Setting up camp

The excitement started a little after lunchtime - the first to arrive was Tammy and punks, siting their pop-up close to the campfire circle. Hubby Matt even took his lunch hour to come make sure she was all set up for several days of fun and relaxation.
I have to question that last bit - is there true relaxation in a camp full of kids??

Lynn and Maddy joined the tent city springing up in the front "lawn" - which quickly looked like a multi-colored mushroom field.

Than had his own tent, purchased by his own labor, for his Scouting excursions. Lee took over the little extension tent from Carrie's main tent. He was thrilled to have his own little house - just him and leopard.

And there was plenty of help - all hands on deck for this kind of fun!

"I can do, let me do it..." , as he takes the hammer from mom. When you are 5, the world's your oyster! And he will dang well figure out how to open it...

Tammy's boys finally called on the Scout to help get their tent upright...

Jayden quickly took over tent sweeping duty - those punks are well-trained campers! Comes from doing the daddy-son outings with the church crew.

Almost done. Max has to test every potential possibility for having fun - this was his "doggy-door"...or maybe that should be dog escape hatch, eh, Nikki? She camped too, you'll see her here and there in the photos. The big guys had to stay home - they were sad not to get to play in the tents and romp through the campfire and chase kids - all those things that dogs are supposed to do to keep things in an uproar.

The punks did a fine job of that all by themselves...

While Lee takes a hard-earned water break from putting up his 3x4 igloo, Maddy rolled in the beds for her cozy home-away-from-home. We were especially proud of Lynn when she informed us it had been almost 20 years since that tent had been up! She looked like an old hand but we understand there was a crash course on tent-raising the previous night, just to make sure she and Maddy would have a roof over their heads!

Setting up camp is the springboard for the coming days of fun. But it's hard work, says Maddy. Rolling that foam mattress just about wiped her out...

Rather than post the 486 photos here, if anyone is interested I have made a CD of ALL the camp photos. Just let me know, email or phone, and it's yours.

I'll post more of Camp Purple tomorrow - this was just the appetizer!

Meanwhile, I'm still recuperating...from outwitting the computer and getting all those pictures in one place and on a disc. Whew.

Camp Purple

We have been camping this week. This is proof. Hot dogs roasting over the campfire.

And just wait until you hear about the REST of our camping adventure! We can hardly wait to come back to Camp Purple...you'll see why!

As soon as Gramma recovers, and gets all the pictures organized...

Apple pickin'

From the tree into the boxes and buckets - takes an intrepid ladder-climber to get those perfect apples that are always at the very top.



And there he is! On top - the very top- of a ladder.

Here's the "over-the-shoulder, behind-the-back" technique.

Pretty good, eh? Than is a top-of-the-tree apple picker (great pun, yes!) and a super side-kick for our escapades. I can count on him to say "sure, gramma" when I need some help!

It took him only a few minutes to wrap up the apple operation, lashing the ladder down for the ride home.

But he's not real excited about helping out with the next part - making apple sauce. He's got a good book lurking in his back pocket...

Lazy days of summer?

Summer is supposed to be vacation time, right? Ha. Well, you take your leisure where you can, on the farm. With the garden bursting at the seams, apples falling off the trees (aakkk - can't waste them!!), the menagerie to keep us busy all hours, grass still growing (the mowers are even getting tired of it...)...well, it's not a vacation, that's for sure.

But the farm is a wonderful place to be, even with all the things demanding their share of attention. I love the cabin, it snuggles into the land and is so grounded that it makes me feel at peace just looking at it. The big windows are actually the back porch. Which smells delicious right now, by the way, with cinnamon apples slices drying in several dehydrators parked on a bench out there.


The beekeeper is busy, too. This is the time of the season to make sure the hives aren't in swarm mode, and for monitering supers. There was some comb made in a place it didn't need to be, which Carrie dug out with her hive tool - then generously shared bites with me, of cream-colored comb dripping with pale sweet honey. A moment of nostalgia for the two of us, of the days she was a kid helping her dad with the hives...

We've made a friend down the road, who is very generous with his apple trees. Dick and his wife Melanie planted them about 30 years ago and now there are too many apples for them to use, so he just gives them away. Says he doesn't have enough people interested in them (good grief) and was delighted when I said we'd take care of them! The first tree ready was the Yellow Transparents...the farm house porch and the cabin smell like ripe apples - heavenly!
Now don't get excited at this next photo, this is all innocent fun. I'm brewing Kombucha, which is a nutritious fermented beverage - NOT in the beer or hootch family. I've got more information on this project on one of my other blogs, check this out:
http://avocadomeetzuchinni.blogspot.com/

(Look for the "Boochie-Koochie" post, should be 2nd or 3rd one down.)

Today I actually got around to bottling some of the first batch, in my fancy-top bottles. Fun! And no matter what it looks like (you'll know what I'm talking about when you look at the other pictures...), this stuff is tasty! This particular batch has ginger, lemon and honey in it, and taste very like ginger ale - one of my very favorite beverages, which I no longer drink because it is loaded with sugar...so I'm delighted to be able to make my own, and it's actually good for me! Next up: applesauce. More on that next time.

