The migration has begun!

It's official, the migration has begun.  The other day was awfully windy here and Barry was out harvesting with our hired hand Chris for our Minot orders.  He called me from the field on the cell phone and told me to bring the camera.  This is what I saw:

Monarch Butterflies travel between 1200 and 2800 miles between their starting and ending points, flying around 50 miles each day.  They stop along the way to feed on bright colored flowers and nectar from other goodies.  They like gardendwellers FARM because who could resist the rows and rows of Zinnia's?  It gives them a good meal to continue their journey.  It will take them two months to reach their destination in Central Mexico.  They use the sun's orbit as a guide and even without a compass or on cloudy days these amazing insects can find their way to a place they have never even been before.  Although each year the migration pattern varies slightly - most years we're lucky enough to have these beautiful creatures stop on their way to say hello. Those of you in the area should be on the lookout for them and if you do not have a food source, bright colored flowers, there is an easy way to create one below:

Place a small kitchen sponge in a sugar dish in a shallow bowl.  Use a brightly colored and shallow bowl or a bright sponge to attract them.  For nectar, mix 4 parts water with 1 part granulated sugar.  Boil this mix for five minutes until the sugar is dissolved.  Let it cool and then place it on the sponge.  Extra nectar can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week but most likely within a week all the Monarchs will be past our area and further south. 

Be sure to have your camera handy during this exciting time and hopefully you can catch some great photos of the Monarchs as they pass through!

Now, back to work!

Holly

It's Almost Produce Party Time!

The plans are underway for this year's Produce Party and I'm REALLY excited about this one.  We've got so much going on!  We'll have the 'Make Your Own Scarecrow' booth back again this year.  What fun that was last year and there were so many families and kids that took advantage of it.  I even saw one of our scarecrows still hanging out in Devils Lake in July!  The cost will stay the same as last year, $10 gets you a life-size scarecrow to take home.  We have everything you need, you just need to stuff him - or her.  We have a wide variety of outfits to choose from for your scarecrow and you get to draw on the face, so happy, sad, or scary - you choose.  Last year after Thanksgiving, I covered my scarecrow with a large sheet and made him into a snowman - double duty is the way to go - he made a great decoration all the way through to February.

New this year is going to be the caramel apple table.  We're so lucky to have a little extra help from my assistant, Stacy Baldus, from Bottineau to man the table.  We'll be picking fresh Cenntennial apples direct from the tree and serving them up with caramel sauce for dipping.  Only $2.50 - what a bargain!

I'm also really excited about Marte Holen Stensli and Bob Nelson coming with the  Norwiegen Dole Horses.  Marte will be tending their booth with all kinds of fresh veggies but Bob will have one of the horses here and he will be answering questions about the breed.  He'll also do a plowing demonstration in the afternoon.

At 11:00 AM I'll be working with my litttle dog Ida to do a Rally Obedience demonstration.  Ida has now completed all trials to have her AKC (American Kennel Club) Rally Advanced Title and next we'll be heading on to the Excellent level.  For more info on the sport - check out our demonstration or the following web site: http://www.akc.org/events/rally/index.cfm  This is a great sport and with just a couple trips to Grand Forks to visit with their Kennel Club members and learn a few of the signs, anyone can enjoy this great opportunity to work with their dog.  Come and see what it's all about.

The Zion Lutheran Church of Churchs Ferry will be serving up great food for breakfast at a great price and The Prairie Bistro, a division of Sonja's from Mohall, ND will have concessions available after breakfast time to make sure everyone gets fed great food.

Billie's Soaps and Spa will be on hand in the afternoon to demonstrate some of their home made beauty products.  I really love their stuff - especially the waterless soaps - they make your hands so soft!

All in all, it's going to be a GREAT day - so bring the family and enjoy it with us.  Come Out and Play!
Check out our web site for a full schedule: www.gardendwellersfarm.com

We have new neighbors!!!

Yes, there is a new family in Churchs Ferry.  We first noticed them a week ago, although they most likely moved in months ago.  The whole family has beautiful golden red hair.  Mom, Dad, and several little ones like to play tag in their front yard every evening around 6:30 until dark.  They love to wrestly in their nicely mowed lawn and Dad even gets in on the action with the kids.  They're a fun family to watch.  I sure would like to get to know them better.  They seem to like to watch us too!
Sorry for the bad photo, I'll post another better one as soon as I have it - but these new neighbors are 'foxy'!

