Unfurled

I walked the very same road on Tuesday that I walked on Monday. The gravel of the road worked its way into my tennis shoes on Tuesday, just as it had on Monday.

So why did I suddenly see the sunflowers on Tuesday?

Did they suddenly unfurl their bright yellow arms overnight? 

If I uncurl my fists and loosen my grip on the ball of anxiety in my stomach, will my heart be open to new possibilities?

Did the butterflies flit onto the yellow blooms, drinking in the very nectar of life? If they did, I didn't see it on Monday.

But on Tuesday? Yes, I saw it on Tuesday.

I was thinking about the very same situation on Tuesday that had clouded my steps on Monday.

 

Perspective: How do I see?

And give thanks for everything 

to God the Father 

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:20 

***

I'm linked today to Jennifer's Getting Down with Jesus: God-Bumps and God Incidences. 

For Old Times' Sake

 

For years, Randy's family has been driving under this canopy of cottonwood trees and taking cattle to pasture. It's a spring rite of passage for both cattle and man. 

The pasture on the Rattlesnake Creek has been in his family for more than 100 years. Today, Randy and his cousin, Don, are the latest in a long line of Fritzemeiers to use the pasture as a summer grazing spot for mamas and babies. 

Randy has been making this journey since he was a little boy. He rode shotgun as his Grandpa Clarence and his Dad Melvin delivered calves to the pasture.

The ground was purchased in 1900 by Albert Brinkman, a great-great-great uncle of Randy's, for about $4 an acre. Originally in a tract of 1,040 acres, 560 acres today remain in the Fritzemeier family. It has always been native pasture. 

This is an undated photo of Randy's Grandpa, Clarence Fritzemeier, with a bull. The back of the photo has written (in Randy's Grandma Ava's handwriting): "He looks like he knew he was going to be sold."

These babies were born in January and February. It's their first visit to this pasture along the Rattlesnake.

It seems like a good place to spend your summer vacation, especially if we get enough rain to keep the grass green and the Rattlesnake filled.

I can't complain about the working conditions either. The round-up a week ago came right after a rain, with grasses a brilliant green against the blue sky.

Picture postcard pretty, right?

Some Like It Hot

Have you ever tried something at a restaurant and wanted to duplicate it at home? Yeah, me too. I've eaten at The Mustard Seed restaurant in Buhler a couple of times. It will come as no surprise to my family that I've eaten the same sandwich each time. Why chance not liking the next thing you try?

So Mom's Crazy Cooking Challenge for May - Grilled Cheese - gave me the chance to look for a recipe that might transport me to that cute little bistro without putting on any makeup or burning up any gasoline.

The Mustard Seed's Smoky Chicken Blackberry Sandwich has chicken breast, blackberry spread, peppered maple bacon and big-eye Swiss cheese all tucked together in wheatberry bread.

I found a recipe that used strawberry jam at Galley Kitchen's Bake Up, Little Suzy. She did a whole month's worth of grilled cheese sandwiches for April. Bet you didn't know April was Grilled Cheese Month. That girl knows how to celebrate! I'm definitely trying more of her ideas as I take meals to the field this summer or need something quick here at home.

True confessions: I changed the jam to blackberry and substituted Swiss cheese for the pepper jack in my efforts to create a Mustard Seed-worthy sandwich, so her recipe just served as a jumping-off point.

Is a sandwich you make at home ever as good as one that someone else makes and then cleans up the mess? Probably not, but it's still worth a try. 

Smoky Chicken Blackberry Sandwich

2 slices wheatberry bread
Butter
Swiss cheese
Sliced turkey deli meat
Blackberry jam
2 slices bacon, fried until crispy

Butter the outsides of two slices of bread. Spread blackberry jam on the other side of each slice of bread. Put one piece of bread, butter side down, down in a non-stick skillet or a griddle. On top of the blackberry jam, layer Swiss cheese, turkey, bacon, more cheese and top with the blackberry jam side of the other slice of bread. Cook on medium low until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown.

If desired, serve with chips and this yummy coleslaw.

(Mom's CCC is posted on the 7th of each month. Last month, I posted for the first time with this blueberry muffin recipe.)

An Ode to Kermit's Color

April 30, 2012

Kermit the Frog laments that it's not easy being green. But a Kansas wheat crop clings tenaciously to green - even as snow blankets it and other plants have faded to brown for the winter.  

Today, I'm back for Leap Into Spring's "Grass/Green" photo challenge. Since my yard is not photo worthy, I went with the most beautiful green scenes we have here on the County Line.

Spring brings a sea of green to Central Kansas - green that stretches across wheat fields and seems to reach toward the mighty cottonwoods along a neighboring road.

April 23, 2012

It begins its life as a golden kernel. 

We drill - or plant - the crop in September and October.

And appropriately for a "Green" challenge, we drill the wheat using a John Deere drill - though we are decidedly red when it comes to tractor allegiance :-) 

Within 5 days or so, the first inkling of green begins to break through the earth.

Just like a baby, this miracle is 9 months in the making, starting fragile and small, slowly adding size and stature.

