Flower Camp

As I eluded to in my earlier post, my mom, cousin Kellie and I went to a flower arranging class or "Flower Camp" this past weekend. It's being run by the same woman, Cathy DeValk, who did the flowers for our wedding. She started St. Bridget's Flower Farm about five years ago and she grows beautiful flowers of every shade, size and type. She knows more about flowers than anyone I know and she's just wonderful person. She can also whip up a bouquet or arrangement faster than I have ever seen and it's always beautiful. It was such a blast! It starts off with cinnamon rolls, juice and coffee and then Cathy goes through some basics of flower arranging and design, when she then tell you to break all those rules. Then she gives you a jug, some clippers and tells you to have at it. Once you have all the flowers and fillers you want, you start arranging them, adhering (but not strictly) to the basics she's given. Cathy walks around, giving some advice here and there, and all the while admiring the work you've done. It was a lot of fun to see how different everyones arrangements were and how they reflected each persons' personality. While we all did a wonderful job, my mom really made us all look bad (her's is the tallest arrangement).





I believe there are still dates available for Flower Camp, but if you ever need flowers, bouquets or arrangements- she is definitely the one you should call!

Pumpkin Madness

We had a very busy weekend. Saturday my mom, cousin Kellie, and I took a flower arranging class (pictures to follow). Afterwards, I went home and began what I call "pumpkin madness".

Powdery mildew be damned, I still got a number of good pumpkins out of the patch before the vines died off and I decided to make pumpkin butter. I had two wheelbarrow loads full of them, so I got my bowls, knives and recipe book ready. It seemed like simple enough task to cut open the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, cut them up and boil 'til they're soft, I mean, they're small pumpkins, right? I must have been blind the fact that I had to do this to more than thirty pumpkins. Why so many, you ask? Well, it seems that I can never do any canning half way. I also have absolutely no concept of what "12-14 lbs of pie pumpkins" mean. And to top all that off, I can't stand to waste what I have; you'd think I grew up in the depression. It's a sickness. Anyway, I had four large bowls full of pumpkin pulp and I had to put it through the food mill to make it nice and creamy. I finally finished this; it was 8:30, my kitchen was a disaster, I still had some pumpkin to puree and I hadn't even made it to the pumpkin butter stage. I was so overwhelmed by pumpkin because I knew the next step would take another several hours, so before I had a meltdown and started throwing pumpkin pulp on the walls, I gave the pumpkin that wasn't pureed to the cows and went to bed (side note: Cows do not like pumpkin). I told Art that this had better turn out to be heaven in a jar because I can't go through this again. And I love to can. The next day I was ready to go back at it. I made three batches of pumpkin butter but I ended up freezing about two gallons of pumpkin puree for next year because I ran out of jars. 49 jelly jars later, I have enough pumpkin butter to last me for years (and some of you might be getting some for Christmas...) It is tasty and Art loved it, but this was more work than I have ever had to do.



(notice the left over pumpkins. It was all I could do to just leave them alone)

Art was busy as well fixing the barn. The walls had started to pull away and bow outwards, so Art tied cables across the inside of the barn to keep walls together, just like the barn straighteners do. Only this way it was cheap because Art works for pumpkin butter and since I have so much, everyone wins. As I write this, Art is painting the back of the barn. We did the other three walls last summer and Art has borrowed a bucket truck to finish the back.

In case there are those of you out there that enjoy canning or would like to try it, there are two recipe books that I use and love: Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and More and Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. The recipes are really good (they haven't failed me yet) and easy to use. They also include chapters on all you need to know about canning. I always thought canning was really difficult, btu I have found that it's actually very easy and, for the most part, relaxing. Some things are more work than others, but you also don't need to make the large quantities that I do. It's extremely satisfying to preserve what you grow and a lot cheaper than buying these items in the stores. Plus, they make great gifts!

More Homemade Goodness

I made salsa today! It was another first for me. All the ingredients except the cilantro and chili peppers came from our garden (I did attempt to grow cilantro, but I've never been successful at starting herbs with seeds) It smelled wonderful and I hope it tastes as good as it smells!

I have a few updates:

1) We had hamburgers last night and tried the ketchup and it was wonderful! It tasted like ketchup, but so much more fresh! I'm pretty proud of myself.

