December 31st, 2011

What a beautiful end of the year! Spent most of the day working in the garden. I'm gonna be hurting tomorrow, but how could I resist! Over the last few days, I've managed to clean up most of this year's crops and get the mulching done for next year. I'm having a philosophical problem with pulling up the green stuff that is  STILL producing! If I get all the mounds dug that I want to finish this year, before they really die, I'll have to suck it up and pull the kale, chard, spinach, lettuce and arugula. I need to cover the beds with leaves or straw for the winter, but how can I? I'm telling myself the critters need some food. If I had chickens over at my farmer's, I'd put the electric netting around it and let them polish it off!

I put in a little winter onion patch back between the trees this week and today I dug a new mound. You can see both in this picture. I want to build 2 more mounds on this end of the garden and two more at the other end. 

Grampa Tom and I spent a little time planning where to put new gardens and measuring them out the other day. I've been spending my evenings drawing them on graph paper so I can get busy planning next year's gardens. I've been studying companion planting this fall, so Grampa has put me in charge of all garden planning. We will probably double our garden space again next year. 

2012 promises to be an interesting year with all the gloom and doom out there. I don't for a minute believe the end of the world is at hand, but I'm concerned that some of this could become self-fulfilling and make things rough on everyone. Hopefully, all the hype will turn out to be just that. But, if worse comes to worse, I'm glad I'm a country girl. Grampa and I at least have half a chance at being able to produce our own food!

In any case, we are in God's capable hands! I'm concerned yes, but not afraid. We've been through rough times before and God was faithful to see us through. If you are afraid, God wants to put His arms around you. He loves you so much He sent Jesus to die for you. Seek Him and you too will find a peace that it beyond all understanding. 

May God Bless You All in 2012!

~Grama Sue

Snowman Pee

This is my itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny, little baby boy, Jesse, all 5" 10", 200 lbs of him. I love Jesse. He was even less planned than his older brother and sister. In fact, I'm pretty sure his was an act of God. The older two were destined to trot the globe when they flew the coop, but this one is a farmer like his daddy, so I get to keep him. God knew we would need him, in spite of the fact that we considered our family complete.

He lives about 10 miles from here with his beautiful wife and wonderful son. He holds down a full time job and helps us out when we need it, especially when we are gone. While we were out east visiting his brother, he was here at home working 40 hours a week at his farm hand job, dealing with vehicle problems and doing all of our chores!

Jesse is a lot like his dad. Like his dad, he doesn't mind snowman pee. When I got home, my kitchen was covered with these strange white streaks and spots.

It's really not as gross as it looks. When we wash our eggs, we mix a white powder sanitizer in the water. If you splash the water (which can't be helped) it will look just like regular water until it dries. Then the white powder will be left. If you don't wipe the counters and the cabinets, you wind up with snowman pee. When I am home, it gets cleaned up on a regular basis, but after a week, it builds up!

I really don't mind. It cleans up very easily and to have my super busy son take the time to help us out by doing our chores ... well I can handle a little snowman pee!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Last Market Pictures

Hi Folks! I've taken the last couple of weeks off to concentrate on Christmas and family. We just got back from seeing our east coast kids and grandkids. Lots of fun, but now it's time for my other fun, gearing up for next year. It's so awesome to love what you do!

Our last market of the year was Thursday December 15th at the Port in Burlington. We will miss all these people, but we're ready for the break. Thought I'd take a few pictures of our fellow vendors so here's the line up!

Next to us was Sly Fox Art & Woodworking. They make some pretty cool wooden puzzles and toys. You can reach them at 319-457-3228 or at facebook.com/slyfoxartandwoodwork

This is Kay Young. She is an awesome baker who loves to do special stuff for every holiday, even the ones most people don't know about! Stopping by her booth is always an education! Kay is a retired teacher. She  sits next to Grampa Tom at the Keokuk Market and comes to the Lomax Market too. Her phone # is 630-281-0117

Aunt Terri's Kitchen is a newcomer at the market this fall. Aunt Terri has a bakes and she has Gluten-Free yummies as well! Call her at 319-371-1959!

This is Wilma Hemphill. She and her husband Steve are long time vendors at the Riverfront market, and one of my biggest competitors. They have eggs, produce, honey and baked goods. I always tell them to sell out of eggs early ;) I really think our eggs are better, but theirs are cheaper :(  So ... most days they have to sell out before we get much business. We don't mind, we have enough trouble keeping up with our store sales most of the year!  You can reach them at 319-985-2111

This is Steve's dad, George Hemphill. He's also a long time Riverfront vendor and a local legend as well. George has had many newspaper write ups about his beekeeping activities and loves to educate everyone about bees and honey. When we first started, we bought some bees. George was a valuable resource! Unfortunately, Grampa Tom seems to be allergic to bee stings, so I get most of my honey from George now.
You can reach George at 310-752-8037.

