Today we finally got high speed Internet. Century Tel started offering it about a month ago in our area, which, we were told last summer was one of the last places in the country that did not have high speed Internet. I can't believe what a joy it is to have this. I can actually watch a short video within seconds instead of waiting an hour or more (for a movie trailer) to load. There is no stopping to wait for audio streams to buffer. Wow! I am happy!
While the phone guy was here, I decided to work on starting some herbs. I have pots of common sage, sweet marjoram, oregano, summer and winter savory, and true comfrey started. I discovered that one of the date seeds I planted last fall has sprouted. The tiny plant looked dry but still alive, so I repotted it and gave it a good drink. We'll see if it takes off. That was an interesting experiment. My sister told me I should put together tiny herb gardens and sell them at the farmers market. I think that's a great idea. I looked at the state regulations and discovered that I can sell up to $250 worth of plants without needing to have a nursery license, so if the herbs grow for me (I'm afraid I don't have a good track record with herbs) that is what I'll do. I love herbs. I think those tiny seeds intimidate me. My chunky fingers prefer handling corn, squash and melon seeds.
I also planted a big pot of Thai Hot Hot pepper seeds from our friends, Bill and Linda Betz in Albany, NY (thawing out there yet guys?). I forgot just how hot these peppers are and somehow inhaled the heat essence from the seed bag. I actually had to get my asthma rescue inhaler for that one I was coughing so much! I love these peppers though (and they even aren't the hottest ones!). Tom and I just finished eating the last jar of hot peppers I had canned with our latest batch of chili. There is nothing like hot peppers and chili to warm you up in the winter.
Speaking of Tom, he took our Ed to the foot doctor today to get his ingrown toenails fixed again. I hope everything goes well. It is almost a year since Tom found out he had cancer and our Sarah called to tell us she had orders for Afghanistan. I figure if I can get through the "anniversary" lunar eclipse on February 9th (also is our Ed's 22nd birthday) I will be doing all right.
On Thursday, Lara and I are going to go to a conference at the Ag extension about how to price your products and developing a local food economy. It's an all day affair. I'm hoping to get some help with getting the Local Food Guide off the ground. Should be a fun day. I know it's been a while since Lara was out of the house.
The weather had warmed up in the 20F range for the last two days, but it was -20F again last night and the day is windy and bitter again today. Supposedly the temps will warm closer to the weekend. I will have to watch temps now as sugaring time will be coming up quickly and I like to catch that first run of sap because it is the sweetest. I have ordered another 12 tree spouts from Lehmans. Tom is going to help me make syrup this year. That will be fun! We sent our soldier girl our last two pints of syrup for Christmas and we sure miss not having any.
I am not in to country music, but I have to admit that if you like really old country/blues (Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, etc.), you will like listening to KWBC.FM radio on the Internet. This station is from the people at Back40 Books, and it is a really good station. Try it, I think you'll like it. (I can't believe I said that, but it IS true LOL).
February started out with a bang. I could almost feel the vibrations change in the air. I orderd the tree taps, brooder light bulbs, a new cover film for the high tunnel and film repair tape, and a couple of Jonathan Goldman healing music CDs for Ed for his birthday. I have been praying for a healing help for Ed as his autism is taking a bad turn with his obsessive/compulsive behaviors and I came across some information about 528Hz being a healing frequency. I strongly believe that Providence comes to my aid when I finally ask for help, and I know that coming across this information was meant to be. The CDs are Holy Harmony and Chakra Chants. I'm going to sit that kid down and clamp my headphones on him just as soon as I can! When Ed went to the Easter Seals School in Tinley Park, Illinois, they used music a lot with the kids. It was amazing to see how music could calm those kids down. Ed just needs to be "re-aligned". I think his feet hurting have put him off his normal easy going self. Poor kid; I hope this trip to the doctor does the trick. Maybe I should the Queen (our Lara) listen to them, too -- I have to take her on the 18th to get two widsom teeth pulled!
Stay warm, Everybody! We're on the down slope of this horrible Winter!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Updated Listing on savorwisconsin.com
I wanted to tell you all that I have updated the farm profile on savorwisconsin.com. . Because the veggies I grow differ from year to year, I decided to delete the individual veggie listings so I wouldn't have to keep revising the listing yearly. DATCP told me that I have to list at least one item, and we agreed to list brown eggs. I cannot just list "heirloom and open pollinated vegetables" for some reason. And remember that the chicks will be coming March 1st and won't start laying till August. I also created a better map (the one Google automatically went to showed us as being too far north). When you go to the savorwisconsin Web site you can search for us quickly by using the town (Butternut) in the search box. Then after you get to our listing, if you click on the link for driving directions, Google Maps will come up showing the WRONG map. Click on where it says "My Maps", then click on the link with our complete address. That will bring you to a satellite image of our farm with three place marks showing the house, our driveway, and the big field. You can switch from the satellite image to a street map if that is easier for you to look at. I would like to upload some pictures to the map, but I haven't figured out yet how to do that. It was kind of fun making that map; Google really impresses me!
It snowed off and on most of the day today, but at least it was not bitterly cold. Tom and I brought more wood into the garage from the wood pile. That took us a while because the wood we had in the garage was completely used up what with all the bitter cold we've had. It was a pain trying to move the wheelbarrow through the snow even though Tom had shoveled a path out to the wood piles, but I need the exercise! I gave both of us a dose of Arnica when we came back to the house. After we were done, I spent a couple of hours trying to find all the local newspapers in northern Wisconsin, then how to contact them and submit an article. I found seven newspapers. Four of them I can submit an article to on-line, but the other three I will have to call. Now I need to think about what I want to put in the article about the Local Food Guide and get it written. I also managed to find the Wisconsin Administrative Code relating to egg handling and food processing plant. Finally.
We just found that DSL service is now available to us through our phone company, so Tom called Century Tel today and got rid of the dial-up Internet. The serviceman is coming on the 3rd. I can't wait to be able to research subjects quickly and be able to see videos without waiting forever for them to load! A gift that grants me a far more efficient use of time -- thank you, Lord!
The weather is supposed to warm up a bit, so the chances are good that I can get some more fence posts cut. We are almost up to 10 hours of sunlight a day now, so I will take the cover off the garden box where the garlics are, and I will plant the other two boxes for early spring, cold loving veggies and see what happens. Three cheers for Eliot Coleman and his Winter Harvest Manual!
A member of the Price Direct Atlas Committee, Dave Ames, sent me some information for a couple of neat seminars and conferences. It was really nice of him. I would love to go to the Organic Conference in LaCrosse, but I just can't justify spending the money what with the economy being the way it is. I'd have to bring Lara with me, too. There is, however, a day seminar on February 5th that I would like to go to in Phillips. It will be $40 (for me and Lara to go). I even hate to spend that because I don't know what the chicken feed is going to cost me, but all of the topics are of vital interest to me. It will be hard to take Lara because I will have to cath her twice and bring her medicine, but she doesn't get out of the house much at all and likes the Ag extension and farmers market events. When I take her out I try to make it "Girls Day Out" like when we go to the beauty parlor for hair cuts, and she loves it!
Well, I've rambled on enough for today. Take care, all!
It snowed off and on most of the day today, but at least it was not bitterly cold. Tom and I brought more wood into the garage from the wood pile. That took us a while because the wood we had in the garage was completely used up what with all the bitter cold we've had. It was a pain trying to move the wheelbarrow through the snow even though Tom had shoveled a path out to the wood piles, but I need the exercise! I gave both of us a dose of Arnica when we came back to the house. After we were done, I spent a couple of hours trying to find all the local newspapers in northern Wisconsin, then how to contact them and submit an article. I found seven newspapers. Four of them I can submit an article to on-line, but the other three I will have to call. Now I need to think about what I want to put in the article about the Local Food Guide and get it written. I also managed to find the Wisconsin Administrative Code relating to egg handling and food processing plant. Finally.
We just found that DSL service is now available to us through our phone company, so Tom called Century Tel today and got rid of the dial-up Internet. The serviceman is coming on the 3rd. I can't wait to be able to research subjects quickly and be able to see videos without waiting forever for them to load! A gift that grants me a far more efficient use of time -- thank you, Lord!
The weather is supposed to warm up a bit, so the chances are good that I can get some more fence posts cut. We are almost up to 10 hours of sunlight a day now, so I will take the cover off the garden box where the garlics are, and I will plant the other two boxes for early spring, cold loving veggies and see what happens. Three cheers for Eliot Coleman and his Winter Harvest Manual!
A member of the Price Direct Atlas Committee, Dave Ames, sent me some information for a couple of neat seminars and conferences. It was really nice of him. I would love to go to the Organic Conference in LaCrosse, but I just can't justify spending the money what with the economy being the way it is. I'd have to bring Lara with me, too. There is, however, a day seminar on February 5th that I would like to go to in Phillips. It will be $40 (for me and Lara to go). I even hate to spend that because I don't know what the chicken feed is going to cost me, but all of the topics are of vital interest to me. It will be hard to take Lara because I will have to cath her twice and bring her medicine, but she doesn't get out of the house much at all and likes the Ag extension and farmers market events. When I take her out I try to make it "Girls Day Out" like when we go to the beauty parlor for hair cuts, and she loves it!
