Photography

I don't even claim to be a photographer.... but I do enjoy photography.  Lately I've been experimenting and gathering some of my favorite shots to enter in our local festival photography exhibit contest.  I don't even really know if any of these are contest-worthy; they just happen to be MY favorites.  What do you think?

HARVEST!

The Bolte Farm has pumpkins harvested!  It's so exciting to finally see (and cash in on) the fruits of our labor!  We have harvested probably 1000 pumpkins!!  We have LOTS of medium sized ones left for only $2.00 each.  Most of our large ones have been purchased already. 

I think these pumpkins are so beautiful... orange is my new favorite color!

A new school year

I can't believe it's been almost a MONTH since I last posted!  I've had good intentions, I planned on posting, and I took lots of pictures in hopes of sharing them.  What happened?  Farming, school, family, fun... life in general happened!  The main thing is the start of the school year happened.  As soon as school starts, my world changes.  My carefree lazy days of summer turn into hectic days of planning.  My long evenings of sitting and browsing the computer and reading books at my leisure are suddenly a thing of the past, as my evenings are now spent grading papers and writing lesson plans.  This year I had another change as well -- I am now teaching 6th grade.  I got a new LARGER classroom with the position too!

My new classroom has room for a library!

Steve sent me flowers to school on my first day!

Almost harvest time

I can't believe the pumpkins are almost ready!  It still seems to me that it's a little early, but I looked up some pumpkin sites on the internet, and it's certainly possible the are REALLY ready.  And we've also learned that many other pumpkin farmers are harvesting and shipping already.  Pumpkins can stay good for MONTHS after harvesting if they are properly cared for. 

Here is one of the mammoth pumpkins... they are huge, and hopefully getting bigger.  They can be recognized by their light orange color and their smooth skins.

The jack-o-lantern pumpkins are smaller, and they have a bright orange color.  Most of them have ridges in their flesh. 

Pumpkins are ready to harvest when they quit growing and when the color is a deep, dark orange.  I don't know if they are done growing, since we haven't measured them.  But I think they are seriously close to being all grown up!

We found some that are mostly orange but still have some green lines on them. 

And we have a few that seem large enough, but are still mostly green!  Maybe that's a good thing though.  We'll harvest the solid orange ones within a couple of weeks.  The others can wait a little longer.  I think in the future we should plant twice... one harvest can be around the first of September, but the later ones could stay on the farm for people who want to bring their kids and pick out their own on the vine.

Since the vines are starting to turn brown and wilt, we are finally able to walk among them into the middle of our patch.  I'm not sure how many pumpkins we have, but one thing is certain ... we don't have as many as we would have liked.  We have hundreds, but since we planted 1000 seeds, it would have been nice to have had at least that many pumpkins.  We've been studying the art of pumpkin farming, and most farmers have to self-pollinate their pumpkins using a pipe cleaner or similar devise to do the job that bees should be doing!  Steve has even mentioned buying a bee hive.  We have learned what all farmers know --- you live and learn!

This is Alec next to one of our largest jack-o-lantern pumpkins.  This one will make a great carving!

Anyone wanna pay in advance and lay claim to this big guy? haha

The finished head gate

Steve's masterpiece is complete!  The new head gate is all he's worked on for the past couple of weeks, but he's finally finished.... well, it needs a few touch-ups, but it's usable now. 

Steve and Lewis actually took it for a trial run over the weekend when they vaccinated the cows.  It worked pretty well, but a full grown cow actually got turned around in this chute, so it's gotta be modified just a bit.

Steve is proud!  He's really been after me to post pictures and write in the blog about his new head gate.  It WAS a lot of work.... in the sticky heat of mid-August.  We've had temperatures here in the upper 90s.... a few days reaching 100 degrees, and the humidity has been high, so it feels like 110 every day.  So, it's no wonder Steve feels a sense of accomplishment of having finished this thing! 

Lookin' good Honey!  Smile!

Happy Birthday Beth Ann

Beth Ann putting her own candles on her DQ Oreo Blizzard cake. 

Beth Ann is my only girl.... well, actually she's my step-daughter, but she's still our only girl.  She's been a part of my life since she was 14 years old and in the 8th grade.  It's hard to believe she is a beautiful, independent 21 year old woman now. 

The birthday cake with all 21 candles.

We had a wonderful weekend.  Saturday Beth Ann and I went to get our nails done in pretty summer girlie pink, and afterwards we went shopping for her back-to-college clothes.  Saturday evening Steve and I took her to eat at Bob Evans, then to a movie.  Then yesterday, we celebrated with the cake and "Happy Birthday" song. 

Beth Ann making her birthday wish before blowing out her candles.... she's putting considerable effort into this wish... wonder what a beautiful young lady who appears to have everything would wish for?

She blew all 21 candles out so quickly (and forcefully enough to blow cookies off the cake!), that I didn't get a shot!  But I did get a picture of her gleefully clapping her hands because she managed to get them out in one breath!  I guess her big wish will come true!

Beth Ann playing "dress up" with the goat.  I love this self-portrait of her! 

We're so accustomed to having teenage boys around, it's a pleasure and sometimes a mystery to have a girl around again.

This morning she packed up her new clothes, all her pretty scarves, and all the "girl stuff" in the bathroom that the boys had complained about... and Steve took her to Charleston to spend the rest of her birthday with her mother.  Then off to Morgantown and back to college life, even though fall classes don't start until next Monday.  I can't imagine what the allure is for a 21 year old girl in a college town... I think we liked it better when she was here on the farm putting scarves on the goat. 

Happy 21st Birthday Sweet Elizabeth Ann Bolte.

Summertime news from the farm

We sliced into our first garden watermelon this week.

We grew small icebox watermelon, which are round and dark green.  The inside is a beautiful bright red. 

Steve modeling with our first watermelon of the season.

I don't really like watermelon, but I wish I did.  I think they are just gorgeous to look at.  They just LOOK refreshing on a hot summer day.

In other news.... still no name for the goat.  She's kind of starting to grow on all of us though, so a real name will have to come soon.  The naming will ultimately be up to Lewis since she is technically his goat.

And look at this beautiful cloud I was able to photograph at sunset the other evening.