It's a good week in Illinois: the strawberries are ready for picking! We've been out once already and brought home five gallons, which have already been stemmed and made into approximately four batches of freezer jam, two pies, one fruit salad and two loaves of strawberry bread. I feel some homemade strawberry ice cream coming on, too, I'm just saying. Illinois specialty growers are a good folks and patches like the one we go to, Gillam's in Canton, are run by…

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Fifteen years ago today, the corn was planted. And so were the beans, but only barely. Fifteen years ago today, my husband and I married in a country church in southern Illinois. It was glorious, except for the planting season. John had finished beans on the Tuesday before, then drove to my parents' farm in Albion for our wedding a couple days later. Today, fifteen years later, we've finished planting everything - the first time - and are patching in some replant. But we…

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So you may have noticed, Father's Day is this Sunday. And if you're like me, you may have seen those random internet gift guides offering up ideas for Dad: ties! Golf stuff! Man jewelry! Tech gadgets! And then, if you're like me, you realize that none of that is appropriate for your farmer husband. Or farmer father. My dad doesn't golf, he doesn't do technology, he doesn't grill, and he really doesn't "need" anything. My husband doesn't golf…

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Well. We had our first cattle show of the season last week. It was not terrible. In fact, it went pretty well, despite the craziness of trying to plant beans in the hours before and after. Jenna showed her heifer and won her class, which gave her a major boost of confidence. Her steer was up next, and apparently while the rest of us were at the show ring watching my niece, Kaity, show her heifer, the steer got a little, ahem, excited in the chute and my brother-in-law may or may not…

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It's a big day at the Spangler house: our first cattle show of the season. Also, it's a little nuts around here. Yesterday, Jenna and I washed, brushed, blew out, bedded, packed, cleaned and loaded all afternoon. And bless her heart, she loved it. Then we flew in the house at 5:10 p.m. - utterly covered in sweat, dirt, hair and manure - and all four of us were showered and out the door to Vacation Bible School by 5:35. I feel like there should be some kind of award for that. And…

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Once upon a time, it stopped raining, and I was able to get in my car, drive to a farm, and shoot some photos. It was glorious. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the clouds were fluffy. It was just two days ago. And a little farm boy named Chase got out of school early. Just in time for the Prairie Farmer photo shoot. And if you're feeling a bit down today - maybe you still have a lot to plant? And it's still raining? And there's no end in sight? Take a look at this…

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A disclaimer: I am not complaining. Really. These are just the facts. Since Saturday, we've gotten 6 inches of rain at our house. The gauge at the farm three miles up the road records 8 inches. Since Saturday. John planted 330 acres of beans on Friday. A personal best. But then it got pounded by 6-8 inches of rain. Not good. The Spoon River is out. Again. This is maybe three times this spring? Four? The National Weather Service reports the heaviest flooding this weekend…

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A list, because: 1. It's the last full week of school. Which means we're running to town every day for class plays, assemblies, lunches, baseball, carnivals, and more. Actual school work is rapidly winding down. We're staying out too late in the evenings because it's nice and we don't want to come inside, which is fine and dandy except for the school bedtimes. The kids are so done. And so are we. But still, we have two more days this week, one full day next week…

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Wait. What Day Is It? I'm sitting at our 4-H meeting, which is really the only way I know it's Monday. The past week has been a blur. As of last Monday, May 13, we hadn't planted a seed. We'd had 14 inches of rain in the preceding month. Rivers had been out. Some of them twice. We'd been stuck in a three-week pattern of three decent days, then four rainy ones. Never enough time for anything to dry out. Temperaments were, shall we say, running a little ragged…

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As a writer and a farmer, there are some stories that will just never make it to print. Some are too personal; others can't be told without offending someone. If you farm with family, you surely know just what I mean about either case! Others would raise the ire of the farm safety folks, who do good work every single day but who would be astounded that some of us ever made it through our childhoods. Still others, I just never thought I would tell. That's the case with my…

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