An Auction Item That Spoke to me

Today my husband and I went to an auction.  It was a nice fall morning, crisp and cool and sunny.   Most of the stuff there was junk but one item sort of "spoke" to me.   Now, those of you who like to go to thrift shops, rummage sales, garage sales, antique shops, auctions and estate sales know exactly what I mean when something "speaks" to you!   Those of us who like old things and vintage/retro items can spot something that just seems interesting, and suddenly it becomes a must-have item.   I guess that's the joy of going to garage sales and antique stores and auctions - it's the quest for just that certain something.
     Anyway, most of the items at this auction started at a dollar, so when the auctioneer started the bid for this item, I thought he was starting at a buck.  Well, he was speaking really fast and was hard to understand, and apparently he started the bidding for this item at FIVE dollars!   Oops!  Well, I would have gone as high as five dollars anyway, so I had to end up paying 5 bucks for this:

Isn't this little guy cute?  He is sitting in a wicker sleigh.  Since I had to give 5 bucks for him, I am calling this bear "Lincoln".  He's about 15 inches tall, and the sleigh is about 18 inches long and 10 inches wide.   I will make a nice Christmas vest for him and fill the wicker sleigh with pine trimmings and he will be a porch decoration for Christmas, along with some other things.   The rest of the year, he will be a decorative item in the guest bedroom.

 I know Lincoln the bear isn't valuable or rare, but he made me smile.  Lately the world has been so crazy and hateful, especially with our elections and all the nasty stuff we read about every day.   A little cheer goes a long way to bringing me a bit of sanity!  I don't know about you, but I've just about "had it up to here" with the news anymore!   My little teddy bear Lincoln will remind me of a happy day spent with my husband, on a nice fall day in the country, at an auction.   Sometimes simple joys are what life is all about!

The 100 lbs of Popcorn!

Today we put all the ears of popcorn through that vintage corn sheller.   It took us a little over an hour to shell all the ears.  We filled up a no. 3 tub with popcorn - over 6 inches deep and 24 inches wide.   This old tub has seen many uses over the years for various animal feeds, water, storage, etc.   This is a good example of why you should never throw anything away on the farm:  someday you will find a good use for it!  And now it holds popcorn!  I will probably transfer the popcorn to some shallow flat pans to dry further, as it is too deep in the tub for good drying.   But this sure is a lot of popcorn!!   I have never seen this much popcorn before in my whole life!   And it's especially nice to know that WE grew it right here on Honey B Farm!  And it is organic, too!  We use no chemicals on what we grow to eat.

100 lbs of popcorn, ready to become Christmas gifts!  I will probably gift it in tins or jars.

Did you ever see this much popcorn before??

Early October On The Farm

Today is probably the last really nice warm day we will have for a very long time.  In fact, it might be the last warm day until next spring.  The weather folks are predicting some really cold days ahead - highs only in the 40's!
     Maybe these cold temps will deter the horrible Asian lady beetles!  Every fall when the soybean harvest is done, the beetles come around by the "millions".   They crawl up the house, come into every crack they can find, fly around in your hair and generally are a nuisance.   They stink, they can bite, and the sheer numbers of them are aggravating.   Whoever first introduced them into this country in 1988 should be made to live with these bugs every day of their life.  Supposedly they were brought here by government biologists (well, THAT explains it!!) to take care of the aphid problem.   Really???   We had an aphid problem? That's not something anyone remembers!  We can use a spray called Home Defense which helps, but doesn't totally control the problem.   I also vacuum the bugs up with a shop vac, which works the best.

The Asian beetles like to gather on the porch ceiling.

The beetles crawl up the house by the thousands. 

I sprayed the windowsills with Home Defense spray, and every morning I have to vacuum up the dead bugs.

Anyway, so much for bugs!

Our colorful trees have a very short season!  Right now the leaves are almost gone from the trees.

Our side of the lake - the leaves are quickly falling from the trees.   Today is very windy, and the leaves are going fast.

Looking towards the other lake on our property.  Almost no leaves left on some of the trees.   If you look closely, you can see a hawk flying above the trees in the upper left hand corner!

Harold has been working on getting our winter wood in.  The pile needs to get bigger!

Today we also harvested the last of the garden produce.   We picked about 25 watermelons and at least 50 squash, and the rest of the sweet corn.   It filled up the back of the pickup truck!

Some of the watermelons weighed close to 18 lbs.   We went around the neighborhood and gave away plenty to neighbors.  Plenty of butternut squash, too.

A few days ago, we harvested all these squash:

Squash, pumpkins for pies, and more watermelons.   Think we have enough??  Our pasture garden was very productive!

We also picked about 100 ears of corn.  We like to plant Golden Bantam corn.  It is an old fashioned open pollinated variety that is not a hybrid.   It is not sugar enhanced, non GMO, and not 'round-up ready'.  We grow organic sweet corn that is as natural as possible.  We think Golden Bantam tastes like corn, not sugar.   It also freezes well.  I will put all of this in freezer bags this evening.  But we saved some of the best ears for today's lunch!

Here I am husking corn on this windy day! The back of another pickup works great for husking corn.

So this was a typical fall day up here in northern Minnesota!