Northern Redneck Fun

So yesterday a couple of the neighborhood guys came over to test out their wood splitting machines in a sort of contest to see who had the 'best' wood splitter.  They wanted "unbiased" wood - that is, wood that neither of them had originally cut.  They decided that Harold's un-split wood would be unbiased enough! Here were the contestants:

Neighbor Frank brought his Black Diamond wood splitter and demonstrates with a huge log piece.

Neighbor Don brought his homemade splitter he bought at an auction .

This view shows the relative sizes of both of them.

Don's splitter did a pretty good job at most everything.

Harold and Don watched the performance of Frank's splitter.

Basically both machines did about the same job at pretty much the same speed.  The only deciding factor was when Harold tested each one with a small log to cross split, instead of splitting with the grain.

Harold tested each machine with a small log to cross cut.  Don's splitter did the job in one try, whereas Frank's took 3 tries to get the job done.

 So Don's machine was declared the winner, although all the guys admitted that both splitters were pretty much the same.   The best part of all this?  Harold got his wood split for free!  As we say here in the north country:  "That's a heckuva deal, ey?" (We're close enough to Canada to add the ey after a sentence, although the Canadians spell it eh).  Harold has a wood splitter, too, but his needs a new pump and valves.  He uses the hydraulics on his tractor/loader to power his in the woods.   All the "old man" neighbor guys, including Harold, need a wood splitter!  Splitting wood with an ax by hand is for young men with young muscles!  Old guys have to split wood the smart way! 

Speaking of up north fun, Harold and I started shelling out the popcorn we harvested a while back.   We borrowed Frank's antique corn sheller.  

Getting a start on shelling out popcorn ears. 

A close up of the sheller. 

 

A side view of the sheller.

We decided most of the corn needed a little more drying before it would go through the sheller without tearing up the ear, so we will continue in a few days.  We anticipate another 100 lbs or more of popcorn this year.

Corn Husk Dolls and Other Things

One day after harvesting all the popcorn I looked at the big piles of husks in the yard and thought "I should do something with that".  Sure, I could have put all the husks into compost, but corn husks take a long time to rot and half of them were scattered all over the yard anyway from all the strong winds we had last week.  So I remembered seeing corn husk dolls in various crafting books and thought I would try my hand at making them!
     Here is what I started with:

A big pile of dry husks waiting for my imagination.

     Corn husk dolls were probably first made by the Native Americans in the northeast, but many other Native American tribes made them throughout the centuries.   The early New England settlers made them, learning the craft from the Native tribes of the area.  The pioneer ladies made them for toys for the children as money was scarce.   The Appalachian folks took the art of corn husk doll making seriously and made many intricate doll designs.   But European cultures also made corn husk dolls, and Mexican women today make especially fancy dolls, using dyes to color the husks, and adding jewels, ribbons, and silk to create intricate dolls.

     I decided to just stick to simple American folk art designs.  A little study on the internet taught me the basics of several different ways of doing this.  So here is my first attempt at corn husk doll making:

These girls are a little rough looking, but they didn't turn out too ugly for a first try! I put faces on them, but decided that my artistic talents weren't so hot for painting on faces!

The second evening, yielded these dolls:

These look a little better, and I was still trying to decide if faces were needed or not.  At least I was getting quicker at making corn husk dolls.

The third evening I was getting a little better yet:

Here is a pioneer lady with her big sunbonnet hat.  Her dress turned out a little better, too.

So here is a picture of the whole group of dolls I made.

I got bored with making dolls and decided to see what else I could do with corn husks.  I decided to make a wreath.  I do love fall decorations, and I needed a new wreath.  Being a person who likes to make "something from nothing", I gathered more corn husks from the yard.   Here is what I ended up with:

My new corn husk wreath!  I cut 1/2 inch strips of husks, moistened them in water, and tied them onto a thin metal coat hanger made into a circle.  Then I added some bittersweet sprigs from down the road, and a small ornament from a long ago wreath and some bright orange silk ribbon.   This is hanging in my living room.

I still had some corn husks left and a quick search on Pinterest gave me this idea:

I made a corn husk "broom" using a twig from trimmings off our Nanking cherry tree.  I think it looks cute next to my potato cabinet and dresses up a corner of the kitchen with more fall color and decor.

