“Stroh” Much Fun!

This weekend our college friends the Strohs came up to visit. Now the Strohs are extra fun, because they have five kids, too, and almost the same ages as ours. So Mom got to hang out with her old college roommate, Dad got to hang out with his college roommate, and the kids each had a playmate close to their same age. Perfect!

Of course, since it’s fall, we had to take them to see the Pumpkin Cannon at our local pumpkin patch, and then take a hike on one of our local trails. John is also a homesteader-wanna-be, with chickens and a big garden, so of course we had a lot to talk about He even helped me can a batch of tomatoes (yup, this is what I do for fun . . .) They also re-introduced me to hard cider (I particularly enjoyed the pear variety). Oddly enough, the last time I remember having hard cider was at our college pre-graduation party, with them!

But alas, they could only stay for one day (they arrived Friday night and left Saturday night). Next time we’ll have to make them stay longer (the kids are already asking when we can go down to their house!)

Josiah’s latest fixation

This one I found in the bottom of our bathroom hamper. They have also been spotted in the bathtub, sink, garbage, toilet, and, we assume, down the toilet, because the commode was backed up for an entire day (“soaking” Peter said, so it would soften up and hopefully not get stuck in pipes farther down in the house).

I much prefer his “you can’t empty the dishwasher without me” and “all doors must be closed” fixations . . .

Happiness is a Day in Rushford!

This weekend I decided I needed a girl time/getaway/cheap thrills trip, so the kids and I (Peter was on call, so he was stuck at home) headed to  Rushford (because where else can you find all of those things in one place?)  

I knew I’d come to the right place when I walked in and there was Joel looming over the pressure canner processing 7 quarts of tomato sauce. Kirsten and the girls were finishing shampooing the carpet and generally cleaning up (not for me; the dog had peed on the carpet – that made me feel right at home!) and Logan was napping.

Of course the kids spent 99% of the evening outside, playing with the animals, enjoying the tire swing, and generally running around like happy monkeys.

Saturday morning we all gradually made our way out of bed, munched down some cereal (with store-bought skim milk – *gasp*! – since we’d forgotten to take the fresh goat milk out of the freezer the night before (for those of you who don’t know, immediately after milking the goat milk goes in the freezer to cool it down quickly, so it stays fresh longer. But you usually don’t intentionally freeze it all the way – just when you’re having too much fun to remember to take it out again!) and headed to a small animal swap about 45 minutes away. Driving through rural Filmore County, Minnesota, I was surprised at how many Amish farms there were on the way (as attested to by the amount of horse droppings on the road!) Apparently it’s a bit of a tourist destination (unlike the Amish community that was near our house in Chetek – to quote one of my favorite local authors, Michael Perry: “It would appear that what we have here – and appropriately so -  are your redneck Amish.”)

Anyway, we arrived pretty late (due to our liesurely morning) and what was left was pretty well picked over. But Kirsten found a few guinea hens like she’d wanted, and Evin talked her into letting her buy three baby quail for her 4-H project. And of course we Westendorfs had our first small animal swap experience, which was quite enjoyable, culminating in a picnic next to the hayfield (where I’m sure Josiah ate more grass than sandwich) and a chance to see the oldest horse we’d ever heard of – Daiblo, a 38-year-old boy who was still going strong! Kirsten knew the family who was hosting the swap meet, so they brought him and their other two horses out for the kids to pet and feed their apple cores to. Hannah was particularly excited because one of the other horses was named Thunder, which just happened to be the name of the horse in a book she had just read!

Then back to Rushford, where both Kirsten and I proceeded to take naps, while Joel and his father-in-law worked on cleaning out one of the old barns on their property (making me feel like a total slacker, of course!) And once again the kids were scattered to the four winds – mostly enraptured with Evin’s new quail, and taking rides on their pony, Moondust – and before we knew it, it was time to make supper and then time to go home!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: for some reason, Sam has been obsessed lately with washing windshields. So, as we stopped for gas on the way out of town Saturday morning, the older three decided to give it a really throrough cleaning:

Goofy kids!

An Evening at the Beach

Peter is officially the best daddy in the whole wide world! He surprised us last night by leaving work at 4:30 and taking us all to Shell Lake beach. We haven’t had a chance to go there all summer, and it looks like this will be one of the last few warm days before fall really sets in, so he figured it’s now or never, there will always be more work but the kids will never be this age again – let’s go!

The kids were ecstatic – they didn’t stop jumping up and down for a full five minutes after I told them! They’ve been begging to go all summer, but, frankly, the thought of watching all five of them scared the bejeepers out of us (none of them know how to swim). But they did great – Josiah, true to form (“life’s a journey, not a destination”) walked straight into the water until it got up to his waist, turned around and walked back to shore, and repeated this until I took him out because he was too cold (which of course means this is what I did all evening – Peter watched the other four while I followed Josiah). The girls spent the whole time collecting shells (they don’t call it Shell Lake for nothing!) while Sam - well, Sam acted like an almost-nine-year old boy: lots of splashing and “hey, watch this!”

I think the kids had just about the best time they’ve had all summer, and Peter and I learned that yes, they are growing up and the day will soon come when we can actually have fun with all of them along (rather than just running around frantically trying to make sure we all survive!)  It was a day we’ve all been waiting for a long time!

“America’s Dairyland”? I think not!!!

I am just so mad this morning – I went to my local farmer to buy raw milk, and the farmer’s wife told me that they are no longer allowed to sell their milk directly to the consumer. Apparently the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has a new administrator, and he decided to “reinterpret” the laws that have been in place since 2002. So no new laws were enacted, they just changed their “interpretation” – which means that what was legal three weeks ago is no longer legal today. This is so wrong!!!!

