Archive for August, 2008
August 31, 2008 – Masanobu Fukuoka,
I can’t let it pass without noting the death of Masanobu Fukuoka at age 95. Fukuoka might best be described as the most pre-eminent Buddhist farmer. He advocated an approach to agriculture which some describe as permaculture, others might call natural farming. His most widely circulated book is The One-Straw Revolution. It’s on my winter ...Read more.
August 30, 2008 – Honey Extraction
Today was honey extraction day.
Martin, GJ, and Linda donned their beekeeper’s suits and robbed the honey. Here Martin helps smoke out the bees before GJ takes off a super.
A beautiful frame full of honey.
The newest addition to the honey extraction process is an electric uncapping knife – it worked spendidly removing the wax tops from ...Read more.
August 29, 2008 – “Living the Country Life” Film Crew
Today a film crew from the cable TV show, “Living the Country Life” descended upon high hopes gardens. Being one of the few households in America without cable or satellite TV, I’ve never seen the show on the RFD channel. They were working on an episode featuring things acreage owners could do to be ...Read more.
August 28, 2008 – Thingamajig Thursday #130
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…”Claire’s First Day of School”
August 27, 2008 – Onion Harvest
We’re in the harvest season. Harvest brings great images, like the peaches last week, this week it’s the onion’s turn.
The onions were pulled a couple of weeks ago, sat in the sun to dry for about a week, then had their tops clipped and sat in the barn to cure for another week or so, ...Read more.
August 26, 2008 – Linda on Grinnell College Home Page
Linda can’t stay off the web, we found out that she graced the home page of Grinnell College on the first day of school.
xxx.
one year ago…”One BIG Local Meal Arrives”
August 25, 2008 – Good Old Small Town Life
There are some good things about small towns and knowing your neighbors. This tiller exemplifies one such experience.
We share a small tiller with a colleauge of Linda’s at work. He acquires the tillers and we store and maintain them and he comes out once a year to pick it up and use it. He just ...Read more.
August 24, 2008 – Front-Page News – Linda
Someone alerted us that the article about Linda in the Marshalltown paper was not only on the front page, but above the fold. Linda claims it was a slow news day!
So, it was a nice break from having Barack or John on the front page!
one year ago…”Fancy Fowl”
August 23, 2008 – Bioblitz
This weekend Claire’s Envirothon was comped a weekend at a “bioblitz” inventorying animal and plant species on a new parcel of land acquired by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation in northeastern Iowa.
Here’s a good portion of the group.
One of Claire’s favorite tasks was mussel inventory in the river. They were accompanied by experts in mussel, ...Read more.
August 22, 2008 – Late August Garden
The harvest, preserving, and selling season is in full swing and it is time for weeding to fall by the wayside.
This is our best looking garden – one weeding professional Linda has managed to keep in check. It’s hard to make the switch from tending to harvest, as it is hard to let go and ...Read more.
August 21, 2008 – Thingamajig Thursday #129
Here’s this week’s “Thingamajig” entry.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer. Put your guess in a comment below.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
Hold mouse over this sentence to pop-up answer.
one year ago…”Garden Spider”
August 20, 2008 – Peach Basket
This basket of peaches was just too beautiful not to share.
We can now see the end of the peach season. This picture is also a bit of food for thought for all those naysayers that told us central Iowa was too far north to grow peaches!
one year ago…”1st Day of School for Two”
August 19, 2008 – Costa Rican Agaratum Folklore
When the Costa Ricans visited our farm a few weeks ago, one gentleman excitedly moved me over to one of the gardens to tell me something.
He pointed at the agaratum as said, “In Costa Rica, if you have an agaratum flower in your wallet, your wallet will not run out of money for a year!” ...Read more.
August 18, 2008 – 1st Day of School for Emma & Martin
Today was the first day of school for Emma and Martin.
If you ask me, August 18, is too early to go back to school, especially with a school that has some buildings that are not air conditioned and we’ve been let out in August in the past for “heat days.”
We’ve lucked out lately as the ...Read more.
