My Crazy Life...

Potato Harvest Part 2: Cousins & Food

           Of course, this is the kids' most favorite part of harvest. The part that they look forward to all year long...it's like anticipating Christmas. A time when they spend the entire day at grandma's house, with all of their cousins...and lots of delicious food. Here's how it all works:

Grandma wakes up bright and early and puts a Roast, Turkey or Ham in the oven. Later in the morning, I arrive with my brood of four, and the kids quickly get to work. Sandi & Kaylynn (mi sis-in-laws) drive truck, so their kids usually hang out and "help" at grandma's. My other sis-in-law, Lisa, also drives truck, and her lovely (and ketchup obsessed) daughter, Ashley (who is 17), helps out with the food and all of the "chaos" with the children. While we prepare yummy dishes like mashed potatoes, Cheesy potatoes (are you surprised we eat potatoes?) corn, carrots, broccoli salad, gravy etc. the kids keep busy playing outside in the sandbox, riding bikes in the shop, swimming in gram's hot tum, making halloween crafts (grandma always has lots of fun halloween crafts for them to make) and eating all of the treats that grandma has stocked up for them. Once the food is prepared, the kids all sit down for lunch while the workers from the field slowly arrive and get their fill. For lunch, we feed only family members...but it is still a lot of people.

 

Once lunch is over and the mess cleaned, I head home to let the two little girls take a nap. Once they wake up, it is back to grandma's (luckily, she lives next door) to start dinner. Dinner is the same every night (it makes things a lot easier). We feed everyone who works for us...so there is a lot to do. We make a special homemade treat every other day. So far, we have made pumpkin chip cookies with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, Vanilla Cinnamon Rolls (2DIE4...recipe is in the current Taste of Home),

Chocolate Sheet Cake and White Sheet Cake. Grandma cooks the burgers and hotdogs outside on the grill,

Ashley and I add condiments and cheese and wrap the hamburgers.

   

After we load a few boxes of drinks, chips and treats into the back of the truck (or the food wagon), the kids all load into the back (very illegal, I know...but hey, we are talking about farming...we have to do things old fashioned...no car seats or buckles here) and we head off to the field.

Once we arrive at the field, everyone stops work and the hungry farmers come to eat... This first photo is my farmer...isn't he cute?

The girls sit in the field and eat their dinner...

Lily DEVOURS a hot dog or two...

Kate prefers hamburgers...

But they both enjoy Cheetos...

The boys usually end up running around, rolling in the dirt and throwing potatoes at each other (and when I say boys, I mean the children, and my husband)...

And for some strange reason, when I try to take pictures of everyone else eating their dinner, I get dirty looks (hee hee)...

 

After we feed everyone in the field, we head to the cellar to feed the rest of the crew. The kids run around, help pick potatoes and just "hang out" together...

    

After dinner, I have to drag the kids home (crying of course, because they can't stand the thought of leaving their cousins or their grandma). They have to strip down in the mud room and then they each head in for bath time. The next day, the whole thing starts over again.

Potato Harvest Part I

    As promised, I have lots to share about potato harvest. Unfortunately, we woke up to snow and rain this morning (see photos below)...so while we get a day off, it really isn't all that great because we all just want to get it done and over with. Typically, harvest lasts about 2 weeks. We usually go over 2 weeks because of the amount of ground we farm and factoring in missed days for weather.

Harvesting potatoes is a lot different than harvesting other crops. Because the potatoes are underground, it makes harvesting them a little different. Breakdowns on equipment happen quite often because of the nature of digging underground...you are dealing with moisture, dirt and foreign objects such as rocks. Here is how it all works:

Potatoes are grown in rows, and as I mentioned in my blog before, all of the greenery on the plant is killed before harvest. With our equipment, we dig 10 rows at a time. We have two Crossovers that dig 4 rows each. Each of the Crossovers dig the outer four rows (of the 10 rows) and dumps them in the middle where two rows are left.

