ITS BEEN NEARLY 21 YEARS

This year was 20 years since we moved to the farm ... and there are days I still feel like Lisa - only difference is, I WANTED to move here!

I love this farm

Truly I do

IMPORTANT WEBSITE -- CHECK OUT THE USDA INFO ON UP COMING FOOD PRICES

RE-POST FROM THE GINGER GARGOYLE GEMS PAGE Here is the link to the USDA's webpage where they discuss how much THEY say food prices are going to go up ... they, of course, don't have a foot into reality and we all know that they will be way unde%r the actual price of things ... https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings/#:~:text=Beef%20and%20veal%20prices%20increased%201.1%20percent%20from%20February%20to,strong%20domestic%20and%20international%20demand I have been watching the sale flayers for our local store ... Cub Foods ... and they have had their steaks jump from $7/lb to $10/lb ... I'm sorry but that is almost 150% of what it cost a month ago!!! I'm wondering if someone added a decimal point some place It is reminding me a lot of the 70's when the elderly were eating cat/dog food because it was cheaper than hamburger - and we're talking the really CHEAP burger too, not even 73/27, we're talking the 50/50 stuff. I don't know if you've ever had it, but if you were a kid back then you know the joy of having a greased up colon! AND we had 6 boys in my family too -- boy did we put the sewer system to task! then too there will be another run on TOILDET PAPER & PAPER TOWELS, as well as CLEANING SUPPLIES this means, if you are a CANNER you will be having a tough time finding VINEGAR yet again this year -- since so many people have found that it works just as good as alcohol or bleach for cleaning. Canners use it to clean the rims of their jars for ensure a strong seal, to add to the canner water to prevent the "dust" from hard water, to clean jars after canning (cuts the grease like you wouldn't believe), and for making fermentations/pickles. as well as for other recipes ... and cleaning Definately the thing to do is to learn the PROPER method for putting up/away food ... avoid Rebel Canning if you are a Newbie ... seriously, do NOT "can" bread, cake, meatloaf, or creamed soups ... or the like. Maybe I should start doing a series over on my "Oh Crock" blogger page ... what do you think??

Stay At Gnome!!!!!

Hey everybody -- it's been sooooo long since I've posted
I've been trying my best NOT to post online these days -- mostly because everything seems to get a political leaning mad - well - I've already accidentally posted to this blog items I've meant for one of my other pages as it is.

We put in a seed order this year and have found the seed catalog more than a tad vague when it came to seeds sold by the thousand but only had an option of 10 thousand ...

Needless to say .... it caused quite a bit of tension when hubby came home with the order

I needed to de-stress

Enter Maymay Made It  she has issued a Punch Art challenge ... and I wanted to send a quick note to my brother to be sure he wasn't ok (he is in/on hospice)

So here is the card I made for him

  

It's plain, clean & simple ... but it didn't actually use ANY punches

But only because I don't own very many

I used regular old Cutting dies

Simply Made Crafts "Square Paper Bag/Lantern " Die set - the banner (his hat) and 2 of the pedal flower dies, the medium (his feet) and the small (his nose)

Gemini Stitched Hearts - either die 3 or 4 would work, I chose #3 (smallest to largest) for his beard

The paper came from my stash, background from a 8x8 square that already had the green & blue

The paper for the beard & his hat came from the SSS 2020 March card kit 

Any ink can be used to color the edges, I happened to use "Gingerbread" Hybrid ink from Scrapbooking.com 

I covered the hat with a layer of clear Wink-a-Luna but it didn't really show up very well, so I say just forget about it

Then I hit the edge of EACH piece with the ink pad - best to do it now before you glue it together

Glue the hat behind the heart in the "hump" side, just enough so the corners don't show 

Then cut a THREE petal piece from the medium flower keeping them attached to one another.  Clip off the CENTER petal with cutting the other 2 apart (so it's kind of like a V) 

Glue the feet behind the pointed end  of the heart ❤️ making them stick out to your liking

Cut 1 petal off the small flower and glue onto the face between the 2 heart humps for the nose

Draw a smirk under the nose

I decided once the glu had dried to gently curve the hat & beard of the gnome

Then I used thin bits of foam (Scrapbooking Made Simple) to pop it up on the card front

Cut a tag, write "Staying Gnome, Thinking of You" on it

Attach to card front

Write a message inside the card base 

Glue the card front on the outside - check to be sure it's going the correct direction

And Viola!!

Pop in the mail and off it goes!

Test

Testing the app I use

Ok - figured I better post something .... I got a mysterious email from blogger saying "it's been awhile". 

No crop again this year ... at the resort caring for my Father in Law ... it has not been easy.

He's not the problem -- it's the pollen count and the cold ... and then there are the cats, which I'm allergic to - they have taken to rubbing all over my sons clothes so the dander/fur transfers to everywhere he goes! 

This year is particularly hard because we lost my mother in law a bit after Mother's Day -- but she had a good Mother's Da, I think. 

He has some memory issues which are kinda no f a blessing ... but he keeps asking for an old girlfriend, used to drive Grandma to distraction - well they were married over 50 yrs and he's asking for someone else ... you understand ...

