A Day on the Farm: Harvest Time

I spent today on the family farm, helping out my Dad.  I took a few pics, and since I haven't posted a blog in forever, I thought I'd use those pics as a blog post...

On a side note, we may roll a little "old school" at the Grott Farm, but it's all paid for!!  :) 

1952 Allis-Chalmers WD-45

Dad walking the beans in the late morning to see if the morning dew has dried off.

My fav...the 1958 A-C D17. I spent the afternoon disking the freshly harvested soybean field.

1974 Gleaner F

1952 Ford... was previously a school bus and a firetruck (see the red paint fading through to yellow?).

It seems like I used to fit in the cab with Dad better than I do now!!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Here’s a short and sweet post about some of the Christmas fun I’ve been having…

 1. I WON! I’m a repeat winner of the AGCO holiday photo contest. A huge thanks to AGCO for sponsoring the fun contest and also a really big thanks to all my friends and all the others who voted for me in the contest!! I’ll just let you read about it and check out my photo at AGCO’s blog site: http://blog.agcocorp.com/2010/12/deck-farm-photocontest-winnerjoan-grott.html

2. I’ve been baking… a LOT… but rather than re-blog about it, just check out my blog from last year. It’ll give you an idea of the variety of cookies I produce, though this year’s assortment does vary a bit from last year’s. http://joannieg.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-christmas-baking.html

3. Yesterday I made my annual Christmas wreath for the barn at the family farm. Pictures of this year’s are included here, but to check out the step-by-step process of creating it, check out my pictorial how-to from last year: http://joannieg.blogspot.com/2009/12/deck-farm.html

4. Now I’m headed over to the farm to meet up with Mom and Dad. Today we’re having the Grott Farm company Christmas party to celebrate a great year in agriculture! (In other words, the three of us are going out to lunch!)

This was the quickest and easiest blog post I ever wrote!

VOTE FOR ME! Polls close on 12/17.

Just over a year ago I was introduced to the AGCO Corporation’s Facebook page through an ad I saw on Facebook that promoted their first-ever holiday photo contest. I went on to win that contest last year, and now I’m in the running again and could use your vote! Wouldn’t you love to take pride in one of your Indiana  neighbors winning a global contest?!  Read on...

Running Update

I guess it’s been awhile since I last posted a blog, since my last one was about my 4th of July 5K. Anyhow, I’d like to provide an update on my running activities…

Disneyland 5K

Run for Riley 5K

My home county seat of LaPorte, Indiana takes the Fourth of July pretty seriously. When I heard that the LaPorte Kiwanis Club was coordinating a 5K “Run for Riley” (Riley Children’s Hospital) prior to the big parade, I decided to sign up. I didn’t decide to sign up right away, because I knew it’s always a million degrees and humid on the 4th, so I wasn’t so sure. But alas, I signed up… and wouldn’t you know it, at the time of the event, it was 80-some degrees and humid.

4-H Camp

That's me!

As the 4-H Extension Educator for the Porter County (Indiana) 4-H Program, one of my favorite times of year is 4-H Camp! Our county camps with neighboring LaPorte County (my childhood home), and we always have a great time at 4-H Camp.

Kent's Run 5K

Saturday May 29th I participated in the third annual Kent’s Run 5K (http://www.kentsrun.com/) in Boone Grove, Indiana (a tiny dot on the map south of Valparaiso). It was an absolutely fantastic event, and I will definitely be participating in Kent’s Run in the future! Kent Ribordy was a local 16-year old who enjoyed running and farming and lost his battle with leukemia in 2007. The race is held in his memory with proceeds benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Without going into great detail, here are some of the reasons why Kent’s Run was awesome: