Memorial Day Weekend

I hope you are having a good Memorial Day weekend so far!  I took a vacation day yesterday so I ended up with 4 days off in a row.  I needed a nice relaxing weekend after a stressful week though.  

This morning, Charlie and I went to the farmer's market together and had a nice time.  I bought a few plants to add to the garden (eggplant, sweet potato, lovage, chives and mint).  Charlie bought a few Rada knives from the 4-H group and some cookies from a local bakery.  I treated him to a cup of coffee   at the Harvest Coffee House and we watched a little bit of a bicycle race that was running through town.  It was a very pleasant morning.  

This week was stressful for me because I lost two chickens from our flock.  The two in the front row on the right in the photo above are dead now.  Prudence, my Speckled Sussex, had a prolapsed vent.  I didn't realize it right away -- I thought she was just being broody -- until I noticed some blood.  I researched what to do, but after bathing her and examining the situation, it didn't look like she was going to get better.  We put her down with quite a bit of sadness.  Poor sweetie.  :(

Then two days later, I came home and found Gertrude, the Buff Orpington, dead in the coop.  There had been no signs of sickness/weakness at all.  I'm not sure what happened, but I'm assuming it was a heart attack.  I am, however, keeping a close eye on the rest of the ladies.

The other sad news is that my gorgeous outdoor cat that we had grown to love has not been around for a couple of weeks.  At first, I was hoping he was just out trying to find a female friend.  Now, I'm afraid he is gone forever.  Perhaps he was injured in a fight, or ran into a coyote.  I didn't see him along the road, but being hit by a car is also a possibility.  Regardless, I miss his friendly greetings and his funny antics.
So, it has been a sad week.  I try not to get too attached to my animals, but it is nearly impossible for me.  I get upset over road killed raccoons and possums and I only kill insects when absolutely necessary.
This four day weekend is just what the doctor ordered.  I intend to relax as much as possible.  I'm also looking forward to a week long vacation in late June.  We've booked an overnight trip to Detroit and left the rest of the week wide open so far.  Hooray for time off of work!

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.

Pets are welcome at the Farmer's Market

I always enjoy seeing all the happy dogs at the farmer's market in Frankenmuth.  They are fun to watch - they are so social with the other dogs.  There is also a stand with homemade dog biscuits and I'm sure the dogs love their own special food booth.  

I was a little surprised this morning when I saw this little guy.  What an unusual breed of dog...

I'm sure some of the people at the market thought that it was a dog.  It is not often that you meet a goat out in public.  So cute!!!

Fulton St. Farmers Market -- Grand Rapids, Michigan

Last weekend I went to Grand Rapids to visit my family.  My mother and I went to the Fulton street farmer's market.  This is the market that sparked my love for farmer's markets and produce stands.  We've gone to this market since I was a kid (which also brings up fond memories of making strawberry freezer jam with Mom and Grandma).  My best friends Jen and Rich and I even set up a stall once to sell our tie-dyed/hemp goods.  Now with the economy the way it has been lately, combined with the locavore movement and a yearning for a sense of community -- the market is packed!  It has artists and crafters, plants, meats/eggs/cheeses, and all of the fresh fruits and vegetables you can imagine.  I love playing with the repetition and color the displays create in my photos. 

Garlic scape pesto

I bought some garlic scapes at the farmers market this weekend.  I did some searching on-line to figure out what to do with them (I've never used them before).  Most of the sites recommended making a pesto with them.  Now I know why.  This stuff is amazing!

Cut off the flower part (don't use this part for the pesto) and cut the long green part into little pieces.  Throw them in the food processor (or blender if you are like me and haven't read the manual to your food processor yet) and chop it up into even smaller pieces.  I didn't have pine nuts on hand, but you would also chop them with the scapes at this point.  I only ended up with about 1/2 cup of scapes so I added some basil from the garden as well.  Slowly add in olive oil (about 3/4 cup oil for 1 cup of scapes) and blend some more.  Grate in some parmesan cheese.

Serve with pasta and fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden.  I think it would be really good on a pesto-based pizza too.  

I'm really happy I tried garlic scapes.  I've found a new seasonal favorite while supporting a local farmer and putting my garden to good use.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Harvest time

I took a few photos at the farmer's market yesterday.  There is a huge variety of produce right now.  I didn't really buy much - we have more veggies than we can use around here right now.  I go more for the atmosphere.  

After I got home I worked in my chunk of the garden.  I had a terrible mess with my tomatoes and yanked some of them out (next year I will invest in some real cages to keep things upright).  These baskets are from Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary's part of the garden.  Mine are much greener - this summer has had poor weather for growing tomatoes.
After Charlie got home from work we headed to Grayling, MI for a get together at his Great Aunt and Uncle's house.  We got there after everyone had eaten dinner.  Most of the guys were playing horseshoes while the gals and kids listened and sang along to folk songs on the banjo/guitar.  It feels like Autumn, even though we have a tiny bit of Summer left.

Memorial day weekend

This weekend I got to use my camera a little bit more and had a nice time relaxing with a friend who came to visit.  We went to the farmers market and the bakery in Frankenmuth and went shopping.  This first photo is of course from the market.  We also went fishing at Charlie's friend's pond (and caught quite a few fish).  The next two photos were shot near the pond after I got tired of fishing.  

