July 11

Hi, everyone. Catch up day again, I guess!

The 8th was Pizza Night. Another 100+ night, can you believe it? All she can go by, as far as predicting the numbers, is the notes she has from last year. The Thursday after 4th of July weekend in '09 was 75º and sunny, no live music and there were 40 pizzas sold. This year was 82º and sunny, no live music and we did 112 pizzas. Go figure. We, of course, were totally unprepared. She has averaged a 30% increase from one year to the next, and there was a private party here on Friday, so we thought we had enough dough prepared at 88 pizza's worth. Not so much. We had to make two more batches of dough. She had her dad cover for her at the oven while she made the first batch, but for the second batch, she had me do it! Yikes! I did it, though, and the dough turned out fine. Maybe a little stiff, but, not too bad. Another skill learned!

Friday the 9th was a "challenging" day for me. It was very hot and muggy. C and I agreed to help her with the private party on Friday night, and we were hoping to finish up a little early so we could clean up and have a little break before the party. We got involved in harvesting the garlic, though, and ended up barely having time to shower. The party went well, though. Very different from a regular Pizza Night. The price of "renting" the place for a party includes 10 pizzas. So, we just cranked them out and gave them a chance to eat. When they started slowing down, she asked if they'd want more. They ordered 3 more, and we did those, then did clean up. C and I were done by 7:00.

I got to run the tiller on Friday, too. That was a little scary at first, a big, ornery machine that doesn't care if it's grinding up dirt or your foot, but once I started getting a hang of it's quirks, I think I was doing ok. The garlic was a good thing to learn about, too. Something I've been waiting for, since last fall we planted beautiful organic garlic in our yard, too. The tips have turned brown and started drying out. That's the main clue that it's ready. It can be used now, but it's considered "fresh" and has a shelf life similar to green onions, in the fridge. Most of it (like the stuff you get in the store) is going to be dried. We tied the garlic together (with about 10"-12" of green stalks still attached) in bunches of a dozen or so. Then, the bunches were tied to some rafters in the barn to dry. On Friday, we started working on the garlic after lunch. We got one partial row harvested, trimmed, and brought into the barn. Then, we got about 1/3 of those tied and hung to dry. We need to get the rest tied up ASAP, so they don't get moldy or rotten before they can dry.


Yesterday, I went to H's folks' house and did about 4 hours work for them, for a little extra money. They just finished building a new house, and have lots of little jobs to do. I helped wash the windows, then we worked on putting up a new electric fence around the corn. Saturday afternoon, C and I did a road trip into Winona. I hit "The Cinderella Shoppe," a fabric store with more John Deere material than you'd ever think possible. Got myself some new projects to work on.... Yeah, I needed that! Then, we had dinner and watched a movie together. A nice little girls night.

Today is a little more relaxing. Slept in until 7:15 -- that was a first for here, but it's cloudy and the sun didn't shine in the window at me! Had a nice bacon & egg breakfast and caught up on some emails. Plan on spending most of the afternoon finishing a book and sewing.

Love to all, and more soon!

Oh, I've got some new pictures on Facebook. For those that don't have access, here's a link:

Farm Internship Album