This whole experiment just goes to show a person that there is no need to spend big dollars to decorate for fall and make a home cozy.  Just using what is available and a little imagination can produce decorative items that are unique, and that you can't find anywhere else.   Besides, I really hate shopping, but I DO love to decorate for fall.   Fall is my favorite time of year - the bright leaf colors and cool temperatures and no bugs make for a very enjoyable season!

Drying the Harvest

I have trays, tables and boxes of things drying all over the house!  Some days I think I either need a bigger house, or at least a large room with tables and shelves all around just for drying produce!  Or maybe a big outdoor drying shed?  Right now I have tables full of popcorn ears, trays of beans, boxes of onions, and cloths full of herbs in various stages of drying.  Besides canning and freezing, much of our produce is preserved by drying.   The herbs are easy to dry - the method is as follows:
Briefly rinse the dirt off of the cut herbs and lay them out on a clean cloth until they are not wet anymore.  Then lay small amounts between paper towels and microwave them for a minute at a time until they are crisp and can be crumbled, changing the towels as needed.  It usually takes from 4 to 7 minutes per batch to dry, running the microwave only one minute at a time.  When the herbs are dry, crumble onto a piece of wax paper and funnel the dry pieces into a glass jar.  This way the herbs will stay good and usable for about a year or so.  I have tried larger batches in the dehydrator, but it takes almost overnight to dry them.  I have tried just hanging them and air drying them, but they lose color and look horrible.  I have tried drying in a 200 degree oven for a while, but that seems like a waste of electricity to heat up a big oven just to dry herbs.  A friend told me about drying in the microwave many years ago, and I have found that this really works the best, preserves the color,  and is quick, too.

A cloth towel full of oregano ready to dry in the microwave in small batches. 

We are starting to harvest our crop of popcorn now.  And wow - will we ever have a lot this year!!  For the past couple days I have spent 2 hours each day harvesting many tubs full of ears.  Harold and I remove the husks and lay the ears out on tables all over the house to dry.  I tried hanging some in bunches in our warm basement, but that was too much work to tie them all together in bunches and climb on a ladder to hang them from the rafters.  When the ears are dry, we will borrow our neighbors corn sheller and fill up another big wash tub full of popcorn.   Last year we got 100 lbs of popcorn, and we expect at least that much this year and probably more.   We sold, gave away and ate most of last year's popcorn, with only about a cup of kernels left.

One of many tables full of beautiful popcorn ears drying!  Some of the ears are almost 10 inches long.

We also have trays of beans drying.  Every year I grow a few different varieties of beans.  This year I grew Lina Cisco's Birds Egg beans, Jacob's Cattle beans, and Tiger's Eye beans.  The different varieties all have varying flavors and textures.   Some are good for soup, some for chili, and some make good refried beans.  Some are just good for eating as is, or in bean and rice dishes.   I usually have beans from previous years left over, so I have a good variety of beans to choose from when making recipes.   We love bean dishes - they are filling, inexpensive and good for you.

The beans on the left are Birds Egg beans, and on the right is Tiger's Eye beans.  The Birds Egg heirloom beans are good for refried bean dishes, and the Tiger's Eye beans are a South American heirloom bean good for chili dishes.  I always plant heirloom seeds and save some to plant another year.   I never plant anything GMO, and try not to plant hybrids either.  We are very much into seed saving, and you can only save seeds from non hybrids and heirloom varieties.

A big tray of Jacob's Cattle beans.   This is a very old heirloom bean and is especially wonderful for rice and bean dishes or with pasta, as it holds up well in casseroles and saucy dishes.

A Really Busy Time

October is a very busy month for us here on Honey B Farm!  Husband Harold is busy cutting winter wood, preparing the bees for winter, doing yard chores, and also working the sugar beet harvest.  When we built this house in 2005, there was a huge pile of dirt from the excavation.  It has been sitting there all these years in need of being moved - one of those things we always wanted to get done but somehow never did.  Now that Harold has a good powerful tractor/loader he is finally getting that pile moved!  We will use the dirt to fill in around the house and in low spots in the yard.

Digging into that pile of dirt from 2005!

Harold got about half of it moved and leveled out.

The tractor comes in handy for wood loading, too.  Harold usually takes the tractor into the woods, cuts down the tree and loads the cut wood into the tractor bucket to take home.

Getting the wood pile a little bigger every day!

