Day 26: L is for Lincoln

Living here in the Land of Lincoln we might have a couple (or ten…… or thirty) opportunities to explore the top-hat wearing 16^th president.

In the book L is for Lincoln: An Illinois Alphabet, author Kathy-Jo Wargin uses each letter to explore what makes our state special.  L in this book is for (you guessed it) Lincoln, of course!

 

 

In alphabet books I immediately flip to the less common letters first.  Just how does the author tie in the letter Q?  And what about Z?

Q is for Quincy, the Illinois town who had the first fire engine: Rough and Ready.

Z is for Zoo.  “In 1868 two swans from New York’s Central Park were given to the newly established Lincoln Park Zoo.”

 

 

Each page includes a pastel-colored sidebar that gives more information about each subject. Illustrator Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen paints colorful illustrations on a canvas-like medium. 

The Y is for Yellow Fields page says “The yellow fields of Illinois tell us that agriculture is a primary industry here.  More than 28 million acres, which is nearly 80 percent of the state’s total land area, is covered by farms.”

Have you seen the new move Lincoln in theaters?  It’s a historical drama filmed and directed by Steven Spielberg starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

If you are in the Springfield, IL area then a visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is an absolute must. The same organization that contributed to the design of Disney World helped design this place.  The rooms exploring the election campaign of Lincoln and Stephen Douglas showed televisions airing CNN-like coverage from 1858 including creative “breaking news” of the time crawling at the bottom of the screen.  

The set and design of this museum including the mix of historical information and humor with cultural references to the present time… makes for an incredible experience.  

What’s your favorite Abe Lincoln experience? 

Lauren

My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2: Perfect Pizza
Day 3: Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8: Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9: BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action
Day 13: BOOM
Day 14: Ponies and Cowboys
Day 15: Value to our Trees
Day 16: Tractor Time
Day 17: Wishing for a Washing
Day 18: United Tweets
Day 19: Popcorn Pops
Day 20: Busy Places
Day 21: Peas Please
Day 22: Thankful
Day 23: Splashes of Ink
Day 24: Fantastic Machines
Day 25: Secrets of Quilts

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.

Day 25: Secrets of Quilts

When G sleeps, I sneak downstairs to sew. My latest projects include burp cloths, bibs and an occasional baby quilt. Sewing takes patience, math skills, a seam ripper and time.

When I get “stumped” in my sewing project, I give my mom a call. She will say “Oh, there is a shortcut for that” and she will come over and show me a sewing technique.  My mom is a member of the local Mystery Quilters group, so knowing secrets makes sense, right??

 

In the next farm kid story Quilting Now & Then authors Karen Bates Willing and Julie Bates Dock write a rhyming story about the Johnson children who ask their mom a bunch of questions about quilts.

 

“Please tell me how you make a quilt,”
says Charlie, full of wonder.
So Shirley pulls out quilts that all
the children snuggle under.

“And could you also tell us
how they made quilts long ago?”
“Did great-great-grandma Ruth make
quilts like you do?” “Yes or no?”

“Did she choose from a hundred prints
like you do at the store?”
“And were the quilts all sewn by hand?”
“And what is quilting for?”

 

The authors give comparisons of older days where women cut apart old garments, swapped fabric pieces with friends and made quilts to keep their families warm in cold months.  Today quilters head to fabric stores to select the perfect color and fabric pattern.

Illustrator Sarah Morse draws crayon-colored cartoon illustrations with draped photographs of real quilts.  

In a generation where garments are made overseas, I really appreciate things sewn in the USA. 

Oh, and I especially love creations made by fellow sewing friends such as Kelli at A Little Lively. Our little G drags around his blue, jack game print 4-Block Cuddler blanket around our home.  His “B” (G calls it) gives him comfort during trips away from home and also during the transition away from the beloved pacifier.

We also grab the blanket during story time in the evenings.  What are you reading tonight to your little one?

Lauren



My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2: Perfect Pizza
Day 3: Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8: Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9: BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action
Day 13: BOOM
Day 14: Ponies and Cowboys
Day 15: Value to our Trees
Day 16: Tractor Time
Day 17: Wishing for a Washing
Day 18: United Tweets
Day 19: Popcorn Pops
Day 20: Busy Places
Day 21: Peas Please
Day 22: Thankful
Day 23: Splashes of Ink
Day 24: Fantastic Machines

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.