New Additions, New Changes to the FARM

Well, rhubarb harvest is complete, for this year and possibly for always.  After another disappointing harvest, only about 1000 pounds, we're considering giving up the rhubarb business.  It's really a lot of labor for very very little return and the weeds have become almost unmanageable.  We'd love to find someone who would like to take the rhubarb - dig it, divide it and take it away - so if you know of anyone, please help us spread the word.  We're putting together a short video highlighting all it takes to harvest 1000 pounds of rhubarb.  We'll post a link on the blog when it is complete.

As for new additions - we have yet again been the nursery for tons of baby birds. We have robins nesting and feeding babies in the lilacs, catbirds by the arbor, ducks in the labyrinth, yellow warblers raising a brood in the nanking cherries (right)

and a killdeer family in production lot #2 (left).  We're glad to be able to provide habitat for all of our feathered friends.  Of course we have our toad friends in the high tunnel helping to keep the insect population under control - we're thankful for them as well.

We're proud to say that at least for a while we once again have Chris Klier working for us. I don't know what we'd do without Chris.  He is an EXCELLENT worker and knows just what to do to harvest, weed, maintain and keep the place running with us.  Thanks Chris!

We're also happy to report that with thanks to our new high tunnel, we're about two weeks from our first harvest.  The Basil that was planted early looks great and should be ready to go by about June 28th.  This is about three weeks earlier than any harvest we've had. 

We're already seeing the return of geocachers to our cache and are awaiting the arrival of several education based vacation families this summer.  Watch for updates on our visitors!

As I worked on  updating our web site and other business matters this morning, I came across a poem I had always wanted to post to our site, I'll share it here as my parting words:

This is the field where grass joined hands,

Where no monument stands,

And the only heroic thing is the sky. 

by William Stafford.

Peace!
Holly

Good People, Great Conversations

We were really pleased to have a great conversation with Lisa Hamilton on Monday.  Lisa is a writer and photographer from California who was here writing a story about the water issues our area faces.  Lisa's writing focuses on agriculture and food issues.  Being from California, where water shortages are the norm, Lisa is finding the story of the Devils Lake Basin fascinating.

Lisa arrived on Monday, mid wind storm and with rain blowing her into town, with only a windbreaker to keep her warm.  She had been in the area since Saturday and had already seen her share of water.  Having arrived at a time when overland flooding, overflowing sloughs, gushing culverts and the threat of more to come were abundant, Lisa found as much story fodder as water. 

Lisa's focus with us was the story of the people that have been affected by the water and the story of our business.  We had a great conversation with her about the great community of Churchs Ferry, its previous residents and still loyal supporters.  Lisa is delightful and we'd love for her to come back to the region in warmer, sunnier times to see the beauty of this area as well as the rich history, present and future of agriculture that we all share.  If you get the chance, visit Lisa's web site at: http://www.lisamhamilton.com/ where she features her photography and background.

Lisa was saving a few dollars (and some heartburn) by cooking for herself while she is here.  I was pleased that even in the cold spring of Churchs Ferry, I had some bright green fresh chives to share with her.  Here's hoping they seasoned her little meatloaf to perfection!

Lisa, thanks for telling our story and here's hoping you can arrange a trip back when we're all at peak production.  Count on gardendwellers FARM to feed you full of great organic herbs!

Spring comes early at gardendwellers!

Saturday Barry and I spent a good portion of the afternoon getting the high tunnel ready for planting.  Seems like fall flew by last year and we didn't make our goals for tilling and laying plastic.  As you can see in the photos, Barry started off with a winter jacket but it wasn't long before we were both in our shirt sleeves and sweating up a storm.  It was 40 degrees outside and you can see the snow piles on the outside of the tunnel but inside it was toasty!

It was great fun to play in the dirt again and see sunshine.  I think I even got a little bit of sunburn!  You can see we had to incorporate a little organic matter into one corner as there is a little more clay there.  We also used an organic certified product that helps to break down clay particles in hopes of bettering the soil in that corner.

