Cotton 101

Have you ever wondered how cotton goes from this...

To this?

I didn't think so. But to clear up any future confusion, I've decided to tell you!

Squares form on the stem...

This is a square about to bloom...

(those dirty farmer hands are not mine! lol)

The bloom is about to open...

The open blooms can either be pink or white...

The bloom dries up...

And a boll forms behind it...

The bloom falls off, and here is the boll...

The bolls have just recently started to form, and in September, we spray defoliant on the cotton, which makes the cotton shed it's leaves. A couple of weeks later, fields of ready to pick cotton!

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Here's Jim spraying our peanuts.

Lance dug a few peanuts up yesterday. If you dig up one square foot of peanuts, count them, and multiply it by 40lbs, you can get an idea of how many pounds you will have per acre. We're hoping for around 2 tons per acre.

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This is what our corn is looking like now. I'm a horrible farm wife because I still haven't made it to the soybean fields to take a picture of them.

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After waiting 2 years to get approval for cost share money from the NRCS, we have finally begun building our dry stack beside the chicken houses to store our litter!

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Here's what our house looks like now. The siding is almost finished, and they are about half way done with the roof!

They've started working on the porch floor too. We're using artificial lumber instead of treated wood, so it won't rot, and I won't get a splinter!

This is the landing for the steps going out the back of the living room onto the patio.

They've finished the steps going into the attic and the landing coming out of the kitchen.

They've also framed the bonus/storage room upstairs.

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I know this has nothing to do with farming or house building, but these might be some of the best cookies I have ever eaten!

The recipe came from Suzanne at Chickens in the Road

Honey Roasted Peanut-Chocolate Drops

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts

1 1/2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (about 30 mini)

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter. Add brown sugar, sugar, baking soda, and salt; beat. Mix in eggs, milk, and vanilla, beating again. Stir in flour with a spoon. Add chocolate chips, honey roasted peanuts, and chopped peanut butter cups. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes (depending on size of cookies).