Celebrate 365: Father's Day Edition

Welcome to a new round of Blog Parties celebrating a wide range of festivities throughout the year.  Along with Jan of Tip Garden and Val of Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids, Carlee of Cooking with Carlee we will be sharing a new Blog Party called Celebrate 365!

To start off the new party, we are celebrating Father's Day.  Share your gift ideas, favorite recipes or DIY's to do with Father's Day.  We have started wheat harvest and I need all the easy ideas you can throw at me!

An InLinkz Link-up

One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

My boys and I love to bake for the neighbors and family.  My youngest son is only 8 years old, but he hates to make cookies.  He would rather spend his time in the kitchen making rolls.  Last year, he perfected the Pecan Rolls So Easy A 7 Year Old Can Make Them. This summer he made the pecan rolls along with these yummy 1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls for the fair and got a Grand Champion ribbon on a basket with the 2 of them.

I found the recipe in the Oklahoma Wheat Commission cookbook. It is full of great recipes just like the one from Kansas that I love. I love it so much that I am giving away copies of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission cookbook.  Leave a comment with you favorite food gift item that you like to give or receive and I will have the boys pick 5 winners.

Making goodies for friends and family is so much fun and I like these rolls because they can have them for Christmas morning breakfast. In the past we have made Christmas Snickerdoodles, 2 Cheese Braided Wheat Bread, Easy 5 Minute Microwave Fudge,  Pecan Praline Crunch, 30 Minute Oatmeal Pecan Squares, Hello Dolly Bars, Cherry Cheese Pie, Pecan Pie Cheesecake, Cinnamon Roll Muffins, Cream Cheese Christmas Snickerdoodles and Nut Free No Bake Cookies. 

One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

-2013 Best of Wheat Cookbook from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission

Mix and let set for 10 minutes:

                3 ½ cups warm water

                ¾ cup sugar

                ½ cup vegetable oil

                6 tablespoons yeast

Then add:

                1 tablespoon salt

                3 eggs

                10 ½ cups flour

Mix together for 10 minutes, then let sit covered for 10 minutes.  Oil counter top and turn out dough.  Divide in half.  Roll one half into a rectangle (about 15 inches by 20 inches). 

Spread with:

                ¼ cups melted butter

Sprinkle with a mixture of:

                1 cup sugar

                1 tablespoon cinnamon

Roll tight starting on the long side.  Cut into 12-16 rolls depending on what size you want.  Place on greased cookie sheet or 2-9x13 inch pans.  Repeat with other half of dough.  Let rise 20-30 minutes until to desired size.  Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown. 

Let cool before frosting with:

2 tablespoons butter

                2 dashes salt

                2 teaspoons vanilla

                6 cups powdered sugar

                Milk or apple juice to achieve desired consistency.

What is your favorite recipe to give to friends and family over the holidays? Comment to win!

Holiday Gift ideas

Around our house we love to make homemade gifts especially for the grandparents, aunts and uncles.  My oldest son is quite good at polishing stones and making them into jewelry and my youngest loves making barn quilts.  I suppose I should do a blog post on how they do it if anyone is interested.

I do have a wreath to give away as a gift and it continues to rain this week, I think I will be making more in my time hibernating in the house.

 

I absolutely loved this idea from my Country Fair Blog Party co-host Jan.  I never would have thought of writing a poem about my years as a child growing up in Kansas.  I love that the site even has a template for you to follow with suggestions.  I may have to get my boys to look at this.

Food and Swine linked up to the November Country Fair Blog Party and I love the idea of Kettle Corn.  My boys are addicted to Kettle Corn.  I have tried several times to make my own, but haven't perfected it quite yet.  I think it looks too cute in a Mason jar for a gift, or maybe that is her adorable son holding it that makes it look cute.

I have seen the Sharpie mug and plate tutorials ever since I joined Pinterest, but have never been brave enough to try them.  This maybe the year.  Jamie from this Unchartered Rhoade linked up her tutorial on the November party as well.

Jamie also has a post of ideas if you are still looking for something for your hard to buy for farmer. You can also check out my Farmer Gift Guide, Farm Mom Gift Guide,and Farm Boy Gift Guide. 

If you are looking for things to entertain the kids when they get out of school, you might want to check out my post Recycled Christmas Ornaments for Kids to Make.