Wagon, ho!

It's not enough to head for the garden with a mere bowl and knife these days. I made a quick foray through the jungle last evening after putting the turks to bed, just to see what would need done today...and came out with about 10# of broccoli (made my jacket into a carry-bag!) that REALLY needed picked.


So this morning, after loading the dehydrator with apple slices, I put the broc in the freezer, along with the last of the peas, and stuffed some packages of grated zuchinni in the last nooks and crannies of the freezer compartment.

Then I couldn't ignore the garden any longer.

The last picking of green and yellow beans are going to church tomorrow (a good way to share the bounty), I just don't have time to take care of them. The cucs have hit full steam, much to the delight of garden-less friends. Finally got the potatoes dug, not as good a harvest as I'd like, but nice and clear of rust and bugs.


Carrots, beets, onions, yellow crookneck squash, and tomatoes are all being eaten daily now, along with several of the herbs that are thriving. Watermelon, pumpkins and squash are doing their best to overcome the cool summer we've had, I'm holding my breath for them.

And I don't even want to talk about the zuchinni...the chickens are helping me hide the evidence of not getting those sneaky guys before they hit baseball bat size.

All I can say is, I'll be sad when the frost hits. It may be work, but the garden is a joyful place, body and soul.

Farmer's Market adventure

We've been working towards participating in one of the local Farmer's Market for two years now - and we finally made it. One of those spur-of-the-moment, do-or-die decisions made two days before the event. Makes for a couple of exciting, crammed days preparing signs, rounding up supplies and plotting strategy.

Our village of Mishicot has a nice little market every Wednesday morning. Early. In the interest of distance and the fact that we just like our little village, we set our sights for our grand entrance in fresh-from-the-farm marketing at Mishicot.


Collin was in for sure, with his Clucker's eggs, and Lee thought it sounded like a good adventure for a budding entrepeneur. Grandma was along for the ride. I can count on fun and adventures when I do anything with the punks.


Gardens have been hit and miss this season, some folks have had to depend on the markets for quite a bit of their fresh eating. We didn't have a lot of produce, but that didn't stop us. An unexpected apple-picking foray provided some nice Transparent apples, which are just coming in season. Had a few kohlrabi and some nice salsa peppers. Some crabapples from the tree at the end of the driveway - "What on earth do you do with them?" I could just hear it - so I printed up a recipe for spiced crabapples to go with them. Since I love to bake bread, that went on my own list. Now all we had to do was pull it off!




At 5:15 a.m. Wednesday morning I was up with the sun and headed for the garden to pick the kohlrabi and peppers. The peppers are still in the garden, because the turkeys had decided this was THE morning to push their gate down and go gardening on their own. By the time I got them persuaded to go back in their ROOMY pasture pen, there was only time to snag the kohlrabbis and dash for the farmhouse to pick up the punks.

We were at the market right at 6:30 a.m. and got the spot I had scoped out - if you park just right, you can stay shaded all morning, which is important on an 8o degree day.


I had suggested to the boys that wearing their Scout uniforms would make a good impression and draw sympathic attention to our meager booth. They looked real spiffy when I picked them up. Lee was so excited - he had been up and dressed since 4:30 a.m., much to his brother's surprise.

We parked next to an older gentleman I had bought some veggies from the previous week. He immediately made use of the Scouts. In his 80's, with a bum arm and health issues, this fellow still gardens avidly and makes the rounds of several markets each week. He knows all the tricks of the trade and was generous with advice . He really really appreciated Collin, and having some extra hands to get set up.

The 'burb has a lift-gate which I counted on for supplying the canopy shade I knew we were going to need. It worked really well for displaying the signs Lee and Jayden had made, depicting farm life - cute, eh? Lee pitched right in, setting up and labeling all our goodies.
Collin had lettered our white-board sign the night before. This whole booth setup was pretty much the punk's show. I supplied French bread, Banana snack cake (which Max had packaged two to a snack bag - his idea!), a pot of flowers, and a few suggestions.

It was wonderful to see how the guys just stepped in and did what needed to be done, efficiently and with suprising knowledge. All those trips to markets with me over the years must have sunk in! They are really observant punks!

By 7 a.m., as the sun peeked over the treetops and the roof of the Mishicot Family Market (which generously lets the Farmer's Market set up in their parking lot each week), we were all set!
The same folks tend to come to the markets each week. It was fun to be part of the "gang" that I had come to know over the past couple years of buying from them.

Those Scout uniforms were like porch lights to moths - once the folks realized the punks were good reliable and cheerful helpers, they were drafted for good deeds left and right!

Good job, fellas! Made a gramma proud to be with them!

We sold all the eggs we had brought, and could have sold another half dozen. People staying at Fox Hills Resort, a few blocks away, are always good customers because they stay in condos with kitchens and love to come to the market for eggs, fruit, veggies, and other treats. I had printed up a fun Puffy Popover recipe to hand out with each carton of eggs.

