Farm Life

Pumpkins

As the summer draws to a close and fall takes over, it’s finally time to harvest your summer’s hard work in the shape of a pumpkin. I have spent a lot of time this summer researching pumpkins. This is the first year I’ve tried to grow pumpkins. In the past, I’ve dumped pumpkin seeds in a fence row and had voluntary pumpkins grow, but now is time to learn about pumpkins.

I planted 2 types of pumpkins this summer. 

The first was from seed.

When Jody was here helping plant marigolds and my Blackberry Bush, we also planted pumpkin seeds. In the past, I’ve had good luck just throwing pumpkin guts away in the fall after carving jack-o-lanterns. They wind up in a fence row. Come next spring/summer plants start growing. But a pumpkin is 90% water and if you don’t water them in a dry summer, they won’t survive.

The second type of pumpkin was a store-bought plant. I bought it at the local farm store. It was a Bonnie Plant – Pumpkin Heirloom Jack-O-Lantern. (more…)

How to Get Rid of Squash Bugs

Squash bugs are enough to drive you crazy. You walk out and your garden is growing just fine one minute, and the next there is a crapton of some weird bugs that will drive you mad. Squash bugs seem to appear out of nowhere. One minute nothing and the next BAM! I have no clue where they came from or how they found me, but they did. Stupid bugs.

What are Squash Bugs?

(more…)

Sweet Corn vs Field Corn

Isn’t all corn the same? Well, no. Sweet corn is the type of corn that you grow in your personal garden or you buy at the store, Farmer’s Market, etc. Field Corn is what you’ll see in fields as you drive through Nebraska (or Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, etc). You’ll see the Farmer’s out in the field planting with a big planter and harvesting with a combine. The other big difference is when it is peak harvest time.

Similarities and Differences

(more…)

North Platte, Nebraska – Kohler Trailer Sales, Holiday Inn Express, Good Life on the Bricks, Scout’s Rest Ranch, Canteen Grille

So… From Ogallala, Nebraska, we headed toward North Platte. Hubby spent the morning in Ogallala trying to get the trailer fixed, but it just wasn’t going to happen. We used a chain to tie up the back axel and off to North Platte we went. We turned off I-80 onto some back roads. About that time the little asked where we were. I jokingly said I don’t know… On a road somewhere in the middle of Nebraska!?!? About all I knew. I wasn’t even sure where we were headed other than North Platte which was 50 miles East on I-80.

Now if you don’t know why it matters that we lost the wheel bearing… here’s why… Do you see that gap in the wheel? That’s where the bearing sits. Now, I’m no expert! Trust me. But basically, that’s metal on metal plus the axel can be bent if you don’t take care of it properly. I won’t go into the details because I’m no expert. From Ogallala, they sent us to North Platte to Kohler Trailer Sales.

Kohler Trailer Sales
3821 W Rodeo Rd Ave
North Platte, NE

We pulled into their parking lot before lunchtime on Tuesday. They were full that day but told us they would get us on the books the next morning and try to get us back on the road. So we dropped the trailer and our truck off and headed to the Holiday Inn Express.

Holiday Inn Express
300 Holiday Frontage Rd
North Platte, NE

This time we had a double queen room. Now, I have to say, I think I liked the bathroom set up better in Ogallala, but this was a very nice room. This hotel had a pool as well. Due to Covid-19, they had some rules in place for using the pool. You were signed up for pool time and were allowed 45 minutes. They limited it to 18 people in the room (I think it was. I do remember it was a few more than Ogallala). (more…)

Holiday Inn Express, Open Range Grill, Scooter’s Coffee – Ogallala Nebraska

So let me tell you about the week I spent in Ogallala, Nebraska Monday afternoon. Yes, you read that correctly :). A week one afternoon. How does that happen? Well, let me tell you…

First off, here’s the story that leads us to Ogallala.

The weekend before Memorial Day, we headed off to Greenville, Texas, to trade hubby’s truck off. Since he got the 2013 that he now drives, he’s taking better care of it. It’s a gorgeous truck by the way!! I’m happy he’s taking care of it.

But, we do farm work. During the summer we bale hay. And if you have any kind of luck as we do… you know that machinery breaks constantly. So his truck was getting overrun with tools to fix said hay machinery. He really didn’t want that. So we bought a toolbox to put in the bed of the truck. At least kept the tools off the back floorboard.