Harold has also been busy building special winter beehives.   We will no longer take our bees to California for the winter as they come back home too late, too weak and too diseased.   We will winter the bees in our own backyard.  Harold designed very thick insulated boxes for the bees that will accommodate a heater, thermostat and thermometer.  They are about 3 times the size of regular bee boxes with thick insulated tops covered in a rubberized plastic to keep moisture out.   We discovered that the heater plates on coffee pots make a good hive heater, too.  So Harold wired up some to a thermostat and they just fit into the bottom of the hive.   He also designed new bottom boards and top covers for the hives.   If this works, we will buy more hives next year and build more of these special winter hive boxes.  We have a lot of customers who love our honey and we sell a lot of it.  Would you believe we are almost sold out already of this year's honey?

The new winter hive boxes, about 3 times the size of regular hives.  They are about 3 inches thick all around, instead of the usual 1/2 inch thick.

The winter hives are 3 inches thick and insulated.

The middle section in the screened bottom board is to accommodate a heater and thermostat.

The thick top cover has a rubberized plastic covering to keep moisture out.

As for me, I've been busy finishing up canning.   This year I canned up pears, peaches, cherries, several kinds of jellies and jams and ice cream toppings, green beans, tomatoes (both plain and seasoned), spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, cuke relish and pepper relish, grape juice, potatoes and sauerkraut.  In the freezer I put carrots, peas, rutabagas, turnips, corn and apple slices.  The only thing we have left to harvest is popcorn, which we will do this next week. 
     In between all these chores, Harold has been working with the sugar beet harvest driving a truck in the field from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. and hauling beets to the piler station.  He probably has another week to go yet on that.
     Before the heavy freeze sets in we need to dismantle the gardens, mow them down and till the soil.   So what do we do in winter?  We relax, sleep in, eat a lot and get fat!  Well, maybe not quite like that - but it IS a more relaxing time!  And much needed.

No More Pony Rides

I just love mowing the lawn!  It is my favorite outdoor thing to do! Note that I use the term 'lawn' rather loosely here.  We have a country lawn - mostly green stuff (i.e. weeds with a little grass thrown in).  Today I mowed for the last time this year.  It was a beautiful fall day, so I got out there and cut the grass really short for the last time.  I laughingly call my riding mower my horse.  I always tell my husband Harold that "I'm gonna get on my pony and ride".  Those of you who are old enough to remember a song back in 1962 by Dee Dee Sharp called Ride - that's exactly what she sang about - "gonna get on my pony and ride - ride!, ride! ride!".
     Harold usually prepares my 'steed' by filling it with gas and checking the oil and tire pressure.  Then I get on my trusty pony and ride for about 3 hours and cut grass.  I don't really know why I like to cut grass.  Perhaps it's because you can see a job done, or maybe it's because I like the fresh air.  Sometimes it can be a pain in the neck cutting grass, though.  On a hot summer day I get sunburned, the mosquitoes bug me, and I hate the wind in my face.  But I think women do a better job at cutting grass than men do.  Every woman in this neighborhood does most of the grass cutting - we all like to do that.   And we all claim to do a better job than the guys!
     The only thing I don't like about cutting grass is the preparation.  Getting hundreds of feet of garden hose out of the way, rolling up electrical cords, moving pots of flowers and vehicles, or having to mow around low spots or tractors or 'yard ornaments'.  Because we have lots of things plugged in, like electric fencing to protect the beehives against bears, and fencing to keep the deer out of the garden, there is usually hundreds of feet of wires to roll up and plug back in again.  And sometimes there is the hidden danger - a wire I missed, a metal stake, a big rock, or a really low spot that can ruin the mower.  One time I hit some kind of baling wire and it wrapped up around the mower blades into a huge mess.  Another time I hit a piece of metal garden stake and tore up a drive  belt.  Another time I hit a rock and the mower belt tore up AND I ruined a blade.  Once I hit a huge log hidden in tall grass and the mower blade got completely bent.  How many times I have ruined mower belts to these hazards (and those belts are not cheap!).  So I take extra care now to prepare the yard.
     It takes me 3 hours or more to cut all the grass.   I usually do it in one stretch.  Funny how when I am driving a car, I have to stop every hour and stretch, but on the mower I can do the whole 3 hours at one time without a break!  We could mow about 10 acres of lawn, but we only mow about 4 acres or so.   The rest of the yard is left natural for bee food (some folks call these weeds, but we call them wildflowers).  The bees are one source of our livelihood here on the farm, so we can't mow down their food!  When I see a bee on a flower in the grass, I try to avoid hitting it with the mower and wait until the bee is done gathering whatever it wants.  Sometimes I have to avoid frogs in tall grass.  A couple times I have accidentally maimed a frog and I always feel bad about that, but they often jump right in front of the mower.
     So today was my last "pony ride" until next spring, around May.   The mower will be cleaned and put away for the year.  Now I will have lots of "spare time" for other things.  Ha! Probably not.  There is always something to do here on the farm.   But I will sure miss my twice a week rides.............

