Pics of Our Veggie Garden

As you can see there are no veggies yet, but we planted seeds today. This end has the beans, then will be tomatoes, radishes on this end of the tomatoes, lettuce and spinach, cucumbers, Swiss chard, carrots, winter squash and zucchini. There is a chance of patchy frost tonight, so we are not putting the plants in until tomorrow. After that it will probably look more like a garden. More pictures to come. We are happy with the new look. Also, we will have to put the fence up tomorrow if we plant the plants.

Water

My washing machine broke last night. This is the 2nd time this spring I have had water running all over the utility room floor, through the dryer vent opening in the floor and down into the basement. Last time a hose broke, this time something broke and the washing machine continued to fill even after the tub was full. It made a mess. Jeff and I were both right there, but since the washing cycle started, we didn't even hear the water running until floods of it were pouring through the vent hole into the basement. ( It fell all over my stash of colored reed this time-I had been sorting it by size on a table in the basement.)

Seems like water has been a continuing theme in my life since we moved to FDL. Started with me losing the car in the water on Highway 41, small flooding of water in my basement (too many times to count) and water standing in our lot multiple times each year. Which reminds me, the county finished the back drains last week Thursday. They did a nice job leaving the area seeded and covered with straw. I am looking forward to a big downpour to see if we continue to get standing water in our lot. With the huge pipes that went in, I don't think we will. TA DA...the Aspen Forest and Asparagus Beds are saved!

The washer repair man is coming tomorrow.

Herb Help

I would like any tips on growing herbs. I have some basil and thyme, which I seem to do well with, and then some parsley. Last year my basil was okay, but I would like to get more out of it. Also, any tips on parsley would be great. I will also probably get some cilantro.

Also, any recommendations on other herbs to get and what to use it for, such as marjoram, oregano, etc.

I grow in a container of sorts, two old wash tubs on the corner of the deck, which is full sun.

Thanks!

Books

I didn't know about the new Madeline Island book. I will have to reserve it at the library. I always have a book or two going. My book club just finished a book by Oshkosh author Jess Riley called Driving Sideways. The story line followings the main character on a road trip to California stopping at just about every major place Jeff and I have ever been to. Besides mentioning lots of local places in FDL, I even recognized rest stops, highways and of course a handful of national parks.




The previous month we read I Was Told There'd be Cake by Sloane Crosley. Well actually I listened to it on tape. A really funny book of essays often with a deeper meaning. Overall the book reminded me of the Seinfeld Series. Nice CD for a car trip.






On my own I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. It is set in present day Seattle, but the focus is on a Chinese man's flashbacks to the internment of Japanese Americans friends during WWII. Well, actually the book is a love story. I liked it a lot.




Then I have been reading the Twilight Series. I had no interest in this series about vampires at all until Rachel did a short essay on why she didn't like the books. Since the books are so popular and several of Rachel's teachers even raved about them to me, there is even a Twilight Club at our High School, I had to read them. In general I don't believe in banning books but if I did I would ban the Twilight Series.

I am only slightly annoyed that the book is poorly written and the characters are not developed. There are a whole handful of teenagers in this book and you never learn about anything they like to do, what their dreams and goals are. Well this is not entirely true, Bella is a klutz, she trips and falls often. She's not beautiful and doesn't care about the way she dresses. Edward, the vampire boyfriend is BEAUTIFUL. There are so many references to his beauty, his wonderful clothes and his expensive cars that one could easily gag reading the book. The plot; Bella falls in love with Edward and within less than 2 weeks is willing to give up her family, a safe home, everything in her life and is pleading for the vampire boyfriend to bite her so they can be together forever. Does Edward love her for her sense of humor? her intellect? her physical appearance? NO! He loves her for the way she smells.

There are too many other degrading influences upon teenage girls in our society on tv, movies and magazines and now this popular book series. I have nothing against a vampire story line, I just hate how Bella is portrayed as this dumb, lovesick teenage girl who needs someone to protect her from her own clumsiness. Rachel tells me the movie is better than the book. I am not sure how to take that.

Calling all readers, check in

I just finished "Moon Over Madeline Island" and "Return to Madeline Island." Fun, simple reads, nothing heavy. Pretty good.

How about you? What are you reading?

Broken Bodies

Wow, did we work this weekend! Here is the run down: Saturday we rented the Bobcat and Joe hauled all of our lovely new dirt into the "new" veggie garden. I raked the piles. We also moved all of our sorry excuse for compost into the garden, before the dirt. We then put the rest of the dirt in the new flower garden. After that, we took the Bobcat over by the pole barn and pulled out railroad ties that the original owner had used for fence posts. On a high note, at the end of this tiring day, we went into Cloquet, ate at Gordy's Hi-Hat, took our meal to the local campground and sat on the edge of the St. Louis River while we ate. Then took a walk through the campground and got to taste some fresh caught walleye, deep fried, that a camper had caught and fried and offered to us passersby. Then hiked in the woods a bit along the river. It was very lovely. (Not quite broken yet.)

Sunday Joe figured out the dimensions of the garden, drew up the plan and figured out how many timbers we needed. He then spent many hours, more than one would want to think about, tilling all of the dirt and compost into the garden. I spent the entire day mowing the lawn with the push mower. We quit at 3 and went to my folks for dinner. Then to Menards where we were only able to get 5 of the 18 needed timbers. (Which actually ends up working in our favor.)

Monday: We hit the road at about 7, headed to Menards and Home Depot. First to Home Depot for 4' rebar, which they don't have in that length at Menards. Well, we also looked at timbers there. They were out of the 6x6x8' timbers in the better finish so the guy there gave us the 10' ones for the same price. I knew they matched prices, but they gave us a savings of $12+ on each of those timbers, which saved us about $185!!!! Go Home Depot! We got all we needed, then headed home and now the backs take a beating. We put the timbers around the garden and drilled holes and pounded the rebar in. We finally got done, with everything put away at about 6:30 last night. (There are still several pieces of rebar to drill for and pounds in.)

Sore and stiff this morning , but happy with a job well done. The garden is lovely, will be even more lovely when it is planted!

So, everyone, come see our new veggie garden. Maybe I will figure out pictures on this blog and get some posted as time goes on.
Love, Deanna

In the Forecast: Tasty Food!

Bryan baked a delicious loaf of whole wheat bread yesterday, with freshly ground wheat flour. (We have a flour mill attachment for the Kitchenaid.) We ate most of it with baked artichoke dip for dinner last night. We made the dip using Mary's recipe, with a few variations: a ball of fresh mozzarella instead of bagged/shredded, minced garlic and a little bit of salt instead of garlic salt, and a bit of minced onion added to the mix. It was very tasty but had a slightly different taste than the original. It was quite juicy (at first, it seemed oily, but after eating most of it, I don't think that was the case), but still fine to scoop up and spread on bread.

While the dip was baking, we mixed up dough for cinnamon rolls (something neither of us had made before). We used Betty Crocker's recipe, although we had almonds instead of pecans, and I stopped buying brown sugar and instead just use white sugar with a tablespoon of molasses or so per cup. This morning, we took the prepared pan out of the fridge, let it warm up and rise just a bit more, and then baked up a delicious pan of yummy caramel-y cinnamon rolls. Wow. It was surprisingly easy, and the pay-off is huge.

Today, Bryan is brewing a batch of beer, and then we're meeting some friends for dinner at a place that has great beer and great barbecue.

The Promise of a Long Weekend

Hi Everyone!

The start of a long weekend always feels exciting! We don't have too many specific plans, except for dinner with friends on Sunday and Monday (two different sets of friends, but the same restaurant - go figure!). We will also update the software on Amanda's computer, and Bryan will spend some time drumming; he has a couple of new books of music.

Speaking of books, we just got a great order from Amazon. In addition to the drum books, we got a cookbook called Ratios, all about cooking without recipes (which is easy once you know a few basic ratios). There's also a book that was the reason for the order: an updated edition of Small-Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon. This book has acquired a cult following since it was published in the seventies...and they decided to release an update when the author discovered the original was being auctioned online for hundreds of dollars. Fortunately, the new version was less than $20.

Amanda has been busy preparing for the upcoming camp season, but everything is going well, and camp is within a dozen spaces of being completely full for the summer, which has never quite happened as long as she's worked there. It's exciting to be part of a successful enterprise!

Bryan made us a delicious dinner earlier this week: pork sausage from Drumlin Farm (our CSA farm), with the last jar of Bryan's homemade sauerkraut, as well as some fresh creamy cabbage salad, and the last of a loaf of Bryan's rye bread. We are hoping to be inspired to cook some more tasty things this weekend. The CSA pick-ups start in two weeks...and we may also be sharing a fish share (like Emily's) with a friend from Amanda's office, if the organizers can ever decide on a pick-up location.

It has been hot here the past two days, and it seems that we're in for a weekend of beautiful weather. We'll take walks, but we'll probably mostly just relax.

But for now, it's bedtime at the end of a long week. Have a nice Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

Love,
Amanda & Bryan

From Jeff

I am jealous about your new dirt and bobcat. My dirt is not very good and I am thinking about killing every thing in my original garden and making a small prairie garden instead with a path going through it or another idea is to finish my already started projects. But a garden is never really done. Hope to get my tomato plants along side the garage as soon as the soil dries a little bit more.
Hope to visit you guys this summer. Would love to see all you have done.

Bye - going to work now. Happy Gardening

Something Exciting...

for me anyway. I worked at the shop up the North Shore last weekend, the co-op where I have my baskets. While I was working on Saturday a woman came in and actually bought one of my baskets. I was so excited and she was excited, too, to buy it from the person who made it. That just made my day!

Here We Are

Darleen is right, we all should post more. I guess there is just more going on with the folks in NFDL.

What is new here: We are finally getting a warm day today, should be in the 70s. We will take it. I should get the sheets out on the line.

This coming Mem Day Wkd we are going to work on the veggie garden. Having dirt delivered today or tomorrow, Joe then will get to play with a Bobcat on Saturday to move the dirt around (don't be too jealous Bette). However, he then has to pay for his fun by tilling the garden,which looks like hard work to handle that thing. It fights the whole time.

I bought 8 tomato plants the other day. Also 3 basil plants, thyme, parsley, and a curry plant. I am raring to go, but must be patient for at least another week. Too early for planting here. Cannot wait to have our own garden again. I sure missed it last year! Still need to get cuke plants, zucchini, and peppers.

Life Is Beautiful!!!!

Love you all!!

took me 10 minutes to get this far

next time it will be faster,I miss the old style typewriter. these keyboards are to sensetive fo us old codgers. ialso have to learn to spell again.Darlene, ilike your coments.keep them comming. Golfing started 2 weeks ago and wewere rained out both times. hope th rains hold off this week so I can find out what my handicap is. Joe,enoy your movies watched The Ladies in Lavender last night. WE bought all kinds of plants today ,and what happens. thweather turned cold. It will be fun planting them. .got to go and watch the Brewers play. They are on top of the heap now. gordon

A Plea for Posts.......

Doesn't anybody have anything to say? Are we all just eating frozen meals and watching tv all the time? (well I did watch the season finale of Smallville last Thursday but that was it. I don't watch often enough... Where did Lana go?)

Jeff and I are planting. We have been unable to plant any of the garden because about 4 weeks ago the township decided to "fix" the drainage tiles that run along the back side of our property. The contractor ran into some problems (pipes rusted and not connected from property to property-- but it WORKED) and we have not seen them for 3 weeks. About 100 feet along our far back lot is a trench filled with gravel and water, ending in a pit surrounded by snow fence, containing more water. Of course, the lot has a nice little "lake" in it now.

During this period we have had lots of rain. The drainage system is not working at all now. Normally we have a little standing water on our low lot ( the far one from the house) . Now we also have standing water on the middle lot. Aspen forest, chicken house, garden, asparagus bed , apple "orchard"... yup anywhere you walk in that 2nd lot, you either hear the "splash splash" of walking in shallow standing water or the "slosh slosh" of walking in mud.

We have enjoyed a few meals of asparagus but I am concerned the bed will die. Of course we have called the Town chairman numerous times but I guess the contractor had some HUGE emergency elsewhere. Meanwhile here at "Lofty Maples" the sump pump runs 24/7 and we don't know which direction to point the hose anymore.

Somebody write something please.........I like to know what everyone is doing.

Big Bird

Jeff was very pleased to get a turkey last week. The bird was large. The breast and wings alone were 9 pounds. Report from Joe and Deanna is that the turkey was moist and chewy with only one piece of shot to spit out.









The woods look beautiful. A nice place for a turkey to live its life.