Then, the Harvester comes along.  As it digs the remaining two rows, it also brings all of the pototoes left behind by the crossovers into the machine. A high powered vaccum sucks up all of the potatoes and leaves the rocks in a seperate compartment to dispose later. The potatoes follow a series of conveyers that eventually bring them to the boom. The potatoes are then loaded into a truck that drives under the boom, through the field until full.

Once the trucks are full, the potatoes are driven to the cellar. At the cellar, the trucks are backed up to the epquipment where the poatoes are unloaded. The spuds are slowlyloaded and taken through a series of conveyer belts.  The small potatoes are eliminated, or moved into a separate pile. All of the regular potatoes are passed along a series of equipment and conveyers where dirt clumps, rotten potatoes, rocks and foreign matter are removed by hand. They are then taken into the cellar where a piler stacks the spuds as high as possible.   

The potatoes will remain in the cellar until they are needed. We usually sell our potatoes to Lamb Weston (these are the guys that make McDonald's french fries...so next time you eat a McDonald's fry, it could be one of our potatoes) or to GPOD (Greater Potato & Onion District of Idaho). Of course, we also save enough potatoes for our family to eat throughout the year (and let me tell you...we eat a lot of them!).

Stay tuned for part two of the harvest experience...

Quick Update...

Things are crazy around here... we are officially in potato harvest, and there isn't much free time. I am trying to keep up with work, kids, the house, laundry and everything else in life. I am taking lots of harvest photos, and I hope to share some soon. In the mean time, here are some other happenings:

Grace participated in the Firth Mini Cheerleader camp with her cousins, Lindsey and Hannah...they performed at the football game last week...she was so cute!

Lily and Kate celebrated their birthdays with a pizza party at grandma Christensen's house. Lily turned 2 & Kate turned 1. It has been a crazy year with these two so close, but I love them more than anything. I think that if I can make it through the first year with two babies so close, everything should be smooth sailing from here (at least I hope so!!!).

We spent Sunday evening picking all of the pumkins in the garden before the frost could get them. The kids are pretty proud of the load of pumkins that daddy grew.

     

The Bonnie-Bell Family...

I got to snap a few family photos for my good buddy, Bonnie, last night. I know she is probably dying to see them, so I am posting a few here to share...

 

Congratulations To....

Posted by: Deb Wisker | September 11, 2007 at 01:59 PM

Posted by: Kayla Ehnat | September 11, 2007 at 07:55 PM

Posted by: Lois | September 13, 2007 at 07:32 PM

Thanks so much to everyone for the comments...I wish I had even more books to give away! Please email me if you see your name above so that I can get shipping info from each of you.

I'll be the first to admit that it has been a tough week here at the Christensen residence. David is getting ready to dig potatoes and he is stressed and hardly around. The kids are battling runny noses and Kate has ear infections. I seems like none of them want to listen to mom (especially Lily). Do you ever have one (or several) of those days when you just feel like a total failure as a parent? I have felt this way all week. It is very trying (to say the least) being a parent to four little ones. I feel like I can't give each of them the individual attention that they need, and I sometimes feel like they resent me for that. I try really hard to give them each some sort of special attention throughout the day, but sometimes, it just doesn't seem like enough. Russell likes to dissapear and head to grandma's house (she lives next door). He would go there every day if I let him. He loves being the center of attention, and being the only one there. Grandma also spoils him, so of course, he loves that. On Tuesday, my grandmother came over to help me can spaghetti sauce. Russell dissapeared to grandma's house...and when I arrived to check on him, this is what I found...

He was asleep on the mower with grandma. I tried to get him to come home, but he wouldn't have it. He stayed at grandma's most of the day. Grandma even taught him how to drive the mower and she helped him mow most of my yard. I am so thankful for her patience and the time that she spends with him...it makes him feel so special.

