Crop Tour and the Holiday Weekend

Charlie and I enjoy driving around the countryside checking out the various crops and taking in the scenery.  Corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar beets, pickling cucumbers, alfalfa -- the fields stretch on and on.  I enjoy looking at the pretty white farmhouses and the variety of barn styles and colors.  Every once in a while we come across something interesting.  The other day we found 5 or 6 flatbeds with hives of bees, busy with their work.  Charlie stopped the vehicle while I snapped off a few photos from the passenger seat.  Just as we began to leave, we saw the scene below...

I thought it was a lovely thing to do to some ugly pieces of concrete, don't you?  It also appeals to my inner-hippie.
Today I talked Charlie into coming with me to the Farmer's Market (he usually doesn't like getting up that early on a Saturday).  We bought cherries, some meat sticks for Charlie (elk and beef with pepper jack cheese) and a bar of soap - patchouli scented (that inner-hippie is on the loose again).  Oh, and don't forget the caramel toffee frappes from the coffee shop next to the market.  Yum!
After we got home, we moved the chicken coop to a fresh patch of grass and I finished my chicken chores.  By that time, it was getting very hot and humid outside.  I filled my galvanized bucket a few times to haul water around to the fruit trees/plants that I put in the ground last week.  By the time I was done, I was fairly wilted myself.  Since we don't have air conditioning, we ended up turning on the sprinkler and sitting in lawn chairs in the water.  It looked redneck, but it felt exquisite!
Tomorrow we take the long "crop tour" to Grand Rapids to spend an afternoon with my family.  We are going to eat all your typical 4th of July picnic food in the comfort of their air-conditioning.  Then we are going to try to make it back to catch some July 3rd fireworks in the evening with some friends and family from this neck of the woods.
I hope you have a safe and happy Independence Day.

A day in the sun

This past Sunday was absolutely gorgeous.  We spent the entire afternoon and into the evening outdoors.  Charlie and his brother work with a guy that is fairly self sufficient and has his own homestead out in the middle of nowhere (I will call him "D").  We went over to his place along with my brother in law, his wife and their 3 kids.  First we went out into the woods to look for morel mushrooms.  Although we didn't find any morels, we filled two paper bags with beefsteak mushrooms.  I came out of the woods blistered and bruised (ill-fitting size 12 rubber boots + shin level fallen trees = ouch) but it was good to hike and get lots of air.  Oh, and a photo of a gorgeous trillium...

Then we fished on D's pond.  Charlie caught a nice trout and someone else caught a bluegill.  D. cooked up a mess of food while everyone kept fishing.  He made venison burgers, potatoes, corned beef hash, beefsteak mushrooms, applesauce, and of course the fish.  I don't eat meat but the rest of the food was amazing.  Apparently D. does a lot of hunting.  He has a sweet dog named Clover -- he made her a fox hat.  Here she is modeling it for you...

Here is a photo of D. and his bee hive.

And a photo of the honey he sent home with us, and some homemade raspberry wine that was also gifted.  Yum!

Overall, it was a great day.  I got some sun and fresh air, spent some time with Charlie and some of his family, and daydreamed about having my own little homestead someday soon.

Now it is mid-week and I'm just getting this post together.  Monday rolled around and life got busy again.  Last night and tonight I managed to plant some peas, lettuce and onions.  Much more news will be coming from the garden.

Sassy seems to have a urinary tract infection.  Right now I am trying to treat her with homeopathics but I worry that I am doing the wrong thing for her and am considering taking her to the vet for antibiotics.  If you pray for animals, send one out for her -- because she is uncomfortable.