Well, I've rambled on enough for today. Take care, all!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Swinging Emotions
I don't know what it is, but a little bit of sunshine one day can surely change a person's mind set. Yesterday I was really depressed for no known reason and ready to throw in the hat with working on getting our Local Food Guide off the ground this year (our grant money ran out last year), and when I woke up this morning, I was raring to fly with it. I actually did spend all day today working on the Guide and my garden. Speaking of which, here is a pic of the high tunnel layout for this year:
Despite calling throughout the entire day to the Eau Claire office of DATCP (Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection), I never did get through to a person (the line was always busy) and when I tried calling Madison, all I got there was automated list after list of agencies and numbers to press to leave a message for a call-back. I don't think anybody works in government any more. I was completely disgusted. I spent hours trying to find the information I was looking for (what I needed to do in order to legally sell vegetables and eggs to grocery stores or at the farmers market) on what I think is a miserable web site. I did eventually find most of what I was looking for on my own.
In order to sell eggs at a farmers market or a retail store I need to get a "Food Processing Plant License". (I don't need a license if I sell direct to customers from my farm.) Eggs must be clean and kept in a cooler at a constant temperature of 41F. What I still need to find out is what goes on the label, and for that I have to find Wis Administrative Code Chap. 88.08, which I'll do tomorrow when I try to find out where to get the license and how much that is going to put me back.
I am using Google documents to great effect. I really like it even though for some reason there seems to be a delay in formatting changes. I finished a Producer Listing form for the Local Food Guide that I will present to our group at the Feb. 5th meeting, and if it is ok'd by the majority, I'll upload it to the Web and people can download it as a .pdf file, fill it out, and mail it to me along with their fee (right now I'm thinking $25 will do, but I need to get some estimates from a couple of printers for what 1,000 copies will cost to print -- and that will depend on our final format, which I've been struggling with off and on all winter). Tomorrow I will work on a news article for publishing in various local papers as soon as possible to solicit interest in the Guide. I will have to find out how to solicit businesses to place an ad in the Guide. I have no idea what to charge for different sized ads. I also need to talk to Tom at the bank about setting up a checking account to handle the money. Some times I wish I could find someone that would be interested in forming a non-profit corporation with me, but on the other hand, I really want our group to pay its way and be a model for other groups. It will all work out eventually.
Speaking of Google, have you seen their "Sites" application? I may use that for something I have cooking in the back of my mind!
Well, it's getting late so I'll leave off for now. Talk to you soon!
Despite calling throughout the entire day to the Eau Claire office of DATCP (Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection), I never did get through to a person (the line was always busy) and when I tried calling Madison, all I got there was automated list after list of agencies and numbers to press to leave a message for a call-back. I don't think anybody works in government any more. I was completely disgusted. I spent hours trying to find the information I was looking for (what I needed to do in order to legally sell vegetables and eggs to grocery stores or at the farmers market) on what I think is a miserable web site. I did eventually find most of what I was looking for on my own.
In order to sell eggs at a farmers market or a retail store I need to get a "Food Processing Plant License". (I don't need a license if I sell direct to customers from my farm.) Eggs must be clean and kept in a cooler at a constant temperature of 41F. What I still need to find out is what goes on the label, and for that I have to find Wis Administrative Code Chap. 88.08, which I'll do tomorrow when I try to find out where to get the license and how much that is going to put me back.
I am using Google documents to great effect. I really like it even though for some reason there seems to be a delay in formatting changes. I finished a Producer Listing form for the Local Food Guide that I will present to our group at the Feb. 5th meeting, and if it is ok'd by the majority, I'll upload it to the Web and people can download it as a .pdf file, fill it out, and mail it to me along with their fee (right now I'm thinking $25 will do, but I need to get some estimates from a couple of printers for what 1,000 copies will cost to print -- and that will depend on our final format, which I've been struggling with off and on all winter). Tomorrow I will work on a news article for publishing in various local papers as soon as possible to solicit interest in the Guide. I will have to find out how to solicit businesses to place an ad in the Guide. I have no idea what to charge for different sized ads. I also need to talk to Tom at the bank about setting up a checking account to handle the money. Some times I wish I could find someone that would be interested in forming a non-profit corporation with me, but on the other hand, I really want our group to pay its way and be a model for other groups. It will all work out eventually.
Speaking of Google, have you seen their "Sites" application? I may use that for something I have cooking in the back of my mind!
Well, it's getting late so I'll leave off for now. Talk to you soon!
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