I did finish my spaghetti sauce though...it is one of the best sauces I have ever eaten. I found the recipe here. I followed the recipe, but I chose to add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and lots more garlic. I love this recipe because I love thick and chunky sauce...with lots of vegetables, and this recipe calls for all sorts of good things like banana & green peppers, onions, mushrooms etc.

When I finally finished cleaning up the kitchen, I was having difficulty keeping Lily off of the cupboard and out of the sink. She has found that she can climb right up the drawer banks and get onto the cupboard. After several time outs, she finally quit climbing up onto the cupboard, but when I came back into the room, this is what I found...looks safe huh?

And...believe it or not, as I was taking pictures of Lily, I heard some noise back in Kate's room. And luckily, my camera was already in tote. She had removed her pants and her diaper, and she had emptied her dresser...what a stinker! I know these little "incidents" look so much sweeter on film...and taking photos is a lot easier than getting mad...so I snapped away.

I am trying to finish up a few scrapbooking assignments during the small amount of spare time I have. We are starting our annual potato harvest and things are going to be crazy for a few weeks. I am going to be cooking for a LOT of people in the harvest...I promise to take lots of photos. 

Lots of Stuff...

    First off, the new Making Memories Idea Book, A Season of Joy just arrived on my doorstep the other day! It is a wonderful idea book, and I found so many fun ideas to incorporate into my holiday scrapbooking projects! I thought I would share a few of my projects from the book, and I also have several extra copies of the book that I would LOVE to give away! Please leave a comment below and I will give away several copies! Here are my projects from the the book...

 

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month? I have to admit that I have had the sewing bug lately...I am in the mood to sew and quilt. What better to get me motivated than an assignment from Fiskars? Check out my baby bib and Yo Yo Hair Clips on their website!!! I have a few other projects coming up, but I can't share them until they debut on the web.

My camera has been keeping really busy lately...so once again, I have lots of photos to share! First off, my little sister, Tawsha. She is 38 weeks pregnant...and she is really looking forward to getting this baby here! Isn't she cute? And second, my other little sister, Shelby who is just too adorable. LOVE her beatiful red hair! I actually read somewhere that red heads will be extinct in another 100 years...they say that not enough red heads are meeting up and getting married/having children, and the red hair trait is being dominated and smashed out by all the other genetics. Crazy huh?!?! And lastly, just a bunch of random photos of my kiddos...I can't stop taking photos of them lately...everything they do and say is so cute!

   

Now, I know, I know...I just share a lot of photos. In case you didn't notice, I am a very visual person (thus my blog posts ALWAYS have photos). I can't help but sharing all of the these fun photos of my kiddos being kids...so please excuse the long post...

First off, I picked up these ADORABLE PJ's for my little girls at Wal-Mart yesterday...yes, Wal-Mart...they were super cheap, and I am in love with the owl print! The girls were playing together so cute last night after they got out of the bath tub...

This morning, I heard non-stop giggling from the living room, so I had to investigate. Russell had both of his little sisters on his blanket (I know...a Betty Boop blanket...not very typical for a boy, but he loves the old Betty cartoons, so his cousin Ashley made him this cute blanky for Christmas last year) and he was pulling them around on the wood floor. It was so cute...and luckily, the camera was close by. Check out Kate's face on the second photo...

These final photos are just some random pics...thanks for being patient with my inability to keep cute photos of my kids to myself ;0) Don't forget to leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for some of the new MM idea books!

      

My most favorite season...

    ...is of course, Fall. I can't imagine a more beautiful time of year. The kids headed to a primary activity this morning at church, and Kate, Lily and I decided to take a walk and go pick them up from the activity on foot. It was such a beautiful day. Kate & Lily loved the wagon ride, and Grace and Russ were busy picking flowers for my never-ending-bouquet. They always make sure that if one set of flowers die, that another set replaces them right away. I have always got a hand picked bouquet in my kitchen. I'm so lucky...   