The soil was warm and thanks to the watering we did a few days earlier, just moist enough to make a fine seed bed.  We put down the black plastic to warm the soil even further and deeper in anticipation of an early seeding of Basil.  Basil likes really warm soil - 55 degrees or more - to germinate and the warm soil bed will help to keep the air temperature warm during cold nights.  Now granted, we won't get the seeds in for another month (maybe) but we're still shooting for having our first crop in the grocery stores and restuarants by July 4th.  That's a two week advantage on other years.  If we're lucky and Mother Nature plays nice, we might even be in to our customers sooner!

Spring really is here - at gardendwellers at least!

Sunshine - YEAH!

Today is a lovely day in ND!  The sun is shining, the snow is melting and there's no wind to speak of.  This week is the beginning of preparation for spring (besides the seedlings that have already been planted).  We'll shovel a path to the cold frames and the high tunnel.  That will be a chore as the banks are 3 feet high in front of the frames and at least 5 feet high at street level in front of the high tunnel but it will be worth it if we can get access to a warm and cozy place to start our herbs early.

Speaking of the seedlings, so far so good on most of them.  The thyme, winter savory, marjoram, oregano and sage look good.  The rosemary has me worried however and thinking I need to make a call to our favorite seed seller tomorrow to order more - just in case.

We're still waging war with the deer who are voraciously routing around all areas of the farm trying to get the dry grass under the deep snow.  While it is pretty cool to see them pawing around out there and pretty serene to see them wandering about (anywhere from 8 to 20 at a time) - I am more than aware of the damage they will do if left unchecked.  We have sprinkled the smallest trees and shrubs with "Plantskyd" a deer and rabbit repellent and it seems to be working - where we sprinkle it - unfortunately we have too many things to sprinkle the whole farm so Ida, our little black dog, has been getting a work out.  It's pretty funny as she doesn't really scare the deer very far away, they are not afraid of a 12 inch dog that is colored like a skunk but she is enough of an annoyance to keep them moving on.

Soon we'll be planting the cold frames, readying the high tunnel for seeds and spring will really be with us.  Some people have told me they have seen robins, I haven't even heard one yet but I'm ever hopeful.  Enjoy these last days of monochromatic color schemed winter, walk, snowshoe, ski, make snowmen, and know that soon the white will give way to green.

Spring is here, REALLY!

With 12 inches of standing snow and 3 more already fallen today you might not believe it but spring is really here.  I know this because today I sat down and wrote out the planting plan for this summer and reviewed the seeding schedule.  I quickly realized that I'm already one month behind on my seeding.  Last year we planted our rosemary on January 21st.  Here is it almost Valentine's Day and I have yet to get anything in soil.  Tomorrow or Monday I'll have to go to town for potting mix and get the rosemary, savory, sage, thyme, oregano and other perennial herbs seeded to catch up.  I've written a two page to-do list for later this spring with items starting as soon as next week and running through almost July.  Guess we'll be busy soon enough!

With snow everywhere and frequent snow storms, February may seem like the longest month - even though it is the shortest, but with planning like ours it can fly by.  Add to the hectic planning schedule a few conferences and we're just run run run all month.  Last week I attended the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society conference in Watertown SD.  It was great fun and I came home with a lot of great ideas to implement this year but also the renewed energy to tackle the planning projects I started today.  I learned some ways to increase our soil fertility this year while maintaining our organic principles.  I can't wait to try them.  I also learned a few things about frost protection that I'm working on implementing this year.

Later this week (Thursday) I'll head to Jamestown so I can help with the ND Local Food Summit and ND Farmers Market and Growers Association annual conference on Friday and Saturday.  I should be great fun, lots of work and much learning.  On the 25th, my assistant in Bottineau will head to the MOSES conference in LaCrosse.  I have to miss it this year - I've been to the conference for two years running and this year I have a different speaking engagement booked and will miss the conference.  I really enjoy the MOSES conference and am sad that I can't go - but other duties call.  You can bet I'll be back again next year!

So keep smiling, enjoy the snow - becuase spring is coming, really it is.  My planning book says so!

