A Brush With Our House's History

Last winter, a Christmas card to our neighbors was accidently delivered to us. When I popped it into the neighbor's mailbox I noticed that the name on the return address matched the name of a previous owner of our farm. I copied down the return address and sent a holiday card to her, inviting her to visit someday and share stories of how the farm used to be.

On Sunday, Lois and her youngest son, John, came to visit. Lois and her husband Ray owned our farm from 1967 until 1998, raising 5 children here. When they moved here, the house had no running water, no insulation and was heated by coal. They renovated the entire house bottom to top over the next couple decades.

Lois told us many anecdotes and brought a book of old photos --it's pretty dramatic how the landscape and house have changed. The little seedlings they planted on the windswept hill have grown into large trees. With the mentorship of kind neighbors, Lois, a city girl, learned how to garden, raise chickens and preserve food. The kids sold strawberries from their huge berry patch. Lois planted the wonderful lilac hedge, the spectacular crabapple trees and most of the flowering shrubs on the property. John and his father planted many trees - once he rescued a burr oak seedling from the ditch when the road was being widened and planted it in the yard--it is now the handsome tree we call Burr Oak Obama.

What a sweet opportunity to meet Lois and John and hear first-hand how the farm grew. They have left their mark on this place and we recognize and appreciate the thought and love they put into it. I am sure it was rather bittersweet for them to relive so many memories and see how things have changed in the decade since they lived here, but I hope they feel pleased about how much we love it here.

Saturday Market

Early Saturday morning as we loaded for Farmers Market it was misty and magical. The fog soon burned off into a perfect, sunny market day.
I helped Rog and Cadence set up the market stand and then rushed home to clean the house for impending company.
Rog found a nice table-top display case for sale at an antique store and we replaced the glass with plex. It is sort of a pain to transport but is working well to showcase the breads and Sara's pies.
This week we had wood-fired sourdough (white, wholewheat and rye), braided cardamom bread, German walnut beer bread, Cadence's luscious lemon lion sandwich cookies, Sara's rhubarb and rhubarb-rasberry lattice pies, and three varieties of cupcakes (orange-almond, carrot-walnut, and red velvet with berries.) We sold out before the morning ended--we need another oven!

Breakfast Time

We are getting breakfast on the farm down to a pretty smooth routine. First we open the chicken coop door and Chagall the rooster leads the the laying hens outside to forage.
As soon as Cadence's free-range roosters see a person they come running and flock around excitedly expecting breakfast. Cadence spreads the food in a long line on the ground so everybody gets his fair share.
The geese and the ducks wash their breakfast down with ample swigs of water.
Lariat takes care of feeding Lasso. Yesterday during breakfast the road grader went by on our gravel road and then they spread magnesium chloride in front of our stretch to reduce dust. What an incredible difference that makes!
Reuben still gets a bucket of millk morning and evening.
Is that all there is?
The pigs get fresh water in their kiddie pool (liddie pools are such an invaluable farm tool!) I brought the pigs grapes this morning, which went a long way in building friendship and trust. They even let me scratch them behind the ears. Their snouts are muddy from rooting around in the understory.
Next to the chicken coop a mock orange bush is blooming, perfuming the entire farm with an intoxicatingly sweet fragrance. Many of my honey bees were gathering nectar from this plant this morning.
We also feed the ducks, cats and dogs, of course, but they missed the photo call. Finally the farmers get to eat--eggs today, courtesy of our hens!

Sara's Pink and Purple Scheme

Sara has been trying to persuade us for some time to get a couple of pigs. She would buy them. She would build them a shelter. She would take care of them. In the fall we would butcher them for meat and have delicious bacon. Finally she wore us down and we said ok, but I told her I hoped they would not be pink, a pig color I have always thought was kind of creepy.