Are you finished with your Christmas Shopping?  Are you like me and still have a few projects left to finish and a couple of people you have no idea what to get them?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Wordless Wednesday at Woolaroc

How about a gift idea that doesn't cost a lot and would give the family lots of time to spend together?  My kids love to go to Woolaroc in Northeast Oklahoma!  Enjoy this Wordless Wednesday and consider giving the gift of a day of learning. 

What are your favorite places to take the kids or grandkids?  What were your favorite things to do as a family together when you were growing up?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Ronald McDonald House

There are days when I hear about others stories and I think I should try to help in some way and then there are days when I know what I need to do. 

I have never met Val the voice behind Wag'N Tales, but I totally admire her in so many ways.  If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen me share her post The Life of George...an Update.  If you haven't read it, you really should.  I did get in trouble for not giving a tissue warning, so have a box handy.  If you are like me and have a hard time keeping perspective on what is really important this will do it for you.

I think we all struggle during the holidays to remember what is really important.  We spend so much time looking for that perfect gift that we forget that this life is only part of the journey.

While sorting cattle and reflecting on George's thoughts, I came up with a group that I would like you to remember this holiday season and well all year long...the families that stay in the Ronald McDonald Houses over the holidays.  The children spending time in the hospital over the holidays didn't do anything to deserve a stay in the hospital, What kind of joy or stress relief you could bring to someone in a very low place in their life?

I have 2 amazing friends that continue to give back to the Ronald McDonald Houses each year.  They wrap presents to be given to the families, they cook meals, one family I know spends every Christmas Eve cooking, hosting and delivering gifts after the families go to bed.  I spoke with one of them recently and asked what would be appreciated at the houses.  I know lots of people like to buy toys at the holidays, but what is really needed.

• Men's gloves and hats.  She said dad's are often overlooked in the donations. 
• Card games 
• Men's and women's lounge pants
• Toiletries.  One of my friends ALWAYS picks up all the toiletries in a hotel room.  They are a great size to put in a basket until a family can get settled.  Things like:  shampoo, conditioner, body wash, combs, brushes, razors, shaving cream, deodorant, bars of soap and toothbrushes! (travel sizes are the most useful)
• Individual snacks for grab and go like granola bars, bags of chips, trail mix, because let's face it...if you have a sick child in the hospital the last place you want to hang out is away from them.
• Individual freezer meals.  If I had a sick child, I don't know that I would feel like eating much, but something quick and easy would be much appreciated.
• Individual boxes of cereals
• Gift cards for restaurants both fast food and family style
• Gift cards for Gas, Target, Walmart
• Phone Cards  I have a friend who works for Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City who recommended this a few years ago.  We all think we have lots of minutes on our cell phone plans until we are away from home and everyone wants to know what is going on.

My oldest son's club at school is currently collecting pop tabs to send to Ronald McDonald Houses.  The tabs are sold for recycling to buy things that aren't donated to the houses. 

 

What charities does your family remember at the holidays?  Do you remember them around the year or just at the holidays?

 

-A Kansas Farm Mom

 

Fab Lab A Fabulous Gift Idea

I found Santa's workshop right here in southeast Kansas!  I need to say that I am torn on whether to share this opportunity with you or not.  I mean if you all are as excited about it as my son and I are, I could be waiting in line to do my projects, but I do like to share what our area has to offer.

 

Have you ever been to a Fab Lab? 

My youngest son got to visit the one at Independence Community College and came home so excited about it last week. After looking at the map, I had to check it out myself and a membership is now on my Christmas wish list.  (I really hope Santa reads this and gives the membership to our family a little early, so we can make some Christmas presents.)

Have you ever been looking through Pinterest thinking that would be a great project...if only I had the right equipment? 

A fab lab might just have everything you need to make some of the best Christmas gifts ever! Here are a few of the things I saw at our local fab lab. And if you don't live in southeast Kansas, don't worry there are 125 Fablabs around the world!

They have big equipment like a CNC router. For those of you that don't know what CNC means, basically it means that you can tell a computer what shape you want to cut out and it will do it all for you.

There is also a CNC plasma cutter that will cut metal into shapes that are programmed into it.  How cool is this?  Need a sign for your mailbox, gates, stalls, or a yardsign to let everyone know who your favorite team is?  I need to start a list with all of my ideas.  

