"It's beginning to taste a lot like gasoline," she hummed.

In honor of Bryan's Grandmother Louise, we attempted to make Dandelion Wine the other day. Bear in mind the "wine" is meant to cure over a period of three weeks. After sampling it this morning, two weeks later, it has indeed fermented. Wow. Perhaps another week will take the edge off.







According to family lore, Grandpa Siebels was known to say that he could start his tractor using Grandma's Black Berry Brandy.






Isn't there a Berenstein Bear book where Papa Bear makes a stew just like this one?

Planting

We have been planting now for the last two weeks. We may have started our seeds a bit on the late side, but it feels wonderful to finally have the garden all planted. Well, the first wave any way.


Planted in the first wave:

squash, watermelon, zucchini
potatos, sweet corn, beans, snow peas, peas, carrots, onions, cauliflower, broccoli,lettuce, spinach, artichokes, peppers,
AND OF COURSE heirloom tomatoes


Leanne transplanting squash



















Ok, technically all our plants in the mini greenhouse still need to be planted, but we can pretend the garden is planted for now.

The Great Mushroom Hunt

After two weeks of devastation being unable to locate a single mushroom, Bryan and I finally hit the mother load. We are conservatively estimating our haul at five pounds. Some of which we gave to the farmers that owned the land. Fried mushrooms last night, morel biscuits and gravy for dinner tonight, and then we are out of ideas.









Bryan cooked the 1st batch in bread crumbs, they were amazing.

We get by on a little help from our friends

Feeling overwhelmed with the gardening, a call was placed early Wednesday morning. An hour later a massive John Deer tractor arrived at our house detoured from it's trip to a near by field. Bryan and I made ourselves comfortable sitting on the fence while Alex disked our garden in a matter of minutes. There is nothing like calling Papa Steve on his iphone over your morning cup of coffee.

Fence Row seating.

Snake Proofing the Chicken House

With the baby chicks estimated arrival date two weeks away and our recent snake incident, we decided to spend the day snake proofing the chicken house. We filled all the cracks along the floor and placed chicken-wire over existing holes. Alex, my father's farmhand, keeps warning us about rat and snake attacks. We will be prepared, however I may still sleep in the chicken house just to be sure that everyone is safe.

Fence Row Foraging

Icecream bucket and paring knife in hand, Bryan and I scoured the ditches for wild Asparagus. I would like to report that we had keen enough "asparagus eyes" to find it on our own. However, our hunt was more like a tour led by family members.

"What Asparagus?" The daughter and the son-in-law asked quizzically.

"Your standing on it." The farmer replied gleefully, hiding his laughter behind a nonchalant shrug.

After being led to three local ditch patches of Asparagus, Bryan and I were able to find two patches on our own! Driving at 20 mph while I hung out the passenger side yelling, "Stop! Asparagus." "No wait, maybe." Erratic is the best way to describe our behavior, driving forward, backwards, with frequent u-turns and us jumping in and out of the ditch.

The hunt is now on, we will be careful to always carry our bucket and knife in the car when we go out.



After a short rain shower, the sunset was amazing for the drive home.

A walkabout in May

After settling in, I grabbed my camera and headed out into the great beyond. Sorry, this whole project reeks of cliche.





Our closest neighbors.

Early May Leanne Arrives in Iowa

We made the 18 1/2 hour trip from Florida to Iowa in a day. With Tilly, our pet finch, bouncing in the backseat the entire way. We arrived slightly messed, but unharmed in Iowa. This Florida girl quickly bundled herself in hand knit hats and mittens that had been nearly forgotten in the Sunshine state.

Once in Iowa we began juggling a farmhouse overhaul and the beginnings of our garden. Our records look something like this after our first week:

-onions planted: 500
-tomatoes planted: 40
-snakes macheted: 4
- cellphone reception: none









(Bryan finds a nest of bull snakes living under our porch. Which, in hindsight, explains the random snake sightings in the house.)