It’s not like it was easy before, either – the farmer I bought milk from had to hire a lawyer just to figure out how to jump through all of the legal hoops that already were in place. I had to legally become part of the incorporation that they had to set up, and all kinds of other red tape. But they made the effort, they did everything the stupid law said they had to – and still the DATCP pulled the rug out from under them. It’s just so senseless!

What really gets me, though, is that from all appearances the reason for this is because the big organic producers (who my farmer sells the rest of their milk to) are feeling pinched because prices are going down, so they think pinching out the direct-to-consumer sales will help them. Like the eight farms that were legally selling raw milk in Wisconsin are going to make that much difference. And like it’s going to change all of the under-the-table raw milk sales going on at other farms!

It’s just so stupid – now, in order to buy healthy, probiotic- and nutrient-rich raw milk, I have to either do it illegally or dishonestly (ie. label it as “pet food”), neither of which I will do since I believe it goes against what God has instructed his people to do. Or I can get my own dairy animal (which Peter is against – so this would be disobeying another of God’s instructions). Or I can just buy pasturized, homogenized, “dead” milk from the big milk companies. *sigh*

And of course the only way to change this is to get involved politically, which I don’t like doing. Thankfully, my farmer is a member of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund (which I believe is part of the Weston A. Price Foundation), so they do have legal representation when the time comes for that. And they’ve found a lobbyist who is willing to work from the consumer end of things; but it seems like all I can do personally is donate money and send letters to my state representatives and senators.

And all this in a state that calls itself “America’s Dairyland”.

Yeah, right.

Chicken Fat Mushrooms!

By now you know that I’m a little strange, and I’m sure this post is not going to detract from that image. Inspired by finding cute little white mushrooms all around my yard after a recent thunderstorm, I went online to find a good mushroom identification guide. This search led me to “Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois & Surrounding States” by Joe McFarland & Gerogory M. Mueller. I perused this book for the last couple of days, and was inspired this morning to see if I could find any of the mushrooms from the book out in my yard.

Alas, no – but I did find a few interesting mushrooms I thought I’d check out online:

I found out that these are White Pine Boletes (Suillus americanus, for those of you who like to know such things), otherwise known as Chicken Fat Mushrooms (how fitting, right?). We have TONS of them growing under the pine trees in our front yard. Apparently they’re edible, but not anything special.

My internet search found that they were actually the Mushroom of the Month for July 2004 on UW-La Crosse professor Tom Volk’s webpage – http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/jul2004.html (check it out - all you never knew you wanted to know about the Chicken Fat Mushroom!)

No, I didn’t actually eat any (but I COULD! And that’s what counts! – When the government topples because of Obama and anarchy reigns, I will be able to survive because I know stuff like this!!!) Plus it’s just neat!

Anyway, I’ll close with a picture of a cute little baby bolete, nestled among the clover, dandelions, hawkweed, and grass under the pine trees on our front lawn:

Awwww.

10 years???

That’s right, this weekend was our ten year college reunion. Where did the time go??? I was pretty sure there had been some kind of mixup, until I realized that Sam is turning nine this year, so it must be true! Holy cow!!!

It was so great to see everybody – and to hear that there are secret blog readers lurking out there (you should all say Hi in the comments so Peter knows it’s more than just Kirsten and my parents who read this) It was funny to see how a handful of friends turned into a whole lotta kids, and how great all of those kids got along! On the way to the van that night, Naomi asked, “Can we come back tomorrow?” I told her maybe, but that all of the other kids wouldn’t be there. “Can we tell them to come back?” I felt the same way!

(and Strohs – I’m going to hold you to that threat promise of a visit!!)

(and to all those who didn’t make it this year – we missed you!)

This morning Peter and I popped the copy of our graduation class video (thanks Nicole!) into our laptop and played “name that classmate”. There were a few we’ll have to get the yearbook out for, but mostly we remembered everyone. It’s neat to remember what everyone was like then, compared to how they are now, and to remember what it was like in that strange not-quite-real-life world where we spent four amazing years of our lives and made friendships that are still strong today.

I can’t wait to see what the next ten years will bring (although then most of our kids will be teenagers – that’s a scary thought!!!)

Corn Feast!

Last night was the night we’d been looking forward to since June – the day our corn was finally ripe and we could have our annual corn feast! This year we shared our harvest with our downstairs neighbors, who had provided us with the seed for our corn this year (the younger boy had given his mother a packet of corn seed for Mother’s Day). I only plant enough each year for one, maybe two, big meals, which we always share with friends. Corn just seems too much a waste of space to plant more than that. Plus it’s a grain (not a vegetable), and we get enough grains in our diet without it.

Anyway . . .

Our neighbors graciously volunteered to shuck the corn, and when it was all cooked up we gathered at the picnic table downstairs and had a fun meal together – with apples and caramel for dessert (provided by the neighbors). Yum!

Of course, now I have an empty garden bed . . . should I plant a fall crop of peas? broccoli? spinach? lettuce? Oh, the possibilities!!!

A Quiet House

I should rename my blog – this week, we’re more like the Westendorf 5. Hannah is in Sheboygan with her cousin for the week, and Peter is so swamped at work that he didn’t make it home before midnight yesterday, and it doesn’t look good for the rest of the week either. Last week he even went back into work after Bible Study and didn’t make it home until after one. *sigh*

I’m all for a cleaner, quieter house – but I miss my husband and our Hannah!