Fun in the North Dakota Winter

So who ever said that a North Dakota winter can be boring?  This is a picture of what Barry and I spent some of our Saturday doing.  The weather, even though the weather reporters were talking of another doozy of a blizzard, was actually perfect.  We had about 3 inches of very wet snow that came down slowly and silently blanketing everything in the most perfect white followed by a balmy 32 degrees, and no wind!  What a time to head outside and enjoy the wonder of snow.  There is no age limit on making snowmen right?

The other thing I was able to do was get a handle on my reading.  The stack of magazines and newspapers has slowly risen to mammoth proportions so I spent Saturday morning, while Barry was running mail and moving snow, catching up on the reading pile and wrangling it down to just three issues of Farmers Market Today. 

While reading through the mags I found an article about ordering seed.  The article, in Growing For Market magazine, talked about storing seed, inventorying seed, ordering seed and keeping records.  In it, the writer gave a list of common seeds and how long they can or should be stored.  The article cited Parsley as a use it one year and then toss the rest - not viable after the first year.  Since I knew that we had just completed our own seed inventory and our Parsley seed was several years old the writers opinion surprised and scared me.  We have successfully planted Parsley seed that was two and even three years old.  However, facing the possibility that this could be the last year for our 2006 seed, I did  put together a germination test.  Parsley takes a LONG time to germinate.  We direct seed into the field as early as we can each year with the Parsley being the first in the ground of our herbs.  We've also planted it in the fall just to avoid problems with wet springs where we can't get in early to seed.  To do a germination test you can wrap some of your seed in a moist paper towl and put them in a plastic bag in a location that is about the same as the ground or outdoor temperture will be.  Check them daily - not only to add water if they need it but also to get some air exchange in the bag.  Keep checking for small roots on the seeds or signs that they have sprouted.  If none sprout, get new seed.  If half sprout, you'll either have to overseed or get new seed.  If all or most of them sprout you are most likely OK to put them in the ground.  It's always a good idea to run a germination test on older seed.  It's so much better to know than to worry once spring arrives and then possibly have to send in an emergency order for more seed after you have lost valuable growing time. 

For now - I'm just watching my little babies and hoping they sprout.  If not, I'll just add Parsley to the seed order and things will all be on time come April.

Hope you are enjoying the snow the way Barry and I are - stay safe and be patient.  Spring is coming!

When Earth and Water Don't Mix

I'm not big on astrology.  I believe that the horoscopes in the local newspaper are just a hotdish of obtuse phrases combined with a dash of generality that can be interpreted into anyone's dish of life.  However, that said; I do think that your astrological sign and related birth signs can be a general guide to your personality.  There's too many people that 'fit' the assigned personality traits of their astrological guides to call it coincidence.

Take our family for instance.  I am an Earth sign.  Makes sense with my love for the Earth and passion for gardening.  I also fit my astrological natal chart personality traits to a "T".  Like it or not, I can be materialistic and I am very business-like, planning and community oriented.  I know my downfalls and being too empathetic is not one of them.

My son, Boy as we call him, is a water sign, all ruled by emotion, intuitive, in it for the long haul, wanting to build, tear down, and rebuild to suit rather than going with a pre-determined plan for success.

My poor husband, the fire sign in the family is very externally motivated.  His goal is to fit in, make others happy and go with the flow.  You might now see where this leading...

The reason for this post began a couple days ago when Boy and I were emailing.  He's beginning the final leg of his college journey and will graduate this spring with his second degree.  He'll be entering the full time career workforce soon (again) and as a Mom and a "P" word person - planning that is - I of course wanted his landing spot to be within a reasonable driving distance from his beloved parents whom he can't live without (smile here folks) and of course in a place where he would be happily and gainfully employed with a quality of life far exceeding his parents. 

Well, taking into account that he IS a water sign, compared to my Earth sign and the fact that he is of generation Y, you can imagine his reaction to my suggestion he look into a job I recommended.  He had other more immediate things on his mind, like finishing his current schooling, working as much as he can at his current job so he can pay his bills, and how to communicate with a new friend in his life.  He did manage to tell me thank you for the thought - which was thoughtful.  Earth and Water make mud. 

