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 for our family and none for sale.

The remaining chickens are tucked away in their movable chicken tractors where they get fresh pasture daily and protection from varmits.

one year ago…”Linda on Grinnell College Home Page”

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 cities.  Best estimates are that these ads earn about $100 million per year.  The rest of us get to post and browse free classified ads.  Craigslist gets more hits than Ebay or Amazon.  Many people think that with a redesign of the site, or making sponsored ads or charging a minimal fee that Craigslist might be worth a sum in the billions of dollars on the open market.

When asked about why he doesn’t try to make more money from a potential goldmine of a site, Craig’s philosophy comes through as he “already has a parking space, a hummingbird feeder, a small home with a view, and a shower with strong water pressure.”  What else does he need? He also dislikes meetings and tensions between technology and internal business units.  At Craigslist there is no tension between the marketing, sales, and technology groups, because there is no marketing or sales departments.  He’s put technological back-door roadblocks in place to prevent automated searches across all of Craigslist locations, insisting it is for local commerce only.  I think I’d like this guy!

one year ago…”Good Old Small Town Life”

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, and now the trips up and down will be much shorter and not nearly as far to the ground!

one year ago…”Front Page News – Linda”

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.

world's tallest parsley plant

photo credit: ISU News Service.

This plant grew to be about 7 feet 10 inches tall. The whole story can be found on an ISU news page. The plant is in the process of being certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as it beat the old record by nearly 2 feet!

Now if you ever have to roast a whole cow and need a garnish, is the parsley for you to grow!

one year ago…”Bioblitz”

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.  Here Martin admires a bunch of grapes.

one year ago…”Late August Garden”