Day 23: Splashes of Ink

Our next farm kid story author describes a great big cow in creative words that kids can relate to.

 “Her angular body is covered with huge black spots that look like splashes of ink.”

Yup, that’s exactly what a Holstein looks like.

 

 

In Clarabelle: Making Milk and So Much More, author Cris Peterson goes on to say, “Clarabelle is big and bony. She weights nearly fifteen hundred pounds – almost as much as a soccer team of second-graders with the coaches thrown in for good measure – and she’s almost as tall as Josh and Sam’s dad.”

 

 

And who didn’t just picture a group of knee-socked kiddos and their clipboard-holding coaches….and make the comparison to a gigantic cow?   Really, this author brings a sense of fun into her descriptions. 

 

 

Photographer David R. Lundquist captures the newness of a newborn calf including the wrinkly, wet fur and its mother’s protectiveness.   I enjoy the close-up photos of the things dairy cattle eat:   hay, corn, cottonseed, corn silage.

Any teachers out there?   If you enjoy this book and live in a 300-mile radius of northwest Indiana… then a visit to Fair Oaks Farms might be an idea for you.   I’d like to bring G someday and visit this family-owned dairy farm that includes a cheese factory and birthing barn. 

Any dairy (or hog) folks out there?  I think you would enjoy the My Cows and Pigs blog.  Be sure to check out the Pollards “30 Days of What’s That?” series here.  Their day 14 post that describes pivot gates makes me think about… that one Friends episode.  

Yes mixing agriculture and cultural references right here.

What’s your favorite cow book?

Lauren

My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2: Perfect Pizza
Day 3: Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8: Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9: BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action
Day 13: BOOM
Day 14: Ponies and Cowboys
Day 15: Value to our Trees
Day 16: Tractor Time
Day 17: Wishing for a Washing
Day 18: United Tweets
Day 19: Popcorn Pops
Day 20: Busy Places
Day 21: Peas Please
Day 22: Thankful

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.

Day 19: Popcorn Pops

Friday and Saturday nights mean staying up a little later in our house.  We grab handfuls of popcorn and enjoy the feeling of a less scheduled next day. 

Our next farm kid story involves twin boys with fraggle-rock hair researching information about popcorn while preparing a batch on the stovetop.   

 

In the quest of discovering why mom keeps popcorn kernels in the fridge, the boy with glasses decides to “go look it up” in a book.  While he reads aloud popcorn facts, his brother warms oil in a pan and pops popcorn.  He perhaps places too many kernels in that pan by the end of the story.  POP!

 

“Popcorn pops because the heart of the kernel is moist and pulpy and surrounded by a hard starch shell. When the kernel is heated, the moisture turns to steam and the heart gets bigger until the shell bursts with a ‘pop.’”

 

The author draws cartoon characters and includes their popcorn research findings in conversation boxes.  The page that describes an Indian legend where a demon lives inside each kernel of popcorn shows a jumpy, angry man in different temperature stages.

I remember making popcorn at home as a child with a stovetop hand-crank popper.  I used my index finger to spin the crank on the orange lid, and the crank swirled the kernels inside the pan. 

 

I used my other hand to grip the long red handle, which my mom told me this week was “married” to the popper when the original orange handle fell off one day.  It’s vintage.  It’s charming.  And it makes great popcorn. 

No microwave popcorn for us tonight.  We can make it the real way.   And if one of our hands is reaching for the popcorn bowl, we have room for a good children’s book in the other.

What is your favorite weekend night snack?

Lauren

Lauren

My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2: Perfect Pizza
Day 3: Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8: Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9: BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action
Day 13: BOOM
Day 14: Ponies and Cowboys
Day 15: Value to our Trees
Day 16: Tractor Time
Day 17: Wishing for a Washing
Day 18: United Tweets

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.

Day 18: United Tweets

I didn’t plan on picking favorites this month.  It just happens.  I have to say this next farm kid story is really good: United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds.

 

Author Hudson Talbott writes a story about state birds competing in a pageant of sorts.  Each page labels the state bird, as well as other state facts including: mottos, flowers and capitals.

 

State birds on opposing book pages exchange dialogue such as singing contest appearing on the Montana and Nebraska pages, which are both diva Western Meadowlarks. Actually seven states choose the Northern Cardinal as their state bird, and I enjoy how the author ties this into the book.

