Meet Stephanie!

Now that I've mentioned Stephanie in a few posts, it's probably about time I formally introduce her to my ever-expanding blogosphere (ha!).

Stephanie is a dear friend of mine from my hometown, Ames, IA. What's funny though is that we never actually met until college while on the same study abroad program. So, even though we grew up only a few miles from each other, had some great mutual friends in high school, and then proceeded on to attend the same university (Iowa State-- Go Cyclones!), we actually met for the first time in Lyon, France! The world is a crazy place. That would never happen where I live now. The difference between living in a large town vs. a rural, small town area where everyone knows everyone else from before they were born. But I digress.

Wind blowing in our faces, that's me and Stephanie from early July 2007 in front of the Golden Gate Bridge!

Stephanie has always had interest in agriculture and was in 4-H as a kid, winning prizes for dairy showmanship at our County Fair. For the past two years she has worked on farms, seasonally full-time. They have been CSA "Old McDonald" farms with produce, livestock, and dairy. She has lived in every time zone of the USA gaining experience at every farm where she has worked, but has discovered that dairy is ultimately the key to her agriculture passion. Stennie (short for Stephanie) loves cows!

I have been bugging Stennie to visit me and Jeff here on the farm since before I lived here, so when she contacted me earlier this summer about a potential visit in August, the answer was Yes, Of Course! After much discussion between Stennie, me and Jeff, what was originally to be a visit of about 1-2 weeks has turned into something a bit longer term and she'll be staying on through September! Stennie has been helping with our grain harvest by driving truck. We are doing our best to make her feel welcome and like she is part of the team.

A little hard to see, but Tom, Jeff, and Stennie contemplating something about this grain bin.

For my part, I love having Stephanie here. It's so, so wonderful to have one of my closest friends available and interested in seeing where we live and what we do, especially as someone I knew before living here was even an inkling of a possibility in my mind. It's great to have her perspective and her questions as to why we live the way we do and do what we do and farm the way we do. Jeff's family is as patient and welcoming to her as they have been with me, which is something I am so very thankful for. Stephanie's questions and interests help make me realize just how much I have learned since moving here and all the ways this place is home now.

Stephanie's first time unloading a truck without Jeff's assistance.
She did great, even with me hanging around distracting and taking photos! 

Even more than all that, though, I have been truly struck by her willingness to just jump in and help with harvest-- our busiest, most stressful time of the year. Yesterday, we began cutting our barley crop. It was in the 90s outside with no wind, and itchy barley dust sticking to everyone. Not the funnest time. But Stephanie continually had a smile on her face and a positive attitude, which helped keep everyone's spirits a little higher than they might have been. It means so much to me on so many levels to have her here.

Stephanie monitors barley emptying out of the truck and into the auger.

I have somewhat of a twang of guilt that I am not the one driving truck, but since we knew she was going to be here through harvest and beyond for a while, it made most sense to teach her. I'll be starting school next week (YIKES!) and would be out of commission at that point anyway. This way, they could teach her early on and let her fly, rather than giving me a pretty major refresher lesson only to ultimately show her the ropes anyway. So, Stennie works hard outside and I continue to be support staff-- working in the garden, helping with meals, parts runs, and other odd miscellany that still needs to be kept up with during harvest.

Future Beer! 

With all of this, we're still managing to find times here and there to do a bit of baking. I think I mentioned in a previous post that Stennie is an excellent baker. We made a batch of pie crusts the other day and mostly froze the discs of dough. One did get held back, rolled out, and is awaiting being filled with delicious Key Lime custard, baked, and then topped with raspberries. Can't wait to try it!

She's doing a great job! Like and old pro already! 

As I also mentioned in a previous post, she's a wonderful writer and photographer, too, so there's always the chance of a guest blog appearance. If you are one of my readers who lives around here and you see Stephanie on the road, give her a friendly wave and a hello!