She decided to turn the shed in the woods west of our house into a little pig house. It was originally built for raising pheasants but hasn't been used for many years and was in pretty sad shape. Sara and Cadence shored up the roof - which still needs tarpaper and shingles - and patched the saggy floor and cut an opening to a fenced area so the pigs can go in and out at will.
Sara found a farmer in Arcadia, WI, who raises organic pastured pigs and arranged to get two piglets when he delivered some to St. Charles. Yesterday was the day to pick them up. When the pigs arrived at the farm in the dog crate in the back of the pickup they looked pretty scared.
But they seem to be settling into their new home fairly well. They are females, a cross of Hampshire, Duroc and something else. I have to admit, they are kind of cute even though they are pink. Sara named them "Pink" and "Purple" but I don't know which is which yet.

Major Purchases

It's been an extravagant week at Squash Blossom Farm, but we are very excited about our new gear. First, we got a new (used) Vibe to replace our car that was totalled last week. This one has only 82,000 miles on it...and a sunroof. Fancy! Even better, we also splurged on a farm pickup so we don't have to haul livestock, hay, lumber, etc. in the Vibe. It doesn't look as much like an old beater pickup as we intended--it's rather sporty--but it has quite a bit of rust and 180,000 miles on it so it is probably doomed to look like an old beater in the not-too-distant future. We have already put it to very good use hauling a load of bricks, a load of pigs, and a load of commercial kitchen equipment! (On the down side, I was stopped by a police officer because the windows are tinted too dark. Who knew? Next week the dealer will remove the tinting.)
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Last night we got a very good deal on a deep freeze, commercial cooler and 3-compartment commercial sink! They came from a BP convenience station that had closed. We installed them in the shop in the barn, which we envision someday being transformed into a commercial kitchen.
Rog already has his sourdough for tomorrow's Farmer's Market proofing in the cooler (you can see why it has caused a strain on space in our household refrigerator.) It won't be long before that new freezer is full of chickens!

Goofy Farm Animals

Reuben's horns are growing in and I have been trying for days to get a photo of him showing his horn buds, but it's impossible. This is the kind of shot I get when I go in for a close-up.

The geese are getting huge, but are such sweet babies. I don't think we will have to worry about them becoming mean geese that chase people. Well, they might chase people, but only in an effort to get into their laps.

The ducks have discovered the joy of water. Or maybe this is just the one place they can get away from the exotic- chick-who-thinks-he-is-a-duck. They don't mind if the water is dirty--if it is clean, it won't be for long with them hopping in and out.

Lariat, our Dexter cow, has become an escape artist. We discovered that she got out a few nights ago and was walking on the gravel road--at great risk to herself and vehicles, since she is dark brown and almost invisible. The next day she got out again and was enjoying the woodlands outside the fence and the prairie next door. Sara's halter training came in handy leading her back into the pasture. Then Cadence and I built a new section of fence where we suspected she was escaping. So far it has worked.

Note the amazing growth of the prairie --this is the land that was burned a few weeks ago.

Chagall, the rooster patriarch of my laying flock, demonstrated the Hokey Pokey dance to the hens.

Veggie Tales

We have just had three steady days of lovely, soaking rain. The thirsty garden is quenched--when the sun comes out everything should really take off.

Our potatoes were planted lasagna-gardening style: the seed potato pieces scattered on wet newspaper and covered with 8 inches of mulch. Onion sets were tucked into the mulch. They have all found their way through and look great.
Sara's peas are climbing up a crazy trellis of her own devising.

My ornamental gourds appear to be dancing next to the chainlink fence.

Cadence's heritage corn is also planted along the fence. She was very upset to discover that her free-range chickens had dined on the tips of her Oaxacan Green Corn plants this morning.

Sara's beautiful exotic melons have sprouted. She is growing Charantais, Moon and Stars Watermelon, and Noir des Carmes.

I planted a couple of artichoke seedlings I found for sale at Sargents. I didn't know you could grow them in Minnesota but I figure if they do grow I'll probably be the only vendor at the Rochester Farmer's Market selling local artichokes.
76 tomatoes survived the greenhouse disaster and are looking pretty healthy after Cadence rescued them and stuck them in the garden. I have to figure out how I am going to trellis these guys.

We are enjoying the darling radishes and tender lettuces from out garden every day!