Knolltop Farm Wife

It's snowing pretty hard here on the Knolltop. They didn't predict this much snow, but it seems to be piling up at a pretty good rate! It's been a slow week on the sports front. With JW's team all done and baseball not started yet, we are in a lag for games. But tomorrow it will pick up with Jake and Sarah's games and Sarah also has quiz bowl. And tonight our varsity team will play Pittsford in the district finals. It's anybody's guess who will win, it will be a great match up. And yes, I'm in mourning from my Spartans losing last night to Wisconsin. I don't even want to talk about it. I think I'll put one of my columns in today. It was one about auctions, in fact the president of the Michigan Auctioneers Association wanted it to reprint in their magazine. So, I'll post it here for those of you who don't get the Farmers' Advance. Truth from the Trenches By Melissa Hart It can be a useful tool, a fun event, a way to pass time o...

Good Morning from the knolltop. It's cold here, but not as bad as yesterday. I keep seeing 50s on the weather map out in Washington state and I keep thinking it's going to come our way, but we haven't seen it yet! Yes, I'm whining, I want spring to come. This saturday is a big day in the Hart family....actually Bobby's side of the family. The first grandchild is getting married. Bobby's nephew, Brant is getting married to a wonderful gal named Jenny. Now I've never met her, but I'm sure she's every bit as wonderful as her mother-in-law to be has said she is. They will marry this weekend in Kansas City and we of course won't be able to go. But they've promised us lots of pictures and I can't wait. So we will perk along here going to basketball games and quiz bowl and think of Brant and Jenny saying their "I dos" and pledging their love for one another for the rest of their lives. I'd like to be a fly on the wall abou...

It's a cold morning here, 8 degrees out and my feet are cold! I sat by the cornstove this morning to drink my coffee to try to warm up. I'd like to camp out there, but decided that wouldn't be a wise decision....maybe in my golden years I'll be able to sit in a rocking chair by the stove and enjoy the cold winter days on the inside looking out. Yesterday we moved some hay and I had the wonderful priviledge of helping out. I have no idea why I was there, with two strong boys and a husband to handle the situation, I was of little assistance. But I provided comic relief and a good target for snowballs. The hay loading process went like this: Bobby was in the mow throwing them to JW and JW was throwing them to me then I had to put them onto the wagon for Luke to stack. This was great because although my job seemed like the tough job at first turned out to be the easiest because of JW's perfecting of the R.P. roll. So, what's the R.P. roll you ask? Glad you a...

Well, it seemed like spring was trying to come over the weekend, but this morning 5 new inches of snow and the promise of more to come has kept the kids home from school again. I don't think they've got a full week since Christmas break....well that may be an exaggeration. I couldn't help but laugh at the comment that shady knoll left the other day. She commented about the sisterhood we have here on this blog...sorry to leave you guys out....but she is right, there are a number of farm wives who visit here and we all seem to have the same story. I just think that's amazing. Someone said that when you are involved in agriculture you're involved in a huge industry with a very tight knit group of people. I bet everyone of us could go to any state in the nation and have a friend simply because of agriculture. Isn't that fun?! With the kids home, I'm not sure what great projects we'll have today....although digging out a bedroom or two would be a good i...

It was a busy weekend for the crew on the Knolltop that included more basketball than you could shake a stick at...along with trying to keep the farm running too. Saturday we watched Jake's team win and Sarah's team lose. Jake had 10 points, I don't know if Sarah contributed to any of the four points her team scored or not. It was ugly. Just plain ugly. Luke then got to see the other side of the court when he referreed two kids games. He said he would never do it again. A direct quote: "The parents and coaches need to get a life, you just can't make them happy with anything. All they did was yell at us about every call, it was stupid!" I think it was good for Luke to get that experience...it will hopefully give him a different outlook as he heads back to his side of the court. Speaking of his side, we went to Kalamazoo yesterday for his tournament. They played three games and only won one of them. They were short two players, so they only had one sub...

It's sunny here on the Knolltop today. It's been a busy morning having to run to town right after I dropped off the kids kind of ruined my routine. The big plus to that was stopping by the bakery for a dozen donuts. Yes, I'm on a sugar high! JW's team lost last night and it was a heartbreaker for this team that has done so well this year. They reacted as if they hadn't won a game all year. How soon we forget our successes in the face of failure. I've got recess duty today, so I get to go spend time watching kids be kids. That's always a refreshing time. Tomorrow brings more basketball for Jake and Sarah and Luke will play on Sunday. We will all actually be home today for dinner...how nice!

The sun is shining brightly on the Knolltop this morning and it is so nice. When I walked across the road to the barn this morning, the moon was so big and bright it lit up the whole world. Ususally when I enter the barn I have to walk in the dark to get to the light switch, but the moon shone through the windows casting light on the cows faces and it was so cool I just stood there looking at the cows and listening to them rustle around. When I finally got to the lights, I flipped them on and did my usual scan of the barn to make sure everyone is where they should be. A cow was carrying on about something so I thought I'd better just walk to the center isle to have a look and there she was, heifer number five, bright and beautiful and ready to begin her life. Then it was all down hill from there... I went through my normal routine of preparing to milk the cows and figured Bobby would put the calf where she belonged when he got time. But I got impatient and decided to take care...