The garlic harvest starts in earnest today. Garlic is a favorite crop, in part because it is planted in the fall and opens up garden space in July for a cover crop to improve the soil.
Most of this garlic is headed for Wheatsfield Grocery in Ames.
It’s been a good year for garlic as demonstrated by this bulb.
Today we attended the annual conference of the 1,000 Friends of Iowa held in Iowa City.
1000 Friends of Iowa promotes responsible development that 1) conserves and protects our agricultural and natural resources, 2) revitalizes our neighborhoods, towns and cities, and 3) improves the quality of life for future generations. We learned about prospects for increased rail service and economic development around transit stations, particularly the Iowa City to Chicago and Iowa City to Omaha via Des Moines, and a corridor between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. In addition, we learned about the tribulations surrounding closing of neighborhood schools and building new schools out in vacant land outside of town.
Linda was asked to give the keynote address. As usual, she was well-received and invited for a couple more speaking engagements for other groups. As for myself, I made some great contacts for an upcoming project I’ll talk more about later!
We spent the night before at a farm south of Iowa City (actually closer to the birthplace of Captain James Kirk – Riverside, Iowa) with some friends who recently moved from Marshalltown. They have a charming old farmhouse and land along the Iowa River, have planted native prairie and trees, along with lots of garden space. It was a wonderful 25 hours away from the farm.
Today there was some magic at the farm.
This 1993 Ford F150 turned into…
a 2010 Toyota Corolla!
This is a milestone for me as this is the first new car I have ever purchased. I always bought used cars and trucks and sold my cars when domestic cars hit 150,000 miles and imports hit 200,000 miles. But the fact that I could get $4500 for my old beater pickup truck worth a few hundred for a a new Corolla at 1/3 off was a deal I couldn’t resist. To top it off, the sales tax can be deducted from this year’s taxes as well. Best of all, on the 50 mile trip home, the car pegged in at 43 mpg.
After negotiating the price over the last few weeks via e-mail by with Des Moines Toyota and other dealers, I was able to walk into the dealer, complete all the paperwork, hand over the Ford, and drive away in less than an hour. It was also the first vehicle in about 15 years I bought in the state of Iowa and didn’t have to drive to Minnesota or Wisconsin for the best deal.
Here’s this week’s thingamajig Thursday.
Also check out the last thingamajig answer.
As always, put your guess in a comment below.
I occasionally use this blog to rant about poor products or customer service. In fairness, I thought I should rave about good experiences.
When we were in Maine, I bought a deeply discounted leather and green canvas attache case at a L.L. Bean Outlet store in Ellsworth. Now, a few months later, the one of the buckles (pictured above) was lost (my fault).
I contacted customer service asking if I could purchase a replacement – and about a week later a pair of the exact clips arrived in the mail – free of charge!