Archive for August, 2009
August 31, 2009 – Flower Arranging
Linda at work in the barn arranging flowers.
The bench is in an old stall with the old feed bunk converted to a high table top for easy stand-up flower arranging.
one year ago…”Masanobu Fukuoka”
August 30, 2009 – Raspberries!
It’s more or less the peak of fall raspberry season. We’ve jammed, canned whole berries, made canned raspberry sauces, pies, crisp, and frozen whole berries. We also sent 52 cartons to the Des Moines Farmer’s Market yesterday.
These are the golden raspberries – we only have about 15 foot row of these and that is enough. ...Read more.
August 29, 2009 – Field Day at Grice Farms
Today we went to a PFI field day to what may be one of Iowa’s biggest organic farms, nearly 1,000 acres, located west of Iowa City in Keokuk County.
Linda Grice operates this farm and here shows off a 90 acre field of alfalfa that it transitioning to certified organic.
It’s a great place for one of ...Read more.
August 28, 2009 – Dr. Suess Flower
This variety of celosia reminds me of something out of a Dr. Suess book. The flat, fungus-looking growth habit with its brilliant color are eye-catching.
There are many varieties of celosia, some of its less showy cousins are visible in the bottom of the photo.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #130″
August 27, 2009 – Thingamajig Thursday #174
Here’s this week’s thingamajig Thursday.
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…”Onion Harvest”
August 26, 2009 – Chicken Tractors
It’s going to be a lean chicken year at high hopes this year. Uncertainty about lockers closing down and deliberations about buying a chicken plucker pushed our decision to get chicks out to our second batch time, and the skunk killing about 65 of our chicks leaves us with about 35 left, probably about enough ...Read more.
August 25, 2009 – Craigslist
There’s a very interesting article in this month’s Wired magazine about Craigslist founder, named, oddly enough, Craig Newmark. The article spends some time berating the site for not being all it could be in terms of design and profit. The site only charges fees for a few kinds of ads, mainly help wanted in large ...Read more.
August 24, 2009 – Worst of the North Side Barn Staining
I can’t stand the tacky looking north side of the barn any longer. I’ve started staining it red to avoid future scraping.
The worst part is complete, above the top windows – it’s probably between 35-40 feet to the top – which is a long way up on a ladder. I happy that part is complete, ...Read more.
August 23, 2009 – “We Know People”
We have a friend who works for the USDA seed bank in Ames, preserving many varieties of seeds. One of the latest plants to be grown out for fresh seed was a variety of Hungarian parsley.
photo credit: ISU News Service.
This plant grew to be about 7 feet 10 inches tall. The whole story can be ...Read more.
August 22, 2009 – Visit to a Local Vineyard
One of Linda’s students has started a vineyard. He’s just getting started, but has a few producing vines in production.
Linda looks over the crop.
A view down one of the aisles.
Some Iowa grapes, about ready for harvest.
We had the chance to take some home – so we did and made about 20 quarts of grape juice. ...Read more.
August 21, 2009 – Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program
I visited with our local NRCS contact this week to get updated on new conservation programs and was alerted to a new project about two miles from our house. He invited me to go take a look, so I did, and you can too!
This is the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. According to another similar site ...Read more.
August 20, 2009 – First Day of School
This year the kids all got on the same bus the first day of school!
Although this isn’t the typical portrait, it does show life waiting for the bus circa 2009. Oldest daughter texting someone. Young, skinny, boy huddles up trying to stay warm on the unseasonably cool August morning and middle daughter does well to ...Read more.
August 19, 2009 – Completion of First Round of College Visits
Today was a trip up to Northfield, MN to visit a couple of colleges – St. Olaf and Carleton. These are the last two on the initial list. Now, we may or may not do visits when school is in session. It looks like Claire will have a difficult decision, but perhaps ...Read more.
August 18, 2009 – New Part-Time Gig
I’m about to embark on a temporary, very part-time gig with the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The center get a variety of calls that they don’t have staff time to respond to in an adequate manner. One typical call might be from an absentee landlord – some one who has recently inherited land ...Read more.
