It probably doesn't even have a yolk.
Friday, November 30, 2018
???
My almost-2-year-old hens are laying XL eggs these days, so imagine my surprise when I found this little beauty this morning!
It probably doesn't even have a yolk.
It probably doesn't even have a yolk.
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Turkey Day and Reindeer
It's been a fun Thanksgiving Break. My sister Heather came up from Texas to spend a week with Erin and me. Here are a few pictures so far:
The following is a video Bobby took of me getting a "reindeer kiss." Now I have kissed both a donkey and a reindeer.
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| Alice and Robert waiting for the 1-mile Turkey Trot to start on Thanksgiving morning. |
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| Our group at the Turkey Trot: L-R, The Green Family, me and Matthew, some of the Merrill family, Alice, Robert, Bobby and James, and Heather. |
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| I think they are friends now. They play more often than they fight, at least, which is a huge turnaround from...from...pretty much their whole existence together to date. They wrestle, sit on each other, fart on each other, chase each other around the house, and call each other gross names. They were laughing their heads off the other day in a spontaneous farting competition. |
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| Petting reindeer at Hardy's Reindeer Ranch |
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| A whole line of people I love, admiring baby reindeer. |
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| Leaping across straw bales. |
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| Erin treated us to cocoa at Starbuck's where we discovered something called "Kid Temp" cocoa: tepid. They all loved it. |
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| Heather and I traveled out to the Indianapolis temple. I have loved getting to know her all over again. I have so much respect for this strong, faithful, mature woman. What a pleasure to have her visit! |
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Last Day
Monday morning at the farm, I harvested salad mix and arugula for 3 hours. Then my alarm went off and it was time to pick up Matthew from preschool.
My day at the farm was done.
My season at the farm was done.
I wasn't exactly sure what to say or do. My bosses were still working, the wash-pack folks were clanging around and chatting, and I wasn't sure how to say good bye. Or if. I just kinda stood there waiting for someone to make eye contact with me. My boss John was the lucky winner. He looked at me funny like, "What are you doing?" then he noticed the time and acknowledged that I was done for the day. I said thanks and see ya' later and turned to leave the pack shed. I'm glad we didn't say anything about this being my last day. It felt like leaving the farm any other day, really, until I shut the door behind me. Then I got that feeling like the ground had dropped out from beneath me. I caught my breath and held it while the sadness welled up and slowly evaporated away.
By the time I reached my car, I was okay again. There will be another season, sure, but I just needed a moment to mourn the ending of this one.
My day at the farm was done.
My season at the farm was done.
I wasn't exactly sure what to say or do. My bosses were still working, the wash-pack folks were clanging around and chatting, and I wasn't sure how to say good bye. Or if. I just kinda stood there waiting for someone to make eye contact with me. My boss John was the lucky winner. He looked at me funny like, "What are you doing?" then he noticed the time and acknowledged that I was done for the day. I said thanks and see ya' later and turned to leave the pack shed. I'm glad we didn't say anything about this being my last day. It felt like leaving the farm any other day, really, until I shut the door behind me. Then I got that feeling like the ground had dropped out from beneath me. I caught my breath and held it while the sadness welled up and slowly evaporated away.
By the time I reached my car, I was okay again. There will be another season, sure, but I just needed a moment to mourn the ending of this one.
Monday, November 19, 2018
Morty
I came into the kitchen this morning and noticed the sink was full of dirty dishwater from last night. Ugh. Cold, slimy, filled with food debris. Why didn't I drain it?! Well, it had to be done, so I pulled up my sleeve and plunged in, feeling around for the washcloth and any small dishes that might get sucked into the garbage disposal. I felt something like a lucky rabbit's foot and lifted it out of the water. In my hand was a drowned mouse.
Oh my.
I screamed and dropped it back in. All the kids got excited. Now what?!
I used a strainer to scoop it back out. We admired its perfect little form, all stiff and wet. James remarked this was the first time in his life he'd ever seen a REAL mouse. No one was disgusted. No one was scared. No one felt pity for the poor creature. All four kids were 100% curiosity and excited questions. James asked about the mouse's tail sticking straight out. We talked about rigor mortis. Then we named the mouse Morty.
No pictures this time. Didn't want to make light of the mouse's suffering. I'm glad the kids didn't either.
Oh my.
I screamed and dropped it back in. All the kids got excited. Now what?!
I used a strainer to scoop it back out. We admired its perfect little form, all stiff and wet. James remarked this was the first time in his life he'd ever seen a REAL mouse. No one was disgusted. No one was scared. No one felt pity for the poor creature. All four kids were 100% curiosity and excited questions. James asked about the mouse's tail sticking straight out. We talked about rigor mortis. Then we named the mouse Morty.
No pictures this time. Didn't want to make light of the mouse's suffering. I'm glad the kids didn't either.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Beast
Two farm stories from today...