While that worked a little, he still wasn’t totally happy with that option, so we started looking for a farm truck that he could deck out with the tools necessary to fix anything as well as a fuel tank and a bale spike to move hay with, etc.

So he got on Purplewave and started just watching trucks. Low and behold, he bid on a truck, really thinking he’d get outbid… until he didn’t. Yup, we won said truck. And said truck was located in Ogallala, NE.

Off to Ogallala, NE

He told me late last week that we might be making a quick trip to Ogallala, NE. I started laughing for 2 reasons. 1) why? and 2) back in college I had to write a paper for a short story class. I took a story my uncle told me and of course embellished it a bit. I didn’t know what my uncle’s hometown was at the time I wrote the paper (just knew he was from Nebraska) so I made the story take place in Ogallala. I’d never been there or really even knew where it was. I just looked at a map, I thought it was a fun name, and chose it. (more…)

Bull or Heifer (but not mine, just so we’re clear)

It’s so interesting the things that have come about this year. 2020, you’re sure keeping us on our toes. So one of the interesting things is the debate about gender reveals. Some love them and others think it’s wrong. I’m not sure why it’s wrong. I think it’s fun. 

A friend of mine put out a Facebook request for cookies for a gender reveal. Someone mentioned me and that friend hit me up. Asked if I’d be willing to do them. Of course.

(more…)

Planting Blackberry Bushes

This poor blackberry bush kind of became a laughing stock at my house. Why? Well… because, here we are in June and I bought it at the end of April. So what? Well… I just planted it yesterday.

I know, I know. It’s been living in the pot that I bought it in. That’s not a good thing really. The root system gets used to that size and then the plant could be stunted. But I wasn’t really sure where to plant it.

Jody came over yesterday and she and I went around planting stuff. We planted Marigolds in the garden as well as a couple of pumpkin plants. And… we planted the infamous Blackberry Bush. FINALLY. 

Some things to keep in mind when planting a Blackberry Bush: (more…)

Garden #2

Yes, you read that title correctly. I started my first garden in March. It sounded like a good thing… but garden number 2. Now I think I’ve seriously lost my mind. So here’s how we got to this point…

When I finally decided to start a garden, I had 2 places chosen. One was where the original garden went in and the second was this spot.

There were pros and cons to each spot that was chosen.

Original garden

  • Pros
    • Closer to the house
    • Closer to water
  • Cons
    • Less potential space
    • Trees in the yard to contend with

This garden area

  • Pros
    • Larger area
    • Very few items to compete with (i.e. trees)
    • Lots of sunlight
  • Cons
    • Harder to get water to 

Because of this… the other area was chosen. Then, I started to have “issues” getting my corn to grow (or so I thought at the time). So yesterday morning I decided I was going to start a garden in the second location

(more…)

What Started Out As (Part 2)…

Who would have thought that mowing a lawn would have turned into this?

When we were told to stay indoors and social distance… I felt like I was lucky. I live in the country. I can easily social distance outside… and I’ve done just that. Plus, when you own livestock, you can’t just ignore them! Whew! So I’ve made myself busy this year both by landscaping my house and then moving on to my parent’s house. I did convince my dad to help me. He might not have been as crazy about the idea though. haha.

I really didn’t have much of an idea, but my goal was to clean up my parent’s house and lay mulch like crazy. I love the way the red mulch looks. (more…)

I’ve Been Painting

I painted another purple cat again…

If you didn’t know this about me, I absolutely LOVE red trucks. Old red trucks, but I drove a new red truck (2014) for 2 years (hubby drove it for about 2 before that or so). I used to hate red vehicles, but gosh, not anymore. Especially after driving one. On that note, I still hate black vehicles and I’ve owned 2 of those (plus hubby’s 3 black trucks). Anyway… moving on.

A few years ago it seemed like we saw the old red truck with a Christmas tree in the bed everywhere. I wasn’t sure what the infatuation was, but then I figured it out. First off, it became a thing because it brings back that nostalgic Christmas. That Christmas everyone wants to have in a snowy cabin, hiking out to pick out the perfect tree.. yada yada yada. (more…)