The Life of a Farmer's Wife

Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

2012-01-24T18:06:00.001-06:00

In honor of today being "National Peanut Butter Day", and the fact that we're peanut farmers, I thought I would share some interesting peanut facts!

Did You Know?

There are enough peanuts in one acre to make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches. That means that since we grew 150 acres of peanuts, we produced 4,500,000 peanut butter sandwiches.

It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12 oz. jar of peanut butter. Who knows how many jars we produced!

Peanut Butter was the secret behind TV's Mr. Ed.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup was introduced to America in 1928.

The average American eats over 6lbs of peanuts/peanut butter products in a year.

Peanuts are naturally cholesterol free (but take it from me, don't go out to the field and eat a whole bunch of raw ones, they are not tummy ache free!).

The peanut isn't actually a nut, it is a legume.

About half of the peanuts grown in the U.S. are grown within a 100 mile radius of Dothan, AL, which is 250 miles south of us!

Peanuts are also called "Goober Peas".

For more peanut facts visit National Peanut Board.

Now, everybody go and make a fried peanut butter sandwich!

2011 BCS National Champs!!

2012-01-11T09:41:00.000-06:00

So...guess what I had tickets to on Monday?

Yep!

This year's game was held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, LA.

If you've never been to New Orleans, it's right on the Mississippi River.

And of course, we had to visit Bourbon Street. I wasn't all that impressed. It smelled like sewage. Maybe it was just garbage day.

Anyways, back to what we came for...

This was the "Million Dollar Band" performing during pre-game.

Here is some more of the pre-game show.

The coin toss, which Bama won, by the way...

And here's some game play...

Some more...

This was part of the half time show. They had a lot of different high school bands that won a competition take part in it.

Hey LSU fans, where yall going? Honey Badger couldn't take what he wants? (I swear, if I saw one more shirt/pin that said "Honey Badger takes what he wants", I was going to scream. If you don't know who that is, he's #7 with LSU.)

Trophy Presentation!

Nick Saban hoisting the Coach's Trophy on the big screen.

Confetti! Whoo!!

Final score = 21-0!!

Roll Tide!!

And last but, but not least...Rammer Jammer!

You'll have to listen closely!

(Hey, Tigers! Hey, Tigers!

We just beat the hell outta you!

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer,

Give 'em hell Alabama!)

Dieters Beware!

2012-01-06T20:13:00.000-06:00

Because you will gain 15 pounds just by reading this post! I've compiled all the desserts that I have made in the past few months and posted them below. Hope you enjoy...Remember, I warned you!

Triple Chocolate Pound Cake

(Yes, I got carried away with the frosting.)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup sour cream OR 3 to 4 oz. cream cheese (almost half or half of an 8-oz. block), softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 to 1 Tablespoon half & half (if you’re using 3/4 cup cocoa powder–see below–use 1 Tablespoon of half & half)

1/2 to 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 to 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan. In large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sour cream (or cream cheese). Add sugar and blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add half & half, blending well; then stir in cocoa powder and mix well. Add the flour and blend well; then fold in the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Put batter into the prepared 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees for 70-80 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or almost clean (because it’s so dense and fudgy, the toothpick may not come out entirely clean; my baking time for the sour cream version was 75 minutes and 80-85 minutes for the cream cheese version). Cool in pan about 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely (you may need to loosen the upper edges of the cake a little with a knife; then the cake will come out of the pan very easily). While the cake is cooling, you can make the frosting…

RICH CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tbsp. half & half

1/4– 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, for garnish

Cream the softened butter and powdered sugar. Then add in the cocoa powder and blend well. Add 1 Tbsp. half & half and mix well (if you’d rather have a thinner consistency, just add more half & half). When pound cake is completely cool, spoon all of the frosting on top of the cake and spread out to cover the top–you’ll have a nice thick layer of frosting! Then garnish with the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, sprinkling down the center of the cake.

Reese's Peanut Butter Bark

(I forgot the peanuts, but it was still good!)

2 packages (4 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar, broken into pieces

1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

1 tablespoon shortening

1/2 cuproasted peanuts or toasted almonds, coarsely chopped

Cover cookie sheet or tray with wax paper. Place chocolate in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chocolate is melted and smooth when stirred. Immediately place peanut butter chips and shortening in second microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred; stir in peanuts. Alternately spoon above mixtures onto prepared tray; swirl with knife for marbled effect. Gently tap tray on countertop to even out thickness of mixture. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in cool, dry place. About 1 pound candy.

Reeses Krispies

(They sorta look like boiled cookies to me!)

1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Corn Syrup
1 1/3 Creamy Peanut Butter
4 1/4 Cup Rice Krispes
1 Pinch of Salt
4 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped
1 Handful Chocolate Chips

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, melt the sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter until smooth and evenly combined. Remove from heat. Quickly add the salt and cereal and stir to combine thoroughly. Add the chocolate chips and stir again. Wait about 1 min and add the candy, quickly folding the mixture together so as to not smash up the candy.Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop rounded tablespoons onto the sheet. Let cool and devour!

Colorful Sprinkle Cookies

(Not as pretty as they were supposed to be. They didn't get to stay in the fridge for as long as they were supposed to, so they smooshed when I sliced them.)

2	cups unsifted cake flour
½	teaspoon baking powder
¼	teaspoon salt
⅔	cup unsifted powdered sugar
¼	cup granulated sugar
2½	sticks unsalted butter
1	teaspoon vanilla
½	teaspoon strawberry(or other)extract
½	teaspoon(or more)Rose food coloring
2	tablespoon unsifted cake flour
1½	cups sprinkles

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugars in a food processor and process briefly to mix. Add the butter in pieces; process with on/off bursts until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal. Add the vanilla and process until the mixture just forms a ball. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions then return one of the portions to the food processor. Add the strawberry extract, food coloring, and the extra tablespoons of flour to the processor and process until just incorporated. Roll out each portion of dough between sheets of waxed paper. You want a rectangle about 11 × 8½ inches by ⅛ inch thick. Leave the dough between the sheets of waxed paper and slide onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. Remove dough pieces from refrigerator. Pour the sprinkles into a shallow rectangular dish (such as a 9 × 13-inch pan. Peel off the top sheet of waxed paper from both doughs. Brush the vanilla dough very lightly with water. Using the waxed paper, lift the strawberry dough and flip it onto the vanilla dough so they are stacked. Press with your fingertips to seal the two doughs together. Remove the top sheet of waxed paper and trim the edges even.

When the dough is just pliable (but still cold), roll up the dough(begin with the long side) like a jellyroll. As you begin to roll, gently curl the edge with your fingertips so you don’t get any air pockets as you roll dough into a log. As you roll, the vanilla portion may want to tear, pinch tears together as they happen and keep rolling. After forming the dough into a log, throw away the waxed paper. Gently lift the log on top of the sprinkles in the dish and roll until the log is completely coated. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to slice (from 4 hours to a week, or freeze for up to 2 months; defrost in the refrigerator overnight before slicing).

Heat oven to 325°. To bake, slice the log into ⅛- to ¼-inch-thick cookies and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 15 to 17 minutes, until the cookies are no longer shiny on top and the bottoms of the vanilla portion are golden.

Homemade Butterfingers

(A little funny looking, but yummy!)

1-2 packs candy corn

Peanut Butter (same amount of ounces as the candy corn

1 pack Almond Bark

Melt candy corn in microwave. Stir every 30 seconds. After melted, stir in peanut butter. Spread in buttered dish. Cool. Cut into squares or roll into balls. Coat with melted Almond Bark.

Smores Pie

(Almost forgot to take a picture!)

6 Regular sized Hershey Bars, broken into pieces

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup salted butter (1 stick)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 7oz container of Marshmallow Creme

wax paper

Preheat oven to 350° Spray a 9″ pie pan with baking spray. Beat butter and sugar together until combined. Add egg and vanilla. On low add flour, graham cracker crumbs and baking powder. Divide the dough in half. Press half the dough in the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie pan. Evenly spread the Marshmallow Creme over the bottom crust. Now spread the broken chocolate pieces on top of the Marshmallow Creme. Now, form the remaining dough into a ball and place on a piece of wax paper. Top with another piece of wax paper and flatten into a 9″ circle. Carefully peel the top piece of wax paper off. Flip the crust onto the top of the pie and peel the other piece of wax paper off.

Pinch the dough together to form the crust. Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely on wire rack and slice when ready to serve

Oreo Cheesecake

(I forgot to take a picture, so I had to swipe this one from pinterest!)

22 Oreos: 16 left whole, and 6 coarsely chopped

2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 F. Line 12 standard muffin tins and 4 ramekins (or 16 muffin tins, if you have them) with paper liners. Place 1 whole Oreo in the bottom of each lined cup. Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Pour in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand. Pour the batter into the prepared tins, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, 22-25 minutes. Cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, on a wire rack, then transfer to a plate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Reed's First Christmas!

2012-01-03T11:59:00.000-06:00

Well, Reed had a good Christmas, so I thought I'd share some photos!

He got a new John Deere Rocky Tractor...

A jumpy seat...

And a Bumbo!

Wiggley also had a good Christmas...

And so did we!

Ho Ho Ho!

2011-12-21T17:40:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-17T17:27:00.000-06:00

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Reed's First Four Months!

2011-12-02T17:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm way behind on this blogging deal, and especially with updating yall on Reed! I have been keeping a journal for Reed and taking a monthly picture, so I thought I'd share that!

________________________________________________

July 31-August 31, 2011

Boy were you a surprise! You decided to come, and you came! It was a Sunday morning about 5AM, and I woke up about 30 minutes before the alarm. We were getting up at 5:30 to go work the chickens before church. I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, so I got up and went. I laid back down and felt like I had to go again. Then I couldn't make that feeling go away. When your dad got up at 5:30, I was still in the bathroom and had started cramping. It went from every six minutes to every four minutes. Your dad called the hospital and they told us to come up there. When the doctor came in and said I was going to have a baby today, I almost passed out! You were 8 weeks early. I had to have a c section because you were turned wrong. At 10:19AM, you were born! You weighed 3lbs. 8ox and were 16" long. I got to see you for a split second, and then again around noon when they were getting ready to transport you to the NICU in Huntsville. I couldn't come visit you until I got out of the hospital on tuesday, but your dad and grandparents came to visit.

They had to use a uv light for jaundice a couple of days, and you were on a c-pap machine because sometimes you would forget to breathe. A few times you tried to yank that thing out, so they tried just using a canula up your nose. You showed them one day that you didn't need it because when we walked in, you had it in your mouth chewing on it. After about a week, you were moved from the intensive care unit to the critical care unit. There you stayed in an incubator.

You started getting "care time" every 3 hours. It was later changed to every 4 hours. That was when you got a diaper change, your temperature taken, and fed. If your dad and I were there, we could do it, but we could only hold you once a day for 15 minutes, the first time being when you were a week old.

You were fed only by a feeding tube for the first three weeks, then they tried a bottle once every 24 hours. Every time you drank a bottle good, they would increase how many bottles you would get a day. You had to take all bottles and be able to maintain your body temperature before you got to come home. You were having trouble staying awake while drinking your bottles, so it felt like it was taking forever for you to get to bottles only. When they changed you to "care time" every four hours, it clicked! You started drinking your bottles. You were drinking a whole 50 ccs, which is almost two ounces. You had to stay a few more days while you were working on maintaining your body heat. We learned how to give you a bath, and you broke us in by pooping on us. On my birthday, August 31st, they let you come home!

September 2011

We hardly slept at all the first few nights you were home! You are a very noisey sleeper, and we didn't know what all those noises meant! We finally learned what we could ignore, so we could get some sleep! Your Grami (my mom) stayed with us for a few days while we got settled in. You had your first doctor's appointment on September 2nd and you were 5lbs. 1 oz. and 18 3/4" long. Your second appointment was on September 9th, and you were 5lbs 12oz. You were gaining almost an ounce a day!

You have the gassiest little tummy, wow! You also developed a little bit of acid reflux. It looks like it hurts to drink sometimes and you spit up at random times. You weren't allowed to go anywhere for six weeks, so when I got to take you to Aunt Nell's for lunch, it was exciting! You also got your first stroller ride, which you slept through.

You're starting to hold your head up pretty good, even though it wobbles and falls over, and when I lay you on your tummy, I swear you try to crawl away. You've become attached to your "I Love My Doggie" blanket, and his arm always ends up in your mouth. You love trying to chew on things. You're also rolling back and forth pretty good! You never stay in one spot. Quite often, you have staring contests with the snail on your bouncy seat or the lion on your playmat. The lion's foot always ends up in your mouth.

You had one more doctor appointment, and you were 6lbs. 11oz and 20" long. The doctor said you were progressing well, so we shouldn't even consider you a preemie anymore! Which, by the way, you have outgrown all your preemie clothes!

Your Grami, Gran Gran (Lance's Mom), and Aunt Nell have all had turns babysitting you, and they say you're the best baby! You've also grown into an internet sensation. Everyone loves seeing the pictures I post online of you! You also met our dog, Wiggley, for the first time. He likes to lick your foot, and is afraid that you're going to eat his dog food.

October 2011

This month, we took you to church for the first time, and everyone thought you were so cute! Your feeding times are at 10, 2, and 6, so I feed you during Sunday School, and you usually sleep through preching. We also took you to your first Young Farmer's meeting, and after you ate, you looked around the whole time.

Your acid reflux and gas issues seem to be getting worse because that is really the only time you cry, unless you wake up really hungry. The doctor put you on Zantac, and it seems to be helping a little. I also give myou gas drops. We've learned not to lay you on your back for at least an hour after you've eaten because it makes you spitup. Before your Zantac started helping, you would have fussy spells that would start around 9PM and sometimes would last all night! I was losing lots of sleep! We finally found the cure! It was putting myou in your boppy pillow to sleep! Wow, what a difference! You even managed to sleep all night long a couple of times this month!

We started picking cotton this month, so when I go to the field, Aunt Nell babysits you. She also comes over in the mornings when I am in the chicken houses. We went down to Grami and Pop's on Talladega race weekend to spend the night. You went to church with Grami, while Pop and I went to the race. The last week of the month, your Great Granny came to stay with you for a week while we were in the field and Aunt Nell was gone.

For Halloween, you were the cutest hotdog I've ever seen. Everyone wanted to eat you up! I took you trick or treating and to Trunk or Treat at church. And before I forget, you have rolled over from your stomach to your back twice this month! You also met your friend Elijah (my best friend's baby, 1 month older than Reed) for the first time! You also had your first ride in the cotton picker!

November 2011

You are drinking a while 4oz of formula efvery four hours. You also get a teaspoon of rice cereal in every bottle. We add the cereal to help with your spitting up. The acid reflux doesn't seem to be causeing you as much pain as it used to, but you still spit up almost an entire bottle at least every couple of days.

You're starting to hold your head up pretty good, but you still get to wobbling like a bobble head sometimes. You've been compared to Stevie Wonder when he plays the piano. You're also starting to try to "talk" to us. You love to talk when you first wake up in the morning. This month, you've become quite attached to your swing and you love to be rocked. The bigger, the better!

We took you to Al and Mick's BBQ at lunch one day for your first "restaurant outing", which you slept through. You also slept through your first Farmer's Federation meeting! We took you to your first "dinner party" at the Clowdus', who own Snead Ag (the local John Deere dealer), and of course, like usual, you were the star of the party! I took you back to church and you tried talking to the Sunday School teacher all during class, and you even burped during prayer requests!

This month you finally outgrew your newborn clothes and moved into 0-3 months. You also moved from newborn to size one diapers! You also had your first Thanksgiving at your Grandad and Grandma Miller's (she can't decide what she wants to be called, Gran Gran, Grandma, Mawmaw) house.

December 2011

He's 11lbs 1oz and 22" long now.

I've got the picture, but you'll have to wait on the journal!

Farm Photo Friday!

2011-11-12T08:23:00.001-06:00

Yeah, I know it's Saturday, don't tell anyone.

Lance and Reed in the cotton picker.

Peanuts! Git Ur Peanuts!

2011-11-10T21:39:00.000-06:00

Since we just finished our peanuts and have less than 200 acres of cotton to go, I thought I would share some pictures from the peanut field! I hardly ever made it to the peanut field this year, unless I was bringing lunch, because I was always in the cotton field!

I took this picture in our backyard.

It's getting a little clearer...

Oh, there it is! The peanut combine!

This tractor is pulling the peanut inverter which basically grabs the peanut vines and flips them over, leaving the peanuts on top for the combine to get.

Here is a row of inverted peanuts. They have to dry for a few days before they are able to be combined.

There is so much more to peanuts, so if you would like, here are some "Peanut 101s" from the past couple of years!

Planting Peanuts

Harvesting Peanuts

Peanut Pickin' Videos

Cotton Defoliation

2011-10-29T23:03:00.000-05:00

Well, we're up to our eyeballs in cotton harvest, and since I've covered most everything else to do with cotton, I thought I would talk about defoliating cotton!

Here are my past "Cotton 101" posts if you have missed them:

Cotton Inc. and Spinning Mill Tour

Cotton Pickin' Videos

Ginning Cotton

Picking Cotton

Stages of Cotton Growth

When cotton is ready in the fall, the bolls start popping open, making the fields turn from green to white. When the bolls are 60% open, we spray a chemical called defoliant. The defoliant is also mixed with a boll opener.

Both of these chemicals speed up the boll opening/leaf sheding process. The fields are ready to be picked about 2 weeks later.

This is what the cotton field should look like when it is first sprayed.

This is what the fields should look like a few days later. Notice the leaves turning brown?

A few days later, the leaves are a little more brown and the cotton is a little more white.

Most of the bolls have now popped open and the leaves have been shed....

It's ready!

And that's when the fun begins!

Here is a close up of what is happening with the bolls themselves...

Here's a fun fact: Did you know that if the freeze (or a bush hog) didn't kill the cotton plant, it would grow to about 13 feet tall like a tree? Wild cotton does this in the jungles of Africa!

Hope you enjoyed learning a little more about cotton!

Corn Harvest!

2011-10-05T21:26:00.000-05:00

Since we just finished our corn harvest, I thought I had better do this blog post!

This year we had 100 acres of corn, which is more than what we usually plant. We only plant corn where cotton and peanuts won't grow very well.

When corn is ready, it looks very dry and crunchy.

Some of the ears of corn are pointing up, but you want most of them to be pointing downward.

When they are pointing upward, rain can collect inside and cause the corn to sprout.

Here's Lance and his "new" combine. This is his first year to own a combine.

His combine has a 4-row corn head that picks 4 rows of corn at a time.

This picture is looking down from the cab as the corn is entering the corn head.

The corn stalk is actually pulled down by a set of rollers underneath, this snaps the ear off the stalk, and the chains (black metal teeth in picture) move the corn to the top of the head so that the auger can move the corn to the gathering chains in the throat of the combine.

This is a video of some of that in action!

A cylinder that has 10 rasp bars (rasp bars look like a giant file) shells the corn. The corn is then augered into the grain bin on the machine.

The trash is chopped up and blown out the back.

This is what the combine leaves behind in the field.

When the combine is full, (180 bushels) the corn is augered onto a grain truck.

When the truck is full (this truck holds 600 bushels), it is taken to the granary.

Well, hope y'all have learned a little about what it takes to harvest corn! Now it's on to peanuts and cotton!

A Poppin' Good Shower!

2011-09-20T20:39:00.001-05:00

Back in August, my family had planned to throw me a shower, but due to unforeseen baby having circumstances, it was put off until this past weekend.

As you can see by this totally awesome banner that I made, the theme was "Already Popped".

We had tons of food, most of it with a "pop" theme.

Rice Krispie treats-"Snap, Crackle, Pop". (I also made these signs!)

We also had popcorn shrimp, popcorn chicken, popovers, Poptarts,

and of course, popcorn!

To make us feel better about ourselves, we threw in a few fruits and veggies.

My favorite part of the table was my cake! It was made by my Aunt Candie. It is completely edible (except for the wagon)!

As we take a closer look, you can see that Baby Reed has taken the wheel of Daddy's tractor.

Me, the concerned mother, is chasing after him.

Uh oh, Daddy got a little ran over in the process.

And what kind of farming incident would be complete without chickens everywhere?

I also had a candy bar! It was put together by my Aunt Robin at Alabama Slacker Mama.! She has more shower pics posted on her blog! The banner on top says "Thanks for Popping By".

There were Smores Pops (made by my mom!)

Baby Bottle Pops, Push Pops

Blow Pops (check out that cute mini Reed banner!)

Caramel Apple Pops, Pop Rocks, Ring Pops

Tootsie Pops, Lollipops

and of course popcorn! You could fill up one of those cute popcorn boxes (which said "Thanks for Popping In" and had Reed's stats on the other side) with lots of goodies!

We also had some very cute decorations on the tables!

See those diapers? Reed wore them when he was born. They are the size of the palm of your hand!

Can you tell what's going on here? The tractor has a diaper on and is drinking the bottle, haha.

Anyways, we want to thank everybody for throwing us a great shower!

Reed's Nursery

2011-09-15T17:20:00.000-05:00

Since I finally have Reed's nursery mostly put together the way I want it, I thought that I would share some pictures! I know I have a few readers who are expecting babies of their own, so maybe I can give them some ideas. I eventually want a few more things on the wall, maybe a John Deere picture or two, and who knows what else!

Here's the view from the door.

Here's the crib. My mom sewed everything!

You can see the pattern better on the curtains, John Deere, of course!

My wonderful Aunt Robin, at Alabama Slacker Mama, made his banner. See her for all your banner making needs!

Here's his walk-in closet.

As you can see, I have the clothes arranged by size.

Here is a close up of one of the size dividers I made. I love being able to look in the closet and know how much of each size I have.

I also have this closet organizer hanging in there. It's very hand for storing blankets, shoes, hats, anything! Also, to the left of it, I have all his bibs hanging on a hanger. Good way to have easy access and to keep them organized!

Here is his changing table. You may recognize the "REED" letters from the decorations at my church shower. I tied some ribbon around them and let them dangle.

The changing table has a door and three shelves. Two locker organizers fit perfectly inside the door, and thats where I store diapers. I found some baskets in the craft section of Walmart to store other goodies in too. The top basket has everything I may need to change his diaper, second basket has burp cloths, and third basket has his rattles/teething rings/pacifiers.

This is his dresser. My Uncle Marty, who just so happens to be married to my Aunt Robin, made that dog lamp for me when I was a baby. My mom and I re-covered it, and turned it "John Deere". There is also a clock hidden behind the piggy bank. Even though Reed can't tell time yet, it's handy in the middle of the night!

The last piece of furniture in Reed's room is the bookshelf. Once I get all my childhood books up here, it will be full!

This is the nightlight I made for him. Very useful for those late night feedings! You can see a tutorial on how to make one here. Oh, and I actually made it about 12 hours before I went into labor. Who knew?! haha.

I ordered these John Deere tractor hooks a couple of weeks ago, and we just have gotten them hung up. I actually have one more, but they need to be nailed into a stud, and it wouldn't fit here! I'm trying to figure out where to put it.

And last but not least, here is the closet door, complete with the giant ribbon that was on my mailbox, and a John Deere diaper stacker. Since I already had a place for diapers, I use this to keep receiving/swaddling blankets in. Works pretty good!

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed the tour and maybe those of you who needed it, got some ideas!

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2011-09-07T21:37:00.001-05:00

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Welcome Home, Reed!

2011-09-06T15:44:00.000-05:00

Honey, I'm Home!!!

Reed got to come home from the hospital on my birthday, which was last Wednesday!

As you can see, Reed and his Daddy are getting along just fine.

He had his first doctor's appointment on Friday.

He is 18 3/4" long and weighs 5lbs 1oz!

He is drinking 2 oz of formula every 4 hours.

He is also a very noisey sleeper! He grunts and squeaks all night long!

For the first few nights, I didn't sleep at all, but I am slowly getting used to it.

And I have yet to find a toboggan that will stay on his head!

Glad to have you home Reed!

Cute Baby Pics!

2011-08-29T22:52:00.000-05:00

Nuff Said.

Ok, I will say a little more. I haven't had much spare time to blog lately, between the trips to the hospital, getting the chicken houses ready for baby chicks, and getting the house ready for Reed to come home! Yep, they can release him any time now, just waiting on the doc's orders! He will be a month old on Wednesday (my birthday!) and weighs almost 5 lbs. He takes a bottle every 4 hours and is drinking around 45-50 ccs (30 ccs is 1 ounce). Anyways, I'll be quiet and let yall look at these cute pics!

It's Shower Time!

2011-08-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, I'm doing everything backwards. Should've had the shower before the baby, but don't tell me that, tell him, lol.

Anyways, I had two showers over the weekend. One was with Lance's side of the family and the other was at our church.

Here is the "Miller" Shower!

Bet you can't guess what the theme was?!

Henry was very proud, even though he couldn't come due to having to work on the farm

We had a pretty good turnout, probably around 30 or so!

We got a lot of cute things! Especially onesies, good grief at the onesies! lol.

Thanks to everyone who decorated, attended, and bought Reed something!

Here is the shower at our church.

How in the world did they ever come up with this theme? lol.

Very cute! I got to keep those letters, and they will be going in Reed's room.

We also got a ton of cute things at this shower too!

See those bags, they're all full of onesies too! haha.

And before you ask, my next post will be a baby update!

The Surprise of My Life!

2011-08-07T23:07:00.000-05:00

This was me last Sunday. I was not supposed to be laying in a hospital bed. I was supposed to be in the chicken houses, in church, at home, anywhere but the hospital. So, why was I in the hospital? Oh, no real reason besides the fact that I woke up at 5AM with my water broke and contractions that were 4 minutes apart by 6:30. I was only 32 weeks, totally not supposed to happen, and totally not expecting it. The doctor hadn't even gone over what that stuff would feel like yet. I didn't realize that my water had broken at the time, I just thought that maybe the baby was on my bladder or something. It wasn't the gush that I was expecting. The contractions didn't start till over an hour later, so while we were googling "can't stop peeing", I started having really bad cramps. Or Braxton Hicks contractions. Or anything besides real labor. We decided to call the hospital because I really didn't want to run up there and make everybody drive to the hospital, which was over an hour away for my parents, if it was just a fake out. Well, they weren't fake.

And here he is. Reed Travis Miller. Born July 31, 2011 at 10:19 AM. Weighed 3lbs. 8oz. 16 in. long. He tried coming out butt first, so I had an emergency c-section. Somebody forgot to tell him to get ready too.

He was transported to the Huntsville Hospital Neonatal ICU around noon. I don't really remember much of the details because I was a bit loopy. Although, I do remember asking Lance if I was on fire once. He was breathing on his on and doing pretty well. I got out of the hospital on Tuesday, and we've been trying to visit as much as possible ever since, even though Huntsville is 60 miles away.

He had a little bit of jaundice for a couple of days.

So he got to lay in the "tanning bed" and wear really cool foam glasses for a while.

He had to wear a c-pap machine for a few days (you can see it in first baby pic) because he had a touch of sleep apnea. He would basically forget to breathe occasionally when he got into a deep sleep because that part of their brain hasn't developed yet. Thankfully, he is over most of that now and is breathing completely on his own. They did try using a canula on him (that oxygen tube with prongs up your nose), but he kept ripping it out and gnawing on it, lol.

As of right now, he is fed by a little tube running in his mouth because he isn't coordinated enough to suck a bottle and breathe at the same time yet. He is currently eating 18 ccs of a high calorie formula every 3 hours, which is a little over half an ounce. They should be trying him on a bottle in the next day or so.

Reed got a case of the hiccups when we were visiting him this morning, so he kept his eyes open for about 30 minutes. Made for some good pictures!

I really wish blogger would cooperate because I have a really cute video on my camera of his hiccups!

This afternoon, he got to move from the nicu to "progressive care", which means they think he is doing really well. He no longer has an iv and is now in an "isolette", which is one of those enclosed beds. The doctor said that those beds "grow" babies. Basically just getting them bigger and stronger. It also lets him try to maintain his body temperature more, which is something he needs to do before he gets to come home. I'll also get to hold him twice a day (which I haven't been able to do yet) and feed him. Hopefully, we'll get to visit every couple of days or so, and we've checked some prices of some hotels in the area. I told the nurse today that my birthday was coming up (Aug. 31st) and taking him home would be a nice present, and she said that the way he was progressing, that there's a good chance that would happen!

Been Trippin'

2011-07-30T22:34:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Lance had his 10 year class reunion.

It was held in Chattanooga, TN on the Southern Belle Riverboat.

This is a picture of everyone that went (yes, there was more in his class than that, lol). Sorry about the horrible picture quality, but I was too cheap to pay $20 bucks for this photo, so I took a picture of it with my camera, haha.

It was a two hour cruise (thank goodness it wasn't a three hour tour or we would've been stranded on an uncharted desert isle. I apologize to those who got that joke, lol) down the Tennessee River.

It was a three story paddle boat. Each level had a different price range.

We were on the level that fed you a buffet dinner.

After we ate, we went to the top level (the best view) to take some group pics. This is a pic of some of the guys in Lance's class.

And this is a picture of all the girls in his class, plus a few wives/girlfriends/buns in the oven.

Clearly this is us on the boat.

All in all I think it was a pretty good reunion. Lance was glad to reconnect with some of his classmates that he hadn't seen in a while. Looks like I picked the best time ever to be 8 months pregnant, so much for trying to look good at your reunions, haha.

-------------------------------------------------

If Chattanooga wasn't enough, this past Monday-Wednesday, we were invited to an Alabama Council of Cooperatives Couples Conference (say that 3 times fast) in Orange Beach, AL.

They paid for all our meals and a two night stay at the Hampton Inn and Suites. Free is the only way to get Lance to the beach.

Once again, I picked a lovely time to be 8 months pregnant, during a free beach trip! Sheesh!

Ahh, look out! A beached whale! Call the Coast Guard!

We had a good bit of free time while we were not attending meetings. If I had not been pregnant, I definitely would've enjoyed it more.

I did enjoy going to Lambert's Cafe for lunch on Tuesday though. We went with two other couples we met down there (if you're reading this, hi! I know at least one of you are, lol). They have so much food it's ridiculous. A pregnant woman's dream. They also throw rolls as big as your head.

When we left on Wednesday it was a bit stormy, and we drove through a lot of rain coming home. Other than that, it was a pretty good trip! Nothing beats free!

Oh, and by the way...can anybody guess the baby's name?

Crops Update

2011-07-19T13:37:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, we've been getting plenty of rain around here lately, and it's made for some good lookin' crops! They better look good, if they know what's good for them. They have a baby to pay for this year!

Here's our cotton. It's about waist high now.

It's also starting to bloom. If you missed my post last year on the stages of cotton growth, click here!

Here's our peanuts. The rows are close to "shaking hands" or meeting in the middle.

They are also starting to bloom.

Here is a very rare photograph of our soybeans.

We tend to plant beans in our fields that don't lay very well, which is why we never grow that many. It also makes it harder to keep the weeds out. Lance said I was not allowed to post any weed pictures, lol.

And last, but not least, our corn!

Usually this time of year it's twisted up and tasseling, but so far so good!

Now we're just keeping busy spraying the weeds, which is a never ending process. By the time we're done, it's time to start all over again!

I'd also like to send my condolences to the family of longtime friend and farm employee, Kenneth Estes, who lost his year long battle with cancer yesterday.

(Kenneth is in the dark blue).

RIP Kenneth! You will be missed!

A Couple Recipes for Us Pregnant Folks...

2011-07-10T23:04:00.001-05:00

And anyone else who just loves sweets!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Yum. Yum. Yum.

I've made this twice, and although it takes a little more work than regular homemade ice cream, it's totally worth it!! If you can't wait on the ice cream to freeze, it's really good as pudding! Not that I would know or anything...

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream

6-¼ cups Milk
2-½ cups Sugar

3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 tsp Pinch Of Salt

1/2 cup Cornstarch

1-¼ cups Heavy Cream

2 cups Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1-¼ cups Smooth Peanut Butter

In a sauce pan over medium heat, stir together 4 cups milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Heat until the milk starts to steam, but before it starts to boil. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining milk and the cornstarch. Stir until no lumps remain. Add the cornstarch mixture to the heated milk and chocolate mixture and bring to a low boil. Boil until thickened. The mixture will have the consistency of chocolate pudding. Remove from the flame.

In a small sauce pan, heat heavy cream. Once boiling, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir the cream and chocolate mixture until incorporated. Stir the cream and chocolate mixture into the cooling chocolate ice cream base. Place in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and put in the fridge until cool.

Once cool, follow directions on your ice cream maker to churn ice cream. (Fits well in a gallon freezer). Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. You can heat the peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it a bit. Don’t over mix. You want a nice ribbon of peanut butter running through the ice cream. Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and fold in the remaining peanut butter. Cover and freeze until solid.

French Breakfast Puffs

This recipe is in Pioneer Woman's recipe book. I made it this morning for breakfast. I will be making it again...mmmm. I think they taste a lot like Little Debbie "Donut Sticks", only better.

French Breakfast Puffs

3 cups Flour

3 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg

1 cup Sugar

⅔ cups Shortening

2 whole Eggs

1 cup Milk

1-½ cup Sugar

3 teaspoons Cinnamon

2 sticks Butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a different bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and shortening. Then add eggs and mix again. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.

Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. In a bowl, melt 2 sticks butter. In a separate bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Dip baked muffins in butter, coating thoroughly, then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture

I linked these recipes over at Farmchick's "Homemade by You Monday", so go check out the rest of the links!

Help! I'm being squashed to death!

2011-07-02T23:46:00.000-05:00

Who knew that 5 little squash plants....

especially if you miss one day of pickin'...

could produce this much freakin' squash in 2 days?! I swear that one squash up there is 2 foot long! I have canned 30 pints, frozen at least 5 gallons, and have eaten squash every way known to man!

We do have a few other things in our garden besides state fair worthy squash...

We have 8 tomato plants, and 4 of them are loaded with green tomatoes. I've picked one small ripe one so far.

Our okra is about thigh-high, but isn't producing okra yet.

We have a row of corn that is coming up sporadically, due to it being so dry when it was planted, then it rained like 5 inches. Good thing we have corn planted in another location too.

We also have about 7 cucumber vines. I've already made some sweet pickle relish, and I've picked enough in the past 2 days (25-30) that I can make some dill pickles.

I also have a row of zinnias. My neighbor gave me some of their seed.

I've never had flowers do this well, very exciting!

Oh and look what else is growing bigger in the garden...me! haha. If you're wondering why I look bell-shaped, I'm wearing a sundress, lol.

Baby Bump Update

2011-06-27T15:05:00.000-05:00

I know y'all are all dying to see just how fat I'm getting (or maybe not, lol), so I thought that I would share the monthly belly pictures that I've had made. These are just real quick, "oh, I'm actually dressed, hurry take a picture" photos, so don't get too excited, ha.

This is at 3 months, when I was just starting to show. I could still fit into normal jeans and even a belt! lol.

This was taken on Easter when I was 4 months. I actually think this shirt makes me look bigger than I really was, but I was already in stretchy pants!

This was at 5 months at my friend Elizabeth's shower. She is about 2 months ahead of me, which means she is due in the next few weeks.

This was taken last night. It's my 6 months picture, but it's really closer to 7 months, so shh, don't tell anybody that I almost forgot to take a picture. I can still fit into a normal medium sized shirt, whooppee!

Anyways, I am 27 weeks now. I go back to the doctor in a couple of weeks and will be getting a 4-D ultrasound done, so that will be pretty neat. I haven't been sick at all. I threw up once right after I had my first ultrasound done because the baby wouldn't move and they made me drink a coke and eat a candy bar. Up until about 4 months, I was eating us out of house and home. I mean dang, I was having to eat every two hours, even waking up at 3 AM to eat, because if I didn't, I was feeling sick! I got so tired of eating! So glad thats over with! lol.

We've got all the furniture in the nursery, and my mom has started sewing the bed stuff/curtains/etc. When it's finished, I'll be posting a picture. Bet y'all can't guess what we're decorating with! We've also picked out a name, of course we've had a name picked out ever since before we knew we were having a baby. I'm not going to say the name just yet, I might keep y'all in suspense for a while. I will give a hint though, it starts with an "R". (It's a boy for anyone who missed that post a while back.) Well, guess thats about all for now!

Mystery Plant

2011-06-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

Here is the row of cucumbers in my garden.

They aren't quite big enough to produce cucumbers yet.

The only "cucumber" plant producing is this one.

Now, it might just be me, but I don't ever remember seeing a cucumber that looks quite like that.

They remind me of those little pumpkins people grow to decorate with during the fall.

Can anybody identify the UFO (unidentified food object) in my garden?

Planting is Officially Complete!

2011-06-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

We finally finished planting a couple of weeks ago, but I've been too busy to share any pictures!

We ended up planting 700 acres of cotton.

This is Lance mixing talc with the cotton seed. Talc helps the seed to stay seperated and flow through the planter more easily.

We run 4-row planters because of the size of our fields and the way they lay. We have a lot of smaller fields and a lot of terraces in our fields.

Lance did plant some corn with an 8-row planter this year, but I'm not sure if he liked it or not. I think he wants to sell it.

In one of my last posts, I said that we had planted 98 acres of corns. This is what it looks like now. Well, some of it. This is definitely not one of our better looking fields of corn, but it was where I was at with the camera.

Our cotton is looking good so far.

We could definitely use some rain though. We've had 6/10ths of an inch in about 3 weeks. And that was only on the fields right around our house. It also hasn't been below 95 in those 3 weeks either.

Here's our peanuts. The ground is so hard between the rows that we're going to have to plow the middles to get the peanut vines to peg.

We planted 160 acres of peanuts. 10 of those acres are spanish peanuts. Those are the kind you get that has the red skin on them.

Now that everything has been planted, it's time to start spraying the weeds in the fields again!

We've about caught up with everything that needs spraying. Some of the last cotton that we planted hasn't even been rained on, so the chemical that we spray out while we are planting hasn't activated yet, so we have to wait on that. One reason I don't have pictures of the 35 acres of soybeans yet, is because they haven't had any rain either.

Once we're done with the spraying, we can start bush hogging around the fields!

The fun never ends down on the farm!

Lost and Found

2011-06-01T17:38:00.000-05:00

It has been about a month since the horrible tornadoes that hit Alabama and across the south. If you missed my post on how close it was to us, click here. Ever since then, we have been finding stuff in our fields. A lot of it has been roofing materials and insulation, but we have also found some other interesting items. Lance found part of the guts of a laptop computer, and we've found all these photos and even a check.

I have been posting these photos on the Facebook page Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes, and this one was actually claimed! The guy who contacted me said this was his dad and his grandmother's house had been hit in Pleasant Grove, AL. I believe thats about 2 hours from here. Anyways, they had been finding a lot of her pictures posted on the site and were going to surprise her with a photo album.

I really wish we had found some of these pictures sooner because I'm sure the sun did a lot of damage to them while they were laying out there in our fields.

This check was written in 1986. I googled the address of this business and it looks to be in the direct path of the tornado when it went through Tuscaloosa (about 3 hours from here).

As we've been finding these pictures, I look at them and wonder, are those people still alive? Is that neighborhood still there? I wish I knew the stories behind these pictures. I hope some more of them get claimed, it could be all these people have left!

Busy Beavers, err, Farmers!

2011-05-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

Well, between the doggy in "rehab", the ocassional tornado, holidays, this year's "Kids Day on the Farm", doctor appointments, catching chickens, dumping chickens, a family reunion at our house, planting our garden, and some yardwork, I'm way behind on my blogging! Since most of that is behind me and things will be slowing down (I hope!) for a while, hopefully I can catch up!

Anyways, here's whats been happening on the farm!

We finished "burn down,"

Which basically means we sprayed all the weeds in the field.

We're working on getting our drystack cleaned out...

and all our chicken litter spread.

Thanks to the rain we've been having, getting stuck is a common occurence around here.

We finally finished planting all of our corn.

We only planted 98 acres of corn because we're not big grain farmers. We normally only plant corn in our fields that aren't suitable for cotton or peanuts.

This is the first year Lance is using his new 8-row planter, so of course I had to ride to check it out.

For a while there, I think we blew every hydraulic line, had a leak in every tank, and had about 300 flat tires. Maybe not that many.

Now we're on to planting cotton and peanuts! I think we're aiming for 160 acres of peanuts and 700 acres of cotton. We've got a long ways to go and a short time to get there, ~~I'm eastbound just watch ol' Bandit run~~...uh, I mean, wish us luck!

Alabama Tornado Outbreak 2011

2011-05-01T22:30:00.001-05:00

Whew! What a week! And not in a good way either!

Tuesday night at 7PM, they started catching our chickens. That meant that we would be up all night and nowhere near a tv to watch the weather. Wednesday morning about 6:30AM, we left the chicken houses and went over to Lance's Uncle Jim (we farm with him) and Aunt Nell's house to eat breakfast. They live across the road from us. While we were eating breakfast, we were listening to the weather in the other room. We live in one of those stupid areas where we are in the Birmingham tv market, but can only pick up Huntsville stations on antenna. They did mention that Blount County (our county) was under a tornado warning, but didn't cover it.

As we were eating breakfast, the power went off. Lance decided he had better go back up to the chicken houses to warn the chicken catchers. Right after he left, it hit. We believe it was probably straight line winds, but aren't for sure. We saw trees blow down and all kinds of stuff flying by the windows. When Lance got up to the chicken houses, the rain was being sucked off the roofs, it was never touching the ground. He ran in house #3 and the catchers and him walked to the front door just in time to see tin flying by. The tin ended up being from the freezer shed out front. The before picture can be found here.

Here is the after. Since we were in the middle of catching chickens and had live chickens sitting in trailers waiting to be picked up, Lance had to go out into the storm to try to find a path for the trucks to come in to pick the chickens up because there were trees blocking roads everywhere. After the storm was over, we went out to survey the damaged and see where we could help.

There were huge trees down everywhere.

This is our next door neighbor's barn.

This tree fell across our road and hit some power lines.

This huge tree went through the roof of Jim and Nell's church.

This is a neighbor's shed.

This used to be a dairy barn, turned restaurant, turned line dance place, now turned into a pile of rubble.

A guy we go to church with had tons of damage on many of his barns and sheds.

This used to be a shed at a small used car lot in Snead.

This barn is in one of our cotton fields. You can see the before picture at the top right of my page.

Since we had no power, we had no idea of the devastation across the state. We did know that round #2 of storms was supposed to come through that afternoon. We were talking to some folks cleaning up on the side of the road when a police car drove by and said a tornado was headed this way. We drove home and got in the in laws basement.

This is what we saw outside the window.

Here is a picture one of our neighbors took from farther away.

This is a picture from our church looking across Snead toward our house.

Here's what I believe is some of the damage left behind from that tornado.

Of course it hasn't been "officially labeled" as a tornado, but those pictures don't lie!

When Snead finally got power on Thursday, (we got power Friday night), I had to wait 30 minutes in line to get gas. I think they had the only open station for miles.

This afternoon, our church started taking donations.

We are going to deliver it to damaged areas around our county. Since those places aren't big cities, they really aren't getting much media attention or donations.

Here is a map of the tornado tracks across the South. Sorry so small, click to enlarge! If you look just north of Birmingham, you can see the town of Cullman, to the southeast of Cullman, you can see the city of Gadsden. We are located almost exactly in the middle of those two cities. We're very near a purple line.

Lance found this paper in our backyard today. We looked it up, and Peterson is about 8 miles north of Tuscaloosa. If you look on the map above, Tuscaloosa is just west of Birmingham. I would love to know what happened to her.

If you would like to see more pictures of the tornadoes around Alabama, please go here.

This is an amazing video of the tornado that hit Tuscaloosa, it could be rated an EF5. There is some language in it, so you can turn down your volume.

Happy Easter Yall!

2011-04-24T21:10:00.000-05:00

Here's some cute baby chicks to help us celebrate Easter. That one on the left even dyed his hair for the occasion.

Hope everyone had a good Easter. We had an Easter play at church. Check out that hot Roman Soldier in the back middle. Hubba Hubba.

Then we ate lunch at my Grandmother's house. If you weren't one of the lucky family members who got to bite into one of my cheesecake cupcakes to see if they were blue or pink inside...They were blue.

IT'S A BOY!

Boy or Girl?

2011-04-20T13:01:00.000-05:00

Anyone care to take a guess?

Nurse Henry

2011-04-06T20:30:00.001-05:00

When Wiggley got hurt last week, Henry thought he would pitch in and help since it wasn't too long ago when he was injured himself. I was a bit leery since trouble seems to follow Henry around, but I agreed.

Henry got things started off right by giving Wiggley a good ol' belly rub.

Aack! Watch out for that cast!

Henry soon discovered he really enjoyed nap time.

He did not enjoy feeding time.

"Hey! That's my arm! Not a Milkbone!"

Henry decided he should try to straighten Wiggley's bed...

But soon turned into Wiggley's pillow instead.

Whew! Cleanup time was also a bit iffy.

Thankfully, Wiggley was able to get his right cast removed this week, and ~~Wiggley was able to drag Henry~~ Henry was able to walk Wiggley.

Uhhh...Uh oh.

"Wiggley, come back!"

Henry also ~~flirted with~~ screened all of Wiggleys visitors for germs.

All in all, I think Henry had a successful first "nursing" job.

Good Job Henry.

Get Well Soon, Wiggley!

2011-03-29T19:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Wiggley had a minor mishap.

Or make that, major mishap. That would be an x-ray of his right "elbow". It's a bit dislocated. He also has a broken left leg, but that x-ray didn't look quite as interesting as this one.

You see, Wiggley and his best buddy/neighbor, Peewee (pictured below), love to chase squirrels. Well, this particular squirrel decided to dart across the road in front of a truck doing about 90, who never even checked up. Wiggley survived. Peewee did not.

***R.I.P. Peewee***

It's a bit difficult for him to sit himself up to eat right now.

And well, lets just say he won't be hiking his leg anytime soon either.

He has to go back to the vet in 10 days, and he's currently on painkillers.

Remember, just because you may be on an empty country road, doesn't mean you should speed. There could be anything around the next corner, dogs, kids, livestock, broken down tractors...

And by the way, if you happen to hit someone's dog, make that, 2 dogs, at least stop. Don't be a jackass and act like you didn't notice.

Google Analytics

2011-03-16T22:14:00.000-05:00

Have any of you fellow bloggers ever checked out your blog stats on Google Analytics? If you haven't, just click on that link, sign up, add your blog, wait a day, and then tada! Watch your blog stats roll in. It tells you info like, how many visitors you've had, how those visitors found your blog, and even what country they are located in. I would just like to share some of my more interesting statistics with y'all!

My Top 10 Most Viewed Blog Posts

1. Cades Cove

2. Farm and Ranch Living Magazine

3. A Cotton Pickin' Good Time

4. Goodies of Christmas Past

5. Cotton Inc. and a Spinning Mill Tour

6. Cotton Pickin' Videos

7. This may be my Last Post

8. Catching Chickens 101

9. Miller Farms Giveaway

10. Busier than a one armed Paper Hanger

My Top 10 Referring Blogs

1. Country Whispers

2. Alabama Slacker Mama

3. A Farm Wife's Life

4. WV Farmtails

5. Across the Branch

6. Chickens in the Road

7. Water Oak Hill

8. Living in a Snow Globe

9. Of His Pasture

10. Fresh from the Farm

Top 10 Visits from Other Countries

1. Canada

2. United Kingdom

3. Australia

4. Russian

5. China

6. Germany

7. India

8. Greece

9. New Zealand

10. South Africa

And My Personal Favorite...

Top 10 Search Engine Keywords to Find my Blog

1. The Life of a Farmers Wife

2. what does a cotten field look like? (yes, cotton spelled wrong)

3. life of a farmer

4. catching chickens

5. farm life magazine

6. ranch living blog

7. cades cove split by civil war

8. fammer rammer (what??)

9. farm wife blogs

10. farmer rammer (really?? huh?)

Plus a few more keywords I found interesting

nutty bar cheesecake (yum)

cades cove cell phone service (no service there!)

farm wife what a life (amen!)

farmer hot wife (why thank you!)

funny definitions from butter my butt and call me a buscuit (yes, biscuit is spelled wrong)

hank and henry sock monkeys (they're famous!)

i want to use a cotton gin (why?)

santa fe soup rotel rolling pin (I don't think you make soup with a rolling pin)

she was busier than a woman armed woman (huh?)

wife flashing truckers (not lately!)

Well, thats my stats! Quite interesting! I would love to know what your stats are!

A Not So Random Listing of Things

2011-03-11T21:03:00.000-06:00

Baby Carrots.

Baby Tractor.

Baby Tomatoes.

Baby Cotton Bale.

Baby Powder.

Baby Sock Monkey.

Baby Daddy.

Baby Miller.

Recipe Catch Up

2011-03-02T20:45:00.000-06:00

No, not a ketchup recipe, but lots of other recipes! I always get behind on my recipe posting! If reading recipes is your thing, checking out my new link at the top of the page! I also made one for farming tutorials and Henry! Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Golden Sweet Cornbread

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until combined. Pour batter into pan. Cook for 25 minutes.

(I used a muffin pan for these!)

Mexican Cornbread

1 cup all purpose cornmeal

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp. baking powder

2/3 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 (14oz) can creamed corn

1 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan. In large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, salt and oil. Stir in onion and corn. Pour half of batter into pan. Top with cheese. Pour remaining batter on top of cheese. Bake about 35 minutes until golden.

(So moist!)

Homemade Poptarts

Pastry:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups shortening

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 egg

1/2 cup very cold water

Filling:

1) Use a couple teaspoons jam of your choice.

2) Or, for brown sugar ‘n’ cinnamon PopTarts melt 3 tablespoons butter and combine 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Brush melted butter on each piece then sprinkle with the brown sugar mixture.

Powdered Sugar Icing:

Combine 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and enough milk (one to two teaspoons) for drizzling consistency.

Directions

For the pastry: Add flour, shortening, sugar, and salt to a large bowl. Mix flour and shortening with a pastry cutter until it looks nice and crumbly. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, egg, and water. Add to the flour mixture, stirring in till well-moistened. Stick your hands in there and shape it into a ball. (Don’t overhandle.) Divide dough into equal halves. Wrap each half with plastic and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before using. (You can also prep your pastry a few days ahead and refrigerate till Homemade PopTart-making day.) After dough is chilled, roll out in two long strips six inches wide. Cut into three-inch sections. Your mileage will vary depending on how thin you roll the pastry, but you should come out with 8 to 10 big, full-size, rectangular PopTart pieces per strip. Place filling in the middle of the strips for the bottom layer.

Using the other strip, place tops on PopTart pieces, pinching all the way around the sides to seal. Press a fork all around the sides then prick the centers to vent. Transfer to a greased baking sheet using a spatula.

Bake at 400-degrees approximately 15 minutes, switching oven racks halfway through baking. (Note: Start baking on the top rack then move the pan to the bottom rack after about 8 minutes.) Cool and top with icing (and candy sprinkles if desired).

(I'm hoping the next time I make these, they will be prettier! I used my homemade strawberry freezer jam, blueberry freezer jam, and also made some brown sugar ones...yummy!)

Chicken Spaghetti

2 cups Cooked Chicken

3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces

2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup

2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper

¼ cups Finely Diced Onion

1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained

2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot

1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt

⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper

Salt And Pepper, to taste

1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar. Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

(The bell pepper and onions were a bit too crunchy for me, so next time I make this, I think I will cook them before I add them to the spaghetti.)

Brownie Pillow Cookies

1 package brownie mix

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

12 oz. bag miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Make brownies according to package and let cool. Cut about ten 1 inch squares. For the chocolate chip cookie dough, beat butter with a mixer until creamy.Add brown sugar and beat until smooth. Add eggs, yolk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir together with a wire whisk. Add flour to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in mini chips.

Let dough chill covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a measuring cup to scoop batter by the 1/2 cup. Since it’s chilled, you may need to pack it with a spoon. Then use the spoon to remove the dough from the cup and place it on parchment paper. Work quickly so the dough remains chilled or either prepare one cookie at a time so the rest of the dough remains cold. After the dough is on the parchment paper, make an indention and place a 1 inch square brownie in the center. Press the brownie down gently and work the remaining dough around the brownie. You can use your hands to shape the dough into a ball. During this step, I found it easier to use a piece of parchment paper as a work surface since the dough can get sticky and then I used another piece of parchment paper for the baking sheet. If your dough gets too soft, you can chill the rolled dough balls for a few minutes right before baking. Prepare six cookies at a time using a large baking sheet (15 X 20) and bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator until time to bake the second batch. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack. Makes about ten cookies using a little less than a 1/2 cup of dough for each cookie.If your cookies start to get too brown before they are done baking, you can place a sheet of aluminum foil over top for the last few minutes.

(These are so good! And if you can see in the picture, they are bigger than my hand! Also, if you happen to be a member of the Alabama Farmer's Federation and are looking for a cookie recipe for the cookie contest, hands off! It's mine! haha.)

Country Apple Dumplins

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent roll dough

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Mountain Dew

Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2.Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish.

3.Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour Mountain Dew over the dumplings.

4.Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

(These go fast at church dinners! You can also use Sprite.)

A Little Trip to Daytona....

2011-02-21T22:02:00.000-06:00

We visited Daytona Beach, FL this past weekend....

But it wasn't for the ocean...

It wasn't for the lighthouses...

And it wasn't for fancy welcome signs.

It was for the Daytona 500!

And to welcome back the best driver ever, Brian Vickers! If you don't know why I'm welcoming him back...check out this article!

We got to walk around the garage area...

and little did we know it, but we watched the future Daytona 500 Champion go through inspection!

We watched some interviews (this would be Darrell Waltrip in some, um, interesting sunglasses)

and I got to sign the start/finish line!

Guess what I wrote? I'm sure Brian saw it all 160 laps he raced. Unfortunately, the race is 200 laps, lol.

Also got to see Brad Paisley in concert before the race!

The race was pretty good, lots of weird two by two racing, which had never been seen before...

and a buncha wrecks. One of which was "The Big One" that happened on lap 29.

Guess who was in it? You can sum up how his day went by looking at the progression of the #83 on the side of his car. Above is the way it's supposed to look.

Now here it is made with orange tape.

Um, now most of that orange tape is missing...

Anyways, Welcome Back Brian!

And congratulations to Trevor Bayne, youngest winner in Daytona 500 history!

Yoga with Wiggley

2011-01-31T20:54:00.001-06:00

It is important to begin yoga with a bit of meditation.

Sitting properly also helps.

Find yourself a spot with enough room to stretch out.

Stretching the back is a good way to begin.

Repeat this step as often as necessary.

Yoga mats are not required, but do come in handy.

If you are bored with normal stretching, find yourself a partner.

Or a new location.

Stairs are a useful tool.

Lying on your back is a good way to relieve tension.

Stretch your legs into the air.

Now your arms.

Rolling is also great exercise.

This move is called the "Wig in a Blanket".

Feel free to wipe your sweat with the blanket when finished.

This move is not for amateurs.

Thank you for attending the Wiggley School for Yoga.

Since Hell Froze Over...

2011-01-14T20:01:00.000-06:00

When Auburn won the National Championship, we've had ourselves quite a snow/ice storm! It was actually the most snow we've had since the Blizzard of 93, when we got 17 inches!

We measured 4 1/2" in our front yard, but some spots were as deep at 7"!

This wasn't your ordinary fluffy white powder either. After it snowed about 4", it started sleeting/freezing rain, which gave us about a 1" layer of ice on top.

Wiggley had a tough time walking on the snow/ice, but he loves to eat snowballs!

This is what our road and most roads around here looked like until Thursday. Some roads still look that way, which is why roads/schools/businesses were cancelled all week long.

The layer of ice made it impossible to make a snow angel, but that didn't stop Lance from trying. We'll call it a snow farmer.

We were lucky to be out of chickens when the snowstorm hit. We're getting them back next Friday, so I wish this stuff would melt so I could get inside my chicken houses without feeling like I'm trying out for the Winter Olympics.

I'm waiting for the rest of the ice to slide off the chicken houses/our house and impale me.

And when it melts, this is what we have to look forward to underneath it. Mud. Lots and lots of mud.

Whirrled Peas

2011-01-01T21:48:00.000-06:00

Happy New Years!

For years I never really understood why we had to eat all that we had to eat on New Years Day. I knew the different foods stood for things like luck, peace, money, etc., but how in the world did this tradition get started? Thanks to Google, it is rumored that it dates back to the Civil War when those mean ol' Yankees marched through the South burning everything. They saw fields of black eyed peas and collard greens and assumed they were for the livestock to eat. Since that was the only thing left for Southerners to eat, they were deemed lucky. I always like having a good reason to stuff my face.

This year our New Year's meal included:

Peas-I've always heard eat them for peace, but have also heard for prosperity, good luck, or for more "coins".

Greens-for money, "greenback" or wealth.

Cornbread-good fortune, also have heard for "gold" or "circle of life?"

Rice-riches

Hog Jowl-I've always thought it was for joy, but have recently heard to eat it for health. Health, really? Of all the foods to choose from to eat for health, it's hog jowl? haha!

Sweet Potatoes-for being sweet. Nah, I made that one up. I just had some sweet potatoes that I wanted to cook. But, maybe I could start a new tradition.

So, what did y'all eat on New Years? You are what you eat!

My After Christmas Recipe Post!

2010-12-29T15:38:00.000-06:00

During the holidays, I never have enough time to post what I'm cooking/baking, when I'm actually cooking/baking it. So I usually wait until after Christmas and post all the recipes at once. If you missed last year's recipes, here they are! Hope you enjoy!

Butterfinger Cheesecake

1 1/2 sticks melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 packs graham crackers, crumbled fine

1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 (12oz) carton Cool Whip

4 large Butterfinger candy bars (crumble for filling)

2 large Butterfinger candy bars (crumble for topping)

Mix butter, sugar, and graham crackers in a medium bowl. Press into the bottom of 9x13 in. baking dish. Put in freezer for 10 to 15 min. In a large bowl, mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, Cool Whip, and 4 candy bars. Spread over crust. Sprinkle remaining candy bars for topping. Refrigerate.

Christmas Rainbow Poke Cake

I made this cake for someone, so I didn't get to see how it turned out inside, but this is what it's supposed to look like. I also used 2 boxes of cake mix and 12 oz. Cool Whip, so my layers would be bigger.

1 box Supermoist white cake mix

1 pkg (3 oz) Raspberry Jello

1 pkg (3 oz) Lime Jello

2 cups boiling water

1 (8oz) Cool Whip

Prepare cake as directed. Pour batter into 2 round pans 8" or 9 1/2". Bake as directed, cool 10 min. Remove from pan, cool completely. Place layer topside up back in the 2 clean pans. Prick each layer with fork at 1/2" intervals. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over raspberry jello in bowl. Stir till dissolved. Spoon jello over 1 layer. Repeat with lime. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours. Dip 1 cake pan in warm water for 10 secs., invert on plate, gently shake to loosen. Remove pan. Spread layer with 1 cup Cool Whip. Place other layer on top. Remove pan. Frost. Refrigerate.

Macaroni and Cheese

(I doubled this recipe).

1 1/4lb. cheddar cheese, grated

2 eggs

2 cups milk

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. flour

1 cup macaroni, cooked

Mix butter and flour. Mix eggs and milk. Combine butter and flour mixture with milk and eggs. In baking dish, layer half of the cheese, layer of macaroni, layer other half cheese. Pour liquid mixture over this and cover with grated cheese. Bake until brown in 375 degrees oven. (25-30 min.)

Biscuit and Sorghum Bread Pudding

3 1/2 cups day old homestyle biscuit cubes (frozen works best, don't use canned).

3/4 cup sorghum

6 tbsp. butter, melted

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

2 1/3 cup hot 2% milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place biscuit cubes in 9x5" loaf pan. Combien sorghum, butter, eggs, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Slowly stir in hot milk. Pour over bread. Let soak 15 min. pressing down to make sure biscuits are fully saturated. Place pan in a larger pan. Pour hot water in larger pan to a depth of 1". Bake 40-50 min. until pudding jiggles slightly when shaken.

Crispy Chocolate Popcorn

2 cups milk chocolate chips, divided

1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup light corn syrup

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 (3.5 oz) bags plain popcorn, popped

2 cups peanuts

Combine 1 cup chocolate chips, brown sugar, and next 3 ingredients in a heavy saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and baking soda. Distribute popcorn and nuts evenly into 2 lightly greased roasting pans. Be sure to remove all unpopped kernels of popcorn before pouring chocolate mixture over popcorn and nuts, stirring well with a lightly greased spatula. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 min. Spread on wax paper to cool, breaking apart large clumps as mixture cools. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup chocolate morsels evenly over hot popcorn; let cool. Store in airtight containers.

Peanut Brittle

1 1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup light Karo syrup

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups raw peanuts

Grease baking sheet. Put iron skillet on stove, add sugar/syrup/peanuts. Turn on eye, stir continuously. When syrup looks honey-colored and peanuts smell done (10-15 min. on medium heat), add baking soda, stir, and dump on baking sheet. Spread out and cool quickly.

Pecan Logs

1 pint marshmellow cream

1 lb. box powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 lb. caramel candies

2 tbsp. butter

3 tbsp. evaporated milk

5 cups chopped pecans

Mix the marshmellow cream and cream by hand until you have a dough mixture. (If dough is too crumbly, add a little melted butter). Shape into logs that are about the size of a quarter in diameter and about 3 1/2 inches long. Place in refrigerator overnight. Melt together in double boiler, 1 lb. of caramel candies, 2 tbsp. butter, and 3 tbsp. evaporated milk. Dip logs in caramel with tongs then roll in chopped pecans. Makes 14 logs.

This isn't a recipe, and I can't remember where I got the idea from, but if you make cookies for anyone and don't have anything to store/package them in, save your Lays/Pringles chip cans! You can put the cookies inside and wrap the label with wrapping paper and put a bow on top!

Merry Christmas from Henry and Hank!

2010-12-26T13:42:00.000-06:00

Henry and Hank...

want to wish everyone...

a Merry Christmas...

and a Happy New Year!

They hope Santa brought you...

everything on your list...

and maybe a few...

surprises too!

Check back later to meet the "surprise".

Don't know who Henry and Hank are? Check out their past adventures here!

Since I Survived...

2010-12-22T21:22:00.000-06:00

the snowstorm (but just barely!), here's the Christmas decoration photos that I promised!

Our house. Wreaths on the windows and garland on the rails. The garland is also lit up at night.

Here's our tree. It is decorated with bears, moose, deer, outdoorsy things, and Smores ornaments. Oh how I love Smores ornaments!

Here's a pic of the tree lit up.

This is our mantle. If you can't tell, those lights are shotgun shells, lol.

And here's "Millerville".

This is what our dining room table looks like, nothin' fancy!

Here's a close up of the centerpiece. I just used random things I found around the house/yard.

Also in the dining room is Lance's John Deere tree.

And last, but not least, my penguin tree in the office!

Well, that's my house at Christmas! Now, I wanna see yours!

Holly Jolly Recipe Swap #5

2010-12-17T22:39:00.000-06:00

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup

Sorry about the picture. It's actually a picture of the leftover soup because I couldn't fend off the ravenous party-goers in time to snap a picture before hand. It actually makes a Crock-Pot full, not just a bowl full, lol.

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Soup

3 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 lbs. Velveeta Cheese

2 (16oz) cans mild chili beans

2 cans Rotel tomatoes (mild)

1 (15oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can cream of chicken soup

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low 4-5 hours.

Everyone needs to go check out the rest of the recipes at Fresh from the Farm!

This may be my last post...

2010-12-13T15:17:00.000-06:00

Why, you ask??

Because I may not have enough milk and bread to survive this snowstorm!

Even though survival is not likely, in the event that I do survive, I will have some Christmas decoration pictures up soon! Wish me luck!

Now that Thanksgiving is over...

2010-12-05T19:09:00.000-06:00

and Christmas will be here soon, there is one question that is on everyone's minds. Yep, the question of "What do I do with that pumpkin that's been sitting on my porch for two months?" Well, have no fear, because I have a few solutions to the problem!

Solution #1

Set the pumpkin out in your yard.

Waaay out in your yard.

Then let your husband loose!

Long range target practice!

Solution #2

Even though it's too late for Halloween, carve a Jack o Lantern face...with your pistol!

Solution #3

If that's not enough, just blow it to smithereens with a homemade bomb.

Problem Solved!

Thank You Eli Whitney!

2010-12-01T12:02:00.000-06:00

Why am I thanking Eli Whitney? Because if it wasn't for him, we'd still be picking seeds out of our cotton like this!

Thanks to Eli, we now have the cotton gin which seperates the cotton lint from the seeds for us!

This is the gin we use, which Lance's Uncle Jim, is part owner of.

If you don't know what happens to the cotton up to this point...check out this post!

The module truck unloads the module at the gin onto the walking floor.

This is a video of the walking floor. If you look closely you can see the slats moving.

The walking floor moves the module toward the module feeder.

The module feeder uses beater bars that chew the cotton off of the module. The cotton is then sucked into the gin.

If the cotton is loaded onto a wagon instead of in a module, the wagon is parked at the gin, and the cotton is sucked out of it using a suck pipe. The suck pipe also sends the cotton into the gin just like the module feeder.

Cotton flows into the gin and goes through the tower dryer, which dries the cotton with gas heat. Next, it goes through the vertical stick machine, which is the first stage of cleaning the cotton. Then, it flows through the jet dryer, which blows the cotton like a jet engine to dry it some more. The cotton continues overhead to the horizontal stick machine, which is the main cleaning process (takes out sticks and burrs, etc.)

From there it flows into the gin stands. The gin stands seperate the seeds from the cotton lint. The lint continues out the back of the stands to the lint cleaners.

The seeds fall to the bottom of the gin stands into a trough that augers/blows them into the seed house.

The cotton comes from the lint machines and falls down the lint slide into the press. The press makes a bale of cotton. One side of the press holds the cotton, then when full, rotates and puts the cotton under the press, which packs the cotton into a bale. Meanwhile, the empty bay is being loaded. When the door opens, employees push tie wires around the bale, which hold the bale together.

The bale is rolled over to where a sample is taken (the sample is sent to USDA and available for the buyer), it is bagged, barcoded, and weighed.

It is then loaded to the truck and taken to a warehouse.

Here's the difference between unginned (left) and ginned (right) cotton. It's a complicated process, but hope y'all learned something anyways!

Have a Holly Jolly Recipe Swap #2

2010-11-26T23:03:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd join in on the fun over at Farm Chick's blog by posting a recipe! I highly recommend this recipe because it is so easy and so yummy! It can also be made sugar free using Splenda!

Iron Skillet Apple Pie

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

5 Granny Smith apples-peeled, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced

3 (9 inch) refrigerated pie crusts

1 cup white sugar, divided

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon butter, cut into small chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1/2 cup butter into a heavy cast iron skillet, and melt butter in the oven. Remove skillet and sprinkle with brown sugar, return to oven to heat while you prepare the apples. Remove skillet, and place 1 refrigerated pie crust on top of the brown sugar. Top the pie crust with half the sliced apples. Sprinkle apples with 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon; place a second pie crust over the apples; top the second crust with the remaining apples, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Top with the third crust; sprinkle the top crust with 1/4 cup sugar, and dot with 1 tablespoon butter. Cut 4 slits into the top crust for steam. Bake in the preheated oven until the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. Serve warm.

It's Almost that Time Again....

2010-11-20T23:50:00.000-06:00

Yep. Once you've put down that last turkey leg and gobbled up the cranberry sauce, Christmas will be right around the corner. Know what that means? Time to send out those Christmas cards!! This year, thanks to Shutterfly, it will be a little cheaper! They are giving 50 free cards to anyone who has a blog! All you have to do is write up a blog about it! The only thing that would make this better is if the Post Office was giving out free stamps!

Now, I normally send out store bought Christmas cards, but this year, I haven't been able to find anything that I liked. I always pick out the funny ones, never any of those mushy gushy ones either. Every where I look, no funny, all mushy. So, I thought that this promotion would be the perfect opportunity for me to try sending a different type card! I've never wanted to send a big ol' picture of myself through the mail to anyone. That would be worse than getting a lump of coal in your stocking. So, instead of pictures of me (or Lance), I think I'm going to pick out a card that I can show off some scenes from our farm! (And maybe throw a little one of Lance and I in there too!)

Here's some of my favorite...

All in Lights

Family Story

We Heart You

Well, as you can see, I kind of like the cards with lots of photos! Anyways, go check Shutterfly out! If you're a blogger and would also like to participate in this promotion, here's some more info...50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly!

Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit

2010-11-16T15:50:00.000-06:00

Or not. But since we're on the topic of butter, I'll show yall how to make it! And you don't even need your own cow, although that would probably be cheaper because heavy cream gets expensive!

I used 1 quart of Heavy Whipping Cream. A lot of people say that ultra-pasteurized heavy cream will not work, but it does for me! Anyways, let the cream sit out until it is room temperature.

I put 1 pint of cream at a time into a quart jar.

Then you start shaking! The cream will look like it exploded in the jar, but just keep on shaking! You could probably make butter while you do Zumba.

I don't really know how to describe this part, but this is what the jar will start looking like when it's almost done. Some of the cream starts falling off the side of the jar and leaving little "peep holes", I guess, lol.

Oh look! A yellow blob of butter! It took me about 10 minutes of shaking to get the butter.

Next, you take a spoon and hold the blob of butter in place and pour the buttermilk off. I ended up with 1 pint of buttermilk from 1quart of heavy cream. The buttermilk can be used for biscuits, pancakes, whatever!

Then you take the blob of butter out of the jar and put it in a bowl.

Rinse the butter off with water and use a spoon to hold it in place while you pour the watery milk off. Repeat until the water is clear.

Just add salt to taste, put it in a container and store it in the fridge! This is how much butter I got from the whole quart.

Pretty easy process, but buying butter is probably still cheaper. Although, if you could find some organic or completely natural heavy cream, it wouldn't have all those preservatives and chemicals in it like store bought butter does. Next time I do this, I will probably add some flavoring to the butter. I'm thinkin' honey butter, maple butter, strawberry butter....mmmmm.....

Pickin' Goober Peas

2010-11-06T22:54:00.002-05:00

Or in other words, this is a blog about our peanut harvest! Just like my cotton post earlier, I'm providing videos to go along with my past peanut "tutorials". I won't go into much detail here, so if you want to see more pictures or need something explained further, check out my past peanut posts! Here's two explaining peanut inverting (click here and here), and here's one explaining the combine process (click here).

(No award winning video here, I was trying to keep up with the tractor!)

This is our peanut inverter. It plows under the peanuts, cuts the taproots, and the peanut plants are carried up a set of roller chains. On the back of the plow, a set of V-shaped rollers combine 2 rows into 1, and the inverter spring rods "invert" or flip the peanut plants upside down to where the peanuts are on top of the ground.

(This is the view from the tractor cab).

After the peanuts dry for 2-3 days, we combine them. The combine does 2 rows of inverted peanuts (formerly 4 rows of un-inverted peanuts) at a time. The peanut vines are pulled in and shaker pans seperate the peanuts from the vines.

(Same process, different view).

The vines and other trash blow out the back, and the peanuts are blown into the basket on top of the combine.

(You should totally mute the volume on this video cause somebody asked me a question during filming, and I sound like I should be on Hee Haw, oh and sorry about the dark video, only time I could get it!)

When the basket on top of the combine is full (about 3 tons of peanuts), it is dumped into the dump cart.

(If you didn't press the mute button on the last video, all the talking in the background of this video is the group of 4-H kids that I was talking about).

The dump cart is then pulled by a tractor next to a peanut trailer, where it dumps the peanuts. Each trailer can haul 24 tons of peanuts. Our peanuts are then hauled to Samson, Alabama (way south of here!) to the Brooks Peanut Company.

There ya have it, the goober pea pickin' process! Now go out and support your local (or not so local) peanut farmers!

Happy Falloween!

2010-11-01T21:04:00.001-05:00

Yes, Falloween. Why? Because I'm a little late for Halloween, but it's still fall!

For all you last minute trick or treaters, feel free to grab some candy while you read this post and look at some of my fall decorations.

Here's my front porch decorations. I would've posted this earlier, but I've been waiting on these darn mums to bloom! Now that they're finally blooming, they'll probably be frost bitten, lol.

I have a little bit of Halloween decor on my porch too. It will be taken down shortly though! Check out that Halloween rug, my Mom made it years ago!

This wreath is hanging on my front door. I was going to hang a different wreath here, but the door wouldn't close, so I ended up making a new one!

Here's my dining room table. Notice the peanuts and cotton bolls? Might as well decorate with what you have!

This is the wreath that I was going to put on my front door, but it was too thick for the storm door to close! So it's now hanging on the door going into the kitchen. We actually got this wreath as a wedding present 4 years ago!

Hope everyone enjoyed my fall decorations, thought that I had better post 'em before I needed to show yall my Christmas decorations!

Sunbelt Ag Expo

2010-10-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

Last week, Lance and I, along with a few other nearby farmers, took an overnight trip to Moultrie, GA to the Sunbelt Ag Expo. The Expo is probably one of the largest, if not the largest, farm shows in the world! There are over 300,000 people who attend the 3 day show. If you're a farmer and have never been to the Sunbelt Ag Expo, it's definitely a trip worth taking!

It was pretty good weather for this trip...looks like somebody forgot his sunglasses!

There are tractors galore at this farm show! Plus, all the implements to go behind them! If it is sold, it is here!

Here's Lance and our neighbor, Ronald, checking out a John Deere tractor that we will never be able to afford!

Anything that has to do with farming is at this show! And even some things that have nothing to do with farming! (I got my wedding ring cleaned, and if I would've waited in line, I could've gotten a massage!).

Lots of demonstrations too! We watched a guy turn some logs into 2x4s!

There was a giant cow (smaller, real cows too!).

And homemade ice cream, grilled corn on sticks, and all kinds of goodies!

We also watched some of the American Stockdog Trials, which was very interesting!

You can also ride a tram out to acres and acres of fields!

There are cotton fields, peanut fields, hay fields, corn fields, sorghum fields, and all kinds of demonstrations.

We were particularly interested in the cotton picking demos. A few years ago John Deere came out with a cotton picker that actually forms a module as it picks. (If you are confused as to what I'm talking about, go here!)

The picker forms a round cotton module that is wrapped in plastic and dropped off in the field.

It seems quite helpful, but has a lot of problems! The big one? It's $600,000. You also have to buy a tractor large enough to haul those modules around the field. You have to line up 4 in a row, so that the module truck can pick them up. The gin has to install a $300,000 machine to unwrap the plastic, if the plastic actually makes it there. Sometimes the plastic tears and cotton goes everywhere. If thats not enough, look at that picture up there! Thats in "road condition". It would take out every pole, line, bridge, and anything else in the way in the county!

Case has also came out with a picker that makes a module. As bad as I hate to say it, it's much better than John Deere!

The modules that Case's picker forms actually look like small modules, there's no plastic, and the gin doesn't have to install anything fancy. It's still $500,000 though. Guess I'll be sticking to working the module builder!

This was by far my favorite booth. Its the Georgia Peanut Producers booth. They give free peanut and peanut butter samples, and fried peanut butter sandwiches!! Mmmmmm!!! They are made just like a grilled cheese, just use peanut butter instead! Yummm!! I would go just for the sandwiches.

Hope y'all have enjoyed my tour of the Sunbelt Ag Expo, and if you ever get a chance, go!

Drumroll Please...

2010-10-22T09:38:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank everybody for participating in my "Miller Farms Giveaway"! I never thought a pink hat and some chicken poop would get so many entries! Y'all are some peanut eatin', chicken cookin', cotton wearin' fools! So, thank you and keep up the good work! And by the way, I hate chicken livers too. Anyways, I went with the very professional way of picking a winner....I put your names in a cup and Lance drew the winner. So, if you're upset because you didn't win, you can blame him. But don't worry, there will be other giveaways in the future to enter!

And now the winner is....

Kellee

Kellee is a new follower of mine, loves peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, pies, and chicken pot pie!

So, go check out her blog!

Congratulations!

Kellee- Email me with your address at turtle3539(at)hotmail.com. Please put Miller Farms Giveaway in your subject in case you go to my junk mail!

Miller Farms Giveaway!

2010-10-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

In celebration of my finally hitting 100 posts (a few posts back), I've decided to have a giveaway! I've titled the giveaway, "Miller Farms Giveaway" because it's full of all things to do with our farm!

Lets see...we have one copy of the Farm and Ranch Living magazine that we were featured in, a pink John Deere "owner's edition" cap (cause we own lots of John Deeres!), a few of our cotton bolls, some of our peanuts that will be good for parching (I promise there will be more than 5 peanuts, haha), and since I can't leave out a gift from the chicken houses, some chicken poop (I promise it's not real poop!).

All you have to do is be a "follower" and tell me how you "support" our farm! Do you love cotton socks? Do you eat peanut butter at every meal? Are chicken livers your favorite food?

The contest will end at Midnight on Thursday, October 21st, and I will be announcing the winner on Friday!

Hi! I'm Wiggley.

2010-10-12T22:44:00.000-05:00

Lance and Stephanie found me wandering around the neighborhood a few weeks ago.

They gave me this chew toy, so I decided to stay.

I really love their peanuts.

I got my name because I wiggle a lot, but sometimes other dogs laugh at it.

I chase a car every now and then, but I'm slowly learning its much more fun to just nap in the garage.

Well, thats it for now. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me lots in the future. Especially if I smear more cow poop on the garage walls. Paws out.

Ode to the Chicken Truck

2010-10-05T23:02:00.001-05:00

Like every good chicken farmer, I have a designated "chicken truck". It's only use is to go to the chicken houses! Due to the past few days events (stranded in chicken house, stranded in cotton field twice, stranded at home, bought new battery and still stranded), I would like to dedicate this video (minus the snow) and the following pictures to my chicken truck.

And now to the pictures of the real thing...

The truck affectionately known as "a piece of crap".

Somebody must not like those bowties.

Hmmm. Something on the front bumper being held on by a bungee cord.

Dented tailgate and messed up handle (I didn't do it!).

The door will close after 3 slams.

I lose half a cheek in this hole when I drive.

Look Mom! No steering wheel cover! Too bad y'all can't see when you "honk" the horn. There's no honking, but the lights flash!

Gas hand doesn't work!

Have to keep up with mileage to know when to fill up with gas. I got a whole 120 miles out of 14.5 gallons last time!

Oh look, a cubby hole.

The electrical tape holding this visor mirror on adds "character".

Did I mention it smells like chicken?

Jump starting the battery has become a daily ritual...

And last, but not least, check out how you adjust the heat! Notice I didn't say anything about a/c? Turn it on and watch the smoke rise!

Hope this makes you appreciate your vehicles a little more, haha!