What to do today? Osborne Park – Elkader, Iowa

Posted on October 12, 2014 by farm2011

The second part of my day was going to check out the Osborne Park. It wasn’t too far away from the first stop that I made, and I got directions on how to get there without going the long way around. So I thanked my tour guide at the Motor Mill and off I went. Now I was supposed to take 3 right turns if I wanted to get back into town and 2 right turns and one left turn if I wanted to go to Osborne Park. And knowing that at Osborne they were celebrating their 40th Anniversary of Heritage Days, I knew which way I was going to turn. Well I’m driving and thinking this is just so beautiful. I’m not really a fall kind of person, and don’t normally get too excited about the leaves turning colors, but holy smokes it was pretty! So I turn my first right and life is good. I even stop and take a picture of the road.DSC_0265 Then I go further and take another right. Yup, the next one if my left turn. And you guessed it, I came up to the next  T intersection and I turned left. You know when you’re doing something and it just doesn’t feel right? Well, that’s how I felt. But it was two rights and a left so I should be good. So I’m driving and driving and I start to think.. was the first right I turned really a right turn or was it a corner? Crap! I was going the wrong way. So instead of turning around and coming back which would be the logical thing to do, I get out my phone and Google Map the way back. There just has to be a shorter way to get to this park! Well the clock was also ticking and what should have taken me maybe 10 minutes is going to take me way longer than that! But I decided not to freak out about it and just enjoy the scenery. Here’s the another photo that I took. DSC_0267I soon realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was driving,  and that the roads in this county are about the most crooked roads ever! I remember one thing that the tour guide told me. She said that this county does not have any stop lights in it at all. It’s one of the few in the Nation that can say that. And after driving on some of these roads, I’m thinking that maybe they should get a couple so you knew where you were going if you got lost! So out comes my phone again and now I’m thinking that I shouldn’t have drank all that water either. I thought maybe I could find some place along the road to stop – but that didn’t happen. It seemed like someone would just be driving behind me at the most inconvenient time. OK, finally after driving around on the back roads and getting back literally to where I turned left instead of right, I was back on track. It started to rain and I hesitated to even go at this point. The festival was only going to be going for about 1 1/2 hours more. But I still had to go to the bathroom and was getting kind of hungry, so I decided that I was going to find this park no matter what! And guess what? It was so easy to find once you’re on the right road. Yea, who would have thought. So I pulled into the area and parked the car. I grabbed some money and found myself at the festival. I know that it was getting to the end of the weekend for them, but it looked kind of fun!  So after checking it out, I went to find something to eat. I saw a sign that said Buffalo Stew and grabbed myself a bowl. It was really good! Here is where they made it and these are the guys that served it.

Stew cooking literally over an open fire!

Stew cooking literally over an open fire!

How could you say no to these guys?

How could you say no to these guys?

So after getting some stew in my belly, I found a local dairy that sells ice cream and a cup of butter brickle ice cream was next on my list. I watched an auction for awhile and also this Medicine Man entertaining some kids and then I was ready to head back home.

Medicine Man show

Medicine Man show

But I came across another stand selling some kind of sweet bread taco’s. Yum. After devouring that, I decided I better start back home. I asked some local girls which way was town and headed that way. This time I’m not planning on getting lost! Below is the history of the town and a couple of pictures that I took. Now that I know how to get here, I’d like to come back again to check it out even more. And my big purchases of the day? Two bars of homemade soap. I can hardly resist buying any homemade soap when I find it.

HISTORY : “The name of the center comes from the gentleman that first occupied this site in 1865 and named it after himself- Thomas Osborne.  In 1878 Mr. Osborne began selling plots of land in order to form the town of Osborne.  By 1880 Osborne had grown to include 50 full time residents, a 2 ½ story hotel, blacksmith shop, general store, grain elevator and railroad depot. However, due to low food prices the town began to fade until the town quickly shrank to less than 10 people.  Today there is still one person and two dogs who boast that they live in the town of Osborne.”

DSCN9041 

Pumpkin winner!

Pumpkin winner!

