June 11

Pizza night last night was kind of a bust. Only about 25-30 pizzas. There was actually only a little rain between 4:30 and 9:00, but it rained pretty much the whole afternoon until then. Some did come anyway, and I think it was a good ease-into-it kind of night for Cynthia. Lots of down time is a little boring though. The time goes much faster on a 100+ pizza night, even if it goes until 10:00-10:30.

As usual, the day was spend prepping ingredients and the yard. With 3 of us for the first time this week, it went much faster than normal. We actually got a break between 1:45 and 3:30. That gave me a chance for a quick nap and a shower before evening chores at 3:30, and starting to roll out dough at 4:00.

Fridays are a late-start-day. Poured down rain most of the night, and well into the morning. Somehow got my jeans wet through my completely unattractive rain pants. What's up with that? Then, we headed into the kitchen for a jam session. Strawberry-Rhubarb, to be precise. 48 pint jars and 52 half-pint jars. Then, blessedly, done for the day. (I can now fully appreciate the concept of a "summer kitchen" because, the sun did come out this afternoon, and the air became quite warm and sultry. As the weather guys like to say in August: Hazy, Hot and Humid. Yuk.)

Went into Winona to hit the Walmart to buy (among other things) my new grandchild it's first teddy bear!!! Would have dropped by to see A&K and extol the virtues of having close-in-age cousins, but they are in Janesville at K's sister's wedding. ;-)  Congrats, Molly & Robert!

I'm staying at the farm this weekend. I have a grad party and a wedding for NEXT weekend, so I thought I'd save a few $$ in the Explorer. (My last tank got 19.5 mpg. Better than the Wrangler, but still pathetic.) Just checked into the possibility of Amtrak or Greyhound, and it's actually about the same in price as the1/2 tank of gas I'd use driving. Amtrak is a bit cheaper, but they are close.

One more picture before I leave you all: The chickens came back from their "field trip" today:

June 9

Absolutely gorgeous weather today! Upper 60's, sun-sun-sunny, and a nice breeze to keep it from feeling hot when you're working. How do I order about 5 months more of these?!?!

Today was a field day. Translation: Weeding, weeding, weeding. It wasn't bad, though. The new intern, Cynthia and I had lots of time to talk and start getting to know each other. Tomorrow is Pizza Night. No holiday weekend, no live music, possible rain in the afternoon/evening. We'll see how it goes!

 

Marshmallow peeps +  8 weeks = 

 

Gold'n Plump

June 8

Gave my new farm-quality rain boots a work out today! Seriously... I think this was the best $20 I've ever spent.

Cool and rainy today, on CSA box packing day. Lots to harvest: Spinach, mizuna, green onions, and garlic scapes. Scapes are the tender tops the plant grows where the flower will appear. If given the chance the plant will expend its energy growing the flower. But, we don't want the flowers, we want bigger bulbs. So we pull the scapes. They look a little like the green part of a green onion. They can be minced and used just like minced garlic.

Yesterday we harvested leaf lettuce, peas, asparagus and radishes. And, for those who didn't get it  last week, rhubarb from the neighbor.

After all the boxes were packed and put in the walk-in cooler, we moved the meat chickens to some fresh grass. With all the rain, the grass was very wet, and they'd be able to give themselves a little bath before their "field trip" tomorrow.......

June 7

Way behind, again, huh?

Today was good. Cynthia, the new intern arrived last night, and we jumped into harvesting asparagus, lettuce, peas and radishes for the CSA boxes tomorrow. Then we weeded, and weeded, and planted and planted. We also had help from a CSA member doing a work shift this morning. Lots of hands made for lots of accomplishment!

I was a little distracted today, with E&S's announcement over the weekend of my up-coming change in status to GRANDMA!!!! Woo hoo!

Everything else seems pretty status-quo around here. All the animals and plants are happy. The weather was nice, not too hot. There's chances here and there for rain coming up this week, and a little more warmth. As long as there's a shower and a bar of soap waiting for me at the end of the day, it's all good!

June 1

Mmm. Now this is going to be fun.... Mizuna and Minced Chicken Stir Fry, Sauteed Radishes with Greens, Sesame Bok Choy, Spinach Salad with Garlic Dressing, Lemon Asparagus, Sauteed Pea Vines.....

May 31, Weekend Wrap-up

It was an interesting weekend! It was great to spend lots of time with my honey, but I was able to do that because of unfortunate vehicle troubles. J came down for a visit on Saturday a.m. We went exploring a little, and even did a drive-by of a property for sale in Mondovi, WI. Hadn't been able to connect with the realtor, so all we could do was look at it from the road. The property seemed OK, but who knows about the house?!? It always seems to be one or the other: the property is great, but the buildings stink, or vice versa.

Sunday was a bit frustrating, because J was having trouble with the motorcycle. He wanted to get it fixed and head back home to his commitments there, but, it wasn't to be. Finally, we went to Winona to pick up some things for the repair job and some other shopping I had to do. Dropped in on A&K and had a great break from the aggravations of broken-down vehicles.

We thought we had the problem fixed, and J took off this a.m., but didn't get far. He ended up taking "Dora" the Explorer home. We'll have to find parts for the Gold Wing, and then decide if it's better to bring the parts down here to the bike, or bring the bike up to the cities to get fixed. Sheesh. What a mess.

We did have lots of time to talk about the things I'm doing here, and things we might do in the future, so I feel like it was good overall.

May 28

Pizza Night last night was a record-breaker! 105 pizzas! This was by far her busiest May pizza night. Even last year, with live music she sold about 75 on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend. The kitchen was a frantic place. We ran out of just about everything, and from about 7:30 on, there was one person practically dedicated to prepping more ingredients. We did a new pizza, Spinach-Alfredo that seemed to be a hit. (She's served it before, so maybe it wasn't really NEW to everyone, but this was the first time this year.) We called it a night about 10:30.

Today (after a later start) we finished the clean up from last night, did some weeding, and harvested asparagus. In conjunction with a trip into Fountain City, we checked out Seven Hawks Vineyard. I loved their Frontenac Reserve '08 and the Edelweiss '07. All their wines are made from grapes created at the U of M, especially for growing in colder climates. (J & I have Frontenac Gris grapevines in the backyard!)

Looking forward to: Grilling burgers for dinner (with some Frontenac Reserve '08!), maybe seeing my honey tomorrow, and a long weekend.