October 9, 2011

Wheat is a hardy crop. Through the winter, it sleeps. Even under a blanket of ice and snow ...

December 2011

 ... it holds steadfastly to its green.

February 2012

But as the sun's rays begin to warm the earth, the green rivals the brightest crayons in the box.

March 2012

The wheat heads and then "flowers" - or pollinates (see the little yellow strands?)

May - Wheat heading

 After 9 months of sunrises ... 

April 30, 2012 (The crop is ahead of schedule this year)

... the green gives way to the "amber waves of grain" - back to the gold from which it sprouted.  

And it's again time to harvest. Then the gold to green cycle will begin yet again on a Kansas farm.

***

Today, I'm linked to the fifth week of the Leap Into Spring Photo Challenge. Hosts for the challenge are Alicia at Project Alicia, Kristi and Live and Love Out Loud and Rebecca at Bumbles and Light. Check out the photos on their pages

Repurposed

The days of s'mores around the backyard stone fireplace are as long gone as the fire that warmed the marshmallows to a perfect golden brown. The limestone has given way to time and neglect.

Even after the stone chimney was no longer a place to grill a hotdog on a stick, it had a repurposed life. But instead of a feast for the family, it was a feast for the imagination as a little girl played in the backyard, cooking imaginary meals with a saucepan and tea kettle. That little girl now has a baby of her own, who will no doubt invite her own dolls to make-believe tea parties some day.

And again, the stone chimney has new life, even in the midst of the County Line's version of urban - OK, rural - blight. A mama cat has nestled her babies in the leaves in a back corner.

It's not a very convenient location for the Farmer who likes to hold new kitties. But Mama Cat didn't ask him.

Cats are like that.

And I guess the old fireplace is again providing a location for a family's sustenance. Funny how life circles back around, isn't it?

Rebirth

The whoosh of flame warmed our faces as we watched the fire crackle and dance, sweeping across the prairie grasses as quickly as a ballerina in a frenzied ballet.

The vivid oranges and yellows of fire gave way to a desolate blackened landscape. And, as you might remember, the "controlled burn" on our Conservation Reserve Program land ended up out of control.

But, just days later, green emerged from the black - a signal of rebirth.

To fulfill the requirements of the CRP contract, Randy planted a blend called Forbes grasses in the ash. (You can see the ridges made by the drill in the photo below, and the Forbes mix in Randy's hand above.)

Illinois bundleflower ... purple prairie clover ... false sunflower ... Indian blanket ... clasping coneflower: The names just sound beautiful, don't they? (They ought to with a pricetag of $3,492 just for required seed mix!)

Eventually, the green of the CRP grass will be dotted with these "flowers" found in some of our other pastures.

Two years ago, I was in the Flint Hills in April and saw grasses re-emerging from the blackened earth after springtime burns. Burning the prairie to replenish the grasses has been part of the cycle of life since the time when Indians roamed the Great Plains.

And the dance of rebirth continues.Sometimes we have to live through a little "fire" to see God's promise of rebirth on the other side.

\ 

***

I'm linked today to Jennifer's Getting Down with Jesus: God Bumps and God-Incidences.

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day! Maybe you've already had a little basket of flowers left on your door handle on this first day of May.

When Jill & Brent were little, we enjoyed making and delivering May baskets. For those who don't know about the tradition, May baskets are delivered on May 1. They are traditionally filled with flowers and treats and left hanging on a friend or neighbor's front doorknob. Once the basket is in place, the deliverer rings the doorbell and runs off to hide and watch the recipient's reaction.

My husband's parents lived just two miles north of us when Jill & Brent were small, and we often delivered  a May Day basket to them. Their over-the-top reactions always thrilled my little cohorts. It wasn't long until Jill & Brent would burst out of the bushes to “surprise” Grandma and Grandpa. 

I suppose I have photos of this event … somewhere in one of the tubs full of photos. (But here's a cute one I could find - though it has nothing to do with May Day baskets.)

If you don't have a small basket you'd like to use for your May baskets, you can make your baskets from items found around your house:

• Use a cake mix box and cut it down to about 4 1/2 inches high. Wrap the box with gift wrap. Tuck flowers and a sweet treat into the box and make someone's day!

•  Use a 12-inch doily and fold it into a cone (like the one shown at the top of this post). You can also use construction paper to make a cone.

• Back when Jill & Brent were young, we used to use the green baskets that fruits and vegetables came in at the grocery store, and we'd weave ribbon through the grid. However, many of them are now packed in plastic tubs. You can cut the top off the plastic rub and use the bottom for your flowers and cookies. If you wish, you can add leftover Easter grass or shredded paper to the bottom of the tub. You will have to put one cookie in the front and one in the back so that the tub doesn't tip!

•  On each, just attach a ribbon with staples and use the ribbon to hang to the door knob!

Need an idea for a sweet treat to share with your May baskets? 

 Try these Blonde Brownies ...

These Caramel Coconut Squares ...

 or these Fudge-Filled M & M Bars.

I'm linked today to Crazy for Crust and Two Maids a Milking. Check them out for other yummy ideas.