Smokey Hobo Dinner...

Growing up my mom used to put smoked sausage, potatoes, carrots, onions and butter in a 9x13 pan and bake it.  It was one of my favorite meals growing up.  Sometimes she would put hamburger patties on the bottom in place of the smoked sausage links.  I know of some people who make foil pouches and place these same ingredients in the pouch and toss them on the grill.  When I saw the recipe for this Smokey Hobo Dinner in Gooseberry Patch's 101 Super-Easy Slow-Cooker Recipes Cookbook, I immediately put the ingredients on my grocery list!  This recipe is simple to make and tastes just like I remember!  Stay tuned next week for a Gooseberry Patch giveaway!!!

Smokey Hobo Dinner 

5 potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 head cabbage, coarsely chopped

16 ounce package baby carrots

1 onion, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

14 ounce package smoked pork sausage, sliced into 2-inch pieces

1/2 Cup water

1) Spray a slow cooker with non-stick vegetable spray.  Layer vegetables in slow cooker in order listed, sprinkling each layer with salt and pepper.

2) Place sausage on top of vegetables in slow cooker; pour water over all.

3) Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours.  Serves 6.

Enjoy!

Susan's Slow-Cookin' Ribs...

Another marvelous recipe from Gooseberry Patch's 101 Super-Easy Slow-Cooker Recipes Cookbook .  I don't know who Susan is, other than what the cookbook tells me, but Susan is one fantastic lady for inventing this recipe.  I already had most of the ingredients in my pantry and it was just a little spicy which got the OK from my family!  Susan's ribs will definitely be making more appearances in This Farm Family's kitchen!

Susan's Slow Cookin' Ribs

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 pounds boneless pork ribs, sliced into serving size pieces

1 onion, sliced and divided

1/2 Cup water

2 Cups hickory-flavored barbecue sauce

1) Combine seasonings in a cup; mix well and rub over ribs.  Arrange one-third of ribs in slow cooker.  Place one-third of onion slices over top; repeat layering 2 more times, ending with onion.

2) Pour water over all.  Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours.

3) Drain and discard liquid from slow cooker.  Pour barbecue sauce over ribs.  Cover and cook on low setting for an additional one to 2 hours.

Serves 6 to 8.

Enjoy!

Project 52 Week 13 {Blue} and Week 14 {Radiate}...

Well, I'm late in posting these...again!  Sometimes more important deadlines and life in general get in the way of posting my photo a week.  While I was looking back to see what week I was on, I realized I don't have a picture for week 12.  Oh well!

The theme for week 13 was "blue."  I couldn't figure out what I could take a picture of that could fall under the blue category.  I was thinking blue sky with white puffy clouds, but Mother Nature didn't cooperate that week.  Then I thought about taking a selfie because of said weather, I was feeling a little "blue" myself, but then one day this happened.  This little miracle...

 She never falls asleep on her own except in her own bed.  She must have been extremely tired from such a busy morning.  Or wait...it was from keeping Mom and Dad awake all.night.long.  I blame the teeth even though I really don't know if she was teething!

The theme for week 14, last week, was "radiate."  Jo is always on the move and I have found that she is a lover of the great outdoors.  She could spend hours out there just wandering around exploring.  Her smile is "radiant" when she is outside!

Now on to week 15 in the hopes that I can snap a pic and get it posted before next week!  And maybe one of my other two daughters can be in a pic for once!

Roasted Cajun Pecans...

This is another great recipe from Gooseberry Patch's cookbook, 101 Super-Easy Slow-Cooker Recipes Cookbook  .

The seasoning on the pecans is a tad spicy which makes them great to serve at Super Bowl Parties, Final Four Parties, Grammy Parties, Tailgating, or just to snack on anytime!  I think they would go great with beer too...just sayin'!  And better yet, you make them in the crock pot.  Who knew you could roast pecans in the crock pot?  Not me!  Well, I guess I never gave it much thought until I saw this recipe.  This was the first thing I made from this awesome cookbook!

Roasted Cajun Pecans

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 Cup melted butter

1 lb. pecan halves

1) In a small bowl, mix together spices.

2) Pour melted butter into a slow cooker; stir pecans until evenly coated.

3) Sprinkle spice mixture over pecans, stirring constantly, until evenly seasoned.

4) Cover and cook on high setting for 12-15 minutes, stirring once.

5) Remove lid from slow cooker and reduce heat to low setting.  Cook uncovered for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

6) Remove pecans from slow cooker; cool on paper towel-lined wire rack.

Girls Can Farm Too {Part 2}...

 This post is part 2 in a 3 part series.  You can read the first part of my Girls Can Farm Too series here.

Who says that girls can't farm?  We have never placed that idea in our daughters' heads.  According to the National FFA blog, the number of farms operated by women in the U.S. have doubled since 1978.  "Across the country nearly 300,000 women serve as principal operators on 62.7 million acres of farm and ranchland, accounting for 12.9 billion in farm products in 2012." (source)

The above quote makes me wonder, were these women actively involved in agriculture when they were younger?  During their most influential ages?  I often ask myself if the love for farming is an inherited trait or something that is learned.  Is it something that will be passed down from my husband and me to our daughters or is it something that they will learn from working beside us?

Brad and I both grew up on farms, so we have been around agriculture since we were babies and we still live and breath it every single day.  Some of the best memories from my childhood were when I would help my dad with the hogs on our farm.  I always jumped at the chance to help him with the hogs. My family also has a dairy farm. One of my brother's responsibilities on the farm was to feed the young calves.  When it was spring or harvest and he was busy in the fields, It was my job to feed the calves.  My family jokes that at this point, I was a "fair weather farmer."   If it was raining, I wouldn't feed because I knew that my brother would be able to do it as he wouldn't be in the fields!;)  

 Brad started going to the farm with his dad at around 2 years old.  He drove a tractor all by himself at 3! This isn't the best picture and he is probably around 9 or so, but it's all I have at the moment.

