Jan 28, 2011

Mid Winter Blah

I think I have that dreaded disease-blogger's block.  Can't think of anything to write about that might be even mildly entertaining. So you're going to just get a run down of day to day goings on here.

I finally got all of my seeds ordered.  I ordered from Baker's Creek and Richters.  Richter's has more herbs than the other catalogs I get and their prices are good.  You might want to check them out.  Google them to get their website.

I'm ordering bees today.  The last two years with the bees haven't been great, but I'm going to try again.  I am definitely learning as I go.  Could get to be expensive lessons, though.

The days are still short and very dreary.  No sun for awhile now and my chickens have stopped laying.  More bitter cold coming this weekend, could be another -30 or -40.

We're expecting some unexpected kids soon.  One of my Angora does was bred a month early.  (An escapee buck) and now she's threatening to have her kids.  Praying she waits until this cold snap is over.

Making plans to have a booth at the county fair this year.  It would be mostly herbs and produce with maybe some yarns and soaps thrown in.  A good way to get our farm name out there and let people know what we have.

And it's tax time.  Time to get organized and get it done.  Maybe I'll start this weekend, maybe not.  I really don't  mind it as I have finally learned to keep everything in one place, it just needs to be sorted and calculated.

That's about it from the farm.  Thanks for stopping by.  Be blessed.

Jan 21, 2011

Minnesota Cold

At five am, the moon was shining so bright that I didn't need a flashlight outside, but it was coldddddd. 
I knew it before I even went outside because the house was popping and making small exploding noises as the wood was contracting.

 Stepping  outside, the first breath made me gasp.  Just like the old days......
How cold was it?
Well...I went to start the van to let it warm up and it actually moaned before deciding whether to start or not.  Once started, it still was undecided as to whether it should keep running.  My daughter's car wouldn't start at all.

Going out to the barn, my nostrils were frozen together, making it a challenge to inhale.

My jacket started making funny noises, cracking and sqeaking making me wonder if I touched it, would it shatter?
The snow sounded the same as my jacket.

Climbing into the van, the seats felt like plywood.  How can upholstery freeze?  I didn't think that there was any moisture in car seats.

Then, of course, there's the flat tire syndrome.  The part of the tire that rests on the ground, freezes flat and makes a kerplunkety,plunkety,plunkety noise going down the road, and gives you the added benefit of feeling like you're driving without shocks.

It's for this reason that we don't have a thermometer.  Who really needs to know  how cold it is?  Once we were in the van, we had a thermometer and it read -40.  Just like the old days...

Jan 17, 2011

Make it stop!

It's STILL snowing!  Honey spent half the day on Saturday just clearing snow and now it's snowing some more.  I keep telling myself that it's good fertilizer and come this spring we'll have a great planting season, but with this much snow, we might not see the soil until summer. On the bright side, we got to dust off the snowshoes.  Who am I kidding?  We dusted them, in case of emergency, but we haven't used them.  We just opt not to go and walk in the woods or the fields.   Even our dog won't go out into the great beyond. 
Snow is a blessing.  It's one of the most beautiful winters I've ever seen.  It keeps the critters in the barn and the cattle in the feedlot.  It keeps the perennials protected and should bring forth a bumper crop of garlic this spring.
Let it snow.

Jan 11, 2011

MUSH!!!

My daughter ran the race. (Her dogs helped.)  I went and got the stomach flu so I couldn't be her handler, and I also couldn't get any pictures..I have some race pictures still coming and will try to post them later.
She had a great time, good fellowship and food.  Her team came in fifth in the 6 dog recreational run.  I think she did very wellfor her first race, there were about 20 or so teams competing.
This is a picture from one of her training runs.  The snow is good this year-if you're into winter sports.
Taking her sister for a ride.  (They need weight in the sled. :)  )
She loves to run dogs and is going for a training run tonight.  She hopes to race again in March.
Good job, honey.

Jan 6, 2011

Dogsled Races

 Winter can get to be very long.  Now is the time for most of the local dogsled races.  There's the Beargrease, the UP200, Ely  and the White Oak.  My daughter has been running dogs for a couple of months now getting ready for the White Oak.  This will be her first race.  She's been taking care of the dogs for quite awhile, but this is the first year she gets to take out her own team.  The race is on Saturday and we're tagging along as handlers.  Looks like a lot of fun and some good fellowship.
photo from the White Oak Dogsled Race site
Stay tuned for more......

Jan 2, 2011

Cubbies

The house we live in is around 100 years old.  It's in need of some TLC, but one of the things that sold me on it were the cubbies upstairs. Cubbies are the spaces on the edges of the rooms where the roof comes down and the ceiling gets too low to use it as part of a room. I think all old farm houses used to have cubbies, but as people remodel, they take them out and use the space in other ways. 
We have two cubbies here.  A narrow one and one that could be used for a small room.  Both are stacked to the max with boxes of treasure.  Now, I've made no New Year's resolutions, but have this strong urge to purge.  Out with the old, in with the new, that kind of thing. So I started yesterday, and by the looks of things I won't be finished for a week.  I don't think that's an exageration.
So here's the door to one of our cubbies. 

And here's some of the mess inside.  Scary, eh?  Maybe I should take an after picture and see if there's any improvement.
So, I'm off to organize, organize, organize.
Happy New Year.

Jan 28, 2011

Mid Winter Blah

I think I have that dreaded disease-blogger's block.  Can't think of anything to write about that might be even mildly entertaining. So you're going to just get a run down of day to day goings on here.

I finally got all of my seeds ordered.  I ordered from Baker's Creek and Richters.  Richter's has more herbs than the other catalogs I get and their prices are good.  You might want to check them out.  Google them to get their website.

I'm ordering bees today.  The last two years with the bees haven't been great, but I'm going to try again.  I am definitely learning as I go.  Could get to be expensive lessons, though.

The days are still short and very dreary.  No sun for awhile now and my chickens have stopped laying.  More bitter cold coming this weekend, could be another -30 or -40.

We're expecting some unexpected kids soon.  One of my Angora does was bred a month early.  (An escapee buck) and now she's threatening to have her kids.  Praying she waits until this cold snap is over.

Making plans to have a booth at the county fair this year.  It would be mostly herbs and produce with maybe some yarns and soaps thrown in.  A good way to get our farm name out there and let people know what we have.

And it's tax time.  Time to get organized and get it done.  Maybe I'll start this weekend, maybe not.  I really don't  mind it as I have finally learned to keep everything in one place, it just needs to be sorted and calculated.

That's about it from the farm.  Thanks for stopping by.  Be blessed.

Jan 21, 2011

Minnesota Cold

At five am, the moon was shining so bright that I didn't need a flashlight outside, but it was coldddddd. 
I knew it before I even went outside because the house was popping and making small exploding noises as the wood was contracting.

 Stepping  outside, the first breath made me gasp.  Just like the old days......
How cold was it?
Well...I went to start the van to let it warm up and it actually moaned before deciding whether to start or not.  Once started, it still was undecided as to whether it should keep running.  My daughter's car wouldn't start at all.

Going out to the barn, my nostrils were frozen together, making it a challenge to inhale.

My jacket started making funny noises, cracking and sqeaking making me wonder if I touched it, would it shatter?
The snow sounded the same as my jacket.

Climbing into the van, the seats felt like plywood.  How can upholstery freeze?  I didn't think that there was any moisture in car seats.

Then, of course, there's the flat tire syndrome.  The part of the tire that rests on the ground, freezes flat and makes a kerplunkety,plunkety,plunkety noise going down the road, and gives you the added benefit of feeling like you're driving without shocks.

It's for this reason that we don't have a thermometer.  Who really needs to know  how cold it is?  Once we were in the van, we had a thermometer and it read -40.  Just like the old days...

Jan 17, 2011

Make it stop!

It's STILL snowing!  Honey spent half the day on Saturday just clearing snow and now it's snowing some more.  I keep telling myself that it's good fertilizer and come this spring we'll have a great planting season, but with this much snow, we might not see the soil until summer. On the bright side, we got to dust off the snowshoes.  Who am I kidding?  We dusted them, in case of emergency, but we haven't used them.  We just opt not to go and walk in the woods or the fields.   Even our dog won't go out into the great beyond. 
Snow is a blessing.  It's one of the most beautiful winters I've ever seen.  It keeps the critters in the barn and the cattle in the feedlot.  It keeps the perennials protected and should bring forth a bumper crop of garlic this spring.
Let it snow.

Jan 11, 2011

MUSH!!!

My daughter ran the race. (Her dogs helped.)  I went and got the stomach flu so I couldn't be her handler, and I also couldn't get any pictures..I have some race pictures still coming and will try to post them later.
She had a great time, good fellowship and food.  Her team came in fifth in the 6 dog recreational run.  I think she did very wellfor her first race, there were about 20 or so teams competing.
This is a picture from one of her training runs.  The snow is good this year-if you're into winter sports.
Taking her sister for a ride.  (They need weight in the sled. :)  )
She loves to run dogs and is going for a training run tonight.  She hopes to race again in March.
Good job, honey.

Jan 6, 2011

Dogsled Races

 Winter can get to be very long.  Now is the time for most of the local dogsled races.  There's the Beargrease, the UP200, Ely  and the White Oak.  My daughter has been running dogs for a couple of months now getting ready for the White Oak.  This will be her first race.  She's been taking care of the dogs for quite awhile, but this is the first year she gets to take out her own team.  The race is on Saturday and we're tagging along as handlers.  Looks like a lot of fun and some good fellowship.
photo from the White Oak Dogsled Race site
Stay tuned for more......

Jan 2, 2011

Cubbies

The house we live in is around 100 years old.  It's in need of some TLC, but one of the things that sold me on it were the cubbies upstairs. Cubbies are the spaces on the edges of the rooms where the roof comes down and the ceiling gets too low to use it as part of a room. I think all old farm houses used to have cubbies, but as people remodel, they take them out and use the space in other ways. 
We have two cubbies here.  A narrow one and one that could be used for a small room.  Both are stacked to the max with boxes of treasure.  Now, I've made no New Year's resolutions, but have this strong urge to purge.  Out with the old, in with the new, that kind of thing. So I started yesterday, and by the looks of things I won't be finished for a week.  I don't think that's an exageration.
So here's the door to one of our cubbies. 

And here's some of the mess inside.  Scary, eh?  Maybe I should take an after picture and see if there's any improvement.
So, I'm off to organize, organize, organize.
Happy New Year.