Archive for March, 2008
March 17, 2008 – First “Bouquet” of the Season
Linda gathered the first bouquet of the season yesterday.
Here’s a seasonal willow bouquet to brighten up the late winter. New bird sounds appeared over the weekend – robins, red wing blackbirds, and killdeer. It just feels different outside – as if spring might really arrive soon!
March 16, 2008 – Happy St. Urho’s Day!
Oh my – this important day has already reached us without fanfare or warning. It is the day to celebrate St Urho’s banishment of the grasshoppers from Finland to save the Finnish grape crop. Some people have claimed that the story is not entirely accurate, but then again, nobody argues with the guy who claims to have moved the snakes off the Emerald Isle?
St. Urho got some good run in the Minnesota Monthly magazine with excerpt from an article about Minnesota Favorites.
Minnesota is known for wild rice, hotdish, and mojakka. Okay, so maybe the Finnish-American soup (pronounced MOY-a-kah) hasn’t quite caught on yet outside of ethnic enclaves. That soon may change: the annual St. Urho’s Day Mojakka Cook-Off held in Cloquet has helped popularize the fish- or beef-based stew since the event’s debut in 2003. According to the Ode to St. Urho, the Finnish hero ate culla mojakka effery hour to maintain his Samson-like physique. A remarkable feat, considering we weren’t able to finish the bowl we sampled at the Family Tradition Restaurant in Cloquet, due to its odd tinge of allspice and rutabagas. At least it tastes better than lutefisk. For more information, go to www.mojakka.com.
one year ago…”Artists in My Music Collection Night at SXSW”
March 15, 2008 – Maple Sugaring
Today we had a bit of a treat with an introduction to maple sugaring at Morning Sun Farm. It looks like I’m following the sugar – a few weeks ago we walked through a sugar cane plant, now through maple syruping in Iowa.
Here the “Sapmaster” and one of his daughters check on the sap flow. The sap flows best on days that are above freezing and nights that are below freezing.
Trees are tapped in a path throughout the woods. The buckets (in this case milk jugs) collect the sap until the collectors come around.
Here’s a picture of a tap in a tree – if you look closely, you can see a drop near the edge.
Here Martin pounds a tap into a tree.
Here Martin pours sap from a tree that has been previously tapped into the bucket for transport.
This bucket is about 3/4 full of fresh sap. I was amazed how crystal clear the sap is.
This is an old bulk tank salvaged from a defunct dairy used as a holding tank after the sap is collected, but before it is boiled.
Here is the sap boiling in the evaporation trays.
The sapmaster with his homemade boiler – consisting of an old fuel oil tank and other parts cobbled together. He’s leaning on the cover that goes on the top. You may also notice the scaffolding that he uses to support wind block in the case of strong, cold winds. It is entirely wood-fired and about 8 gallons an hour evaporate.
Since the season is just beginning, I don’t have any photos of the next part of the process, nor the end product, but we have been able to put our stamp of approval on the final product in years past.
one year ago…”Red House Records Night at SXSW”
March 14, 2008 – Mud
I had to get the truck out of the shed to fetch a new appliance this week. It wasn’t a good day to drive out of the shed.
The soft ground makes me leery to drive off the gravel, unless I have to. It was the dishwasher that died, so we used it as an opportunity to get a more energy-efficient model and to try a new brand – Bosch – as I haven’t been impressed with the trio of Frigidaires we put in when we moved in. Linda asked in an email what skills it required – here’s my answer – “Skills? I have skills. Mainly heavy lifting, swearing trying to get it into a cavity, and hooking up water, drain, and wires. And a lot of laying on the floor in puddles of water. That’s about it.”
one year ago…”American Music Night at SXSW”
March 13, 2008 – Thingamajig Thursday #109
Here’s this week’s “Thingamajig” entry.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Hold mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
one year ago…”The Road to Austin”
March 12, 2008 – Clear Driveway!
Here’s something we haven’t seen since the end of November – the gravel on the driveway.
The roads are a mess, but now it is because of melting snow and clogged culverts from the run-off.
March 11, 2008 – Thermal Imaging
We recently had the local electric company come do some thermal imaging in our house. They bring an infrared camera that looks like a video camera that senses heat.
These photos show a corner of Martin’s room. The visible photo is on the right and the infrared photo is on the left. The blue is cold and orange is warmer. When we moved in a decade or so ago and had blown-in insulation installed. Over time, it settles, and this photo shows a great example of visualizing the settling of the insulation between the wall studs. One of the next house projects is new siding and when we do that we can fix the insulation problem from the outside before putting the new siding up.
one year ago…”Smokin’ in Texas Again”
March 10, 2008 – Chicken Feed
Today the feed truck delivered a ton of layer feed. We have it mixed at the local mill. It’s more economical than buying the bags at the farm store and we can keep the anti-biotics out. When I was buying oyster shell at the farm store, I noticed that the feed prices weren’t up as much as I thought they should be. Then I spotted the feed bags were now 40 pounds instead of 50 pounds! No doubt for “easier handling!”
At any rate, it sure is convenient to have the truck back right into the shed and unload into a wagon. Fewer trips for us to town and we seldom have to worry about running out. It just so happened, that the truck was able to drive in on frozen ground today as the promised warm-up the next few days will undoubtedly lead to mud and big ruts if the truck came a couple of days from now.
one year ago…”Spring Getaway for Mark and Linda”
March 9, 2008 – 12 Feet!
Today Martin and I went to the road to measure the height of the snowbanks.
The tallest we could find was about 12 feet tall. I’m hoping that not many more snow photos make the blog this season!
one year ago…”Melbournes of the World Unite!”
March 8, 2008 – Faith
Today Linda started the first seeds – some flowers that are slow germinators.
They get the heat mat treatment to get a good start. When the high temperatures are 30 degrees below normal, it takes faith to plant flowers!
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #63″
March 7, 2008 – The Road to Freedom!
The road is finally almost normal!
How’d you like to see this coming at you over the top of a hill? Today, the plows (sometimes 2) spent two hours working just the 1/3 mile of road between our place and the blacktop. The road is now about 3/4 of the normal width, instead of the 6 foot cowpath of recent weeks. One of Linda’s colleagues missed 3 days of school this week because he couldn’t get out. The wind blew last last week, and he was trapped 5-6 days. About 3 days into it, a neighbor of his called the country and said they needed to get out for dialysis treatment. They came and plowed to that house, but not all the way to the colleague’s house. Finally, on Thursday he was able to make it to school.
March 6, 2008 – Thingamajig Thursday #108
Here’s this week’s “Thingamajig” entry.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Hold mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
March 5, 2008 – It Could be Worse!
At least we don’t have snowdrifts up to the eaves of our garage!
This is our closest neighbor’s house, showing a big drift that is up to roof of their garage! This winter, we’ve parked our cars in their driveway and walked home when the road was drifted shut or threatening to drift shut. They live on a blacktop road that is more frequently plowed.
March 4, 2008 – A First Melting
On Sunday, the temps soared to 46 degrees!
In the back pasture, the four foot high fence is nearly buried and the yellow snow is water flowing through the snow from a drainage in the adjacent field. We’ve got a lot of melting before spring comes.
A temporary river started flowing through a low spot in the back pasture. It was strange to see and hear the sound of running water. Here Martin is walking on a fence over the flowing water. This time of year the snowpack can be deceptive as the top of the snow can look white and normal, but if you step in, it could be a couple of feet of slushy flowing water just below the surface. These are fun days for the kids – to run around in conditions that often don’t happen – like water flowing through big drifts where where is usually not any water.