So now comes the moral of the gardening story.  Mud isn't all bad.  Gardeners recognize that the mud is a sign that new life will soon spring into their gardens.  The moisture works with the Earth to bring nutrients and hydration to the roots of the plants causing new growth and blossoms.  Mud is a great place for butterflies and small birds to drink, toads and frogs to wallow and worms to bathe.  If you're a kid, mud is great for pies and moguls for toy cars and trucks.  Mud can be fun - mud wrestling, mud racing, and if you're a generation X or Y person MUD can be a multi-user-dungeon game.  (Boy - See how hip your Mom really can be?)

For now, I guess I'll learn to live with the mud in my life and just like in my garden, to be thankful for the water that rejuevenates me.  I'll try to remember what Earth would be like without water and rejoice in the fact that I have water in my life to keep me refreshed and growing, able to sustain the hard times.  And, to be ever grateful for the Fire in my life - who just wants to go with the flow and keep the Queen happy - afterall, he does have to live with this Earth!

Hurray for Snow!
Finally, it's snowing here.  I know most people were looking forward to a long set of weeks before we received snow, but I'm not one of them.  My gardens and farm are my baby.  I've always felt the farm in winter is like a sleeping child and best left to rest quietly and comfortably under its blankets and not awakened from its nap until it was ready in the spring.  This late fall early winter without snow was like seeing my child sleep restlessly with no blankets.  The trees were dormant but had no covering or protection from the bitter nights.  I'm glad for the snow.  Snow is always so quiet.  It's one of the things that makes living in North Dakota great, the peacefulness of a snowy day.

I'm very excited now.  I had been feeling almost lost, like I needed a purpose or a project.  This Sunday while Barry took his shift at the local bar I tried to make mittens.  It didn't go well and I ended up with a mess and no mittens to show for it.  If anyone has a very simple mitten pattern to share with me, I'd appreciate it.  So with this attempt at creativity failed, I just felt like there was something else I could or should be doing.  Last night that chance came.  We received a call asking if we would host Dr. Colin Skinner who is walking from New York to North Dakota to raise money for Hospice programs all over the country.  Since my father passed away from cancer in 2002 and the hospice workers were such a help to him and my mother - of course I said yes. 

This morning I went online to check out Dr. Skinner and his quest.  You should do the same.  You can visit these two web sites for more information: http://www.freewebs.com/drskinnersite/ or http://www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=258.  This is an amazing journey for such a good cause.  I really want to be a part of it and help Dr. Skinner.  I'm hoping to have time to decorate the classroom and bunkhouse for his arrival in a really festive way and my friend Bernie Solwey at Tenderfoot Socks has already agreed to donate a pair of socks for him.  In reading his journals he made metnion of a trip to a store to buy socks and hoping that they wouldn't give him blisters.  Tenderfoot socks would be the perfect give for anyone who is on their feet a lot and if they bring some comfort to his journey I'll be so happy.  You can check out Tenderfoot Socks - a real live company right here in our region - by looking at their web site: http://www.tenderfootsocks.com/.

Watch the channel 8 news tonight or in the next couple days, I'm sure they will have Colin on the news.  He's traveling from Grand Forks to Larimoure to Lakota to Devils Lake to Churchs Ferry then on to Leeds, Knox, Rugby, Granville and Minot. 

Stay warm and safe in the snow - and feel blessed that now our sleeping gardens are getting the rest they deserve while we work to give some rest to a dedicated traveller.

Blessings and Friends

We're coming up on Thanksgiving and I think it is important to take count of our blessings during this season. Harvest time has typically been a time of reaping and counting - and counting our blessings is a way to do just that.

This past week I was blessed by a new friend. Anne Hursh of Cando came into my life in July or so. She called out of the blue one day and asked if I would be interested in some lilie's. Of course I'm interested in FREE plants! Are you kidding??? I went to visit Anne and saw her beautiful gardens that have been tended with love for many years by Anne and her husband Lloyd. Surrounded by mature evergreens, their farm is an oasis with vegetable and flower gardens scattered throughout the beautifully landscaped farm yard. Anne is amazing, with some old age wear and tear creeping up on her health, she still is able to maintain a fabulous looking garden with the help of her family. She now needs to use a walker but Anne stays determined to garden.