After our walk, we decided to check up on daddy and see how things were coming on the farm. They finally finished working all of the ground and daddy was loading up the grain drill to start planting winter wheat. The grain has to be cleaned and coated with a special powder that protects the seed from bugs and rott...and then it goes into a grain cart. The cart dumps the grain into the grain drill, and then off they go. Russ decided that his dad needed a little extra help today. He loves spending every minute in the tractor that he can!

   Another favorite from this time of year, is the smells of fall. Freshly plowed dirt...and as strange as it may be, I love the smell of the acid they use on the crops. You see, potato vines are long and messy, and in order to dig/harvest them with ease, the vines need to be completely dead. There is a special acid that they spray over the vines to kill them and shrivel them up so that they don't get in the way during harvest. As weird as it may sound, they have a sweet smell that reminds me of the smell of a sweet tea. I am including a photo of what the potato fields look like at this point. There are just a bunch of rows with dead vines. Starting in a couple of weeks, we will be harvesting the spuds and storing them in the cellars. Here in our neck of the woods, kids actually get a 2 week vacation for "Spud Harvest" so that kids can work in the potato harvest. My kids look forward to it all year long...they love spending time together with all of their cousins, and they love working together. I promise I will have lots more to share when harvest arrives!!!

In MOMMY news this week...

      Laundry is hung out on the line...bread is baked...things are clean (kind of)...and did I mention the number of times I have cleaned up puke in the past few days? Well, to be honest, I really can't give you an exact number, cause I lost count! It all started the other day...my mother, sister and I decided that while Russell and Grace were at school, we could handle the two little ones long enough to grab some lunch and go to the fabric store. We arrived at our lunch destination to find it bustling with the usual lunch crowd. When we finally got our yummy food, we got settled into our chairs. I look up to see Lily saying "choke". I was alarmed thinking that she had choked on her lunch...but soon enough the head gates were opened. She began spewing fourth projectile vomit like crazy. I looked over at the woman next to us, and she looked a little blue in the gills. It was almost one of those panic moments where you just kind of freeze...I didn't know what to do. Then lo, and behold, it came again. If any of you know my Lily, she LOVES milk...and she had just drank a big sippy cup full of it. And if you know much about milk and vomit, you know that they just don't mix. For fear that the volcano child would errupt again, I reached over the table to grab her and run outside. As we were exiting the building...BLEHHHHHH all over in front of the door....BLEHHHHH on the sidewalk......BLEHHHHHH on mom.....BLEHHHHHH on mom again. Thank the Lord I had on a sweatshirt with a t-shirt underneath, because my sweatshirt was soaked (I didn't know that a little girl could hold so much in her tummy). So, here I am outside the lunch location, covered in puke, with a daughter covered in puke, a sidewalk and entryway covered in puke, and a table inside covered in puke. My Lily is screaming and it is pouring rain. I have no keys to my car (I left them inside...and I don't know where my mom and sister are, and I am certainly not going back in there). Everyone is staring at me as they walk into the store (stepping in the puke mind you...cause they are so busy watching me and Lil, that they just don't watch where they are going). Soon enough my mom and sister emerge with Katie. They stayed inside to clean up as best as they could. I am surprised my sister didn't start spewing fourth...she is super duper pregnant and due in 3 weeks. We stripped Lily down to her diaper and I took off my soaking sweatshirt. It was a long 30 minute drive home...and it was raining so hard that we couldn't put the windows down to dampen the smell. After the shock wore off,  I felt like I was going to die! I was so embarrassed, and I felt so awful for ruining everyones lunch. But what could I do? She hadn't acted the least bit sick, and now, even after three days of puking, she still gets really hyper in between her vomiting episodes. I guess it's just one of those things that you have to deal with as a parent. I hope she gets better soon! I have been babying her and holding her...and letting her watch TV in my bed (of course the whole thing is covered with a giant blanket in case of any accidents)...and as sick as she is, I think she is loving all of the extra attention. Katie wants her to play...I just want her to get better soon. POOR THING!!! (check out the pics of my sweet little sick girl)

Other than cleaning up puky messes, we did bake some bread today...I tried a recipe different from my usual...I saw it on Hilary's blog...it is soooooooooo yummy! You can find the recipe here. Please ignore my goofiness in the photos and  the mess in my cupboards...I am still without doors on the cabinets)

And in Kate news...she now has FOUR teeth! She went from none to 4 in no time, so as  you can imagine, it has been a little hectic around the house. She has two on top and two on bottom. She is finally starting to pull herself up on things and walk along a bit. I can hardly believe that she is going to be a year old soon!