 

If you love the musical Oklahoma, check out the Oklahoma page (ok, duh moment) for a show-time singing Scissortail Flycatcher.  Cultural references such as the Mississippi Mockingbird dressed as “The King” brings humor adults can appreciate. “Thankyouverymuch.”

Next door on the Missouri page a flapping male bluebird says: “…and baby, I’m gonna make you a nest that will be the Taj Mahal of birds’ nests!”  To which the cool-eyed female bluebird says “Oh yeah? Show me.”

Show me?  Get it???  Think Missouri state motto here.     

The illustrations throughout this book display details of state facts in creative ways.  The multiple perched Purple Finches on the New Hampshire page overall create the shape of a large bird of the same variety.  I could write pages about this book.

That is what a good book can do: Inspire you.

(Inspire me to continue writing another 12 posts, hopefully. We are on the homestretch, blogging folks!)

What are your favorite bird books?

Lauren

My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2: Perfect Pizza
Day 3: Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8: Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9: BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action
Day 13: BOOM
Day 14: Ponies and Cowboys
Day 15: Value to our Trees
Day 16: Tractor Time
Day 17: Wishing for a Washing

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.

Day 11: Magic with Vegetables

Day 11 of "30 Days of Farm Kid Stories"

A disappearing act in our home broadcasts every evening at about 5:30 (or whenever supper is ready.) 

Getting G to eat his vegetables takes magic.  I blame this on the discovery of Skittles.

I prepare food with hidden vegetables:  sweet red peppers diced in meatloaf, spinach thrown in scrambled eggs.   The real magic act occurs when we eat vegetables straight from our plates. 

“See this green bean, G?” I ask in my best Houdini voice while holding the green bean in two fingers.  “It’s a real green bean, and I’m gonna make it disappear.”

And Voila, I throw the green bean in my mouth and say “Mmmmm.”  G copies me and gobbles down a green bean.   (This is the magic part.)

Our farm story today involves vegetables and some equally sneaky hares.  Tops & Bottoms, by Janet Stevens, is a story best read literally from top to bottom (instead of from side to side).    

The author’s characters wear notable clothing. A bee scarf wraps around big Bear’s neck.  A bright blue carrot adorned hat sits on Miss Hare’s head.  Mr. Hare sports a white, collared carrot shirt. 

Clearly the characters wear what they crave.

 If readers could join the story, G would step into the pages in macaroni and cheese PJ’s and ranch dressing glasses. Momma in coffee bean blue jeans and chocolate sweater.  Daddy in a Krispy Kreme jacket.

Ok, back to the veggies.

The landowning farmer Bear in this book is sleepy (perhaps lazy.)  He snoozes awkwardly on a front-porch chair while the hare family works on his fields.

Agreements on crop sharing involve bear getting the top part of a plant and the hares getting the bottom, and vice versa.   Of course the hares know which location on the plants to ask for: bottom parts of the carrot crop, of course.

With delicious, detailed beet, radish and celery illustrations..  I reinforce how “yummy” these vegetables taste while reading to G.   Sneaky of momma?   Perhaps.  

G’s favorite vegetable this summer was corn on the cob.  What’s your favorite?

Lauren


My Library List:

Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2:  Perfect Pizza
Day 3:  Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8:  Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9:  BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes  “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.  

It’s a group party, of sorts!  Please join fellow bloggers as they tell their agricultural stories:

Beyer Beware: 30 Days, 30 Things You Never Knew About Food
Black Ink: Beef’s a Trip – 30 Days from Gate to Plate
Confessions of a Farm Wife: Life on Our Farm
Go Beyond the Barn: 30 Days of Farm Life Blessings
Kelly McCormick Photography: 30 Days of Thankfulness
Le Jardin da ma Vie: 30 Reasons Why I Love Being a Farmer’s Wife
Pinke Post: 30 Days of North Dakota November
Rural Route 2: 30 Days of the Not-So-Glamorous Life of This Farm Wife
 

Day 3: Our Heartland

Day 3 of "30 Days of Farm Kid Stories"


I didn’t take many farm photographs this year.  The crops look rough.  It feels scorching outside. Who wants to remember this?

I hold a bunch of excuses.  

