Of Food and Farms

One weekend ago we had yet another fun weekend in Manti, but alas even that came to an end. With tears, hugs, and goodbyes we left the doorway, even the 2 and 1/2 year-old Maddi gave Aub and me a kiss as we were leaving. Back to the dreary "city on a hill," Provo. Actually, to tell you the truth, Provo has worn off on me and I have decided that it is not all that bad, in fact, I like it here. My classes are very interesting this semester. For some odd reason Enlightenment literature really fascinates me--that is my area of focus this semester. The French revolution and the hundred years on both sides of it intrigue me. Anyway, before you get bored of that school stuff, let me tell you a story about the beautiful cook in the picture below:
Look at that babe! I came home to not just one meal, but TWO! She made Stroganoff and this "Rice Casserole of Deliciousness." She made our kitchen into a little romantic scene...as best she could. One candle was way too dark for our meal so she pulled out the lamp we got ourselves for Christmas and we had a single candle/lamp lit dinner, complete with hand-designed napkins (marker does the trick) and our last two Andes mints from Christmas. ahhh

P.S. She made amazing bread this week too. If you faithfully read my posts you will know that I tried that last week and I used the rancid flour. This bread was the entire opposite of mine...it was (and is) scrumptious.
Here is the barn and trailer of the Bingham's property. Pappa Bingham and I had a fun time on my first night there as we experimented by trying to feed the cows with a four-wheeler hooked up to a flat trailer (not the one in the picture). With the weight of the round bale the hitch was pretty much scraping the ground. Dad Bingham stood on the trailer and forked off the hay as I drove. It is a miracle that we got through and made it back without getting too stuck. There was at least a foot of snow still on the ground and the rest was the deep clay mud particular to Manti. Needless to say we did not try that one again for the next night. I am a pretty lucky guy, and i got us out of that one. We hooked it up to the tractor for the next night.
This is some more of their property. I recently got a deal on eight 26 ft. steel light poles from BYU. We got 'em for $25 a pole...almost cheaper than a two-by-four. So, the above view will be home to a new large barn with these massive poles as pillars. Now we just need to find or build some cheap trusses. There is always work to be done on the farm. This weekend we branded and ear-tagged some heifers. Oh! Plus we halter-broke two of them. That is always fun, let 'em out of the squeeze shoot and and hold on for all you got while the 800 pound heifer pulls you through mud and snow. Now that's fun. We had to treat the bull for hoof-rot too. It is always scary when we work with the big daddy.

Anyway, that's our little update on the newest Hatch family created. We are just pluggin along lovin life and learnin all we can.