Have you ever seen a project with vinyl letters or vinyl shapes and wish you had a fancy cutter that you could cut it out on? They have one and they have the vinyl that you can purchase to use as well.

If you don't have a computer at home or need help getting a file into the correct format for the machine you want to use, they have computer workstation setup for members to use.  They were very helpful and are working hard to make sure there are free online programs that you can use to design your projects at home and then bring them to the lab on a flash drive.  In the back, you can see 42 inch plotter that will print photographic quality images that I am super excited about.  Oh, the projects I have in mind and the savings from all of those large matted prints I wanted.

They have an abrasive blaster, which can be used to remove old paint and rust on small projects.  The lab managers are going to try to use it with the vinyl cutouts to etch glass.

The laser etching machine was just mesmerizing for my boys. I was shown this plate that had the ICC pirate mascot etched onto it from a simple PDF file.  It can etch any flat surface, but a curve or angle will not work.

We also watched as members of the Fab Lab made ornament after ornament from a PDF file as well. I can see so many fun things we could do with this.  That is simply a slice of wood with the design etched on it.  I couldn't sleep the other morning just dreaming of things to do with this machine!

I don't know that all Fab Labs have a kiln, but ours does thanks to a generous donation from a community member. Now I can try that Pinterest project in which I needed a kiln.

I am NOT going to act like I understand the electronic equipment on this workstation, but I bet I have some techie friends that would love to try it out.

 

The items I had the most hard time wrapping my head around are the 3D printers and 3D scanner. As we walked in the door, my boys were asked to help load the printer to print a project for a biology student. They were more than happy to jump right in and see how things really work!

 I had heard about the Fab Lab after one of my friends shared that her niece had a hand made for her. This young girl was born without fingers and the hand made at the Fab Lab allows her to grip things she never has been able to before. I knew about the Fab Lab, but I had no idea as a family we could join as members and be able to use the equipment.

There are several options for membership depending on whether you want to be able to reserve a machine when you get there or not. They do ask you to sign a membership application and they accept checks and credit cards for payment of your membership.

Year long individual memberships range in price from $100 to $225.  A family membership is $180 and includes 2 adults and up to 5 named children living at home (Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult member).  An individual membership allows you to use the lab machinery at will outside of Premium Member reservations up to one hour per machine per session. The premium membership allows you to be able to reserve the use of lab machinery up to 3 hours per machine per day.

I think a membership to a Fab Lab would make one of the most awesome Christmas gifts for a family.  It introduces kids to technology that will probably be commonplace by the time they graduate from high school and encourages them to really "Imagine, Design, and Create."

The boys and I are working on making a list of the projects we need to make.  If you want to know more about the Fab Lab ICC, I encourage you to follow them on Facebook.

 What else would you like to know about the Fab Lab?  Have you ever been to one yourself?  What should be my first project? 

-A Kansas Farm Mom

DIY- More Agtastic Baby Gifts

Here lately in my circle of Ag Blogger friends I am feeling like the "old fart."  It seems every time I turn on Facebook there is another announcement of a due date.  I am so excited for my friends and am ready to welcome them into the amazing and sometimes crazy world of motherhood.  A few that are expecting or recently had babies are:

• Jodi of My Cousin is Vegan
•  Sarah of The House that Ag Built
• Amanda of Beef Daily
• Amber of A Gentle Word
• Jude of BoviDiva fame

I made some cute ag themed onesies for my cousin a few months back and shared them with you, but for my friends that LOVE agriculture, I had to change them up a little bit and make a totally new one for my pork loving friends.  :)

If you want to receive gifts that are returnable, don't invite me to a shower or wedding.  You can ask Danielle of High Heels and Shotgun Shells after her wedding shower and wedding.  I don't do gift registry or gift cards.  I love Pinterest to find ideas and I like to come up with my own ideas, too.  I LOVE the iron on transfers for your printer.  They make customizable gifts so easy! Like these onesies.

Did you know that 1 farmer feed 155 people?  For the babies that will be proud that their daddy is a farmer or rancher:

Front

Back

This slogan has been around awhile on bibs from different groups.   Of course, my favorite for my rancher friends.

