Farming in the shade

But here is my best shot at it. We planted beans. No new varieties this year, unfortunately, and it looks like the Marrow and the Green Flageolet have have not sprouted well. I visited Chicago with our two oldest daughters. Daughter #1 had a conference for work, and so the hotel (the biggest expense in Chicago) was covered. We used the GO Card for Chicago to see several different attractions, like the River Architectural Cruise (above) and the view from the Hancock building (below). While we were gone, The Farmer mowed and put up part of the first cutting of hay. He hasn't mowed any more hay, as we've had a veritable monsoon since this hay was put up. It's either feast or famine with the rain here lately. We also celebrated the marriage of daughter #2, and son #1 moved back in to our home. Big changes; no pictures. We kept moving the sheep and cattle around on their rotational grazing plan. We continued to work on the barn, by installing a new s...

This past weekend we headed up to northern lower Michigan (a long drive from us, I might add!) for the Northern Michigan Lamb & Wool Festival. Even though it is a lot of work to get ready for these shows, and the timing of this one is particularly difficult, we make the effort. We enjoy getting together with friends who love wool. Some of these friends we only see once a year at this festival.  Our daughter came with us to attend shearing school. She spent the day listening to instruction, watching others shear sheep, and shearing 7 lambs herself. It was a wonderful opportunity, and shows the great commitment of the existing Michigan shearers to passing on the skills of their trade to young people. She enjoyed herself at the shearing school, and it was nice to have her along for the weekend. We asked the vendor chair for a double booth this year, to give us a little more space. They were kind enough to give us the ONLY double booth with a barn board backdrop, fo...

A glimpse of a recent morning: Eat (and work) at the Fire Department's annual pancake breakfast, then deliver a mattress topper to my mother and pick up some carpet rags she cut up for me--wave at the group tour of our farm for part of a Master Composting class; back inside for hasty packing for a weekend away--oops! gotta answer the phone call from an implement dealer who is in the area--could he check out our haybine to see if he wants to buy it? run out to speak with my father who is helping with the tour to see if he can talk to the implement dealer when he comes...gotta wait while the tour is busy listening to him--then an introduction of me (!) and a request for a short talk on what we do with the wool produced on the farm...quiet whispers with my father about the impending visit of the dealer--call me when he comes, he says; back up to talk with son who I left watching for the dealer--he's been and gone, mom! Just wanted to see if the cutter bar was good...I helped him; ...

A week ago, my second daughter and I went with her tech school class on a field trip to Mackinac Island. The Mackinaw bridge always amazes me (though to be honest, I'd rather look AT it than be ON it).  Because her tech school class is Travel and Tourism Marketing, we visited many of the touristy places on the island, including the Grand Hotel. It was amazing! We were told that it was built in 3 months, which I can hardly believe. But I did notice a lot of creative slants and angles to the stair landings and walls. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch buffet there. The island is very beautiful, especially once you leave the main "tourist" area. We wanted to explore the beauty of the other parts of the island. Mackinac Island does not allow cars--horses and bikes and golf carts (on the course only). So we rented a couple of bikes and rode around the perimeter of the island.   We left on the 3 o'clock ferry, tired and pleased with ourselves.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day on th...

We just returned from a week in Brown County, Indiana. Over 100 sock knitters (of the circular sock knitting machine type) came from 3 countries and most US states for a week of learning and practicing new skills. The Farmer had a fabulous time meeting new people and cranking out socks for 10 hours a day, several days running.  The rest of us spent some quality time hiking, biking and swimming in the Brown County State Park. This park is a jewel and shouldn't be missed. If you can possibly swing it, go when it's not sweltering summertime. We had mostly good weather, with the heat waiting until the last 2 days to manifest itself. Toward the end, the family faded a bit, while the Farmer knitted on...