Sept 30

Wow. The end of September already. Some days seem to go on forever (!!), but seriously, overall the summer has flown by.

We have been busy this week, with the added preparations for the "Fall Harvest Fest" going on this Saturday, the 2nd. Also, they are predicting  a hard freeze overnight Saturday-into-Sunday, so harvesting the remaining needed winter squash got bumped to the top of the to-do list.

That harvesting took up a good part of the day today. After figuring out how many of each variety we still need for the summer CSA members, and adding in what the winter CSA members will receive, and what she wants on hand for herself over the winter, we headed out to the field with boxes and boxes and boxes. I can't even begin to remember how much of everything we ended up with, but along with about 30 jack-o-lantern pumpkins, we filled up a 8' x 10' trailer. There were butternut, buttercup (ha! I now know the difference!), delicata, pie pumpkins, spaghetti and baby Hubbards.

Some of them might have been able to make it through the night on Saturday, but the squash is one of the staples in the winter CSA boxes, so she doesn't want to risk having a lot of damage. They all need to be washed then taken to the root cellar. She said some even use a mild bleach or peroxide solution to wash them, just to make sure they're really clean before storage.

We also cut down some corn stalks and tied them around the pizza/barn area as decoration for Saturday, and we bundled up some ears of Indian Corn, also as decoration, but for sale, as well.  Last thing on my list for today was washing the last of the beets that were harvested a couple days ago. And, just so you know: Some cows love beets. :)

FALL HARVEST FEST    ~ Suncrest Gardens ~  Pizza ~ Live Music with Jeff White

Time	Saturday, October 2 · 11:00am - 6:30pm
Location	Suncrest Gardens S2257 Yaeger Valley Cochrane, WI
	All Day Events - Wood-Fired Pizza Specialty pizzas prepared from fresh/organic/local ingredients and cooked in a wood-fired oven. Get a free pumpkin with your pizza order (while supplies last) - CSA Appreciation Dessert & Coffee - Wagon Rides to Pumpkin Patch (1 PM - 3 PM - 5 PM) - Live Music by Jeff White (4 to 6:30 PM) http://jeffwhitemusic.com/ - For the Kids Playground and Caterpillar Hay Crawl. Visit the farm animals. Lots of space available for fun activities. Bring a kite, frisbee or croquet. Contact info and directions: www.suncrestgardensfarm.com

Sept 25

The big news this week is the storm that came through Wednesday night through Thursday. A "100-year flood" they're calling it. (But, it's the SECOND one of the summer....How can that be?!?) Anyway, 9-1/2" of rain. Seriously. 9-1/2".

Once again, the gully through the pasture became a rapidly flowing river, moving the water through the property pretty efficiently. At the edge of the property there's a large metal pipe under the road (a drain pipe? I don't know the terminology) to carry the water from the gully to the creek on the other side of the road. Just like last time (Aug. 12-13) the pipe was overwhelmed and the water pooled up until it went over the road at the end of the driveway. As far as I know that area never became impassible (is that right? it went through the spell-checker), but there were many, many other roads in the area that did. The town of Arcadia (and others, probably) were evacuated. Again, we got a bit of a mess here, but no real damage.

Part of the fence did come down, though, and the curious cows found their way through a shallow section of the "river" (with their friends, the llamas, following along). Once again, I was here alone, with animals on the loose! And, in my attempts to "herd" them back to the pasture, I managed to get the golf cart (my trusty steed, remember?!) stuck in the mud. Things like that never happened to Drover, in the movie Australia!

I was forced to call in reinforcements this time. A neighbor and two passers-by came to my rescue, dragging the golf cart out of the mud (and rapidly rising river) and getting the animals back into the pasture.

All's well that ends well, I guess. It's almost funny now, when I think about it, but I had my moments of panic at the time!

A cool day is on tap for pizza today. Possibly rain this afternoon, too. Oh well. Such is the season, right?

Going home for the weekend again. H thinks things here will be wrapping up around the middle of October, so this may be my last "visit" home? We'll see.

Sept 22

The weather is our master!

More times than I can count, our daily (even weekly) to-do list is planned around the weather. It rained last night? The field is probably too wet to weed or till. Hot and sunny today? Harvest the leaf lettuce as early as possible, and get it out of the sun. Going to rain like the dickens tomorrow? Get outside tasks done today, and save the indoor stuff for tomorrow.

