Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange Sign Ups...

my living room is covered in Christmas lights and clips, I have a 10 foot Christmas tree ready to be trimmed (with 9 foot ceilings - my farmer is thrilled), the sweet UPS driver has already started delivering Christmas presents. needless to say we are getting in the Christmas Spirit around here.

Take a look at another way that we are getting in the spirit this year.

Welcome to this years Christmas in the Country Agriculture Blogger gift exchange! We are so glad you are here to signup! By following a few simple rules, filling out the information form and linking up your blog, you will be ready to spread and receive a little Christmas cheer. 

We as hosts, enjoy organizing and participating in Christmas in the Country and we enjoy getting to know all of you and seeing joy shared across the country. We do know that this is a very busy time of year, but we can not stress enough the importance of making sure that each participant participates fully in the exchange. Full participation includes: shipping ON TIME, blogging and linking up to the online party before it ends, taking the time to really 
get to know your person and sending them something you think they will enjoy and 
thanking your gift giver for your package. (We as hosts of the exchange do reserve the right 
to not let someone participate because of lack of full participation in the past.)

Now for what you all have been waiting for, the rules and guidelines of this years exchange. We did have to make some changes, so if you have participated before, please read this blog post carefully.

Dates to Remember:
November 20th - signups begin
November 30th - signups close
December 1st - receive your name via email
December 15th - Shipping deadline for your package
January 5th-12th - Share on your blog and in the linkup about CITC2015

How it Works:

In general, this is how the exchange will work: First you fill out the sign-up form so we can 
get all of your important information. Then, after sign-ups close you will receive a name - 
you do your research (be sure to keep this a secret, don't let them know that you have their name), and pick and send the perfect gift! Be sure to include a note in your gift revealing 
who you are and your info so your person can contact you to say thanks! In the mean time, 
someone else is doing their research on you and your gift is on it's way! When you receive a 
gift, take some pictures and thank your person! Then, on Jan 5th-12th, write a blog post 
about your experience and the gift you received and link up to the host blogs to share! 

Rules of the Exchange:
Each participant will fill out an information form. This information will be sent to another blogger who will be your "Secret Santa". You in turn will receive your own person of whom you will be sending a gift. All exchanging of information is done via email, so please provide an email that you check on a regular basis. 

Each participant needs to add their blog URL to the Christmas in the Country Linkup. This is a great way for others to see who is participating and a chance to read some new blogs. This year we are limiting the exchange to only bloggers. click here to sign up or look for another link at the end of the blog.

Everyone who signs up will send and receive a gift. Once you receive your persons name and information, head on over to their blog and other social media sites and take a minute to get to know them. The more you can learn about your person, the more personal you can make your gift. Suggest price range for gifts are $15-$25.  

Packages must be sent by December 15th. We are requesting that everyone send a photo of the tracking number or an email with the tracking information. If the hosts don't hear from you by December 15th, we will be emailing you to ask for your tracking information! Also, if you do not trust a package being left on your doorstep, then please provide an address to an office or other location where you are SURE to receive you gift. (We as co-hosts are not responsible for lost or stolen packages.)

Share the love! Please take a minute to follow the host blogs, and like their Facebook pages - this will help keep you up to date on all the important dates coming up for the exchange. Also, please take the time check out the other bloggers that have signed up for the swap (shown below in the link-up party), and leave some comments, find some new blogs, and make a few friends! If you feel so inclined, we would love if you would share about the swap. Either on your blog or Facebook page, if you joined and are excited share about the swap and encourage others to join - the more the merrier! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Click here to sign up!

Please take a moment to check out the hosts of this years exchange.