Sitting on my trusty (pony)ride for the last time this year.

Sunday Morning Cat Adventure

Well, here's a story for ya .............
This morning it was pouring rain here in the north country.  The rain came down in sheets of rain so hard I have not seen this kind of rain for years.   A couple of my farm cats decided that being under the hood of the car would be a good place to escape the rain.  A little while later, it was time to leave for church.   We started up the car and began our 25 mile trip to where our country church is located.  On the way to church we also picked up a couple of kids who live about 5 miles away, and also a lady who lives about 20 miles away.  We were at church for a couple hours.  When we got out to the parking lot after church, one of the kids said "Hey, there's a cat under your car".  Never thinking that it was ours, we figured it was a stray from one of the farms near the church, and drove off.  It didn't really look like our cat, but then, we have cats that all look the same - like so many other farm cats in the area.   We dropped everyone back home, and when we got to our own yard and turned off the car we heard meowing.   Sure enough, it was from under OUR CAR!  Another cat!  Apparently this cat clung to the car battery for the 25 miles to church, stayed there during the 2 hour church service,  and the 25 miles back home.   Then we knew that the cat we saw at the church parking lot was indeed ours.  Amazing that these cats stayed with the car for all those miles!
     So - I drove all the way BACK to church, another 25 miles, in pouring rain yet, to go get my other cat!  I took along a cat carrier and some food.
     When I got to church and called "kitty, kitty" I immediately got a response.   There was kitty half way up in a pine tree!  I got a folding chair from the church basement, and standing on tip-toes I managed to just barely reach the cat's paw and drag him down a little bit so I could scruff him by the neck and take him out of the tree.  It was still raining all this time, mind you........
     I put kitty in the carrier with the food and put the chair back in the church basement and drove home.   Well, at least I got poor kitty back!  The Lord tells us that mankind has dominion over the animals.   I guess that includes the stupidity of animals!  This kitty is a young male, born this past July.   He has no name, but now I think I should call him "Traveler" or maybe "Hitchhiker" or maybe "Hotrod"?    Any other suggestions?  From now on I think we have to check the car engines more carefully for young cats, who are especially stupid about vehicles.    I marvel that the other cat managed to ride 50 miles under the hood of the car and come home with us.   This cat made me drive in pouring rain and rescue him soaking wet (both of us) in a pine tree!  This little episode made for an exciting Sunday for sure!!
     Here is the culprit:

This is the goofy cat that rode to church with us this morning in the car engine!

Our First Year Hops Experiment

We finally got to harvest our meager hops crop this morning.   The first year plants never produce much, but we did get about a quart of hops cones!  We will need to winterize the plants by laying them down and covering them with hay bales before the heavy frosts come.  The hops plants should produce more flowers next year and every year thereafter.  This year, there is at least have enough to try one of those "hops pillows" for helping with sleep problems.  Supposedly a person puts dry hops cones into a small pillow (about 4 in x 8 in) and at night you crush them inside the pillow to release the aroma, and put the small pillow on a table next to the bed, and the aroma will help to induce sleep for those of us who suffer from insomnia.   I must say that the hops cones DO have a distinctive strong aroma and long lasting, too, as just picking them this morning my hands are full of the scent.   Even after hand washing!   Check out my blog post from June 1st of this year for a reference about how and when we planted the hops.   Only a few of the 10 plants actually produced any good cones.   Perhaps the deer ate them?  The deer ate our winter squash plants next to the hops before we put up an electric fence to keep them out!  Well, there is always next year!

A vine full of hops cones ready for harvest.

A close up of the hops cones.

A quart of hops.  At least we ended up with something!

