The barn at Fred Empkie's farm near Port Austin, Michigan, which was built in 1930, was selected to be adorned with a barn quilt from the Port Austin Historical Society in cooperation with the Thumb Quilt Trail.

The Tulip Garden quilt pattern was chosen to represent a tulip applique quilt that was handmade by Fred Empkie Sr's wife, Ann Damrow Empkie.  The barn quilt was designed, built, and painted by volunteers.

Be sure to visit the Thumb Quilt Trail's website to read more about their work and this project:  http://www.thumbquilttrail.com/Thumb-Quilt-Trail-Barns-and-Blocks/Huron-County

You can also check out the Port Austin Historical Society's facebook page:  https://facebook.com/Port-Austin-Area-Historical-Society

The Empkie Farm circa 1960.

The Empkie Farm circa 2002.

Four generations of the Empkie family 2015.

These are some pictures of our Sweet Corn as it continues to grow and ripen.

The Dry Bean plants are pleased to have enough moisture from the recent rains to fatten up their pods.

The Navy Bean plants have plenty of bean pods on them.

Black Bean pods are plentiful.

The sun setting over the bean fields.

After a day of harvesting and selling produce the question is always:  "What's for dinner?"  Last night it was Sweet Corn, Tomato Sandwiches, and Charentais Melon.  It just doesn't get any better than that.

We had quite a wind and rain storm go through here on Sunday afternoon and evening. We were some of the fortunate ones who lost power for 15 hours and received nearly 3 inches of rain. Many others received property damage, flooding, and/or are still without power. Except for minimal hail damage, we're pleased to report that our field crops are soaking up the rain water and the sunshine.

The Soybeans are beginning to blossom.

There are runners and blossoms on the Navy Beans.

The Black Beans have plenty of blossoms.

The time has finally come...we will begin harvesting our Sweet Corn tomorrow morning and have it available beginning at about 9am at our roadside market. We'll look forward to seeing you!

It's late July which means it's time to harvest wheat on the farm. While we're still waiting for the corn to ripen, we'd thought we'd share some pictures of the harvest with you!

Grandpa Empkie and Uncle Brian had some special guest helpers in Anna and Charlie! They were very impressed with the machinery and eager to work - it was great to see the process through their eyes.

The first step is for the combine to thresh the wheat; cutting down the wheat and separating the grain from the head and stem (which is straw).

Grandma Empkie and Charlie watch the progress of the combine.

Anna was thrilled to ride along with Grandpa and help "drive" the combine!

Once the combine is full, the wheat is transferred through the auger into the grain cart which is pulled by the tractor.

The tractor is then driven over to transfer the wheat into the truck and grain cart to be driven into town. The grain is taken to the elevator where is sold and eventually makes its way to the mill, then to the bakers to become food we eat - bread, flour, bagels, and (according to the 3 year old Anna) the most important things - ice cream cones and cookies!

The grandchildren are here on the farm this week to "help" with the wheat harvest and vegetable picking! They're hoping to get some sweet corn too! We picked a green pepper last night and promptly used it in our sloppy joes for dinner - now that's fresh!!

Anna and Charlie's first job was to help Grandma check the progress of the sweet corn 😀

The corn isn't quite ready yet, but this hot weather is helping it along!

We'll continue to post updates here and on our Facebook page!

Here is a close-up of an ear of Sweet Corn we picked today.  It's not ripe yet, but it is getting closer to ripening every day.  All the warm weather we're having is speeding up the ripening process.  Once the kernels get more plump and turn yellow it will be time to begin harvesting, and more importantly enjoying, possibly within the next week.  We'll be checking on it daily...