Anne, who is originally fro Oregon where her family used to raise lilies commercially, loves her lilies and was willing to share them with me. So, a few weeks ago, she gave me a call and told me it was time to dig. On a sunny afternoon I picked up my shovel and a box and headed for her place. I came home with a big box full of lily bulbs, which I put in the ground immediately so the weather wouldn't sour on me and keep me from getting them planted. I also came home having made a new friend in the gardening world. I found Anne and Lloyd to be delightful and their gardens were candy for the eyes. What a blessing! Thanks Anne and Lloyd for the new additions to gardendwellers FARM. I hope I can keep them living and growing for many years and make you proud!

As American as Apple Pie!

Fall is truly in full swing and Barry and I are hard at work making the pies that we give as gifts to family and friends (and land friendly farmers who allow hunters). So far we've made 26 pies with plans for 6 more in the works. We ran out of sugar last night or we would have had them all done. Thank heaven for friendly neighbors (Lorrie Sandberg) who donated the cup and half of sugar we needed to complete just those we had already started last night.

Our assembly line style of pie making uses a recipe from an Occident Family Flour cookbook so old that the cover and any copyright information, including the year it was published, are now long gone. My guess the cookbook was my grandmothers but I've had it so long even I don't remember. All I know if that this is the recipe that I have used for apple pies all my life and one that I know is a 'no-fail'.

Barry's a great help in this process. He's the master with the apple peeler-corer-slicer and he helps with the rest of the assembly to - preferring to be the cinnamon and butter guy. Together we can pump out 16 pies in about an hour and a half.

Real ingredients are important to us but you can see that we use store-bought pie crusts. I never was very good at crust and with most of the pies being given away, it saves on having to buy pie tins. We do use Pride Dairy butter fresh from the creamery/dairy in Bottineau and of course the apples from the tree here at the farm. We make sure to use ND's own Crystal Sugar and ND Mill and Elevator four when we can.

The pies are assembled and then wrapped in freezer paper and frozen for delivery. We put baking instructions on the top and always include the phrase, "please place a baking sheet under the pie when baking, they're so full of goodness it might just ooze out into your oven."

Home-made and hand-made always tell a story, we hope that our pies tell our friends and family that we care about them - enough to take the time and effort to give something that we grew, created and then gave with love.

Happy Fall!
PS - we wish all the hunters out there a safe and successful season!

Abundance
Each year at the farm we have an abundance of something. Some times its just plain weeds. One year it was an abundance of frogs and toads, one year it was gardener snakes and this year seems to be the year for feathered friends.

The FARM is alive with birds and feathers of all kinds. There are ducks nesting in the rhubarb and in the labyrinth, doves nesting in the lilacs, brown thrashers nesting under the Adirondak chairs in the front yard, yellow warblers nesting in the maple tree, barn swallows on the back of the shed and catbirds in the bushes on the north of the main block. We are blessed with their song and thier color every day and happy to have them. I can't say they feel the same way about us. Mrs. Duck has had to renest after we inadvertantly mowed down the tall grass around her first home and the brown thrashers get extremely excited every time we let our large Bernese Mountain Dog out of the house. Little do they know that Mae just wants to peak at the babies and would be the first to defend them should a predator come close. The catbird landed on Barry's hat the other day just to let him know he was a little too close and Ida the cocker spaniel has had her behind pecked on more than one occassion. But for the most part, we're all good neighbors and it's really fun.

For those of you planning a trip to the FARM, let me tell you how things look right now - awfully weedy and pretty small. The spring has been a wet and cold one keeping us from weeding as we would like and keeping the seedlings small. Now that we are having some heat we're hoping everything will catch up - including the hoes - and things will look much better in about two weeks. We're still hoping for our first harvest around July 14th so by then we should be looking good and have lots of herbs and flowers to show visitors. Your best bet if you're planning a trip is to come mid-July or after but of course, we have LOTS of interesting things to do even if you come before then.

Our geocache has already been found by 6 people this year. That's great! It's fun to watch these high tech scavenger hunters scour the property as they GPS thier way to the treasure. Welcome to all who look foward to our cache and thanks to everyone who has found it thus far.

We hope to see you all this summer - come on out and say hello - pull a weed or two! And of course have a safe and happy summer!

Water Water Everywhere!
It seems the state of ND is trying to wash away the snow from winter and covering itself in a blanket of water. Up until now, we have been relatively unaffected by the flooding that seems to be inundating the whole state but the last few days have brought it into the forefront of my reality.