Things were winding down when I finally got there

Things were winding down when I finally got there

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What to do today? Motor Mill- Elkader, Iowa

Posted on October 12, 2014 by farm2011

Daryl had to get up early this morning to meet the other guys also going to the football game, so he said good-bye and off he went.

I was still in bed when he left and was trying to think just what I should do today. I wanted to go kayaking, but everyone was busy doing other stuff. So that wasn’t going to work. I could work on getting the house cleaned, but that was a lame idea! I just didn’t know what the day was going to bring. So after I got the cows fed and the other chores done I still wasn’t any closer to my answer. I did some housework and decided that I might just want to go to this one Mill that someone at work was talking about. It wasn’t that far away, only about 1 1/2 hours and it was pretty nice outside. Yup, that’s what I was going to do. I pulled it up quick on the internet and found that this is the only day that they were going to be open this year. It was like it was fate or something! Then I saw that not too far from the Mill was an annual festival that was celebrating it’s 40th year. SCORE!! I’m in business. I quick changed clothes and I was off. Now I wasn’t sure where either of these places were, but I wrote down some basic directions before I left and honestly how hard could it be right?

MOTOR MILL – Clayton County, Iowa

This was going to be my first stop of the day. I wasn’t sure where I was actually going, but I knew the general idea. Well I found out, that maybe I didn’t have a clue where it actually was! I knew that I was on the right highway from my notes, but I kept watching for one of those brown signs that say “turn here”. Finally after driving up and down this one highway and hoping that no one was watching, I finally found the sign that I was looking for. It said that it was 7 miles from the turn. OK, this shouldn’t be too hard right? It was all gravel travel, but growing up on a gravel road and now living on a gravel road,this should be a piece of cake. OMG!! Yea… not so much!! I was driving, driving, driving, and finally found another brown sign that pointed to the right. Well at least I was on the right road and took a deep breath and turned right. Now I don’t know about you, but I have honestly have never been on any road like this in my life!! I took this picture, but it doesn’t do it any justice.

It was steeper than this picture can ever show!

It was steeper than this picture can ever show!

And when I got on top of the next hill, I literally stopped the car because I couldn’t see the road in front of me. It was like you were on the top of the roller coaster and just got to the top. Yup, just like that! Crazy stuff! And then I literally laughed out loud when I came across this sign around the next corner.

What?

What?

Really? Now it’s going to get worse? I just couldn’t imagine that! The good thing about it was that the scenery was absolutely beautiful and a road like I’ve never driven on before. When I finally got to the Mill I was telling the tour guide about my adventure and she just smiled and said that when she drives on it she can’t believe the road either! There is a better way to get back to the highway, and she’d give me directions when I left.

Now for the Mill.

Motor Mill, Elkader Iowa

Motor Mill, Elkader Iowa

It was absolutely so cool! It’s located on the Little Turkey River and the time of the year couldn’t have been better. There was a total of 5 buildings on the property, the Mill, the Cooperage (where they made the flour barrels), the Stable (for the people who stayed at the Inn), the Inn (farmers stayed here while their grain was ground), and the Ice House (ice cut from the river and kept inside for the Inn). But the one that I really wanted to check out was the Mill. I’ve never even heard about this mill until a couple of weeks ago. When this 6 story Mill was built back in the late 1860’s, it cost $50,000 to build the mill. $50,000 in our time would be almost $3,000,000. And then they spent another $40,000 on equipment and out buildings. I guess you can say that the 3 partners who built this mill had a lot of money back in those days!  There are so many facts about this mill that it’s going to be too hard to put them all in this post. But some of the cool things that I learned today is that when the mill was running, no one was allowed to be in the building who didn’t work there. That way, no one could see how they milled the product and take away any trade secrets. The other thing that I learned it that all the wood and limestone has small holes in them. The reason is because in order to get the 5 foot slabs of limestone in place or the huge boulders of wood,  they hooked it with a large hook and rope and then used a pulley system to put it in place. The mill was powered by a dam that was built that supplied at least 250 hp even at low water. They used the water to power turbines that moved the big mill stones. The building is built with a limestone base sitting on bed rock. And after all these years and multiple floods, it hasn’t moved a bit.

So here are some pictures that I took today and if you ever get a chance to check out this Motor Mill, I would definitely suggest doing it!

I like this picture, so I added it to show the water and the tree colors

I like this picture, so I added it to show the water and the tree colors

I had absolutely no idea that there was this many mills in the area!

I had absolutely no idea that there was this many mills in the area!

Limestone bluffs used to make the Mill. This is across the river from the Mill

Limestone bluffs used to make the Mill. This is across the river from the Mill

Limestone is all around you when you're driving to the Mill

Limestone is all around you when you’re driving to the Mill

People have carved their names into the limestone inside the buildings for over 90 years!

People have carved their names into the limestone inside the buildings for over 90 years! All the walls are full of people who have come and gone through out the years.

 

And the photo of the day is a pretty simple one. It’s the bridge that is by the Mill that goes over the Little Turkey River. It sounds like a lot of people kayak this river and I’m telling you that I sure hope that I’m on that list next year!

Looking down the bridge

Looking down the bridge

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Girls day out

Posted on October 11, 2014 by farm2011

Daryl got done with beans and had them hauled into the Co-op late last night, so today he was going to ‘open the field’ and take the first rounds of corn out. This way he can see if the combine with the corn head is working OK and he can check out the corn field. This isn’t something that he needed my help with,  so I picked up my Mom this morning and we were off to town. The weather was just perfect for a drive and so we took the long way there. It’s normally about an hour drive and I think it took us about 1 1/2 hours. First thing is to get something to eat. I know… that doesn’t really sound like shopping, but we were both hungry so we found a restaurant that we both liked and got our bellies wayyyyy too full! Next stop – the mall. Mom had some shoes that she needed to return, so I took them to return and left her to see if she could find a couple of things for herself while I was gone. She had great luck and I was happy that she found some stuff. After hanging out in the mall for awhile, off to the new craft store that just opened up in town. I didn’t need anything in the mall, but I was anxious to check out this store.  I had a coupon (no surprises here right?) and I was in business. When we walked in, Ma asked if I needed a cart. I told her that there was no way that I needed a cart and grabbed one of those plastic baskets. Yea, it didn’t take long and I knew that this was a mistake. Do you know that those baskets really don’t hold that much? I found tons of stuff that was 1/2 price in the scrap booking aisle that I just had to have! By the time I got to the check out line, the blood was almost totally gone from my right arm because of how heavy my basket had gotten. But it was some treasures and it was TONS of fun just checking out the store! Now when we got back in the car we talked about a couple of family weddings coming up next year and decided to drive back across town to see what this one department store had for dress clothes. We were going to just look and laughed on the way home when we looked in the back seat at the purchase that Ma made from that store. I swear that you have better luck finding something when you say to yourself that you don’t need it for quite awhile! But she had great luck and found the most beautiful dress top for the next wedding. After a strawberry ice cream malt, we found ourselves back home again. What a successful day we both had.

Mom and I

Mom and I

And for Daryl? Well he was able to get a couple of loads of corn out and is anxious to get back in the fields more next week. He said everything was working pretty good and hoped that it stayed that way.

Full loads of corn that will go into the dryer at our farm

Full loads of corn that will go into the dryer at our farm

And tonight he’s getting his winter coats lined up for the Viking’s football game he’s heading to tomorrow. I wonder what  I should do while he’s gone?

The photo of the day is that of our neighbors bean field. They were done combining the corn, so the past couple of days they’ve been working on the round bales that they made from the leftover corn stalks. Now I know that larger farmers need the round bales and we’ve had someone make us some also every year. But I sure am a small square bale girl myself. 🙂DSC_0244

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Supper

Posted on October 10, 2014 by farm2011

When I’m looking in the refrigerator I notice that the soup and lasagna is all gone that I made a couple of days ago. That’s a bad thing. What that means is that there’s nothing in the fridge that Daryl can quick grab and warm up when he’s done in the field for the day. So it’s time to make a couple more things. He’s working on the soybeans tonight, and I want to have whatever I make done when he comes in.

The first thing that I want to make is a Chicken Casserole. Now I know that Daryl doesn’t really like casseroles, but he does like the one that my sister makes so I’m going to give this recipe a try. It’s easy & fast.. and even more important it’s forgiving. It’s kind of like my sister’s recipe so it should be OK.

I put everything in my dutch oven but you can use a 9 x 13 pan. Spray your baking dish with an oil spray. I forgot this part and it didn’t stick, but you’re supposed to do it. See, here’s where the forgiving part started.

  • You need 2 cups of cut up chicken. It can be what you have in the fridge, deli, or just boil a couple of pieces quick. And if you have more or less than 2 cups? Well that’s OK. Into your baking container that goes.
  • Then add 1 lb of broken up spaghetti that has been cooked
  • 1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup green pepper diced, 1/2 cup red pepper diced. If you want more or less then just do that.
  • 1 medium onion diced. Same rule as the peppers, more/less?
  • 2 cans of condensed chicken soup
  • 2 cups of hot water
  • salt & pepper
  • Mix everything together & top with cheddar cheese

    I put everything in one pan and then mixed it together

    I put everything in one pan and then mixed it together

  • Bake 350 for 4 to 50 minutes.
Into the oven it goes

Into the oven it goes

Now I confess it didn’t taste as good as when my sister makes her recipe, but it wasn’t a bad dish that you can make really fast!

And just like that it's done!

And just like that it’s done!

 

I also make some potato soup and have that in the fridge for the upcoming days. Our house is smelling pretty good about now!

The photo of the day is that of our chickens. They hate wind (Smart chickens!!) but they like the sunshine. So they all meet under our hay wagon for the afternoon.

IMG_2161

Posted in Baking, Farm animals, Picture of the day | Comments Off on Supper

Lunar Eclipse and starting beans – Wednesday

Posted on October 9, 2014 by farm2011

I knew that there was going to be a lunar eclipse of the moon tonight and seriously I was even up at 2:30 to take a look. Well, I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up, it was 2:30 in the morning is really how it went.  I remembered about the lunar eclipse and the blood moon so I opened up the front door and walked outside on the porch to take a look. I didn’t see a moon, but I did see 5 little kitties all running towards me, so I hurried up and went back inside and shut the door. I was hoping that I could catch it on the way to work instead in the morning and went to bed. And guess what? I did exactly that! When I pulled out of the driveway the moon caught my eye and honestly it was pretty cool. It was really red and after trying to figure out just why the lunar eclipses make the moon red, this is what I found (and no there will not be a test afterwards)

“A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and the full moon form a nearly straight line so that the full moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. The earth’s atmosphere extends about 50 miles above Earth’s surface. During a total lunar eclipse, when the moon is submerged in Earth’s shadow there is circular ring around Earth which the sun’s rays pass. Sunlight is made up of a range of frequencies and as the sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the green to violet portion of the light spectrum is filtered out and the reddish portion of the spectrum is least affected.” So the bottom line is that the red is the only part of the atmosphere that the sun is picking up when it shines past the earth to the moon. Well that is what I learned today! 

So you can call the moon the Blood Moon or the Harvest Moon, but either way it was still pretty cool at 6:30 in the morning.IMG_2148 Daryl was able to get in the fields tonight to start to take out the soybeans. The weather was perfect and so far so good with the equipment. I don’t want to say anymore on that so I don’t jinx it. I did a little bit of running around for him getting stuff for the field and no matter how much we complain about the cell phone bill, those phones really do come in handy when it’s field work time. I took a couple of pictures in the field tonight. The first one is Daryl just getting started to combine the soybeansIMG_2156the beans in the fieldIMG_2155 and Daryl of course after I brought out some stuff for him for the combine.IMG_2159 After the chores were done and the eggs picked, I spent some time working on getting organized for the fall . Out came and my planner and also some big ideas on organization. Yea, we’ll see how well I that all goes.

The photo of the day is that of Waffle. She’s probably the most sweetest of all the kitties and the most playful. She usually sits where no one can see her and then she comes out and ambushes them!DSCN9020

Posted in Farm animals, Farming, Picture of the day | Comments Off on Lunar Eclipse and starting beans – Wednesday

Today’s Challenge Photo 10-8-14

Posted on October 8, 2014 by farm2011

OK, here is today’s photo. So far I haven’t been able to stump you guys with the photo’s but I’m thinking this week is when it’s going to happen.

No clues this time and check out the photo below. It’s a little blurry, but that adds to the challenge. DSC_0211c

 

Posted in Wednesday's Challenge Photo | 4 Comments

Mystery Photo 10-1-14

Posted on October 8, 2014 by farm2011

Here was the clue last weekDSC_0219a

and here was the answer! You guys are Rock Stars!! DSC_0219

This is the first year that my little pine tree has pine cones. The cows kept eating the tree in the past years and finally left it alone this year.

 

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Road Trip!

Posted on October 7, 2014 by farm2011

I could hear the dogs barking at something in the barn Monday morning around 4 am and at first I thought.. well I thought really bad things! Then all of a sudden I was thinking that maybe a skunk got in the barn and the dogs have got it cornered. Now normally the only bad thing about that is the smell that usually comes with skunks. But I know that Reno was due for her rabies shot and I started to panic what if it was really a skunk,  and if was sick… Well, you can about imagine how much sleep (or lack of sleep) I got after 4:00. So today I have an appointment for Reno to get her shots. My plan was to pick her up on my lunch hour and road trip it to the vet and then pick her up after work. While she was there, she was going to catch up on her shots and then get a shampoo and a style.

It was now my lunch hour and I make a mad dash home and first things first. Kaiser has chewed off Reno’s her collar and so now it’s junk Yea, no surprise here! It seems like anything he sees, he can destroy in about 5 minutes. Since I needed a collar to hook the lease on, I decided to use his on her. I thought that this was a good plan. Well I grabbed the lease from the house and down to the barn I go. When I opened the door Reno saw that I had the lease in my hand and she knew right away that someone was going somewhere and she started to get scared. She got really scared to be honest. She makes this funny clicking noise with her teeth like they are literally chattering. She then lays on the ground and won’t make eye contact. Well that’s all good, but we were going to go and that was that! I got Kaiser’s collar off by literally holding him down and then it went on her. OK, so far so good. Then the lease went on and we were heading down the road in the truck to the vet’s office. She was so good when I dropped her off and I was so proud of her. Sometimes when our dogs get scared, well let’s say it get a little messy in their office. Now fast forward to after work. I pull up in front of the office and get out with my lease. They knew the time that I was coming back and was going to have Reno ready. When I step out of the truck another car pulls up beside me and out steps this lady who looks pretty friendly. I say Hi and we both head into the office. Now out comes Reno all clean and happy when all of a sudden this lady who walked in with me went over to Reno and grabbed her face and said how beautiful ‘he’ looked and was ‘he’ happy to see her? She kept telling Reno that she just loved her and and then she was ready to take her home. OK, now this is getting a little weird. I gave the ‘I think this lady is kind of freaky’ look to the vet and she just kind of shrugged her shoulder. Finally I told the lady that this was my dog and she looked at me and then she looked at the dog and then.. her face turned RED! All of a sudden out of the corner of the room come a running another collie, but a male instead. Reno was just basking in all the petting she was getting and was sitting so nice and calm. But this other dog. Holy Cow! This other dog couldn’t keep his feet on the ground. He came a running around the corner and after he literally slid up to her, he started to jump. I swear all four feet were off the ground at once. Now I was thinking that Kaiser was naughty but I’m rethinking that statement after seeing her dog! She asked the vet how she should be disciplining her dog and the vet told her just keep doing what she was doing. Now I’m not an expert, but I’m thinking to myself that maybe she should try something else!  I think both Reno and I had the same expression on our faces when we walked out of the office this afternoon after seeing how excited that dog was. But soon we were in the truck and headed back to the farm. I snapped a quick picture of Reno when we got home just hanging out in the truck. She looks pretty sassy with her scarf on and all and I think she knows it!! IMG_2146

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Getting things cleaned up a bit

Posted on October 6, 2014 by farm2011

It was really nice after work today so I decided that I better get some of the stuff cleaned up around the old milk house, flower boxes on the barn, and the other buildings. I wanted to clean up the flowers that were either dying or needed to be removed before the weather turned really cold.

