Family recipes are most treasured.  They involve a tattered recipe card and many memories.  My grandma would make Ham Loaf for many family gatherings. Celebrating Easter and Christmas as a family, sometimes there is leftover ham.  This is a perfect pork recipe for leftover ham.



Farming is a very essential industry, especially this time of the year.  I am sure you have seen farmers working in the field in the past week.  They are anxiously preparing the soil, discing, applying anhydrous ammonia, getting ready to plant.  This year will be business as usual for farmers, they will go to work every day and make sure this year's crop is planted on time.  Farmers faced many hardships last year, with a very wet spring.  They hope for drier conditions, and a larger window of opportunity to plant.  

Since my kids are now home for the remaining of the school year, they are spending more time on the farm with their grandfather.  Today they  ran outside extra early to meet one of the guys my husband use to work with at the fertilizer plant. He was delivering tanks to a field right behind our house. It had been a few years since Charlie had seen my kids, and he said they had really grown! My daughter and son have spent time learning how to operate the tractor, and discing and helping when needed.



I love seeing recipes with my grandmothers handwriting.  I asked mom to send me a picture of the recipe.  To me, it looks well used, old, and I am now curious who Martha McMahon is.  I don't think grandma missed cooking many meals for her husband and son who worked on the farm every day for lunch.  Grandma Patty only had her recipe box to turn to for recipe ideas, now we have so many more resources to discover new recipes.






If you have leftover ham, the best way to grind it, is to grind it up in a food processor.  Our family is used to preparing large meatloaf's, so I made this ham loaf bigger for our family of five. You can adjust as needed for your family.  We always make sure to have left overs.






PRINTABLE RECIPE

HAM LOAF Ingredients For Ham Loaf

How to Make Ham Loaf

1.  Mix ground pork, ground ham, milk and corn flakes and form into a loaf.
2. Place loaf in a casserole dish or loaf pan, leaving room for the sauce
3. Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a pan over medium heat. 
4. Heat on stove until mixture thickens and sugar completely dissolves.
5. Pour mixture over ham loaf and bake at 350 for one hour.
6. Internal temperature should read 160 degrees.

Chasing Saturday Pork recipes we love:
Instant Pot Bacon Ranch Potatoes
Crock Pot Pork Carnitas
Crock Pot Pulled Pork
Crock Pot Cowboy Casserole
Grilled Pork Chops
Fried Pork Chops
Crock Pot Shoups Pork BBQ Sliders
Pressure Cooker BBQ Pork Ribs
Cheesy Ham Hashbrown Casserole







This post is sponsored by Indiana Pork but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

We are beginners here.  This is our fourth year in 4-H, and at the end of every year we always say, "We won't do that again," or "Let's do that again!"  We look back and laugh at certain things, and sometimes we talk about favorite barrows the kids showed.  I know when we get to year ten, our list will be different!  Raising kids on the farm is very rewarding.  Raising kids on the farm gives them a first-hand experience of many life-lessons. Some lessons are rewarding, some are hard.  

I spent my summers growing up in the barn and at livestock shows.  My friends showed livestock, we worked together and hung out together.  In my first year of 4-H, I use to tuck my jeans in my boots. Not sure I would repeat that fashion statement today, but by my tenth year, I owned different colored jeans, like black, red and a pair of striped jeans. Jeans went over my boots by then. Things change.  One thing that hasn't faded is the memories I had of that week at the fair.  I remember where we stalled, the judges and the friends we made that week.

TOP 10 THINGS 4-H HAS TAUGHT OUR FAMILY

1. Hard Work Pays Off   This pertains to so many things. Practice makes perfect. It is very evident who has worked hard on a project on show day. It is noticeable as soon as the animal enters the ring.  If you want it bad enough, you will work for it.
   
   
   
2. Work Hard, Play Harder Fair time is a great time to kick back and relax and have a great time.  We always feel like we can relax the day after the show.  Then we enjoy watching the beef and dairy shows the end of the week.

   4-H Beginner Showmanship Winners

3. Deadlines Deadlines are very important. Register for 4-H, deadline to register your animals, record book deadlines, and state fair deadlines. One day, your kids will have deadlines with their jobs, and hopefully these skills will help them meet their deadlines.

It doesn't matter what special time you spend with your kids, if it is at dance, ball practice, ball games, or in the barn doing chores.  It is quality time spent with kids.  Kids need our attention, they need our approval. Be present, and encourage them.
 

Year #2 of the Jasper County Fair is in the books.  Congrats mom and dad! We survived and as we are preparing for State Fair we are already making a list of things do different next year. Things we need to buy, and other things we need to improve on.

2015 family picture

There are days when you are wondering why are we doing this? Why am I getting up early and staying up late to do chores? Who's project is this anyway? :)

Mason front and center for the beef show.

But the moment the kid head to the show ring for the first time, this mom gets a little teary-eyed, but don't tell the husband.

Ryan showing in mini 4-H swine show

Watching Macie improve her showmanship skills every time she went back into the ring was very rewarding. There are so many showmanship skills to work on!

Macie placed 2nd with Duroc gilt

I think she's growing up too fast!

I know the best part about 4-H is friends.  It's priceless and a forever bond.  Sure, there is some fun competition. These smiles, and the milkshakes, and the late nights make it all worth it!

I knew her first trip to the ring might be a little emotional for me. I am not sure how to explain it, but she is a determined, hard worker.  She has big plans, big dreams and I hope we can fulfill those dreams for her.  One step at a time.  One day we will have a house, then we will build the kids a barn and then fill it with animals. So, one step at a time.  Try out the first year of showing and see if she likes it. She loves it.  It is moments like these when we realize the dreams and plans we have mirror our children's wants and have's (and have-not's).

We are very proud of her. She received Champion Microwave Cooking in her Division.  She participated in the Battle of the Barns, and her team ended up in 3rd place. Macie also received 3rd overall in the Beginner Swine Showmanship Class.
Challenge yourself and your family.  Try something new. Get out there in the ring. Many life lessons are learned in the ring and in the barn.