Bemidji Quacks

The farm supply store had baby chickens, ducks and turkeys that were ordered ahead of time and awaiting pick up. Eli stuck the lens right inside of this box. Baby ducks.

Bemidji "Birthdays" Road Trip #3

This year we spent some time in downtown.

Love This Store

Fantastic boutique in Wayzata, MN.

Bright Spot on A Snowy Day

City Kid's Farm Day

Rochester, MN -- Imagine my surprise when I, the city kid, ended up at Olmstead County Historical Society's annual "Days of Yesteryear Show", and loved it. Of course, part of my fun was enjoying all the ingredients that make a summer festival sizzle. On this day, the summer sun was hot, but not too hot. The sky was a perfect blue accompanied by a light blowing breeze. Crowds? Yes. Yet, open enough to move about the fields of tractors and buildings with ease. Let's not forget the styro-foam sea of plates lining the picnic tables; and the apron clad concession stand volunteers who served up pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs and baked beans from a parade of crock pots. 

Great knowledge was gained during my conversations with an alpaca breeder and separately with the owner of a 1911 Case steam engine. A distant guitar and tambourine duo belted out "Ring of Fire" from the mess hall as I took in the sights. Was it fun to witness things for which I would otherwise have remained ignorant? Definitely so. 

Volunteers ran a multitude of demonstrations. I experienced a tractor pull, threshing, two different hay bailing machines in action (1911 bailer and a 1960 bailer - there's a big difference don't you know), a steam-powered engine operating an old-fashioned saw mill; and a steam driven tractor stoked with wood drove slowly around the farm. I had never before considered the labor required to run these rigs. That is, the number of people needed and the intensity of the toil. Now I know where the seeds of the term "hard working" must have sprouted. 

On this day, I further developed what I'll call the city kid's farm equation. It's not simply about the crops, animals and land, it also involves intense labor and lots of bodies, the art of running highly mechanical equipment and is inextricably linked to the technology-of-the-times ... and hey, can we talk about the weather?

I mentioned to my husband that farming seemed like a male dominated profession, but he had another view. He reminded me that Grandma Emma actually worked on the Rochester farm as much as Grandpa Louis. According to Louis, Emma could drive a team of horses better than he! And Emma herself told the story of managing a drag plow across 40 acres. My modern-day husband finished his family story with, "Can you imagine coming home after a day like that and having to make dinner?" 

I hope they loved most of it even though they were likely spent at day's end. I cannot shake my romanticized version of farm life even though I gained a new perspective at this event. Emma's old sewing machine waits silently under a dusty cover in the corner of our suburban garage. Surely she toiled on that machine too. 

Pastoral Peace

Such ceaseless bucolic pleasures this summer. I'm a baby in the cradle each time I encounter the countryside. My physiological rhythms eventually slow to the fastest thing around me. The leaves respond to the wind and each with a different call. Cattail leaves, oak leaves, tall grasses with rattling tops. In concert, these movements create a wash of calm that blankets and hums me to daily sanity.

Gale Woods Farm in July

This week I have been doing my Morning Pages at Gale Woods Farm with a cup of coffee. After, I go walking. I do love hanging out with the cows. Can you hear the sound of ripping grass and the chew chew chew? Almost as soothing as the ocean to me.

More Photos (click here)

Exploring Carver Park Reserve

I am amazed that this land has remained undeveloped. 

We scoped it out for future local canoe trips.

Ten lakes, a campground, an old homestead, 

a nature center ... and the list goes on. Even on a hot 

day - it was fun to visit. 

Right now I am making some mango sorbet! 

More photos (click here)

Minneapolis History is Summer Fun

On a blue summer day in Minneapolis there is nothing like immersing 

yourself in history. Take a walk across the Stone Arch Bridge and set

your sights on numerous portals of the past. I suggest a start

to your journey at Mill City Museum. Come early for a fresh

chocolate chip scone and some coffee (of course!). Mill City hosts

Thursday evening live music and a Saturday morning Farmer's Market

throughout the summer. Bring your family and fill up with

with fun, history and locally grown food.

Minneapolis Mill Ruins photos at flickr compliments of Karen @ Inspirasana.

Coffee Stained Fishing

I sip my warm coffee and cream while gracefully boarding the 16' Lund fishing boat - my French press in tow. I zoom across Lake Osakis with splashes of cold water hitting my back. The clouds open for the hot sun. My face is sheltered by a trusty floppy brimmed hat strapped under my chin. Looking around the lake as if I have never seen it before, I breathe in blue, green and shimmering light. My sips are silent against the churning waves. Drinking coffee and eating homemade ginger molasses cookies is better than catching fish. Peace. Coffee. Cookies. Waves. Fish. Outside. Sun. Boating. Morning. Fresh.

Check out my favorite coffee from Vashon, WA, order over the internet. (Guatemalan Reserve mmm!)

Summer Vacation

Green Taste Buds for Me

I love writing about or looking at anything green. My first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box from Riverbend Farm in Minnesota certainly qualifies as green any way you slice it. Today I felt like I had opened a long awaited gift! And what a gift to have the option and choice to eat locally. Tonight dinner was a quick fix and it involved two of the lettuces topped with thin slices of radish and an easy no-recipe oil and vinegar dressing 

I am trying to grow veggies on my own, and believe me, my heads of lettuce are no where near the size of these! I cannot imagine the planning, care and work it took to get these beauties in the ground and to the co-op where I'll continue to pick up my prized CSA box for several more weeks. All I can say is "wow". Talk about appreciating what you eat and eating the best. 

Check out my friend Inspirasana's blog for what I consider to be an award-winning photo of the heirloom speckled bibb lettuce (above).

Cloud Watching

Find your own paradise. A warm summer's day. Feet in the lake, eyes on the sky. 

Minnetrista, MN