Jul 22, 2014

The Selfie: I am "THAT MOM"

I am pretty pumped that I have the opportunity to attend the 10th anniversary BlogHER conference in San Jose, California this week. What makes this even more exciting is that I get to attend with some other Farm/Ag Friends from across the country and meet some blogging pros. This is the blogging conference of all blogging conferences!  I have always wanted to attend but have never taken the time. When you are a mom to kids or pets when is a good time to get away? NEVER.

The conference is using the hashtag #selfiebration to share selfies of attenders. Embrace your #selfie because we are the people behind the blog
We planted a new field of alfalfa this past
Spring. We have now already baled
the first cutting. This is Parker and I making
 sure theplanter had enough seed.
name and a part of an entire community. Anyone who blogs takes a risk to share what they are passionate about. We put a lot of information out to the public and this can bring both positives and negatives. Regardless, we keep on blogging and generating conversation with our readers.  I have yet to embrace the selfie (not sure I ever will) but I will give it my best shot. Brace yourselves, you may be seeing some Kristin selfies this week in honor of the big conference.

What I have learned before I even step foot on an airplane to attend this event is that I don't have many personal selfies. I looked back through my photo stream and I realized I am "that mom" who takes a billion photos of their kids and shares them with the world. In general I take lots of photos of everything. I have developed quite the photo archive over the past few years. 
Since I am "That Mom" I will share some of my favorites.



The kids got to ride on the tractor while we were baling hay.
This is why woman need wax. I should never ever have a mustache
because I look like a man. If ever I become incapacitated someone please
make sure I never have a mustache, it is not very becoming on me.  What you do
for your children. This is Campbell on "mustache day" at school.
Me on the beach prepping to talk on a TV show about food farming and share some of my favorite recipes. 
This is my kind of selfie.
I have no idea what in the world I was doing in this photo. I am hoping
it was Christmas time.
I wear an apron often as I love to cook!
This is me with my dad and brother Alex in Louisville, KY at NAILE.
This is the breed of sheep we raise, Horned Dorset.
My Knight and Princess at trick or treat in our small town.

Jul 20, 2014

Project #watchthemgrow Week 10

Beans are really taking off! We have had some wonderful fall like weather in mid July. The skies are some of the most amazing this time of year in Ohio. Beans are growing and filling in pretty nicely. Beans seem to be growing slower this year mainly due to rain and weather.


This little bug likes to munch on the soybean plants. The Japanese beetle can be a problem
as they defoliate the plant and interrupt the photosynthesis process..
Usually they eat and move on which is what we hope happens here. The
bites are not bad at this point.  
Beans are waist high on the kids. It is harder to get them out in the field without damaging the plant.
As you can see Parker is just thrilled to get his photo taken. My 4 year old is growing tired of the camera
Meanwhile Campbell loves it!

Jul 13, 2014

Project #watchthemgrow week 9

Today the soybeans were getting a little foliar feed and spray. Macro nutrients were distributed using this sprayer as well as a some herbicide to kill weeds. This week for the first time you can see the blooms that have been popping up all over the field. Lots of blooms means lots of pods for soybeans to grow.  It is really important to apply the herbicide and foliar feed at the correct time.  In a perfect situation the herbicide would have been applied a little earlier but rain and wet fields delayed that a bit. If you look close you can see the sprayer has very thin wheels that fit between the soybeans at this point. This minimizes the beans that get run over during this process.
There is a little canopy in between the rows.
These bloom will turn into the pod which the soybeans will grow in.