllooooowwwwww....this way you can see how all the parts move and the corn is harvested. They also have video kiosk's surrounding each piece of equipment so you can learn more detail about how the machines work.

There are some FUN stops too! This life size cow photo op. was a big hit with the kiddos (and their parents who were snapping away)!

Even with all my ag. experience, I learned a lot. Throughout the exhibit there are "farm facts" along the walls. I was so happy to see that the exhibit really embraced and celebrated the innovations in agriculture that have helped us to have such a safe and abundant food supply!

I even found my self-portrait! This soybean farmer welcomed me into her kitchen....

Where I found chocolate cake.... yum...

...and the icing on the cake (pun intended) was that I learned that soybean farmers (like my family) provide so many of the ingredients that I use to cook with everyday in my own kitchen!

For example, the chickens that made the eggs for this cake were fed a diet containing soybean meal, the wheat flour was fortified with soy flour for added protein and vitamins, the oil in the cake is made from soybeans, and the chocolate icing contains soybean oil to help it maintain it's liquid form!

Hope you enjoyed this "virtual visit" to the Farm Tech exhibit!

For more information:

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/farm-tech/