Archive for October, 2008
October 17, 2008 – Reading Like a Cat
It’s finally cool enough to light the pellet stove. Last spring I bought about 5 tons of wood pellets. They work better than corn in the transition time between fall and winter as they can burn less hot.
Martin takes advantage of the warmth and cuddles up near the stove with a good book.
one year ago…”Urupan: Water Everywhere”.
October 16, 2008 – Thingamajig Thursday #137
Here’s this week’s “Thingamajig” entry. What kind of plant is this from?
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…”Uruapan: Water Everywhere”
October 15, 2008 – Pepper Harvest
A few days ago you saw pictures of peppers in the field.
This is the LAST group of peppers to make it to the freezer. A number of light frosts have finally knocked the plants back.
one year ago…”Self-Directed Excursion”.
October 14, 2008 – Toothless Martin
Don’t you love 1st and 2nd graders with missing front teeth?
Martin’s went down with some mashed potatoes, but it was not retrieved; nonetheless, the tooth fairy did ante up without the physical specimen of the tooth.
one year ago…”Destination: Patzcuaro, Mexico “.
October 13, 2008 – Pastured Turkeys
Our pastured turkeys are now out living the good turkey life. These are the regular old commercial turkeys but we’ve trained them some new tricks.
We move this old hay wagon around the pasture with their feeder connected to it. If it’s not raining they roost on top of the wagon at night. We’ve got some electric netting around their area to keep predators out. They get water in a different place from a 55 gallon bucket that fills from the gutters off an old outbuilding. We leave the door open in the brooding shed and they can seek shelter in there if the weather turns nasty (and they have).
one year ago…”Teotihuacán Ruins”.
October 12, 2008 – House Painting
We had hoped to get new siding on the house relatively soon, but it is no longer in the budget, so the overdue house painting begins. Keep your fingers crossed that it is the last time to paint the house. It is much easier than the last time because there is new siding on the 3rd floor and new soffits on the main house.
In this photo the left side has the first coat while Emma works on scraping the the other side (and you can see she is doing a fine job! Linda is painting the porch. We probably won’t be able to get the whole house done before cold weather sets in, but we’ll at least try to get most of two sides done.
October 11, 2008 – Homecoming 2008
I know you are all waiting to see what Claire wears to the Homecoming Dance this year after last year’s homemade duct tape dress. And now for something quite sad – Each day for a number of years I’ve chronicled the good, bad interesting and pedestrian on the high hopes blog. Any guesses what the most common search term people use to find the blog is? It’s not “wind turbine” “organic” or even “goats” or “chickens” but “homecoming dress” or “duct tape homecoming dress.” It is rather humbling to have more people find the site for a duct tape dress than any feature of the farm!
This year Claire stepped up and substituted duct-tape encrusted shoes with silver Converse tenners.
Other than that, she wore a conventional dress, more or less, got together before with a bunch of girls to get ready, and generally did the homecoming thing.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #91″.
October 10, 2008 – Iowa Chops
Tonight it was “Boys Night Out” as Martin and I went to the inaugural Iowa Chops AHL (AAA affiliate of Anaheim Ducks) game.
It took me back to my college days in Duluth when I had season tickets during the heyday of the UMD Bulldogs, when Brett Hull and others played for the Bulldogs. Martin is showing off his cowbell which got a lot of use during the game.
one year ago…”Baxter Oil Company Web Site “.
October 9, 2008 – Thingamajig Thursday #136
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…”Marshalltown High School Marching Band”
October 8, 2008 – Class Visit to High Hopes
This week a livestock class from MCC visited our farm as part of a day-long tour of many different types and sizes of livestock farms. We’re the token small, diversified farm on the tour.
Here they are looking at an artifact from an unusual type of livestock – a partially filled frame from honey bees.
one year ago…”Linda’s Gone to Pátzcuara, Michoacán “.
October 7, 2008 – Dead to the World
Today I was dead to the world – listless, lying in bed most of the day, too sick to even read. The good news is it only lasted one day.
one year ago…”Old Man Stiffness”.
October 6, 2008 – Peppers at Peak
Even though it is the first week of October, the peppers are really coming on. It seems like a long frost-free season so far.
These are some purple peppers. Some years we don’t get them to turn purple. Sweet bell peppers like these are a snap to preserve – just cut them up in strips or chopped and throw them in the freezer – no canning, not even any blanching. They are great on pizza and wherever you use fresh peppers.
OK, no we are moving up a notch to the Jalapeno peppers. This is about as hot as many people go (and many don’t go this far). It’s been a great fall for fresh salsa. It’s about a meal after some long days in the garden – a batch of fresh salsa, some thick chips and a seat in the Adirondack chair while listening to “A Prairie Home Companion” is about as decadent as it gets around here!
Up a notch in heat are the cayenne peppers.
Another bump up in heat are these Thai hot peppers.
By far the hottest peppers we’ve ever grown are these Habanero peppers, native to the Yucatan. These babies are about 50 times hotter than Jalapenos! I’ve copied the Scoville scale of pepper hotness from Wikipedia below so you can see where your peppers fall on the heat scale.
| Scoville rating | Type of pepper |
|---|---|
| 15,000,000-16,000,000 | Pure capsaicin |
| 8,600,000-9,100,000 | Various capsaicinoids |
| 2,000,000-5,300,000 | Standard U.S. Grade pepper spray irritant ammunition |
| 855,000-1,050,000 | Naga Jolokia, Dorset Naga |
| 350,000-580,000 | Red Savina Habanero |
| 100,000-350,000 | Habanero chili, Scotch Bonnet Pepper, Datil pepper, Rocoto, Jamaican Hot Pepper, African Birdseye |
| 50,000-100,000 | Thai Pepper, Malagueta Pepper, Chiltepin Pepper, Pequin Pepper |
| 30,000-50,000 | Cayenne Pepper, Ajà pepper, Tabasco pepper, some Chipotle peppers |
| 10,000-23,000 | Serrano Pepper, some Chipotle peppers |
| 2,500-8,000 | Jalapeño Pepper, Guajillo pepper, New Mexican varieties of Anaheim pepper, Paprika (hungarian wax pepper) |
| 500-2,500 | Anaheim pepper, Poblano Pepper, Rocotillo Pepper |
| 100-500 | Pimento, Pepperoncini |
| 0 | No heat, Bell pepper |
one year ago…”Getting Ready for the New Roof”.
October 5, 2008 – Morning Sun Party
Today was a wonderful event hosted at Morning Sun Farm (if you look closely at the top of the barn that is in the beginning phase of restoration, you can see the old faded name painted on the barn).
It was a celebration of life and friendship following the end of treatment for breast cancer. The folks at Morning sun celebrated and thanked their friends in a big way, hosting a hog roast as part of a big dinner.
They also made sure some music was on hand, including this group complete with a washtub bass (IÂ missed the name of the band). The afternoon was delightful, with warm thoughts, warm food, and warm friendships.
one year ago…”The Reconstruction Begins”.
October 4, 2008 – Hops Harvest
I’m guessing its time for the hops harvest. I’m a newbie at this, so if anybody out there knows the best time to harvest hops in this part of the country, give me a shout out.
They’ve grown very well on a 16 foot cattle panel propped up against the shed. I wasn’t sure how they’d do with the heat from the western sun bouncing off the wall, but they do fine.
These are Cascade Hops which I’m told are good finishing hops.