Cute Family...

I took some family  photos for my Sister in Law last night...and I wanted to share...aren't they a cute family???

This Week...

Where do I begin...well, Russell started preschool...and thank the Lord, he was actually a really good boy. I was really worried, because the poor kid, as tough and boyish as he may be, he is just a softie when it comes to leaving mommy! He did great...and he LOVES school. I am so relieved!!! I have to share our "after-school-conversation" on the first day...

MOM: How was your first day of school buddy?

RUSS: Good!

MOM: Are there any cute girls in your class?

RUSS: Yeah, but most of them are DUMB!!

MOM: Really? Well, who are the cute ones?

RUSS: None of them mom. They are all dumb.

MOM: Hmmmmm....

RUSS: It's ok though, because their moms think they're cute.

I had to giggle. Also, he keeps telling me about a boy in his class who wears girl shoes, and a girl back pack and plays with dolls. I explained to him that it could just be a girl with short hair. Sure enough, the next day, I scoped it out, and there was a little girl with short hair. I still can't convince him that it is a girl. He is absolutely sure that it is a boy who likes girl things. Kids are so funny. On day 2, he asked that I stay in the car and not walk him  in to class...NICE...I can't believe I thought he would have a hard time leaving mom...

We also stopped by my great grandma's house this week. Yes...my kids have a great great grandma still living. I know it is rare...and she is such a special grandma. Can you believe she still lives alone in her house? I feel really guilty because we don't get over to visit as often as we should. I hate the fact that life is so fast paced that we can't even make time to visit loved ones. Lily was so cute...she just warms right up to grandma, and she loved getting to all of the things in her house. Grandma is 98 years old...and she is still as sharp as can be. I am so glad we made the effort to stop by...

  A HOUSE UPDATE...unfortunately, things still aren't finished up at our home. But...I am glad to say that at least one room is complete...the dining room furniture was delivered on Saturday. I ended up buying it from Ashley Furniture... (thanks to Ashley Hollis' advice...I think she has this same table). The kitchen cabinets are installed, but the doors are not finished yet. The tile backsplash is done, but the installer did a HORRIBLE job...so we are going to make them redo it. Someday, things will be complete enough for me to share more photos. My giant laundry/mud room is pretty much done, but I am sewing curtains for the windows, so I don't want to share photos until those are complete. I hope to have more photos soon...

And last (and most likely LEAST)...we took the kids to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. I don't know why we went...I have never liked the fair, but I always worry that my kids will feel left out if I don't take them.  I can't imagine a worse place to take a family...dirty, nasty people, Carnies, lots of crowds...it is just not my thing. And I swear that the freaks come out of the woodworks to attend this thing. We only stayed long enough to grab some greasy (but yummy) food. The kids were dissapointed that we didn't go on rides, but I just can't stand to let them go on rides that are filthy and operated by druggies. Thank goodness for the animal barns. The kids loved seeing the animals. I enjoyed the 4-H building and the photography/quilting displays (I always love looking at the fun things kids creat in 4-H...it seems like the kids nowadays just don't know how to do anything with their hands anymore, and it's refreshing to see some children learning to do something besides hanging out with friends) ....but we were glad to finally get out of there!

OHHHHH...and I made this for dinner last night. These are so yummy, and my kids love them! I like to make them for David when he is in grain harvest, because they are super yummy, but easy to eat on the go (he can eat them and still drive the combine ). You should try them...I promise it will be worth it!