Surprise That Popped in the Mail

Last Thursday afternoon was like any day. I walked outside to meet the school bus. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a box propped against the front door. It had my name. Hmm.... I did not order anything. What could it be? Christmas is over and we received our overseas' gifts. It could not be a delinquent gift. I looked at the return address and recognized the city but not the sender's address. A real, fun mystery of whom sent a package?

At this point, I should have been at the bus stop. The kids were to arrive any moment. Maybe the bus will be late. I tore into the box with the glee of a child at Christmas. At first, I pulled out several newspaper clippings that featured IL Field Moms on a farm tour. Prominently featured was my blazing orange jacket and face. Hmm... the mystery only grew. The roar of the bus rumbled through the neighborhood. I really needed to walk to the corner. The box still had more contents. Next came a bag with four homemade biscotti - someone knew I loved sugar and chocolate. The diesel engine blared followed by the screech of bus brakes. Phew, it was the wrong bus. I picked up the box and out came a large bag of popcorn and several corn cobs. Followed by a neatly folded note from....... my farmer pen pal, Susan. I opened the wrong side of the box. Opps.

She explained their farm harvested a small crop of popcorn and a sample was enclosed. Susan suggested to place one corn cob in a brown bag and microwave for two minutes. The results was popcorn perfection! The kids loved the extra loud sound. I loved how the corn cob was perfectly measured. No exploding brown bag. In the past we placed 1/4 cup of loose popcorn in a brown bag and cooked for two minutes. Resulted in burt popcorn and popcorn scattered inside the machine. Not fun. The corn cob method was perfection on several levels!

The kids and I were fascinated to see popcorn attached to the cob. The kitchen filled with giggles as we wrestled to pull off our own piece of popcorn. My husband just shook his head in disbelief that something so simple could bring joy to four people. Remember he grew up on a dairy and corn farm.

Here is an update from Susan on what happened this past fall on her farm. "Our corn averaged 252 bushels an acre! Our previous yield was 200 bushels an acre. We were not alone on this as most farmers encountered the same thing. Soybeans did a litter better then average, but we have had better – they did about 53 bushels an acre. We were short on rain through the first part of July, so we were really surprised with yields. But since the price of corn has dropped so it is nice to have lots of corn to sell.

After harvest, John puts on anhydrous when the ground temperature gets below 55 degrees, and he got that done in November. He also mows around fields and the grass waterways to help control weed growth. The equipment is cleaned off, checked over and greased so it can be put away for another year. Then time is spent doing farm book work – determining what expenses each landowner owes for crop expenses and sending out bills. John is also ordering seed corn and seed beans for the 2015 year during this time. In January, February and March, John will go to computer class in Springfield to learn how to better utilize the accounting software. In January we usually load out semis, but it has been too cold to do that, so moving grain will have to wait until February." To see another post on Susan's farm visit here. If you have a farming question for Susan, comment below. I will forward it on to her.

Susan, thank you for the goodie box. We loved both types of popcorn, the CD, biscotti (which I did not share) and the soil materials. 

On a side note, my husband never knew about the biscotti.  Well...... now he does. 

Sharon, The Mayor