2) The kitties have made it known that they like it in the basement (even though they are often times cornered by the dogs. Buddy, particularly, wants to make friends and doesn't really understand why they don't like him.) I'm barely putting up with it for the time being and the day they start using it as a toilet, that's the day they will be gone.

3) My grandma has moved to a skilled nursing/rehab facility and is getting stronger every day. Her neck still hurts some from the fall but that's feeling better every day, too.

The Saga Continues...

When Art came home last night he looked all over for the bat- behind curtains, window shades, doors, closets and found nothing. I really don't know where it would have gone and I'm a little uneasy about it...

It Doesn't Hurt to be Prepared

Art just called me to say that he will have to work late again tonight. I reminded him about the bat and he said "oh, I completely forgot about that!" of course that didn't change the fact that he would still be coming home late. I have turned on every light in every room and hallway that I might pass through as a preventative measure. I know that bats have sonar and the chance of them actually hitting me and getting caught in my hair is damn near impossible, but the lights will remain on in the event that this particular bat's sonar is broken or malfunctions at the crucial moment of avoiding my head. Art laughed at me when I told him all the lights were on. I'll be the one laughing later when he will attempt to shoo the bat outside with a towel and screaming like a little girl.

Cats + Bats = Chaos

The porch kitties (not to be confused with 'barn kitty') have gotten extremely bold. As I was making dinner last night, they waltzed through the dog door and up the stairs into the kitchen. I immediately shooed them back out so the dogs wouldn't realize they were inside and start brawling. I went back to my dinner prep and, again, the kitties waltzed up the stairs. I tried to shoo them out again, but instead they just went to basement and started exploring. I didn't have the energy to really care, so I just shut the door and figured they could find their way back outside eventually. I finished making dinner and as I took my plate into the dining room, a bat flew past my head, causing me to almost lose my plate. I immediately called Art (who was working late) and told him there was a bat in the house and that I almost died and I needed him to come home and take care of it. He told me that he was working and couldn't come right home but he would take care of it when he got home (which would be late, and I knew once he got home he would just go to bed and not get rid of the bat) Turns out Art left the attic door open- he's done this before and we've had several bats because of it. The rest of the evening I walked around my house in a crouch (somehow that would keep bats out of my hair) and carefully turning on lights in the event a bat would fly at my head. I made it up to bed and then realized the basement door was still closed, meaning the dogs weren't able to go outside to do their thing. I crept out of bed and down the stairs. I made it to the landing when the bat, out of nowhere, came within two feet of my face before doing some sort of back flip and reversing. At the same time, I threw myself on the ground, doing a face plant on the stairs (all the while screaming like a girl). At that point I said, 'screw the dogs', and belly-crawled back up the stairs and into my room, firmly closing the door behind me. It's a good story to tell, but I'm glad no one was there to actually witness such cowardice.
Art came home a little after 11:00 and what did he do? He took a shower and went to bed. We'll just have to deal with the bat tonight. The last time we had to get a bat out, Art held up a towel and screamed like a little girl, so tonight should be a lot of fun.

Homemade Goodness

This was yet another busy weekend: there was hay to be baled (although, not a lot), laundry to be done (done, but not put away) gardens to weed, and tomatoes to can. As many of you know, my life's goal was to make ketchup, and for the last four years, I have failed. Either I used the wrong tomatoes (who knew you had to use paste tomatoes?), or the blight killed everything. This year I grew the correct tomatoes (Roma's) and protected them from blight. Boy, did I do a good job. I had about fifty pounds of Roma tomatoes (first picking!) and I just went to town. I started with ketchup (my life's goal). While I used about thirty pounds of tomatoes, it only made nine pints of ketchup. But the amount doesn't matter; what matters is that I was successful!! It was a lot of time and work and I'm a little afraid that when I try it, I won't like it. But, again, I conquered the ketchup!! Once finished with that, I still had about twenty pounds of tomatoes left and I decided to make pasta sauce. I was planning on using recipes to make both the sauce and the ketchup, but they make handy mix pouches which cuts down on having to make spice bags (thank you Mrs. Wages!) The pasta sauce smells a-m-a-z-i-n-g (if I do say so myself) and I'm super excited to try it.