I started with the lily’s by the milk house and holy smokes did I end up with a mess! I’m not sure how I got so much stuff out of there, but it was one of those times when you started something and then you get about half way done and think ‘this is a really yucky job!’ But I got through it and ended up carrying the extra leaves behind the grain bins. I’m not sure who’s going to use them this fall and winter, but I bet some little creatures will!DSCN9006

I laughed when I went down to check on the flowers by the Roadhouse. I saw that I had some oats growing in that container! But it didn’t look so bad – so I left it in there. Well at least for now. DSCN9015

And finally the ones by the front door. I just couldn’t junk them out yet, so even though they’re looking pretty summery around the pumpkins and mums that I have out there also, well that’s just how it’s going to have to be for now. DSCN9017

 

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Hanging out at home

Posted on October 5, 2014 by farm2011

Daryl wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get in the fields today, so we just planned on getting some things done around the farm just in case the weather got nice and he was able to start to take out the soybeans. We both have more than enough to do this time of the year, so it was OK to try to catch up a little bit.

While Daryl worked outside, I spent the time today washing and getting the canned apple jars from yesterday organized down in the cellar. I used to never rewash the jars until one time I had some pretty funky stuff growing on them and from then on, it’s always something that gets done. When I was putting away the jars I spotted my water bath canner and when I compared the two that I had, there is a difference in the sizes. Now how weird is that? Well for whatever the reason why this one is shorter is beyond me and it’s headed to Good Will where someone can use it only for pint jars.

Definitely two different sizes.

Definitely two different sizes.

I also had a chance to get some cards made. We needed a baby card DSC_0238and another sympathy cardDSC_0236 and finally belated birthday card. DSC_0235I took my time just hanging out in the scrapbook room today and it was GREAT!

Another thing that worked on today was to make some chicken soup. Daryl has a terrible cold and with leftover chicken in the fridge it sounded like a good plan. I was thinking as I was making it that nothing around the farm really goes to waste. Like I said the chicken was left over from yesterday dinner and when I took the meat off the bones, the parts of the chicken that I didn’t use got split up between the dogs and the kitties. Well to tell you really how it went, the kitties had it to start with and then the dogs came around. Yea, you can picture it right? Then after I cut up the carrots, celery, and onions,  the scraps from doing that went out to the chickens. It’s kind of cool not wasting anything and I really have to remind myself how important to do that really is. So below is my recipe for my soup today and even Daryl said that it was good!

Fast and easy chicken soup

Fast and easy chicken soup

Easy Chicken Soup

  1. Remove chicken from the bones and tear up into smaller pieces
  2. Add 2 boxes soup stock (I used 2 of the 32 ounce sizes)
  3. I added 2 carrots cut up, 2 stalks of celery cut up,1 small onion, and some garlic. Honestly, you can add as much or as little of these things that you like.
  4. Then it looked a little runny and I knew that Daryl hates homemade noodles, so I added a packet of the pasta mixes that you can usually get on sale for a $1. I had creamy chicken with noodles and into the pot it went. I left it simmer for about 30 minutes and just like that it was done.
  5. I almost forgot. I also added some butter to the soup 🙂

This time of the year I always want to have leftovers in the fridge and I’m thinking this soup isn’t going to last long. So I made a pan of lasagna just in case Daryl was going to be able to combine beans this afternoon. I thought that the lasagna would stick to your bones (as my Mom would always say). But the weather didn’t cooperate and he’s hoping that he’ll have a chance early this week to get started. Until then? Well I guess we’re eating soup and lasagna for awhile.

The photo of the day is that of our little kitties. It was still a little windy and cold today and the kitties like to cuddle together on the couch on the porch. I took the picture from inside our house looking out the window in the kitchen. I’m thinking that it was a good spot today for them. I’m just wondering where the 5th kitty was? DSC_0230

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