Laurie Link
Blog: https://countrylinked.wordpress.com/
E Mail: laurie.link@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CountryLinKed

Jamie Rhoades
Blog: http://unchartedrhoade.blogspot.com/ 
E Mail:thisunchartedrhoade@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisUnchartedRhoade

Lara Durben
Blog: http://www.myothermoreexcitingself.com/
E Mail: LDurben@charter.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyOtherMoreExcitingSelf/

Kirby Lichte
Blog: http://15009farmhouse.blogspot.com/
E Mail: kirbylinebach@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/15009farmhouse

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Lichte Family Farms Harvest 2015

Thanksgiving is one week away. Not sure where this beautiful fall went to, but it's about over. We had a great Harvest. Our yields were good and we are considering ourselves blessed yet again. It was a long harvest. We didn't have any rain days or time off  so my farmer was in the combine every day for the week for two solid months. I was able to get a lot accomplished around the house, but I am sure enjoying these semi lazy evenings at home and having him home earlier than 10:00 p.m.

Take a look at some of my favorite harvest photos. my nephew Case really stole the show in these photos.




These photos are taken off my front porch....

 

Look at all of that dust.

 

I love the color of photos, but black and white are just always my go to in pictures. So classic.

My hard working farmer.

 



One of my very favorite photos. Our youngest nephew, Case.... Definitely farming in his blood. 





 



But sometimes Papa doesn't let you drive or push the buttons you want to push - and that's a tough lesson at 3 years old.

 

This picture is taken over at my in laws house... But you can see the second story of my house in the top left corner. 

 

 

 

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I've been super busy co hosting a Christmas in the country gift exchange for Agriculture blogger all over the United States. So if you are an Ag blogger keep on the look out for sign ups coming up.... tomorrow..... 

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Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange

We have been so blessed with beautiful fall days, cool mornings and warm sunny afternoons have been great. But with that being said, I am ready for some chilly winter days. Snuggling up with a cup of coffee and looking out and seeing big snow flakes sounds like pure perfection right now. That's one thing I love about the Midwest.... Seasons... The hot summers make you appreciate the cozy winters...

I am ready for the Holidays. Thanksgiving is ideally my favorite. Its just about food and family. Not the hustle and bustle that Christmas brings, just turkey, and pie, and more turkey and maybe another slice of pie....  

Back to my blog post (is anyone else hungry for pecan pie now)... Last year I participated in the Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange. It was so much fun and the ladies that I met within this gift exchange I have remained in contact with - they are still some of my very favorite follows. And this year, I (along with Lara) was asked to co-host this event with them.  What an honor. Laurie and Jamie along with Lara are three of my favorite blogs and follows out there in this social media ag related world. I even got Lara's name last year. Everything I got for her was something I would have gotten for myself. I knew instantly that if her farm backed up to mine we would be drinking wine together... weekly.

Christmas in the Country is a Christmas gift exchange for Agriculture Bloggers. For me personally, it's been to fun to connect with women that have the same interests as I do.  It is a great way to connect with bloggers and agvocates across the country.  Learning about different farms and expanding my knowledge on agriculture is something I try to do daily.

Here is how it works, there are a few changes from last year....We are doing only bloggers and keeping it in the United States only.

• Sign up begins November 20th and goes until November 30th.  To sign up we have a form that NEEDS to be filled out along with your address. You will then receive the same information from another blogger. Remember to use the hashtag #citc2015 on all social media posts so we can easily see everything going on with Christmas in the Country.

• On December 1st you will receive the name and information about the blogger you will be sending the gift to. This is the fun part and you can start poking around their blog or social media to get to know a little about them and things they might like. We also like to encourage local gifts or homemade items if you feel like your person will like them. I can seriously still taste the homemade salted caramels I received last year.

• December 15th is the shipping deadline to ensure delivery before the holidays. I know the Holidays are busy and there is so much going on but please make sure you get your gift to the post office by that date. There have been problems with this in the past and we are trying hard to eliminate that.

• We will link up to share a blog post about what you received and this will need to be done from January 5-8.  Write a blog post about what you sent, who you sent it too, what you received and who you received it from. I love going through each blog seeing what each person received.  I have been so excited about this for a few weeks now.  I loved seeing the fun and creative things that everyone came up with to send to each other, especially the ones that sent things from their region or area of the country. It's fun to meet others that farm different things. Sunflowers, Canola, Cotton, Turkeys, the list goes on. I'm a Central Missouri girl so corn and soybeans are my specialty.