There was also a hot air balloon event going on that we spotted on our way to my Brother in law's 40th birthday party.  We pulled over to the side of the road to get a few photos.  As the balloons drifted closer some of them started to come down.  It turns out that we picked the perfect spot as they started landing on the road right in front of us.  

I'm sad that the weekend is over -- but it was a good, long weekend.  Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Two more from the new camera

Here are a couple more images from my new D90.  This first image was taken yesterday morning from our porch.  The birds just love this tree with all the feeders and houses.  In the fall there are thousands of berries, but right now it has the most gorgeous flowers.

The second photo was taken this morning before I went out to the Farmer's market.  I put out some slightly sour milk for the barn cats and this little guy was loving it.  I cropped out over 90% of the original photo and messed around with the saturation, contrast, etc.  I'm pretty happy with the image over all.  It isn't anything I could enlarge and print real big (because I have already cropped it quite a bit) but it gives me an idea of what I'll be able to do with this camera.

I did check out the Frankenmuth farmer's market this morning -- it was opening day.  Only about half of the normal amount of vendors were there, and of course they didn't have a bunch of stuff yet.  I didn't really care though.  I just like the feeling of being at the market.  It is hard to explain.

Some Autumn Photos

Some seed pods.  I love my macro setting lately!

Some lawn art.  Aunt Mary loves her lawn art.  I happen to like this rooster and how it looks among the dying plants.

This is a sassafras tree across the street and over the train tracks from the house.  A couple of barn cats followed me over there and almost got hit by a car.

Can you guess where I went this morning.  Yup, the local farmer's market.  I bought some Kapow soap and some squash.  I love the texture on some of these squash.

Above are some scenes from the Farmer's Market that I go to when I can

Dave and Mary on their tractor... and some of their flowers.

These are two of the barn kitties we have this year.  The Mama has finally started to bring them around.  I believe there are three total.  This was shot in the upper storage area of the barn.  They ran and hid as soon as the flash on my camera went off.  They are too cute though, don't you think?

Another Saturday

I love Saturday!  It is my favorite day of the week.  Today I got up and checked out my little garden.  Things are coming along pretty well so far.  Here is a picture of about half of the garden.  It's lettuce, parsley, snow peas, brussels sprouts and onions (front to back).  

Then I went to the farmer's market to check things out there.  Not too much yet.  Mostly just lettuce and rhubarb (which I get for free at home) and plants for sale along with the soap, honey, and bakery place.  I thought about buying some basil but then I realized I had left my money in the car.  Maybe next time.

Then I had to go to work for some training.  While I was in town I decided to go to Walmart.  I really can't stand that place, but I had heard there were some nice blouses there for cheap.  I didn't have any luck with that.  I did splurge on the new Lego Indiana Jones game for my DS.  I have the star wars one and it is really fun.  I always feel bad for spending time playing video games, but sometimes I just need to escape reality for a while.  

Charlie is on his way home right now.  I'm not sure what else will happen today.  It is just so darn hot and humid right now.  I need to cut some lettuce out of the garden and I should do some laundry at some point this weekend.  We have a couple of movies we could watch.  Or we could enjoy the "free" air conditioning at the casino (although we shouldn't).  I'm glad tie-dye was last weekend and not this one.  It would have been way too miserably warm for that.  Here is a photo of me I just shot on my Mac.  

Saturday morning

What a pleasant start to my weekend.  Today I got up fairly early and started cleaning up around the apartment.  It is warm enough to have the windows open to air out the place.  I had to run to the store to get a few necessities and I decided to go to the Farmer's Market.  It appears they will be busier than ever this year.  Right now they mostly just have plants for your garden and some crafts.  They had a local group of old men out there singing in German (I guess that's what you get in a place called "Frankenmuth").  

The local Master Gardener group was there promoting "Plant a Row for the Hungry" or PAR.  I had never heard of it before but it sounds really interesting.  Basically, you donate your extra produce from your garden at a drop site and the food gets distributed to the local food banks/kitchens.  They gave me a free tomato plant to stick in my garden.  I will definitely participate!  Check it out!

 http://www.gardenwriters.org/Par/index.html

Anyway, I came home and put together a flower arrangement from some flowers I had purchased.  Nothing fancy, just something Springy to cheer up the apartment.  I went outside then for a while and tried to find where the little black barn cat had her babies hidden.  I didn't find them but that is OK.  That means she's a good mama I guess.

Uncle Dave was outside too and we got to talkin'.  He always has some good stories to share.  We mostly talked about the farm and the animals today.  You know...like what is being planted and how much the average piglet he bought weighed and how the one exotic chicken they send him with the others always gets pecked at because it doesn't fit in.  Fascinating stuff.  He scared the pigs out of the barn for me so I could get some photos and then he cut some rhubarb for me too.  I really enjoy living here, and I'm gonna love it even more by the end of the weekend.  They have a spare room they were kinda saving in case their grand daughter wanted to move here.  Turns out she got an apartment down the road so they are going to let me rent the room.  Now we will have a two bedroom place and I will be able to spread out a bit.  I'm gonna move my craft area and computer desk in there.  I can't wait!  We'll have more room in the living room/kitchen/dining room (yes, it is one long room that is way over-crowded) and I will have my own little space to be creative.

Now I am just waiting for Charlie to get home.  I feel like I accomplished a lot already today.