Wordless Wednesday: Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Ruth-less

We lost Rog's mom, Ruth, last week, a month before her 90th birthday. What a truly wonderful woman.

When Rog invited me to go cross-country skiing at the state park one night  during our senior year of high school in Bemidji, MN, I told him I had never skied before and didn't  have skis. He said I could use his Mom's skis.  So, that night he introduced me to his parents and we had a sort of awkward conversation sitting in the living room, where I think his parents gave me some basic cross-country skiing safety tips (like avoiding the  trees at the bottom of the big downhill run.)  Who would have thunk I would end up with these sweet people  as my  parents-in-law? In fact, I am certain that one reason (among many) that I married Rog was because I loved his mom and dad and brothers so much.

I admired Ruth so much as a confident, intelligent, kind, curious, patient and wise woman.  We often went for family walks in the north woods and she could identify most of the wildflowers and trees.  She seemed to love authentic, simple pleasures: bonfires, gardening, canoeing, fishing, making jam, Sheba the springer spaniel and Mickey the furry gold cat,  cross-stitch, baking those unforgettably decadent  sesame cookies... She reveled in the spirited discussions her family would have about mathematical philosophies (heuristics? I still don't really understand that) and  the value of those new-fangled computers in education.

I will miss Ruth so much - her husky laugh when something tickled her, her intellectual curiosity about everything, her way of telling a story almost like a parable, her kind encouragement, love and support  of her sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren - but happily, these traits are being carried on by the sons she and Jerry raised so well.  Love you, Ruth.

Wordless Wednesday: A Little Snow

Flowers and Fruits of November --in Minnesota!

After the most perfect summer I can remember, we are being blessed with  the most amazing, warm. enduring fall. This morning I took flower photos from around the  farm...not the most impressive until you realize it is mid-November and we have not had a hard frost yet, so these are mostly very geriatric blooms! 

Usually by this time of year it is white and gray and brown out --these patches of color are intoxicating. The weather has done wonders for my usual fall depression, but afraid it hasn't helped me motivate to put plastic on the windows and hang Christmas lights (today, maybe!)

A volunteer marigold from seed that blew into the pasture from the aquaponics towers.

Dandelion seedhead in the walking onions.

The honeysuckle vine is blooming halfway up the  windmill.

Brussels sprouts awaiting Thanksgiving dinner.

 The early-bearing raspberries are confused.

A patch of peas self-sowed and are blossoming. I am contemplating  digging them up and putting them in a big pot in the greenhouse.

The bottle tree, with the peace dove silhouetted, looked especially beautiful backlit against the morning sun. Sending up a little prayer for  Paris, Lebanon and Syria.

Big Time!

Ta dah! Introducing our new bread label and packaging!  If you come to the Peoples' Food Co-op in search of our bread (and we sure hope you do), this is the label design to look for!

 Not every bakery has bread packagers dressed so spiffy!  Our baker-partner, Chris Aldis, baked this afternoon, the label stock arrived by UPS at 5 p.m.  and  Rog and I  got the labels printed for today's loaves  after he got off work tonight. He couldn't wait to even change out of his architecture duds to package the bread.

Chris baked his delicious Pain au Levain and his amazing Forbidden Honey breads this afternoon.  I have  Finnish Cardamom Braid dough rising to bake early in the morning - all will be at the co-op tomorrow morning. We will be sampling the breads  at the co-op's Holiday Open House  from 5-8p.m.

A huge thank you to Kari Dunn, talented graphic designer who brought our labels to fruition!

A Bit Fishy

We ("we" meaning "Rog") harvested the tilapia from the aquaponics fish gazebo pond today. Being tropical fish, they cannot survive water temps below 48 degrees, and it is getting cold now, so their days were numbered. Rog hasn't been fishing since we moved to the farm, 7 years ago. Until today!

First, he had to empty out some dried corn somebody had stashed in the feet of his hip waders.
Rog used a seine  net to corral the fish in a section of the pond.

Once caught in the seine, the tilapia were scooped up in a fish net (the one I use to catch errant chickens) and flipped them into a big bucket.

The catch today was 29 tilapia and a couple of koi that were caught-and-released.  There are still a few sneaky tilapia in there to be caught tomorrow.

They are so pretty, and not so big. I am sad about harvesting them.

Rog cleaned all the fish. A little  bit of blood and guts  to celebrate Halloween. 
I know they will taste delicious, but I wish we could keep them in the pond as pets.