Next time, along with bread, I think I'll bring some popovers and scones - the Scone Lady informed us it was her last week, she is a school teacher and school starts next week. I'll be happy to fill her shoes, her scones were popular items. This week was Blueberry, and White Chocolate Raspberry. Fun stuff!

Our apples were the only ones there, so they went over well. The fresh French Bread went quickly, as the word spread there was some "good bread down there". The punks were praying one loaf would be left, they were drooling over it the prospect of noshing on one of their favorite breads on the way home - their wish came true. We even sprung for some butter from the store to go with it, as a reward for our morning's work.

Lots of exclaiming over the Kossack Kohrabi - it is huge and doesn't turn woody. Sweet and crisp, it's a good veg I'll be planting again. That's an icecream bucket it's sitting in, to give some size scale...

Our adventure was a success on all fronts. We made $40, gained some new friends, learned some more Hmong words and phrases, arranged to deliver some chickens we sold to one of the vendors (another $28 in the kitty), and had a great morning.

We're already planning for next Wednesday morning! The Market stays open through mid-October when the village has a Pumpkin Fest.

We love living here in amid the farmland and small villages - have I mentioned that?!

Photo title contest

You'll get the whole story behind this photo - after we figure out what to title it...
(click on "comments" and leave your offering. Deadline =Sept. 1)

The prize? Well, if I offered to mail you the last zuchinni I picked from the garden, it would break the bank in postage. Something smaller. Hmmmm.
How about - a small tin of Healing Salve, made by my very own hands (and Kimberly's), containing therapeutic grade lavender oil, comfrey, calendula, plantain, and St. John's wort - wonderfully healing, soothing, and lightly lavender scented.

I can handle the postage on that.

And now, the Dungeon Report...

The only really bad thing about a garden (well, OK, the weeds, if you insist...but remember, I EAT them...), is that eventually the fall weather whacks it out of existance and no more crisp green leafy goodies, or vine -ripened juicy rotund tomatoes, or fresh cucumbers on bodacious vines.

We eat a LOT of lettuce and greens - it's a real dent in the food budget about the middle of January. And after eating garden-fresh for
four months, give or take a few days, it's not surprising that for a while every fall, our tastebuds turn up their collective noses at the market offerings.

Right now, we are out of garden lettuce, due to the heat and humidity. Lettuce and other greens like it cool, they thrive in the moderately cool months like late May and early June. When it gets too warm, the plants bolt to seed overnight. They know they are goners, so they hurry to perpetuate the species...It is now August. NOT a lettuce month.

So this year, we are embarking on a totally different strategy. The farm house has a very large basement, three separate rooms plus a root cellar. It stays fairly constantly quite cool down there. Lettuce likes to be cool, remember? The stone walls, concrete floor and low beamed ceiling makes a perfectly dungeon-like ambiance. The punks avoid playing in the dungeon - uh, basement, unless it's a pinata party (the only place they can't knock the walls in...).

The furnace sits smack in the middle of a room about 20 x 20 feet. It has two windows, and a plug-in. We are turning one side of this area into a salad bar. We had the shop lights. We had tables. We had pots and seed starter soil. We had Brent to mount the lights so they can be raised and lowered.

And we had SEEDS - left over from the garden planting. Plus, I had a prompting to buy extra lettuce seed before the stores took the seed racks down for the season. It's as bad as the seasonal clothes...they move fall wear in about the end of June...aggravating when you are looking for summer stuff in July.

Yeah, it's a bad angle. I was almost standing on my head, reaching across the table - too far to walk 6 steps to the other side, ya know...

So here's the set-up, for the first batch of salad. There are two more lights to the right, lots of space for tall stuff like herbs in floor-level pots. Maybe even a cucumber and cherry tomatoe plant...this is all an experiment, which gives us license to goof up and say, oh well.

Wow! Look at that! In two days, we had sprouts. Next job - put the babies in larger containers. Sort out the faster growing varities and arrange another table under the next light to handle the more ambitious greens. This is looking very promising!

We may kiss the produce guy goodbye if this works through the really cold months.

I'm just waiting for someone in a uniform to knock on the door inquiring about the blinding white light eminating from the glassblock windows. It's quite impressive on a foggy night...

Many happy returns...

They left in a horse trailer. And returned in eight boxes. About 900 pounds hanging weight translated into chops, ribs, smoked hams and bacon...

ham hocks (ummm, soup and beans this winter!), and of course....

brats. It's Wisconsin, remember. You don't even have to ask, they just make 'em up with the order.

It didn't take even 30 minutes after unloading the frozen boxes for Carrie to snag a couple packages of pork chops, thaw them, and fire up the grill.

I have NEVER seen them sit so still, for so long, with so much drool puddling around their feet....and she didn't even drop one.

Smell that? That's prime pork, my friends.

Cooked to perfection. Of course we had to test a bite (or two) to make sure it was seasoned just right...

Frank, Stew and Patty returned home in style.

We're grateful for their presence in the freezer.