Today, we picked over five gallons of raspberries between the two of us. They are still going strong, and we're having trouble keeping up with them. Now we have a little issue with mold developing on some of the most mature ones, if we don't get them picked in time. And, of course it spreads like crazy once it gets going. We knew the rain that was predicted for tonight and all day tomorrow was not going to help the situation at all, so raspberries got bumped to the TOP of the list today.

Tomorrow, because the freezers (there are 3--one regular fridge/freezer unit, plus 2 chest freezers) are already full of berries (and other stuff, of course) it's going to be Jam Making Day for me! Also, because of the rain, for H, it's Drive-to-Green-Bay-Day! The clear panels for the greenhouse are ready, and in the interest of saving $300 for shipping, she's driving (almost 250 miles each way) to pick them up. Yikes. I'd rather make jam!

Recap of the last few days: Last Saturday's Pizza was a partial bust. Very cold for the regular pizza hours, so less than 20 pizzas total. A & K--the troopers!--came, and even brought friends!

After the "public" hours, the co-op from Winona held a staff party at the farm. They ordered about 10 pizzas over the 10 that is included in the party package. Lots of families/kids running and playing around, and checking out all the animals. A chilly evening, to be sure, but they all seemed prepared for it, and seemed to have a great time socializing.

This week's CSA box: Potatoes, garlic, peppers, "delicata" squash, broccoli (or cauliflower for some!), leeks, perpetual spinach, leaf lettuce and a bundle of cilantro and dill just for fun! I should also mention that, over the last few weeks, everyone has gotten a pint of raspberries, just not all the same week. The boxes are getting lighter (at peak, a full size share box weighed 30 pounds!) and some things are on their last harvest, like the broccoli and cauliflower--they were mostly the side-shoots from the main heads that were part of the boxes a couple weeks ago.

One other distraction in my day today was filling 5 additional 1/2 share CSA boxes. They were part of fundraiser for a local school. Instead of the normal gift-wrap/candles/candy sales that so many schools do, and people are sick of buying, or just plain don't want, the school (through some very dedicated and motivated organizers) decided to plan their own local-foods fundraiser. They approached  a lot of local food purveyors and asked them to offer products for the school kids to sell. The producers still got paid--it wasn't a donation, per se, but the school increased the price of each item by a certain percentage, that the school would receive. H offered a 1/2 share CSA box (5 sold), packages of farm-raised lamb kabob meat (4 sold) and pizza gift certificates (4 sold).

By-products: Raising awareness of local foods and local food producers, and getting her name out there.

Sept 17

I have been thwarted in my blogging aspirations by computer problems! (I know, I haven't always been overly consistent, but this time I can blame The Machine!) I have a "wireless network adapter." All I know is that I plug it into my computer, and it magically picks up the WiFi here on the farm. Bingo, I can go online anytime, on my own computer, without having to use Heather's.

Several nights ago, it suddenly was not able to find the network. (My phone could pick it up, so I know the problem wasn't the network itself.) Eventually, I re-installed the software for the adapter, and it worked!!

Well, it worked for a few days. I tried re-installing it again, and it worked, for that day. The next day it couldn't find the WiFi again. And, now, even the reinstall trick doesn't work anymore. Also, because I really have no idea what I'm doing when trying to troubleshoot stuff like this, I thinks I've click on something I shouldn't have and now I've made it even worse than it was!!!

Now, like at the beginning of my stay here, I'm back to asking if it's ok that I use her computer to check email, blog, etc. I'm really trying to limit my time on it, too. But it's hard!

Moving on.... This week was a big push to get the new greenhouse built. Her dad was available to help this week, but will be booked up with other jobs for the majority of the rest of the season. Mission accomplished, though! The framework for the greenhouse is done, and it's just waiting for the clear poly-carbonite panels that will let the sun shine in!

It was built on top of the root cellar rooms. Early next spring she'll be able to use the space for all her seedlings and plant starts (instead of using the utility room in the basement of the house!

I've been somewhat on my own in the field this week while they've been working on the greenhouse. The CSA boxes got filled and delivered: Acorn squash, potatoes, beets, cukes, peppers, garlic, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, leaf lettuce and leeks. (She helped with that, of course!) And, harvesting, of course: raspberries (don't even know how much I've picked, and they're still going strong on the bushes!). Four 5-gallon pails of beets, picked, washed, boxed and put away for next week's CSA. 110 "delicata" squash, again, for the CSA, and about 100 head of garlic cleaned and sorted (three categories: Excellent--to be used as seed for next year, Good--for the CSA, and OK--for us to use in the house.)

There was also prep for pizza tomorrow. Straighten up the barn, mow the yard, and of course, ingredient prep. (It's hard to switch gears, though, from preparing for 60 or 80 or 100 pizzas, to preparing for 30 or 40!)

I'm going home after pizza for the "weekend". It will be nice to see J, E and of course my doggies!

Sept 13

Today was "Sunday" for me. With Pizza now on Saturdays, my weekends are Sunday and Monday, so even though it's Monday, it felt like Sunday...you follow?!?

Yesterday, I ran some errands (which translates into a 1/2 hour drive--each way--to Winona to get to a Walmart!) and  a garage sale I heard about in Alma. I hit the mother lode of baby girl clothes! Best of all, she'd been born in the winter, so there was a lot of cold-weather gear in little-bitty sizes! Score! The only thing that stopped me from buying the place out was that I'd only gotten $20 from the cash machine. Ended up with 5 long-sleeved, footed play suits, 3 pairs of pants, one long-sleeved top,  a pink cable-knit suit with a fuzzy hood and little mittens to cover her hands, one completely adorable summer outfit that I hope she'll fit into, and something that I don't think existed when I had babies.... It's a padded little bed that you can put on your bed. The baby can sleep with you, without you worrying about rolling over on her. It  even has a little night light so you can check on the baby in the dark. And, it folds up so you can bring it with you and the baby can sleep on someone else's bed, too. Until she can push herself up and/or move around, of course. I've got an email into the manufacturer to see if I can get a different cover for it.

I spent today pretty quietly, mostly working on a sewing project, but also laundry, and some cleanup in my room.

Next Monday is Heather's youngest son's 3rd birthday, and I made him a sock monkey! He's big into tractors, and stuff like that, but it's hard to sew a John Deere! I hope he likes the monkey. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Sept 11

I hope today finds everyone happy and healthy and that we all took at least a moment or two to remember those who lost their lives, and those who lost a loved one, on this day 9 years ago.

Today was the second-ever Saturday pizza day. Because the number of people coming out to the farm on Thursdays has always dropped so dramatically after the kids start school, she decided to try Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in September and October. Last week there were about 20 pizzas. Today 40. We'll see if word gets around. We'll also see how long the weather holds. We were very fortunate that, with all the rain we got this summer, none of it was on Thursday night!

A photographer from Midwest Living magazine was here today, also. The article they are preparing is expected to run in next May's issue. Magazines have to plan their articles so far in advance to get complete stories, pictures, etc., and have them published at a time that is meaningful to the reader. We're still not sure of the gist of the article, or how prominently the farm will be featured.

My "weekends" are now Sunday and Monday. No big deal to me, really. I haven't had consistent Saturday-Sunday weekends for about 7 or 8 years now!

I'm staying at the farm this "weekend" to work on some projects I haven't been able to get to with Labor Day weekend and all. Ethan is turning 3 in about a week and a half and I want to make him a sock monkey! Shhh! Don't tell!

Sept 8

Ah. Here we are, firmly in September. Labor Day weekend is over, there has been a slight chill to the morning air, some leaves are even starting to change color.

Thoughts are shifting around here as well. Projects that will need to be started before the ground freezes are being planned (most notably a new greenhouse above the root cellar). Seeds for the winter cover crops are being purchased and seeding them is on the weekly to-do list. Pizza has shifted to Saturdays, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to better accommodate the back-to-school set. And the laying hens out in the field have their winter plans formalized. (For a variety of reasons, they will be going for a "visit" to a nearby Amish farm This is similar to a "field trip".)


Things already seem a little more relaxed for us, too. The produce we are harvesting for the CSA boxes isn't quite so fragile as the things we packed in those first weeks in June. Now we are able to harvest things when they are ready, and we have the time, and they can be held in the walk-in cooler until they are distributed to the members.  And, just the number of different items in a box is going down as well. At the peak, a CSA box had 15 different items in it,  and it weighed almost 30 lbs! This week, although I didn't weigh a box, there were only 11 items. (Still, quite a bounty, though, really.)

The weather (especially) feels good to me, and seeing things come full circle is amazing. Still a lot going on, but a new mindset.