The inserted chart from the USGS shows the increase in water into Lake Irvine. For the most part, our land is high and dry and is likely to remain that way, however we do have one planting area that borders some lower parts of town that could be at risk should the water levels continue to rise. our home and classroom, however well protected by higher elevation, could be difficult to reach should the water cover the roads into town. Many of the rural and township roads in the area along the Coulee are already closed. The elevation at the back of our east lot is 1452-53 and the field that borders Lake Irvine, which is already under water, is at 1449. So you can see we didn't pick the best year to erect a high tunnel on that property.

The road to the old bridge east of town is not completely covered and the rural water main flush-out is either covered today (I haven't been down to check it) or will be soon.

It seems surreal to be worrying about flooding when for the last 6 years we've been worrying about how to get enough water onto our crops. Two days ago I told Barry it was like a big toilet and as long as the water continued to flow south like a big toilet flushing the water down stream, I wouldn't worry. I said I would only worry when the flow started coming north again like an overflow in that great white porcelain bowl. Today, my theory is a little different. Water is so unpredictable, it's very nature, fluidity, makes it almost impossible to predict where it will go and when.

I grew up in Minot and lived through two large floods and I know that of all natural disasters flooding is the worst. Most other disasters are over in a matter of minutes. Fires, tornado's, hurricanes, earthquakes; they all come and go in a matter and hours and the rebuilding can begin and you know where you stand. Flooding is different, the time it takes, the mental anguish, all are prolonged as the water slowly rises, sticks around a while, and then hopefully recedes.

Here's hoping the water in Devils Lake and Lake Irvine decides to recede to at least an acceptable level in the not too distant future - I've got tourists to cater to and plants to plant!

Well there are truly some amazing things that happen in the spring. Yesterday, the weather was so beautiful here we just had to play outside. Since the tops of the cold frames were starting to peak through the three feet of snow surrounding them, I grabbed a shovel and started digging. In light of the nice weather, a little of me was hoping I could start planting them soon if I could just find them. To my surprise, once uncovered, there was still life in them! After being buried in four feet of snow since December and enduring sub-zero temps, the mache', freckles lettuce, and leeks and a few oinons were still green. We'll see how they recover now that they are subjected to sunlight and warm temps once again but its a good sign. The long sleep is over and new life is ready to begin anew.

Well, spring must be near. Our new high tunnel (a less expensive version of a greenhouse) was delivered today. It seemed really odd to put the pieces all in a pile of snow knowing that it will be months before we can erect this large pile of tinker toys but the sun was shining and it gas us hope that spring truly isn't as far away as it seems sometimes. This pile of pipe, screws, tape, connectors, and plastic will turn into a 26 X 48 growing structure that will hopefully allow us to grow more herbs for a longer season, keeping our customers happy longer. what a deal!

Busy winter Planning
Most people think that we spend the winter sleeping like bears or taking it easy and having fun. Just the contrary! In the last week we have finished the seed order, and already have had some of the seeds delivered, designed a few drafts of new labels for our grocery store herbs, researched UPC symbols for our products, researched and ordered a new high tunnel - much like a greenhouse that will lengthen our season and increase our yeild - researched and are now ready to order the components for a cooler that will extend the shelf life and safety of our products when delivered to grocery stores and restaurants, updated the web site, cleaned the classroom, spoke to a group of 4-H'ers in Edinburg about growing herbs and gardening projects and the list goes on! We have yet to plan for the 2009 classes and events so any input you have would be welcome. If there is a class you'd like repeated or didn't get to attend in the past, now is the time to let us know. We'll be cutting back the class schedule in 2009 as we have a lot of construction and a few new customers to deal with on the wholesale end and there just isn't enough time in a day. Don't worry though, we'll still have classes and events - just not one each week.

This summer we will finish the therapy gardens. The completion of this area will make us fully accessible to wheel chairs, walkers, and those with special abilities or limitations. We'll also have to erect that high tunnel - good thing the community members have offered to help!