This is our fearless leader. She hates being in pictures. I insisted so she consented on the stipulation that I not name her. Don't you think she is beautiful??? She is the one who does all the organizing, advertising and so forth for the market. If you are interested in being a vendor, let me know, I'll pass her info on to you. 

This is Chris Gehringer, another long time Riverfront vendor and big competitor. She has  eggs, baked goods and lots of produce. She is another mentor. We have learned so much from our farmer's market competitors. You would think competitors would be just that, but there's no better people than farmer's market vendors! They are always willing to help and educate. No wonder people love to shop at the markets. Chris' number is 319-752-7608

The Community of Christ has been running a food booth at the River Front forever! Contact the church at 319-752-6426 or Dawn Durgin at 319-752-9825. Come for supper, enjoy a tenderloin, a barbecued sandwich or soup, enjoy the local entertainment provided by talented artists like George Vineyard (below) and fill your shopping bags with good food for the rest of the week. We will be back at the Port come May!

 

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Mini Willow Bench

Finally! I have time for my other love! Finding awesome things that I think might sell on E-Bay. This is my latest find:

Found this at a local thrift store. It needed a little fixing, but it is beautiful now! 

Here's the E-Bay link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150719971587#ht_500wt_945

Check it out!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Last Harvest 2011

Tomorrow is the last market of the season at the Port in Burlington from 4-6pm and the last market we will be going to until next spring. I was trying to keep the garden going until now. It's amazing! I succeeded, even after a few nights of single digit temps in the last week!

I took a few pictures of my garden beds after I cut them. A lot of the greens were frost bit, but there was enough good stuff to take to the market tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to sell most of it.

I had covered the beds with sheets close to the ground and then covered them with another layer up on the hoops. They say you can grow greens all winter long with a high tunnel over low tunnels. I'm pretty confident they are right!

Hopefully soon we will be able to get one!

It was raining today so I left the covers in the garden. I'll roll them up later this week when they dry up.

And here's part of the harvest. I had already taken some of the lettuce and herbs in before I thought about taking pictures.

Here's the haul all bagged up.

One bag each of Italian Flat Leafed Parsley, Curled Parsley, and Rosemary: two bags each of Holy Basil, Salad Mix, Spinach and Iceberg Lettuce: three bags of Dill, four bags of Chard, five bags of Golden Rings ... no, no, no, slipped off into a Christmas Song there, sorry, that should have been Kale. 

I also found a few radishes that I missed last week. We have some radishes and carrots left from last week yet as well as a few potatoes, squash and  jars of dried herbs. 

Come by tomorrow, that is Thursday December 15th  from 4-6pm at the Port in Burlington!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Last Market Tonight

Don't miss it! The last farmer's market of the season is tonight from 4-6pm at the Port in Burlington!

We will have fresh  Italian Flat Leafed Parsley, Curled Parsley, and Rosemary, Holy Basil, Salad Mix, Spinach and Iceberg Lettuce: three bags of Dill, four bags of Chard, five bags of Kale, Radishes, Carrots, Potatoes, Squash, Noodles, Apple Butters with honey or stevia, plus lots of crafts from my daughter, owner of LiviLou and Co. http://www.etsy.com/shop/livilouandco?ref=top_trail

There are other vendors as well. The people next to us have awesome wooden puzzles that they make, there's honey, eggs, tomatoes, and all sorts of yummy baked goods!

God Bless You All!


~Grama Sue

Egg Nativity

Here's a cute little nativity video made with eggs. I should do this. I've got the blown eggs ... if only I had time! If anyone would like to buy some, they are $4/doz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJtbqyqQFI0&sns=fb

Sue Bee Success (indoor tomato)

My bee playing is a success! I've got two of these little sweeties forming!

I was hoping to have some Cherokee Purples ripening in time for the December markets, but with the whole cucumber vs. tomato war thing (see my last post), that is not to be :'(  However, these will probably usher in the New Year so I am excited. I have no idea what type they are. There were some volunteers in the concrete beds at home that Grampa Tom wanted me to keep. I picked the two biggest plants. It will be interesting to find out. They are probably a hybrid of some sort. We had Early Girls, Brandywines, Cherokee Purples and a cherry tomato there last year. Will keep you updated!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue