Catch-up time!

****Scotty has a new (to him) train set but requires supervision and help with it. We are out in the shop with the trains and I'm going to use this time to try to recap the last six weeks here in one post.****

First and foremost on our minds has been the economic situation and we have spent much time thinking about it, discussing it, and figuring out ways to prepare. I hope you all took my advice from my last post and visited www.chrismartenson.com and watched his crash course on the economy. He has finished it now so it is worth visiting again if you haven't already.



Needless to say we have been very busy as always. Here is a load of 100 bales of hay that Scott cut and baled out of one of our paddocks at the end of September. Scott and I loaded and unloaded each and every one!



Much of the last part of September involved getting ready for things. On Oct 1 we had a class of around 40 extension agent trainees from all around the West and Midwest come to the farm to learn about sustainable farming and to practice their curriculum which involved advising small farmers on techniques such as managed intensive grazing. Stuff like this always results in a last-minute cleaning frenzy around here, but it was nice to have them here and we got some good advice and input.

Then there was another frenzy to get ready for our fall festival. We had debated whether to do it or not and we fussed over what date to pick, but we finally settled on doing it October 5. October is usually a very safe bet around here with regard to the weather, but Murphy's law won out and as it happened (now that it's the end of the month) the only rain we got this entire month began on the evening of Oct 4 and lasted for 24 hours! So our fall festival was cold and rainy while the rest of the month has been glorious. Oh well, we went ahead anyhow and it turned out to be a great time.

The night before we had Sylvia's family down to help us get ready. One of the biggest projects was to dig a big hole in the ground into which we built a big fire. We lined the hole with rocks and bricks and kept the fire going all night. Early on the morning of the festival we stuck a huge turkey, two chickens, and a leg of lamb (all from the farm) in the hole and buried it all in there to cook all day.

Sylvia's oldest son Will was a big help and he actually slept outside in the rain (under cover) to tend the fire, which we had to shelter with some sheet metal against the drenching rain.

I stayed up late getting all the meat ready. Will and Chris helped me with the turkey, which was probably 40lbs (that's what we get for procrastination). After sticking some herbs and garlic under the skin, we wrapped it in several layers of chard, collards, sunflower leaves, and corn leaves, followed by a tight wrapping of chicken wire. The entire bundle was then lowered into the pit the next morning.

This photo shows the turkey before it got its top layer of leaves. The water jugs are there to keep the chicken wire from rolling up. The turkey was so big we had to work on the kitchen floor!
Later it was just me, my glass of wine, and the rest of the meat. I decided that chicken wire would be overkill for the chicken and lamb, so I just wrapped those in leaves and foil. The lamb had a nice Moroccan spice rub and I did the chicken Greek style, with lemon, butter, olive oil, and oregano.


Despite the rain, which had made everything cold and muddy, we still had a great time and the food was amazing! A couple of people told me that it had been the best chicken and turkey they had ever eaten. That's the way to cook a big turkey all right!

After we dug out the meat we filled in the hole a bit and built another fire to keep us warm. Look at that tall corn in the background! We had planned to do a corn maze for the kids but the whole cornfield was a muddy mess. Oh well, maybe next year.


I didn't get any photos of the finished meat but there were no complaints!


Later in the afternoon the sun peeked through a few times and we had a couple of short downpours. Still, we managed to have a wool spinning demonstration thanks to our friend Megan.


Here are two beautiful skeins of Navajo-Churro wool that Megan has spun. The lighter one is from one of our fleeces!
The fall festival would not be complete without steaming up the tractor! They tried to move it but it got stuck in the mud so it ran as a stationary engine. That doesn't diminish its beauty and appeal, however, and it was one of the highlights of the day. And Scotty of course was in steam engine heaven.


Scott used the steam hoist to give rides to the kids in the ore bucket.


We also ran a steam line to the smaller vertical engine which we used to grind corn with the burr mill. The late afternoon sun and cool temperatures made the steam engine a great place to take photos. Credit goes to my mom for these great shots:





So even though it was wet and cold the festival was a success, and one of the highlights of the month. It was good to get our minds off the economy for a few hours (although there was a late-night fireside discussion about it among the lingerers).

After the festival was over it was time to get back to work on harvesting. We butchered our last batch of chickens with the help of our friend Kim. Here we are in our outdoor processing area, complete with a stainless steel sink that we scored at a salvage yard.

We don't have a scalder, so we heat the scald water with a propane weed burner.
We do have a fancy homemade chicken plucker though, which works beautifully. Scott made it from the Whizbang chicken plucker plans. I highly recommend it--what a dream it is compared to hand plucking!

After letting the carcasses chill for a couple of days I cut them up for freezing. That was a lot of work but between the poultry, beef, and lamb from this year we won't be buying meat at all!

We harvested all the corn and we are piling up the 15 ft long stalks to feed to the animals this winter.
I cut a few ears and peeled them to save the husks for tamales. I've never done it before so it will be interesting! We have to wait until the corn dries so we can grind it for the masa. And we have to figure out how to make masa! All in good time.....
One of the big events of the month was Eliza's haircut. She had been resisting having her hair washed and combed for quite some time but with relatives coming to visit and other public events it was really time to come to a solution on her hair. She suggested we cut it shorter which would prevent more tangles but unfortunately she didn't like the results. I think it's absolutely adorable and it has indeed been much easier to maintain. Because we cut off all the old, sun bleached hair it appears much darker now. And the bangs are a big change, but nice because her hair is no longer hanging in her face.
She does like how it looks in this photo of her flying, but otherwise she says she is going to grow it back out. I'm enjoying it while it lasts!
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Meanwhile, fall colors appeared and the harvest continued to come in.



Mid-month we had the wonderful pleasure of a visit from "Pa" aka Roy, who is Chris' grandfather on his dad's side. Pa came with friends of his from 8 hours away and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to show him around the place.


During Pa's visit there was an open house event for a steam locomotive restoration project here in town. It just so happened that Scott's band Holy Water and Whisky were playing at the event, so we all went down for trains and music.
Someone had brought a restored WWII truck which is just like the one Pa drove when he served in the war. The owner of the truck invited him to sit in it and suddenly it was as though Pa was a celebrity! There were five or six people (myself included) with cameras snapping bunches of pictures of Pa in the truck. Pa made us all laugh when he said "it's much more fun this time."

Eliza continues to dislike her haircut, but the rest of us love it! I couldn't stop taking pictures of her.

Maria does the sound for the band.

My mom gets the band's newsletter and had already planned to attend this event--it was great to see her! And you can see in this photo how much work the restoration team still has to do.


To make the day even better, Scotty's best friend Dan and his family joined us as well! Dan's grandpa works on the restoration project so Dan has been down to the site many times. Scotty and Dan enjoyed looking at all the real and model engines on display.


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After Pa left we received a wonderful gift from Chris' mom and Barry--a canoe! Chris quickly took advantage of the last of the nice weather to take the kids on a little canoe trip on the river. I had the job of helping to carry the canoe, take photos, and pick them up downriver. They had an absolute blast! The kids swam a bit, they stopped at a sandbar and ran around, and they saw some cool birds and fish. Thank you so much for the canoe!





One week ago my dad arrived, driving his pickup truck from Wisconsin to spend a few days at the farm helping us out. It was great to have him here for such a long visit and we got a lot done! The first couple of days were spent dismantling the tomato, cuke, and bean trellises in the West garden beds as well as rolling up row cover and T-tape. Dad also helped Chris start to lay out the greenhouse foundation and he helped me dig out some old beds and plant them with winter greens. We had a great time and we can't wait for him to come back (and bring Ann with him next time).

Here he is helping Chris pull t-posts with the tractor. Dad got pretty good at hooking and unhooking the chain quickly. They must have pulled 50 posts!


Dad's fallback job over the 5 days that he was here was to shuck corn. We had a huge crop of dent corn this year that we will be drying and grinding. Dad probably shucked 3 or 4 of those wheelbarrows full of corn!







And then just two days ago my new niece was born! Aris Ann joined us on October 27th. My brother and his wife are first time parents and we could not be happier for them. Aris is a little pixie, just 6lb 10oz and she's got little blonde peach fuzz and a porcelain complexion. She is so different from my big, dark babies that I'm just fascinated by her. Welcome, Aris!




Dad was fortunate enough to be here for this birth. This is grandchild number six for my parents. It is also wonderful for us to be able to welcome this new life, because Dad's mom, my grandmother, passed away just a week before Aris was born.


And of course Mom couldn't wait to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep to her new granddaughter.


Which brings us to today! We will be hosting a permaculture class here this weekend so we once again have to get the place picked up but hopefully we will have a period of relative calm after that so we can really work on regrouping after an incredibly busy last 8 months.

Scotty is just thrilled with the train set, which is a combination of trains and tracks from both Chris and my family. Thanks everyone!