Most of Brad's younger days were spent working beside his dad and grandpa on the farm.  He may have even played hookie from school to help with field work;)

And that is why I wonder if it is inherited or learned.  Are the things we experienced when we were younger what developed our love for farming?  

We live on a beef and grain farm and currently feed about 150 head of beef cattle.  The process of our feeding is a little to "complex" for our 8, 5, and 1 year olds.  

We try to keep the girls involved in the farm life as much as we can by letting them be involved in "rookie" 4-h.  Last year they had pigs, this year we are trying dairy.  

We attempt to keep them aware of the day-to-day happenings on the farm.  The drought of 2012 took a toll on many farmers including us.  We explained to the girls what was going on and why it affected us.  We didn't want to scare them, but rather want them to better understand why we work so hard for what we have.

Sometimes I wish I could look into a glass ball and see the future of farming.  It's such a scary world out there and farming seems to be the most vulnerable of professions and yet it is something that the world can't live without.  Sometimes it scares me to think about what the future of farming holds for our daughters.

Maybe they won't physically farm, but instead will be advocates for agriculture that speak up for farmers on Capitol Hill.

As much as we would love to see them inherit our love for the farm, we know that it may not always happen.  Whether they inherit the farming "gene" or not, we are trying to teach them the love for agriculture.

Stay tuned for Part three...

I am participating in Indiana's Family of Farmer's Table Talk.  While I did receive a gift for this article, all opinions are mine.

Spring Break Fun...

Growing up, my family never took vacations during Spring Break.  We lived on a farm, and since Spring Break was usually the last week of March, my dad was always busy getting things prepared for the planting season.  I really didn't feel like I was missing out on much.  Since I lived in a very small farming community and went to a private Catholic school, none of my friends seemed to take extravagant vacations either.  Once I got into high school, some of my friends' families would go on vacations to Florida and such, but I still didn't really feel like I was missing out on much.  My parents were probably grateful for that!:)

While we didn't go on vacation and part of our break was spent cleaning house or doing outside work, I can remember spending a couple days at my grandparent's house when I was younger, and once I got older we would go shopping with cousins in the big city and I would usually end up spending the last few days of my spring break with one of my cousins in a county just east of us.

 We didn't travel to any beaches or big cities...well I guess we did make a trip, or four to the city...the girls still had fun!

Saturday night they stayed at their aunt Lauren's house.  Their evening consisted of crafting and watching Frozen.  Brad and I got to go to the mall and out to eat with some friends!  Then we came back to Lauren's and picked up Jo while the older two got to spend the night.  (No one seems to want to keep an 18 month old that doesn't sleep through the night.  I don't know why!) :)

On Monday we made another trip to the city do spend some Christmas gift cards and finished off the trip with a stop at Orange Leaf.

Wednesday we headed to Kids Commons which is a playground/museum.

Jo had a blast at the playground.

And she shoved a five year old out of the way!  Each time she would get to this circle that you could stand on, she would stop and do a little dance, then keep walking.  One time she got to the circle and their was a boy sitting on the circle.  She proceeded to push him out of the way.  It took me a minute to realize what she was doing because you don't normally see an 18 month old pushing someone three times her size out of the way.  Before I could say anything, the kid was looking at her like he couldn't believe he just got pushed out of the way by a BABY!  I told her, "No!" which resulted in her putting her head down and pouting.  Lesson learned?  We'll see!

We took friends with us to Kids Commons because everything's better with friends!

B inside a bubble...

Camping...

On Thursday we didn't have anything planned, so B got up very early to go feed with Brad.  And yes, that is a sock hat on Miss B.  We live in the Midwest where our weather is pretty unpredictable.  And moody!

Thursday night Brad and I had the opportunity to preview the upcoming documentary, Farmland.  It was such a great movie.  More on that later!

Horrible pic of Jennifer from Jent's Front Porch, but once again, everything's better with friends!

On Friday we headed to the Children's Museum and I guess everyone else had the same idea!  This is the line for tickets, which we stood in for one hour!  I don't think we will be going to the museum on Spring Break ever again, but I think everyone had a good time.

Taking a moment to relax and admire Chihuly's glass art work....

A bunch of eagle's in their nest...

B loves history and it's so great to see her love for it expand each time we visit the museum.  They have an exhibit for Ruby Bridges, Ryan White and Anne Frank and I think this might be her favorite.

Every time we visit the museum she takes a ride on "Sandy."  I think this might have been her last time as her feet touched the ground.

Friday night B and Mel spent the night at Brad's parent's house.  They had movie night Friday and then more crafting was done on Saturday!

B's best friend Margaret spent the night on Saturday night.  Brad happened to get the new battery in the lawn mower so B was giving free wagon rides!

Of course, after a couple laps she wanted to ride as well...

After a little more play, they set to work picking up sticks.  I may have bribed them with ice cream!

Bike rides...

Then we headed over to my family's dairy farm so the girls could pick out their calves for the fair.

After we left the dairy, we headed to our cattle barn to check the cattle. The girls climbed on the hay bales then we headed home for a yummy supper of grilled hamburgers.  They played outside for a little while longer until it was time for Margaret to leave.

Now we are back in the swing of things as school started today.  It won't be long and it will be summer break!!!