 

If you don't want to make your own, you can order from the Kansas State Collegiate Cattlewomen or the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

My husband's favorite is sure to start a conversation or two.  ;)

If you like this one, I have one I totally messed up on the back and printed upside down.  I can mail it to you. It would be perfect for the kid that likes to hang upside down.

Specially designed for my friend who works for the Kansas Pork Association.  I thought about this one for a long time before I came up with what I thought was a perfect complement to the beef one above that her rancher husband liked.

What other onesies should I make?  What should I make for the older siblings?  What are some of your favorite baby gifts to give?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Farmer/Rancher Gift Guide

Shopping for farmers and ranchers is not hard.  It is expensive.  The problem I find with most ag guys is that they really don’t have many hobbies other than the love of their life…agriculture.  

In case you didn’t know it, farming and ranching are expensive.  My husband has this wish list that would make many wives faint.  I usually look at it and roll my eyes.  :)  Here is what my husband usually gets.  I’m not putting what he’s getting, because amazingly he actually reads my blog whether I ask him to or not.  That’s true love ladies.  LOL

Milwaukee Cordless Impact Wrench

When we were dating I always bought him some pretty nifty tools to use when working on equipment.  There were the Robo Grip Pliers that he thought was goofy until the first time he used them.  The shop light that I bought last year that he decided about March was pretty awesome.

One big problem I have shopping for Randy is that he seems to just buy things when he sees them and doesn’t drop me any hints.   

His favorite find for the year has been the Milwaukee Cordless Impact Wrenches.  Yes, I did say wrenchES.  Yes, he has purchases TWO this year.  Yes, he likes them that much just like I like my Milwaukee “phone charger.”  

 Here is his product review:

“The big ½ inch wrench has not failed to take off an implement wheel or trailer tire and the battery seems to last quite a while on occasional use basis; however, it is heavy and does not have torque adjustment.  Caution must be used because it does have the capability of breaking bolts and causing grief.  My recommendation is not to give it to the “green” hired man instead give him the smaller version that is available in a 3/8” or ½” drive that does have adjustable torque settings and is much friendlier to the lighter jobs.”

 

Boots

Ok, boots can be expensive too, but remember he is on his feet almost every day and a good pair of shoes can make him feel so much better when he gets home at night.  My farmer has 3 brands that he really likes.  His favorite are White’s, but one look at their site you will know that these are not cheap boots.   

Here is what he has to say about them:

“If you have trouble with your arches and are considering going to a podiatrist, I suggest trying a pair of White’s first.  There are lots of different options for soles, heels and styles.  One of the few pairs of shoes I own that I am not looking to the end of the day when I can take them off my feet.  These are not throwaway shoes.  They take several days to get broken in and are completely rebuildable.  When a pair is rebuilt, everything gets replaced except the uppers for about half the cost of a new pair.  Even if you buy the stock boots, they want 10+ measurements of your feet to make sure they will fit properly.”  

He usually settles for a pair of Ariat shoe boots.  

 For wet conditions, Muck Boots are his choice.  He likes the Chore Boot that has minimal tread, is calf height, insulated and long lasting.

Approval

Give him the OK to buy that new piece of technology that seems over the top to you.  Things like autosteer and automatic shutoffs for the sprayer or planter.  I have found these things seem overpriced, but do pay for themselves in the end.

Farmer Attire

Like I said in my Farm Kid Gift Guide, we are proud to be farmers.  I love the shirts that promote agriculture.  Some of my favorites that I have found this year are from comedian Damian Mason.  Damian also has a good book called Farm Camp, some bumper stickers I absolutely love and my boys and I love listening to hisCD’s in the truck.

Multi-Tool

 And now the farmer is getting into making this longer, so here is what else he thought I needed to add.  “One of the few tools that is guaranteed for life and they really do actually replace them when they break.  The pliers are actually functional and the wire cutter work well.  The blade requires frequent sharpening as it is stainless steel.  A word to the wise: Insure all knives that you are returning to the factory as they have a tendency to disappear out of the envelope in shipping.  The downside is that TSA still considers it a knife and not a tool.” 

What are your favorite gifts give to the men in your life?  What should I give The Farmer for Christmas this year?

Did you check out my Farm and Ranch Wife Gift Guide and my Farm Boy Gift Guide?  How about my gift guide last year?

You might also like This Uncharted Rhoade's Farmer Gift Ideas.

-A Kansas Farm Mom