On a side note: While putting away my canned goods, I discovered that the cherry sauce had set, so I conquered jam, too!

It's Always Something...

I've had a very successful garden this year; My potatoes didn't rot, my tomatoes were safe from blight, and the rabbits and birds have stayed away from the raspberries. I was patting myself on the back until today. My pumpkins, my beautifully large and healthy pumpkins, have powdery mildew. Part of the plant is already starting to die and every leaf is covered in white spots. I did a little research and found that there is nothing I can do now that it is 'widespread'. Sure I could have used a fungicide as a preventative, but that's not how I roll. Yes, I could have used an organic fungicide, but do you know how expensive one bottle is? Do you know how large a pumpkin patch grows? I would spend a whole lot of money on something that doesn't work that well. I used an organic fungicide on my tomatoes last year when I first spotted the blight, and it didn't do a damn thing. I have all these beautiful, almost ripe pumpkins and I'm afraid I won't get to use them. I even had a recipe for pumpkin butter that I was so excited to try out. I guess there is always next year.

Update

My grandma had surgery yesterday- the fracture was below the joint so that was a good thing (comparatively). The doctor also said that her heart was fine and she did not have a heart attack; she can't remember how or why she fell, but she hit her head pretty hard and had to have few stitches so that's to be expected, I guess. They were going to try and get her up and walking a little today- I think it will be a long recovery but the retirement community they live in has an assisted living wing so she can stay there for rehab and then move back to their apartment when she's ready. She's a pretty strong lady, though, so I try not to worry about it too much.

My grandma, Fran, turns eighty nine today. Unfortunately last night she took a fall in the bathroom and fractured her hip pretty badly. They took x-rays of her hip and neck, and while her neck looks to be fine, she still has to wear a neck brace until the radiologist can look at the x-rays. As of this morning it looked like they will do surgery tomorrow on the hip- a titanium rod, several plates and several pins. To top it all off, they think she might have had a mild heart attack which caused her to faint and fall. We won't know the results of those tests until later this morning when the doctor comes to see her. What a way to celebrate your birthday, huh?

Please send her positive thoughts, she needs them.

Pronk Bed and Breakfast

This past weekend we had Art's brother, Steve, his girlfriend Carly and Carly's kids, Teddy and Livie over to the house. They were visiting friends in Chicago and since that's not too far away they drove over for a couple of days. We had a really great time with them and because we like to treat our guests to the full farm experience, we had Steve unload three loads of hay with us (think Schrutt Farms Bed and Breakfast) I also worked in the garden, picking green peppers, cherry and Roma tomatoes and digging up the potatoes.

My Romas are quite bountiful this year so my plan for the coming weekend is to make ketchup and (hopefully) pasta sauce. I have waited three years for this moment so I'm pretty excited (yes, I do know how lame I am. Thanks.)

Hay's the Worst.

A few days ago Art cut the waterways and a few rounds of the big field. Last night, after work, we started baling, beginning with the big field (because that's the good stuff), then the waterways, and then the back pasture. Our field is shaped like an 'L', the big field being the long part and the shorter part in the back behind the barn. This is the area that consistently makes junk hay. By the time we got to baling it last night, the dew had set in making the already borderline damp hay even more wet. We started baling it but because the grass is so stringy and wet it clogged up the baler and we spent a good 20 minutes unclogging it. The bales were extremely heavy at about 120 lbs making it hard for even Art to lift them. At this point I told Art we should just leave it since we were in a hurry to get it done because they were calling for rain all day Thursday and Friday. He said that since it was going to rain and it was already raked, he just couldn't leave it because then it would be junk. I told him that it was already wet and if we baled it, the hay would be junk anyway. So either way the hay is junk- but my option created a lot less work and headache. But no, we baled it. We finished baling about 9:30 (both of us quite hungry and crabby) and then had to figure out what to do with the two loads- we were out of storage space (that being taken up by another wagon of the last crop of hay) so we had to drag two large (and quite heavy) tarps over the top of the wagons, held down by some of the junk hay we baled. Of course it didn't rain last night but if we hadn't covered the wagons, surely it would have.

By this time it was 10:30 and I hadn't eaten yet. I was hungry and it was waaay past my bedtime. I told Art that never again will I bale that back part. It never dries right and it stresses me out and makes me an evil person. So to save our relationship, I won't do it. To my surprise, Art was ok with that.

