Category Archives: Farming

Expert driver

October 4, 2019Farming, Odds and ends, Sunnybook Farm, worksusanmanzke

Yesterday afternoon I was on the Internet visiting face to face with friend, Pauline, in Tasmania. At the same time, Bob was waiting for a truck to arrive to pick up the corpse of an old tractor.

I didn’t know exactly when Bob went outside. I was too involved with Pauline. We hadn’t connected in months and I didn’t want to miss the time with her–it was 3:45 pm Thursday here and 6:45 am Friday in Hobart, Tasmania. You can see why it’s hard to connect at the same time.

If I had been outside, I would have taken photos of the tractor (missing one large back wheel) as it was loaded on the truck. Bob was impressed with the process.

Months ago, someone else tried loading that tractor and couldn’t. He left it out in a spot where it was in the way. We were so glad when this truck came and was successful with the loading.

I arrived as the last chains were set in place after the tractor was loaded.

The truck couldn’t use our farm driveway as that is just mushy from all the rain. He was sure to have gotten stuck there.

Instead, he had to back out between our buildings, which was a tight squeeze.

I held my breath as he backed out. The mirrors on his truck were sure to hit the building.

No worries. This expert driver knew exactly what he was doing and was soon on the road with his load.

Both Bob and I were impressed.

Enjoying the season

September 18, 2019creativity, Farming, photography, Wisconsinsusanmanzke

Too much rain has put a damper on the best of days. Water and mud block our farm lane. Yet I am enjoying today’s warm, windy weather–I’m trying to take it all in, even the humidity, and keep it in my heart. That way I can bring it out mid-January and remember.

Last evening I raced outside with my cell phone to take a photo of the sunset. It was another day I’ll set in my heart.

As I was enjoying the sun setting over the cornfield, I saw another view of the sky.

I stepped down into the ditch and used the tops of the corn to frame the evening sky colors.

Hope you enjoy my view.

Grandpa’s truck

September 17, 2019Bob, Family, Farming, Odds and endssusanmanzke

A while back I saw our son, Russ, taking his son to look at Grandpa Bob’s old farm truck.

I couldn’t figure out what they were doing. It wasn’t until later that I found out that Russ was giving Harrison an education.

Russ was showing the hand crank in the truck door that worked the window.

It was something Grandpa had that none of their cars had. The crank was very interesting to Harrison.

I wonder what else we have around that would be considered ancient. I think that in the attic there’s a dial telephone that was attached to the wall by a cord. How in the world did we call on that phone without buttons?

Quick change

September 3, 2019Farming, Weather, Wisconsinsusanmanzke

Yesterday was a perfect September day. It was not too hot and not too cold and not too windy.

One of our rented fields was being chopped to prepare it for cattle feed. It needs a couple of days to dry before it can be harvested completely.

Last night the weather changed.

Two and a half inches of rain overnight will make finishing that field tricky, though a breezy wind may help.

Temperatures will go up and down for us in September, or so goes the forecast. We’ll just have to wait and see what comes next.

Corn question

August 29, 2019Farming, nature, Odds and endssusanmanzke

How many ears of corn on a corn stalk?

Internet drawing showing how to draw corn. Doesn’t look like corn to me.

When I was growing up, I remember seeing drawings of stalks of corn having many ears going up and down the stalk.

We usually see one to two good ears on a stalk. Many stalks just have one ear.

Bob gets close to the corn growing on our farm. He sees up to two ears of field corn on a stalk.

Too many of my non-farm friends think corn produces 6 good ears per stalk. They are surprised when they grow some corn in their garden and don’t get as many as they expected.

Take this as an eye-opener.

Susan Manzke

Writer, Speaker, All-Around Good Person