A Day At Rollag

Every year at the time of Labor Day weekend, folks around here ask each other:  "Are you goin' to Rollag this year?"  This means they are asking if we are going to the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag Minnesota!  This is a yearly event that celebrates local history, pioneer days, old time tractors and everything about farming, and old time trades and skills.  And of course it features those huge and wonderful old steam powered tractors and threshing machines from around 1900.  There is something for everyone:  demonstrations of crafts and pioneer skills, lots of vintage tractors from 1900 to about 1975, people in costumes demonstrating cooking, and sewing and black smithing and farming, plenty of local musicians, a steam train ride, two tractor parades daily, and plenty of ethnic food (we're talking Norwegian food here!).  Several building have been moved to the event site and they are historical.   There are several homes from the pioneer days to tour, an old school house, a church where guest musicians sing and play hymns and gospel music all day long, and old time soda parlor, and just about every kind of steam powered machine you can think of.   It is a noisy active place with clouds of dark black steam everywhere as the old machines get going.   Because the reunion site is so large, there are shuttle buses to take folks around, and big school buses to haul folks back to their cars at one of many far away parking lots.  

We have been to the Western MN Steam Threshers Reunion at least 3 or 4 times and we see something new each year.   It is impossible to see everything in one day.   This is a 4 day event, but most people just pick a good day and spend at least 6 or 7 hours seeing everything.  The WMSTR is a living history event - a fascinating look back into years gone by and a real celebration of old time farming.  Every year is just a little bit different and there is always something new to enjoy.  If you want to see a video of one of the past events, go to www.rollag.com and click on "attractions" and there will be a video to watch.

Today we watched the hour and a half long tractor parade, rode the steam train, ate lots of good food prepared by the Salem Lutheran church folks, had a big ice cream cone of homemade ice cream and watched many demonstrations.   It is good to see young kids getting involved in farming history, too!  We walked around until we couldn't walk anymore!  I also go to the steam powered mill, and buy a couple big bags of freshly ground cracked wheat to use in my bread baking.   It is the best stuff!  You can watch them grind the wheat - so you know the cracked wheat is fresh.   All in all, it was a great day!  Harold and I have worked so hard all summer long with no breaks and no vacations, so we decided we deserved a fun day to just relax!  Here are some photos I took today.   It is difficult to take pictures of everything.  There were so many photo opportunities, but I tried to just hit some of the main attractions.

There was a very long line of traffic waiting to get into the park.  We had at least a 20 minute wait. 

Some of the old tractors are used to do things like grind corn cobs or straw for animal bedding.

There was a saw mill building and this old steam powered tractor provided energy for the mill.

A huge piece of wood is fed through the sawmill.

There are activities for little kids, too.  Here is a station that allows small ones to learn how to drive a tractor.

Here is a little boy enjoying "driving" an old John Deere.

The park gets a little grey with steam from all the steam powered engines that use either wood or coal to power them.

Here is a line of vintage early 1900's steam tractors ready for the parade.  It rained last night so the park was a little muddy in some spots.

There are food concession stands all over.   Here is one offering pork selections.

The parade of vintage tractors is beginning.

Many of the tractors are driven by ladies!  Can you imagine driving this thing?

There are buildings full of steam powered generators that used to power various area communities back in the old days.

Here I am hamming it up and 'puffing out my cheeks' pretending to lift a heavy anvil at the blacksmith shop.   In reality this anvil is hollow and made of thin metal and probably only weighs 10 lbs.

One of the local music groups playing old time Scandinavian tunes at the Freeport Mill where I bought the bags of cracked wheat.

The steam locomotive on the train you can ride around the park.

Besides the tractor parade, there is a parade of old time cars.

Some of the vintage tractors from the early 1950's.  As you can see, some of the tractors are driven by kids!

Here is a 105 year old tractor!

Here is a closer look at the above tractor that's 105 yrs old.   You can see how big it is!

An interesting and beautifully restored old tractor.

A vintage steam tractor belching out a big carbon footprint?

By the end of the parade, the smoke can get a little thick!  But what machinery!!  What power!!

One of about 10 parking areas in the fields around the WMSTR site.   Thousands of cars!  We had to take a bus to our lot!

Perhaps another year I can take pictures of some of the other events.  The last time I did a post about this event was on August 31, 2013 if you want to look it up on this blog.   Even though this is a huge event with tens of thousands of people attending every day, the event organizers do a great job helping folks, feeding them, and providing shuttle rides.   Everything is well planned, neat, and plenty of restroom facilities are provided.  There are lots of signs, trash bins and seating.   Most of all, it is a good FAMILY event!  Lots of kids here today having a ball.   Even us older kids!!