31 Days from a Tractor Seat #SelfieSunday

Well, it finally happened, I'm writing this post from my phone...  Somehow I figured this would happen when I decided to challenge myself to write for 31 days.  This past week I've gotten in a groove of writing my post the night before it is published, which has worked really well, until last night I couldn't get our internet to work...  And tonight I'm afraid I've got the same problem, so I have an internet technician coming by tomorrow to hopefully solve my problem.  So, today's post is simple and sweet.  Here is my #SelfieSunday:

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Guide to Help your Local Food Bank this Harvest

Food banks across the United States are in need for donations all year long.  As my family and I bring in this year's harvest, I can't help but think about the need for healthy, affordable and quality food for the plates of all Americans.  Even though farmers work hard everyday to provide that for Americans, hunger is still an issue.  I am fortunate and have not had to struggle with hunger myself.  There were times growing up in the 80's during the farm crisis my family had to literally save our pennies to buy a gallon of milk, but we survived.  So what can we all do to help our local food banks?

• The first and obvious choice is to make a monetary donation.  I know that our local food bank uses cash donations to buy certificates to the local grocery store to pass out to those that use the food bank, so they can buy perishable items like milk and eggs.  They also use these type of donations to help them get whatever they are in need of.
• The second and also obvious choice is to make a donation of nonperishable food items to your local food bank.  Our local food bank suggests items such as canned tuna or chicken, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, juice, rice, soup, crackers, tortillas, spaghetti sauce, and oatmeal.
• A third idea is to make a "spicy" donation.  Think about it, people that rely on the food bank for food staples such as mentioned above also need and want things like spices and chocolate to spruce up those items.  And yes, even though we don't need chocolate, don't we all appreciate being able to bake a pan of brownies for time to time.
• A fourth idea is to make a donation of some non-food items.  In fact one of our local churches has a donation center for items such as feminine prouducts, toiletries, baby toiletries and socks.  Some of these items food stamps don't cover.
• Fifth, get out and volunteer.  Most food banks are largely volunteer ran and are always looking for help.  If you can't commit to a shift at your local food bank, think about starting your own food drive in your local neighborhood, through your church, or through your workplace.
• Sixth, you can help out local food banks through social media!  One of our local food banks, Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank, can be helped by commenting on the blog, It's Just Life, this month.  Beth Ann at It's Just Life is actually the one who inspired me to create a Comments for a Cause program on my blog.  Go check out her blog and support her efforts!  Also, Farm Credit Services of America is donating $5 to local food banks when you use the hashtag #SpoonSalute.  So get to tweeting!

So, what are you going to do to support your local food bank this harvest?  Or what other ideas do you have to share?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Tractor Seat Update

This past week we have concentrated on harvesting soybeans.  With unexpected rain Wednesday night and a frost last night, we've had shorten harvest days, due to the ground and soybeans being too wet.  Each day we've had to wait for the morning dew to dry up (or this morning, morning frost to disappear) so we can bring our equipment into the field to harvest.  This has made this week very stop and go, and I'll admit a little annoying.  It is so much nicer when we are able to just get up in the morning and run all day, rather than playing this waiting game each day.

And we aren't the only ones that have been playing the waiting game this week.  The Iowa crop progress report, released on Monday afternoon, put Iowa's harvest progress at the slowest rate in over 30 years.  30 years!  Now that it a little scary to think about, but one thing that makes me feel better is that we have more efficient equipment now than we did 30 years ago, so hopefully we'll still be able to finish before baby #3 - JP, arrives...

What questions do you have about soybean harvest?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Take a Tech Timeout in 3 Easy Steps

One thing about being in a tractor day-in and day-out is that I listen to a lot of radio and news.  (Personally for me, I stay tuned to a couple different AM-talk radio stations rather than music stations, primarily because talk radio keeps my attention and alertness and I can't stand listening to the same playlist everyday on music stations.  Anyways...)  There seems to be a new survey that is released everyday and discussed on talk radio, and yesterday, a survey from Highlights caught my attention about parents and their phone activity seen by their children.

The "State of the Kid" survey asked children ages 6 to 12 if their parents are ever distracted or focused on other things when they are trying to talk to them and 62% said yes; the number one form of distraction cited - the cellphone.  When I heard this I immediately put down my cellphone!  All I thought was, would my kids answer yes too?  I would hope not, but part of me was afraid they might say yes.  Highlights then went on to ask the children what would happen if their parents lost their cellphones for a day.  Answers included that they'd "go crazy" or that they'd "be mad".  While part of me laughed when I heard these answers, the other part of me was sad.

I then decided that I needed to make sure that I didn't become one of these statistics, so here is what I'm doing starting today:

1. Setting Phone Hours - I don't need to pick up or look at my phone every time it makes a beep.  Instead I'm setting certain hours where I'm keeping my phone down and ignoring it.  The easy times to separate myself from my phone are during meal times and bedtime.  Now I'm going to add an hour during the morning hours and an hour during the evening hours to at least start with.
2. Not Checking Phone while in the Car - I know it is against the law but I do find myself scanning my phone while in the car.  I know this isn't safe too and I need to stop.  Plus, the car is the perfect time and opportunity to have discussions with my family.  
3. Embrace Family Fun - I don't need to take a photo or tweet when my family and I are out enjoying ourselves.  I sometimes need to do a better job of living in the moment and one way of doing that is by keeping the phone down while having family fun.