ONE
This morning at the farm, John had me prepare some produce for donation to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. It was a HUGE donation. You know those enormous cardboard bins at the grocery store that are usually filled with mountains of watermelons or pumpkins? Well, I filled one entirely with green kale, head lettuce, and bok choy. I also loaded pallets with racks of turnips, carrots, more kale, and more lettuce. It would take 100 people to eat that before it goes bad!
I felt a brief moment of panic, wondering what I would do if I were in charge of that excess produce. Are there even enough local food pantries and church-run grocery stores to distribute all of this in the next week?
Thankfully, our foodbank is part of a network of foodbanks. If they have too much lettuce and bok choy, they can ship it up to Chicago or down to St. Louis or out to Indianapolis for other food banks to distribute it before it goes bad.
TWO
I typically work outside in the field harvesting produce. There's another group of volunteers that works indoors to wash and pack the produce for sale/distribution. These volunteers are typically retired folks from the sponsoring church's congregation. A few of them have been doing this since the farm began. Now that the outdoor work has dwindled, I've been working in wash-pack more to get the last veggies of the season ready for sale. I emptied about 20 bins of produce for that foodbank donation. Then John asked me to clean and sanitize the newly emptied bins *sigh*
I like making messes more than I like cleaning them up :(
But I got to work anyway. It turned out to be more fun than I anticipated. I was banging and spraying and scrubbing these bins out when one of the wash-pack folks came in saying, "Susan, I could hear you scrubbing those bins as soon as I stepped out of my car!" She meant it in a fun, teasing way, but then I got all self-conscious about how much noise I was making. Come to think of it, I couldn't hear the other conversations in the room. But I really couldn't imagine a quieter way to scrub 10-gallon plastic bins in a stainless steel sink with a scrub brush the size of my head.
I kept working and the pile of clean bins grew as tall as I was. As I lifted another clean bin onto the stack, a different wash-pack veteran mused in awe, "You're a real *beast*, Susan." Though she didn't use the word "beast", if you know what I mean. The first one agreed, "Yeah, inside and outside both!" I was shocked and proud and happy and confused all at once. I think she gave me a compliment. They acted like it was. And later they asked for more information so we could get together every once in a while during the off season.
I was flattered. And confused. And we soon discovered that we are all left-handed. And then I had to leave to get Matthew. This story doesn't have a clean ending. I'm still trying to figure it out, myself. But it's a good thing to feel appreciated for doing something I enjoy :)
ONE
This morning at the farm, John had me prepare some produce for donation to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. It was a HUGE donation. You know those enormous cardboard bins at the grocery store that are usually filled with mountains of watermelons or pumpkins? Well, I filled one entirely with green kale, head lettuce, and bok choy. I also loaded pallets with racks of turnips, carrots, more kale, and more lettuce. It would take 100 people to eat that before it goes bad!
I felt a brief moment of panic, wondering what I would do if I were in charge of that excess produce. Are there even enough local food pantries and church-run grocery stores to distribute all of this in the next week?
Thankfully, our foodbank is part of a network of foodbanks. If they have too much lettuce and bok choy, they can ship it up to Chicago or down to St. Louis or out to Indianapolis for other food banks to distribute it before it goes bad.
TWO
I typically work outside in the field harvesting produce. There's another group of volunteers that works indoors to wash and pack the produce for sale/distribution. These volunteers are typically retired folks from the sponsoring church's congregation. A few of them have been doing this since the farm began. Now that the outdoor work has dwindled, I've been working in wash-pack more to get the last veggies of the season ready for sale. I emptied about 20 bins of produce for that foodbank donation. Then John asked me to clean and sanitize the newly emptied bins *sigh*
I like making messes more than I like cleaning them up :(
But I got to work anyway. It turned out to be more fun than I anticipated. I was banging and spraying and scrubbing these bins out when one of the wash-pack folks came in saying, "Susan, I could hear you scrubbing those bins as soon as I stepped out of my car!" She meant it in a fun, teasing way, but then I got all self-conscious about how much noise I was making. Come to think of it, I couldn't hear the other conversations in the room. But I really couldn't imagine a quieter way to scrub 10-gallon plastic bins in a stainless steel sink with a scrub brush the size of my head.
I kept working and the pile of clean bins grew as tall as I was. As I lifted another clean bin onto the stack, a different wash-pack veteran mused in awe, "You're a real *beast*, Susan." Though she didn't use the word "beast", if you know what I mean. The first one agreed, "Yeah, inside and outside both!" I was shocked and proud and happy and confused all at once. I think she gave me a compliment. They acted like it was. And later they asked for more information so we could get together every once in a while during the off season.
I was flattered. And confused. And we soon discovered that we are all left-handed. And then I had to leave to get Matthew. This story doesn't have a clean ending. I'm still trying to figure it out, myself. But it's a good thing to feel appreciated for doing something I enjoy :)
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