The Family Farm: May 2012

Ben and Leah on the Deutz

Sunny pond

It was a nice day in April, so we decided to have a nice family day together. We went out to pick rocks.

You may not be familiar with rock picking, or perhaps though you know what it is, you have never gotten the chance to do it. Here are some pictures to illustrate the process for you.

All six kids on the flatbed wagon.

Leah is tired.

We started out in the barnyard, hooking up the flatbed wagon to the FarmTrac tractor. The flatbed had some lumber on it, though, so we had to unload it before we could begin the real fun.

Everybody had something to unload that was just his or her size. We stacked the wood away, stopped at the house for water bottles and peanut butter and honey sandwiches as a picnic, and then we were off...

Being the pregnant lady of the group, I got to drive the tractor. It was my first time really driving one, and it was really a lot of fun. I see why the guys enjoy it!

Here's my self-portrait from the driver's seat.

Well, we drove around and picked rocks for about five hours that day. There was a lunch break. There were naps taken aboard the wagon. But we were proud of all the kids for the good day they all put in. We got tired, but we also had a really good time. We picked four loads of rocks, and dumped three of them. The fourth load we brought to the house so I can have more rocks to go around my flower beds. It was a holiday on the farm. ;)

p.s. I never told you what picking rocks really is. You run along beside a slowly moving vehicle in a freshly plowed field, and when you see a big rock you run over to it, pick it up, run back to the vehicle, and throw it on. Then you look for more rocks. When the wagon is full, you throw them all off at the edge of the field and start over. Fun, right?!