Archive for January, 2006

January 17, 2006 – Claire’s Jammies

Claire is guest blogging today.
These are the pajamas I made with Mom over Christmas break. We took a while deciding on the right fabric, but when we finally did, it was perfect. We cut out the pattern pieces, pinned them to the fabric, and then cut out the fabric. We next had to sew the top, which got a little bit complicated after a while. After we finished that, we sewed the pants, which turned out to be much easier than the shirt. The final step was to put ribbon around the pant and shirt openings and a bow on the top to recognize which was front. The result was a pair of overlarge, but very comfortable pajamas. (Thanks Mom!)
Check out my blog at dumbquotes.blogspot.com
It is not a farm blog like this one. It’s random thoughts on stuff and a collection of dumb things said by me and my friends.

January 16, 2006 – Black Astralops

With our fall batch of broilers we ordered 25 straight run Black Astralops. We have a customer from Brazil who wants black chickens, so we ordered some for eggs and meat. Most of them are hens, only about 7 or so are roosters, which is fine for us. They have not yet started laying – should be any day now.

The roosters are very attractive – they have an iridescent green sheen to the black feathers and lots of big tail feathers.

January 15, 2006 – Emma’s Quilt

Today was a heatwave – 56 degrees! Almost finished pruning the raspberries and Linda got the goat hooves trimmed.

Over break, Emma and Linda worked on a quilt.

Here’s Emma doing a bit of guest blogging on what she did to make the quilt:
First mom and I chose the main fabric. Then we cut it out into triangles, after that we matched up two colors. Then I sewed them together. Next we decided on a pattern, two zig-zags. After that I went to work sewing all of them into part of a quilt. Then we went to get the edge and back. Once again I sewed it on. Next we put bedding between the back and front. See the little yarn like things? That is what holds the whole thing together. I really like it because it’s nice and fuzzy!

January 14, 2006 – “White Angel” Arrives

This weekend Marty and I went up to Rochester to help my mom figure out and buy her next car, after her car went over 4 lanes of traffic and into two ditches en route to Minneapolis. We looked for cars, and I had her pegged for a sedan, but she fell head over heels for a Honda Odyssey.

Martin gets first crack at naming vehicles and his suggestion for this one was “white angel-banejell.” So Nana just dropped the “banejell” off the end, which Martin thought was the best part of the name. He played with Auntie Julie all day and had a good time.

January 13, 2006 – Practical Farmers of Iowa Conference

On Friday and Saturday I had the chance to attend the annual Practical Farmers of Iowa annual conference. We’ve been attending these for at least 15 years. It has become an important event for renewal. It is a good time to remember that we’re not alone in believing that small farms are the lifeblood of rural communities. I was particularly struck with the keynote speakers. They consisted of a panel of three farmers, each a hero. They were clearly true to their values; unapologetic or embarrassed to live who they really are. One showed pictures of his family’s farm with pasture-raised hogs and then photos of the nearby town at rush hour. There was not a single car. He said that that’s what happens when livestock left the farm. Upon reflection, I’m starting to see his point. His neighbors had either abandoned their farms or gotten big (but not rich)in grain. The heroine from Minnesota has two young children and an organic dairy in which they cows stay outside all winter, and thrive. That family works hard. It’s dirty but genuine and rewarding. The final speaker admitted his reluctance to be different from his neighbors but believed that if he didn’t do something different he was going to lose his farm. He gathered courage and survived. They all spoke from the heart, honored the land that supported them, wanted to make their communities a better place.

What truly lovely people. I was inspired. Linda

January 12, 2006 – Thingamajig Thursday #6

Here’s this week’s “Thingamajig Thursday entry.” Also check out last week’s answer. This should not be too hard.

As always, put your guess in a comment below.

January 11, 2006 – INCA Conference

As the “webmaster” for the Iowa Network for Community Agriculture, I just updated the site with the details of the upcoming February conference. It looks like a great program.

January 10, 2006 – Attic Project

The add a dormer project in the attic is about to begin. Although these pictures are hard to see, they will be fun to look at “after.”

This is the look to the east – the stairs come up in front of the window and there is already a nice rail around the stairway.

This is the look to the south where the dormer will be built. The attic is a nice space and it is fun to imagine the placement of the room, storage, closets, and built-ins.

January 9, 2006 – Gravy Raspberries

Today was gravy. It was about freezing with a strong north wind, but it was sunny and there’s always something fruitful to do at high hopes. Today I started pruning the dead canes out of the raspberries. The raspberries are on the the south side of the barn and in the sunshine and with the barn blocking the wind, it was more or less pleasant.

It was gravy in that January 9th isn’t always a time when I can get at the canes. It gives a little more time in late spring for something else. Also continued hauling burnable wood out of one of the old sheds to the burn pile.

Here’s what the canes look like before pruning:

Here’s what it looks like after the pruning:

The summer berries grow one year without fruit, the second year they fruit, then they die. It’s good to get the dead canes out to give the new ones more room to grow, help prevent disease, and make it easier not to have to move around dead canes. It’s a good task since it is not a “must do” during a particular day or week, like picking strawberries.

January 8, 2006 – Guardian Angels

My mom has been collecting angels for decades, and evidently one was with her this weekend. She was traveling from Rochester to the Twin Cities for a grand-daughter’s birthday.

The car hit a patch of ice and she was in the far right lane of a 4-lane divided highway and slid across both lanes of the northbound lanes, through the center median, across two southbound lanes, and ended up in the far ditch.

Miraculously she is ok and now faces the pleasant task of working with insurance and car repair.

January 7, 2006 – April Day in January

Today it was so warm, the kids were running around in short sleeves outside for a bit. Barn cleanup called us today in the warm weather. We’ve had a few more goats than usual with Billy “the stud” at High Hopes. We didn’t realize it was quite so deep.

The doors are narrow, and there is no way to get equipment, other than the “Armstrong pitchfork” in to help cleanup. The cleanup is simple, scrape the stuff out, load it into a two wheel cart,
and haul it away.

It is a rather dreadful job when it lasts more than a couple of hours or so, and this job helped me make friends with it by thinking of it in a new way. Rather than the drudgery of sraping and cleaning it out, like many things at our farm, we like things to have multiple uses.

The good part of barn cleanup is fertilizing the fruit trees and gardens. I used to have to truck the stuff in, now it was a direct trip from the barn to the soil in one trip – mush more efficient than driving and reloading the stuff and then distributing. So, most all of the garden space, fruit trees, and raspberries have been fertilized, and there is some to spare in the compost pile.

January 6, 2006 – Slice of Sunshine

We’re going on two weeks without sun. It came out for a peek this evening and for about 15 minutes a few days ago, other than that, it’s been two weeks since we’ve seen it. The good part is that it has been warm, most of the snow is melted; the bad part it the clouds get monotonous after a while.

Today we finished cleaning up the attic and began to clean out one of the sheds that hasn’t seen attention since we moved in. This space was full of old lumber.

Here it is in the truck destined for the burn pile or storage racks in the corn crib. This is a little under half the haul.

January 5, 2006 – Thingamajig Thursday #5

Here’s this week’s “Thingamajig Thursday entry.” Also check out last week’s answer. Today I turn 44. That will be an easy age to remember.

As always, put your guess in a comment below.

Answer…

This is a front wheel weight from a 1947 Farmall Cub designed to give extra traction in snow and mud.

January 4, 2006 – Martin/Daddy Birdhouse Project

Martin and I received a joint Christmas gift from Grandpa Dave, a make your own birdhouse kit. Today we went into the garage and glued and nailed it together, together. Martin then had free reign to paint it. He was very excited to build it with Dad ever since Christmas.