This is a busy time of the year, we all understand that but we really stress the importance of making sure you send a gift, that it arrives on time and that you blog about it. That's the fun part of this, so before you commit to doing this please make sure that you can comply with all areas. Everyone takes time out of their busy schedule and money out of their pockets to participate in this and it's only fair that we all participate fully.

I think I have covered everything and we will blog and post about each deadline of the exchange. it might all sounds like a little much right now, we just try to cover all areas at first. If you should have any questions please feel free to contact any of us. See below for our e mail addresses.


Kirby Lichte               kirbylinebach@gmail.com
Lara Durben               ldurben@charter.net
Laurie Link                laurie.link@gmail.com
Jamie Rhoades           thisuncharteredrhoade@gmail.com


November 20th is fast approaching so be on the lookout. Have a great rest of your week.

We have fall anhydrous ammonia in full force around here, so it's been a busy one. (I have literally been trying to write this post for 6 hours. :)

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Fall on the Farm

Fall on the farm is my absolute favorite.... Although it's way too dry out here now we have been blessed with amazing weather. I am talking seventies for about three solid months. I have loved it.

I am big on traditions, I probably mention them at least once in every post, but it's important for me to keep things going. Every fall my two eldest nieces Ava and Hailey come over for combine rides, pumpkin paintings, cookie baking and homemade pizza. I am not sure who has more fun, me or them. The kindness that is in their hearts makes me happy. They are the best people that I know.  Anyways, onto the fun of out night together.

 

 

Although we have a girls only weekend, I have to share this cute pic of their little brother Layton. I snapped this at the homecoming parade as we watched their sisters walk in it.

 

 



 

Sunsets on the farm this year have been amazing and breathtakingly beautiful. This particular night I spent the evening on the front porch watching my farmer combining the field across the road from our house. At times, especially during harvest things are tense, things are stressful, things are expensive, but images like this remind me why we work so hard to be able to farm. I can not imagine my life any different. 

The rest of the photos are just around our farmstead showing a little bit of my fall décor. I am a minimalist when it comes to décor. I go into my moms house and I feel like I am at Nell Hill's at Briarcliff Village. Each table and each section of her home is decorated to perfection. While I find it beautiful, my house is very much the opposite with a pumpkin or mum here and there. Christmas is likely to be a different story as I am already planning our outdoor lights (If my farmer is reading this, I love you!)

We have no sidewalk yet while we are waiting for the ground to settle. Hopefully early Spring we can get something going but my steps will come down right below where these mums are between the two pillars. I will have pumpkins and mums pouring down those steps next year.

 

I added little gourds to my concrete planters by my front door. 

 

Ignore my not so stylish garden clogs... I got them for free from my moms garage sale pile. :)

The cute door mat came from target. 

I add mums and pumpkins to each of my trees in my yard.

This looks like a black pumpkin in the photo but it's really a dark dark green one. So beautiful. I added it to my cake plate in the corner of my cabinets.

I am dreaming of all of my new (moms old) dishes that are going to fill this up in a few weeks for Christmas, but for fall I just added a couple of pumpkins and gourds.

Wheat bundles from my aunt farm in Warsaw.

Ignore the cords that you can see by the TV, they aren't usually that noticeable. It's funny, we built an ENTIRE house without too many arguments or disagreements with each other, but when my farmer started setting up that TV we broke that cycle. I may or may not have even threatened to make him move back into the little house (before we tore it down).... But I am happy to report we have moved on from that. :) To my farmer if you are reading this, you still need to "hide" those cords.

I did finally pot that mum in the little planter, just not before this photo was taken.

Whether you are on a farm or now I hope your fall has been great.  Happy Fall Ya'll.

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