If I think about it more, even in a drought year our heartland provides.  Our late-planted soybeans made a good yield, and lines of wheat shoots emerge this week from fields. 

Author Diane Siebert tells her story from the voice of the heartland.  Her book Heartland is a steady tale of beauty, work and struggle.

“The farmer, with his spirit strong;
The farmer, working hard and long,
A feed-and-seed-store cap in place,
Pulled down to shield a weathered face-
A face whose every crease and line
Can tell a tale, and help define
A lifetime spend beneath the sun,
A life of work that’s never done”

Wendell Minor creates artwork out of the scenes you and I see as we drive down a country road.   Paintings rich in browns, oranges and greens.

Roads, fields and fence rows farmers’ travel showcase the charm of America’s Midwest.   It’s the kind of artwork I stand and look up at… and just think about (like a visitor to a museum.)

Art can make you do that… leave you speechless enjoying the detail and feelings brought to a canvas.  Or brought to a children’s farm book. 

G will especially enjoy pages 21 and 22 where his favorite breed of cattle graze in a lush, green pasture.  When reading I point out the Polled Hereford that gazes at the reader from the far left book page.

The green machine of iron on pages 5 and 6, prompts G to say “Tractee” with a grin.  He sort-of likes tractors, if you haven’t noticed. 

What is your favorite scene from the heartland?

Lauren




My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2:  Perfect Pizza
Day 3:
Day 4:
And so on

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes  “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation. 

It’s a group party, of sorts!  Please join fellow bloggers as they tell their agricultural stories:

Beyer Beware: 30 Days, 30 Things You Never Knew About Food
Black Ink: Beef's a Trip - 30 Days from Gate to Plate
Confessions of a Farm Wife: Life on our Farm
Go Beyond the Barn: 30 Days of Farm Life Blessings
Kelly McCormick Photography: 30 Days of Thankfulness
Le Jardin da ma Vie: 30 Reasons Why I Love Being a Farmer's Wife
Pinke Post: 30 Days of a North Dakota November
Rural Route 2: 30 Days of the Not-So-Glamorous Life of This Farm Wife

Day 2: Perfect Pizza

Living here in the country we drive 40 miles roundtrip to visit the nearest pizzeria.  And we have a thing for pizza. 

“Pea-za. PEA-ZA,” my hungry G says. 

Needless to say I am perfecting my pizza-making skills. Each pizza pie doesn’t turn out the same.  Maybe since I can’t remember how many cups of flour I plop into the mixer for the dough.  Or I might sprinkle a dump-truck full of red pepper into the tomato sauce. Opps again.

I do get one thing right, every time.  At least 3 cups of mozzarella cheese cover the sausage, green pepper and pepperoni. 

Like the next farm story says: “pizza isn’t pizza without cheese.”

In Cris Peterson’s book Extra Cheese, Please: Mozzarella’s Journey from Cow to Pizza step by step photographs follow cheese making from the udder to the factory.  And those photographs show crisp and well-lit scenes, even inside a cheese factory. Photographer Alvis Upitis documents how the milkman pulls samples of milk before he hauls and how the cheesemaker separates the curds from the whey.

Author Peterson has a knack for bringing the numbers to life.

“Annabelle is quite a cow.  In one year she produces 40,000 glasses of milk, enough to make cheese for 1,800 pizzas.  If your family ate one pizza a day, it would take you nearly five years to eat that many pizzas.”

One pizza a day, for 5 years?  I know a family up for the challenge.  But don’t expect me to turn the oven on every night.  A road trip to the local DiMaggios Pizza will be a must. 

What do you like on your pizza?

Lauren

My Library List:

Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
And so on

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes  “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation. 

It’s a group party, of sorts!  Please join fellow bloggers as they tell their agricultural stories:

Beyer Beware: 30 Days, 30 Things You Never Knew About Food
Black Ink: Beef's a Trip - 30 Days from Gate to Plate
Confessions of a Farm Wife: Life on our Farm
Go Beyond the Barn: 30 Days of Farm Life Blessings
Kelly McCormick Photography: 30 Days of Thankfulness
Le Jardin da ma Vie: 30 Reasons Why I Love Being a Farmer's Wife
Pinke Post: 30 Days of a North Dakota November
Rural Route 2: 30 Days of the Not-So-Glamorous Life of This Farm Wife