Christmas gifts & California

Well, our neighbors are taking care of the farm for a few days while we are visiting my dad in California. I have to say it's nice to get a couple of days away from heavy snow and difficult driving. Ryan flies back tomorrow so I hope he doesn't have too much trouble with the forecast, which currently promises to be dismal. The joys of living in Iowa.

I finished some Christmas gifts, which are the first thing I quilted since August. I hope I can pick quilting up again a little better, I have really fallen off the horse there. These were for my grandmothers, it is always so hard to shop for them and I think they like getting something I make. 'Tis the season for homemade gifts! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that no one gets stuck in a snow-filled ditch!

Hiatus over & egg carton extravaganza

First, I have to apologize for my long hiatus. I'm so sorry! I have been absent because I'm now about 5 months pregnant and have discovered I am NOT one of those lucky women who feel like a million bucks when they're expecting (they're out there, I know a few!). So instead I have been a huge lump for the last few months and Ryan has been picking up the pieces. On a related note, Ryan HAS kept his blog up very well; it can be found here: http://beginningiowafarmer.blogspot.com/

Now, on to farm business. The growing season is done for us, but the egg layers have really kicked it into high gear recently! We are practically drowning in eggs; although we are continuing to find people who want to buy them. So we ran out of egg cartons and had to order some more. If you ever wanted to know what $150 in egg cartons looks like, this is it. I came home to this ginormous box in my living room and had to share the way the egg cartons seem to come in "columns" within it!

Anyway, it is not my intention to become one of those non-blogging bloggers, so I am hoping to get back to something resembling my bi-monthly-ish update frequency. Wish me luck!!

Mother Nature Network 40 farmers under 40

Sorry about the hiatus, although this will be a short post. We were chosen for the second round of Mother Nature Network's "40 farmers under 40". We're number 32 and 33, but that's ok. :-)

Click here for article

Excelsior & Green Beans

Green bean season (and wax bean season, that's the yellow ones) is in full swing, and Ryan's love of planting them has really led to a lot of them! I've frozen about 6 or 7 quart-sized ziploc bags of them, and of course we've eaten some. I haven't canned any because I haven't gotten over the whole pressure-canner hump. Mine needs a new gasket and a new gauge and I just haven't gotten to doing that. I need to though....

My heritage lilies continue to amaze me, this one is Excelsior. It's like a stargazer on steroids and smells awesome! I think it's my new favorite lily. The weather this year continues to be beautiful, we just finished a record cool July with an average temp of 68 degrees or so. Makes the Iowa summer that much more pleasant!

Dust Bath and Citronella Lily

Well, I promised I would post a picture of "Citronella," my beautiful heritage lily and here it is. It is absolutely catalog perfect and I'm so grateful to Old House Gardens for growing it for me!

On farm news, it is a simply beautiful day. Fluffy white clouds, deep blue sky, soft green leaves, it's like a postcard out here. The chickens are running around, thrilled Ryan has weeded the rhubarb patch. They are happily digging through the freshly turned dirt for all the tasty little bugs in it. One of our turkey hens found a patch of dirt and took herself a little dirt bath in the sun (See video). I pointed it out to Ryan and he said, "I was trying to grow grass there...." as he watched her forlornly! I told him she looked happy as she made little cooing noises.

Baby shower quilt

I finished another quilt, this one for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I quilted like a fiend this week, trying to get the hand quilting in the center done. I got it done, but I didn't quite get the binding done by the time of the baby shower this afternoon. Ah well, I guess that means I'll get to take the quilt to my guild meeting in a couple weeks and then it will go to my first niece. It is about 50" by 60", so it should be useable as a crib quilt if she so chooses.

I also made some gifts for the shower prize winners, which are some table mats. They seemed to go over well, but the strong preference was for "the blue ones". Future note to self: just make blue ones!

Doing things "The old-fashioned way"

We went to a farm auction yesterday (7 hours in the sun, Ryan's a little crispy) and I was struck at how many things we were trying to buy for their original intended purchase while bidding against people trying to buy them for home decorating or other purposes. The example that sticks in my mind is that Ryan was bidding on an egg scale (that tells you what grade/size they are) and lost it at $25. He asked the guy who won it why he bought it and the guy said, "for the novelty of the thing." I think that's kind of sad. So I'm posting a picture of our clothesline and compost pile because it got me thinking about how many things we do "the old-fashioned way" around here. If you think about it, hypertension and diabetes weren't the kind of problems they are now when we used to eat the old-fashioned way and maybe we are starting to realize that.

On a lighter note, it's now lily season!! Anyone who knows me knows that lilies are my absolute favorite flower and this is the first year we've started getting them into the garden. So I am awaiting each one in eager anticipation as it buds and I get to discover its color (since I have, of course, completely forgotten which lily we planted where). We don't buy very many lilies and instead spend the money on a few quality lilies, which we get from Old House Gardens (www.oldhousegardens.com). I highly recommend them, we always get a personal note written on our order and they also sell heritage tulips, daffodils, cannas, hyacinth, iris, peonies, and other bulbs! We love them. Although last fall we did cheat and put a few cheap lilies in the garden just so we can have some time to establish the better ones. So I'm not actually sure where this one came from. My "citronella" lily from OHG is going to bloom soon, though, so I'll try to remember to post you a picture!