So, do you find yourself distracted by your phone?  Would your kids say you get distracted by your phone?  What tips would you add?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

And so you know, the other sources of distraction cited by the Highlights survey were bothersome siblings, work, TV, talking to other people, computers, cooking, housework and driving.

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Wordless Wednesday - Views from my Tractor Seat

Combining Soybeans at Sunset

Making a new pass in a corn field

LP having fun with Mom in the tractor and catch cart 

MP taking an afternoon nap while working with Mom

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Six Week Muffins - Tractor Approved Breakfast

One feature this month through my 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series that I look forward to sharing are some of my family's "Tractor Approved" recipes.  During fall harvest I have a unique situation where I find myself in the field pretty much all day, everyday, along with my husband and kids.  Thankfully I have a wonderful mother-in-law that makes box lunches for us everyday at noon and for supper we usually just send whoever is in the semi-truck to pick up some food from the nearest food establishment from the field.  The downfall of this situation is that we don't have that much food in our house during harvest because I don't have that much time to run to the grocery store, especially since we don't live that close to one that is open 24 hours and on Sundays...  But anyways, I try to keep some staples in the house so when we do find ourselves at home we can eat something at home.  Today I'm going to share one of my go-to breakfast muffins - Six Week Muffins!

Why do Six Week Muffins get the "Tractor Approved" seal?  First, my entire family loves them.  They are a hardy muffin that has a slightly sweet flavor.  Second, they are convenient for you to take on the road (or in the field).  During harvest sleep can become an elusive thing, so there are days that you literally wake up early enough to just put on a pair of clothes and get out to the field.  And when you work long hours you really need a good breakfast to get you going, so these muffins are great to grab on-the-go.  Third, you can keep the batter in the refrigerator up to six weeks so you make fresh muffins as much as you want.  I usually split the batter in thirds and make 18 at a time every couple of weeks.

Six Week Muffins
6 cups All-Bran Cereal (Kellogg's)
2 cups Water, boiled
1 cup Shortening, melted
3 cups Sugar
4 Eggs, beaten
1 qt Buttermilk
5 cups Flour
5 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Salt

Pour boiling water over 2 cups of bran and let stand for 15 minutes.  Then mix in melted shortening, rest of bran, sugar, eggs and buttermilk.  Sift flour, soda and salt - and add to the rest of the mixture.

Bake muffins at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Recipe makes 4 to 5 dozen muffins.

You may cover and refrigerate the batter up to six weeks for fresh muffins as much as you want.

What are some of your go-to on-the-go breakfast foods?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post or by following on Bloglovin.  Also be sure to like the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page for daily updates from the field.)

Why we choose to raise GMOs

I will admit that I have stayed away from this topic since I started my blog because I feel like there are a lot of people that cannot have a civil discussion on this, but after having a friendly and open conversation about this over the weekend with the #FranklinCoHarvest blogger tour participants I've decided to open up a bit myself and share why we choose to raise GMO crops on our farm.  After this weekend I saw that there is some unfamiliarity with GMOs and that is what I hope to cover in today's post.

First off, let's describe what is a GMO.  A GMO (genetically modified organism) is an organism where the genetic material, aka DNA, has been changed from what occurs naturally.  Farmers and gardeners have been modifying plants for years by creating hybrids by selecting specific traits that they are looking for in a plant - such as manually pollinating two tomato plants together to create one tomato plant that produced both large and meaty tomatoes, or with apples - combining a sweet apple with a good baking apple, or by merging two corn plants so the corn has a strong stalk so it'll be more durable in weather and that creates a large ear of corn.  Biotechnology, that is used to do this in GMOs, is a more technologically advanced method of selecting traits.  As a farmer GMOs benefit my corn and soybean productivity and efficiency.

How do GMOs benefit corn and soybean productivity and efficiency?  First, GMO corn and soybean plants commonly have traits that help combat disease or insects, which helps us to use a minimal amount of pesticides (used to kill insects, similar to how you might use a mosquito repellent or a fly spray in the summer time) on our crops.  Besides using less pesticides, GMOs are a more efficient plant that use less land and water, due to traits in the plant that help with drought or root growth.  One of the largest benefits of GMOs is that herbicide-tolerant (aka weed killer resistant) crops allow us to control weeds better, which ultimately allows our crops to grow better and thrive.  And in the end, GMOs have higher yields because the traits it has been bred for have helped eliminate all of these yield-hampering issues.

Here I am eating GMO sweet corn at this year's
Farm Progress Show

Are GMOs safe to eat?  GMOs aren't only safe for you to eat, but a lot of times they are the more affordable food choice.  Many regulatory agencies and organizations such as the US Food & Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and the USDA have all studied GMOs and have found that they are safe to eat and have no negative health effects.  In fact the average amount of time that the FDA and the EPA study each new GMO is 14 years to make sure it has no health risks before it gets to go to the marketplace.  If you are interested in seeing what some of these, and many more agencies and organization from around the world, have to say about GMOs check out this graph.

Did you know, that GMOs make up approximately 70-80% of the foods we eat?  Many common food and beverage ingredients, such as corn, soybeans and sugar beets, are commonly GMOs.  So if you look at the food label on the next food you eat, you most commonly will find at least one of these three ingredients listed.

Do you have any questions on GMOs?  I'd love to answer your questions.  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post and by liking the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page.)