Tonight I will go to Rugby to help them kick off their American Heart Association Wellness challenge. I will be teaching a series of classes on eating local, fresh, and organic. There will be 6 classes held every Monday from the end of January to April. We'll look at ways to shop in your own home town for fresh, local and organic foods and ways to keep on living a healthy lifestyle without dramatically changing the way you cook or eat. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to it.

This month is a hectic one for us with something booked on the calendar almost every day. I have lots of vacation time from my job at MSU-Bottineau to use - I just can't seem to find time to use it. I'm hoping that later this spring I can sneak away for a day or two to show our little dog Ida in the Rally Obedience ring in the twin cities or Fargo but we'll just have to see what comes. For right now - we're just bobbing around trying to keep one step ahead of this growing business!

Please be sure to drop us a note or keep in touch. If there is anything we can do to help you plan for summer excursions, classes, events, cooking, etc. - contact us! We always love to hear from you. In the mean time I'm sure our winter is going to go by way too fast - soon we'll be planting rosemary and lavendar and putting up temporary greenhouses in the classroom for the herb babies. Stay Warm!

Caught in a nap.

When the weather is bad and snow and ice are all around, seems like all you want to do is lay down with a good book, a good movie, a good blanket and nap. Our early winter storm brought out that quality in me last week. Today however was different. With temps hovering around the 30 degree mark I took the day to play outside.

I warmed up first by baking a pecan pie (Uncle Jim's favorite) for supper and at least moving my body along to Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies (I'm not coordinated enough to call it dancing) and then dressed up warm and went out to play.

I spent most of the day outside and had a great time. I took all the Halloween decorations off the shed and replaced them with sleds, evergreens, and I even put up the lights. Water was dripping down my arm and back as the snow on the roof melted but it was clean fresh water and I didn't mind. As the sun began to get very low in the sky, I decided to go out back and make sure the grill would light. We're having some BIG pork ribs Unca Jim brought with him from Wisconsin and although I started them in the oven we want to finish them off on the grill. You have to take advantage of every day like this you get in ND - don't ya know!

As I stood by the grill to make sure it was going to stay lit, I noticed one particular little downy woodpecker who seemed quite disturbed. I knew it wasn't because he was hungry as I had filled the bird feeders with suet just two days previous. I didn't pay too much attention to him until I looked over towards the suet tree (that tree that Barry pruned to within an inch of its life so we could move the house in and now all the stump branches work well as suet hangars) and there she was.

At first I thought she was hurt or ill as she certainly was breathing but she wasn't moving. I even said 'hello' to see if she would fly away. Her friend was flitting around chirping quite excitedly and I didn't want to get too near her but I was really curious at this point. After snapping these few shots of her I cautiously reached out and tapped the tree beside her. She pulled her head from under her wing, opened her eyes, which were kind of foggy at first but soon cleared to ebony balls, and ruffled her feathers to put the down all back into its neat smooth lines. She hopped around the tree a little then up to a crevice for a bit of snow for a drink.

Wow, I thought, another lesson from the gardens. Winter and cold brings on a natural desire to sleep your life away. Even as friends call and invite you to "Come out and Play" we sometimes drift into a deep slumber. As my gardens sleep through the winter, I too want to hibernate away until spring brings us all alive again. But just as the little Downy Woodpecker concluded her drink - she heard the calls of her friend and flew away for a little play before the sun set. I need to remember to do that too. Getting out in the winter might be tough, but its worth the effort when you have someone who cares about you, wants to spend time with you and will help you to fly away to great places. Hope everyone remembers to take joy in the winter- it's the seasons that we live that help to make us seasoned.

On another note - my cold frames with fresh lettuce, onions, mustard and leeks have made it through the first batch of cold and snow just fine. The Flashy Trout lettuce didn't take the cold as well as the Freckles but it still looks promising for a December harvest. Today, with a balmy 30 degrees outside, the inside of the cold frames was 55 degrees. It was overcast and not particularly sunny or I'm sure it would have been much more.

The day I brushed the snow off of them the outside of the boxes was actually sweating - at 18 degrees outside it was 35 inside. I can tell the buttercrunch lettuce has taken a freeze but there is also mache in there and that will freeze, thaw, and be able to be eaten so I'm not too worried.

Hope everyone has friends to call them when they need to go play, a warm place to stay inside when the weather gets bad, and a garden to plan for spring!

.