Oh! And apparently in the next year or two we will have to rotate or re-seed. Art's thinking about planting corn. The only draw back to this is the pesticides/herbicides we would have to use- there's no way in hell I'm weeding seven acres. But to have a year of not worrying about hay, it just might be worth it.

Inked

Here's Art's newest tattoo:

It's based on the Troy Lee 'Piston Bones' design and was done by Jim Hawk at Hawks Tattoos in Galesburg, IL. He could have gone somewhere closer but this guy is unreal- he free-hands everything (whereas most tattoo artists use a stencil) and is an amazing artist. He is also hilarious and can quote entire conversations from almost any movie you can think of. It's nice to be entertained while being repeatedly stuck with a needle for two and a half hours.

Big News!!

I have big news: After five years of working for Thermo King of the Quad Cities, Art is going to work for Crist Electric. It's owned by our friend, Josh Crist (an excellent electrician if anyone needs one) and Art will be his mechanic, tile machine/ditchwitch operator, farm hand, as well as being contracted out to other farmers as a mechanic. No more hour long drives to work, no 100 mile commute in the winter and, the best thing- no more being on call! He'll certainly be kept busy and this is a great opportunity for him to network with other farmers (as Josh knows literally everyone in the area) so he can eventually go out on his own. It's a big change for him and he's very excited and a little nervous, but it's going to be great and he'll be so much happier.

His last day is Thursday and will start next week- send him good thoughts!!

This is Looong Overdue

The bathroom on our main level was terrible. Ok, it was usable, but it wasn't nice. Curling linoleum, a shower with walls that no amount of caulking could keep together, and a sink that always looked dirty. About four months ago the father of my best friend, Emily, came to our house to help us renovate. What was supposed to be a couple of days turned into a week as the project ended up being much bigger than we thought. The ceiling and walls were stripped to the studs and all new drywall installed; the water pipes moved from the outside wall to the inside wall (no more freezing pipes in the winter!); a new ventilation system (as the old one just vented into the ceiling, not so much outside); a new sink and new shower base (that wouldn't give as you showered); tiled shower walls and a tiled floor. We also raised the shower head so that Art would no longer have to bend over to wash his head. After a few blowups and a thrown hammer the bathroom was beautiful. We have been so busy that we finally got the last pieces of trim on. I don't have any before pictures, but believe me when I say it was not attractive.

Newest Arrivals

These two showed up on our porch about a week ago. They either came from the cat farm of our Eastern neighbors, the from the cat farm of our Western neighbors or they were dropped off by someone. They are awfully cute (as any kitten is) but I don't really want them around. We have one barn cat, 'Kitty', and that's enough. I had thought maybe the kittens were hers since she's kinda slutty, but she growls and hisses at them and I don't think that's how a mother treats her babies. I really don't want to feed them because then they will forever live on my porch, but I don't want them to starve, either. So they have been getting expired milk at night- one meal a day is all they'll get from me. At some point they should learn to hunt on their own, right? Instinct and all that?

Hartley Days

This past weekend was the annual summer celebration up in Hartley, IA. My step-mom grew up on a farm near Hartley and my grandmother, uncle and aunt still live there. I hadn't been to Hartley Days in years and it was great because a lot of the Adams family (that's really the name) came back so we had a kind of mini-reunion. Our friend Ray from Canada came with us (I did prepare him for the small town entertainment of the weekend)

So what are Hartley Days, you ask? Let me tell you, it's a whole lot of fun. There are street dances Friday and Saturday nights where you can see the 'local flavor' let loose (sooo great for people watching), a parade, a motorcycle burn out contest and bed races! If you've never witnessed a bed race, you should. We were team Adams- our pushers were Ray, Art, Ivan and Veronica and our fearless rider was Claudia. They did a fantastic job keeping control of the bed and were quite fast, but I there was some bias on the judges part as we took 7th place. We were robbed.

The best part of going to grandma Ruth's is the food. The food is so plentiful and so very, very good. One should always pack their fat pants when going to grandma Ruth's house. I ate so much this weekend and gorged myself at every opportunity and I am so happy about it (although I find now that I'm starving if I don't get to eat every hour...)