Average temp this time of year is usually in the 80s-90s .... this year?  60s!

Weird part is .... I LIKE the cold - but not in AUGUST!!!!

War Canadian style

Wow

That's all I can say is .... Wow

So if you haven't heard (and this will be posted on BOTH my GGGems & my Gargoyle Gardens (farm) blogs) CANADA is playing POLITICS with our milk farmers.

For no stated reason I can find, they have suddenly decided to cancel ALL orders for US milk used for making cheese.

I ASSUME - and it is just my own assumption here - that it has something to do with President Trump's stance on NAFTA ... since it seems the US is getting the shaft from the Mexican side when it comes to many portions ... but then that might just be my American perspective ... 

Either way - Canada just went "Nope. Not taking your milk anymore"

AGDay, 2017Apr20 broadcast, had this issue as their main story.

Not only are these farmers getting hit by not being able to sell the milk to Canada - but now the SUPPLIER they were selling it to - Grassland Dairy  - has CANCELLED the contracts to collect the milk at all.

IMMEDIATELY.  Yup - the farmers got a very unpersonal form letter ... not even signed by anyone, just a general company name 

The company said they were only given a TWO DAY notice from Canada, so they just wanted to get a notice out.

Canadas statement on all this??

David MacNaughton

The CANADIAN EMBASSADOR to the USA said

"Canada does not except the contention that Canada's dairy policies are the cause of financial loss for dairy farmers in the United States."

Letter to Wisconsin Governor

Canada seems to feel the US farmer is just looking for a scapegoat and Canada fits the bill at this point.  They blame it on the US over production of milk.

The company mentioned above, Grassland Dairy, would send 1 million gallons of ULTRA-FILTERED milk into Canada EVERY day - since they no longer have Canada taking the milk, 75 farmers in the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin have now been released from their contracts… Without warning… Without compensation!  In fact most farmers found out via Facebook before they even got the letter.

"We are working with our patrons to find a home for their milk, but we understand it's a challenge in these markets. The last thing we as a company want is to let farmers go."

Vice President of Business Development

Grassland Dairy

We are talking about farms that have been in the same family for generations – not just one generation, not just two generations… Sometimes up to eight generations!

This is really sad

This is really bad

This makes me very mad

The interesting part is – how can route retaliate against Canada?

I cannot name one important item from Canada that we can boycott!

All I can say is…

Buy more CHEESE!

Maybe if America eats enough cheese we as a nation can start using some of this million pounds of milk that would have gone to Canada, which is now sitting idle in the United States

We are going to be a bound up nation ...

Rainy Days

When I was a kid I LOVED rainy days ... yup, I was a strange kid - but rainy days were a time to pull out the crochet.

My mom would just shake her head because I was starting on Christmas presents in April - like they ever made it to Christmas, they usually became birthday gifts since I couldn't wait to see how people would like them

But that is what rain meant to me -- worked great until about 9th grade, maybe 10th, when we had a MAJOR thunderstorm go through ... in the middle of the night the thunder was so loud it rattled my windows! Now I can't stand loud noises - didn't realize this until hubby took me to see fireworks over the lake, not a fun time was had, the lake is in like a canyon or valley so it echoes quite a bit.

So why am I telling you this?

Now I'm not only an adult but a farmer ... well, farmers wife

Rain is supposed to be a Good Thing, like the song says (although I only drink wine ... or tequila ... maybe some rum in daiquiris or piña coladas ... but that's all really really rare)

BUT ... rain makes the fields too wet for the tractor to work.  In fact it will sink to the axils and then whatever we try to pull it out with will get stuck ... it's a total comedy of errors, let me tell you - I think we had four vehicles stuck down there one year - the lawn mower, the Allis-Chamber, then the Ford tractor, and the the Astro van!  It was so sad ... finally had to call hubbys cousin to come over because his truck had a winch on it - no getting that stuck!

Now we have a permanent divot next to the long corn field where the van tires sunk down - so you have to be very careful when you check the fields or you could break an ankle.

We are supposed to get rain for the next 3 days ... we were going to put corn in at the beginning of May this year - I think we've been planting too late and that's why we have had such troubles but that's a different story ... that's still got a couple weeks yet.

POTATOES however ...

I bought 250 POUNDS of potatoes this year ... Yukon Gold, Norlands, Russets, and All Blues ... I think the Norland reds I got 100# of ... I do NOT want to pay the prices they want for potatoes at the store and more.  My seed potatoes cost less than $100 total, the store wants $1/pound ... I'm ahead, right?

After all, potatoes are supposed to be a 10:1 return ... for every pound you plant, you get 10 pounds back ... they say.

My potatoes will go at the end of the long field where the corn Simply will not grow -   E. V. E. R!!  My mother-in-law says that's where they would plant theirs and it grew great (we bought the property from the in-laws) so it should be okay..

Accept ...

It's at the bottom of a hill - means LOTS of water from run off, plus it's the last place to melt/dry from winter snow ... it is NEVER dry by Tax Day, not to mention May 1st.

Every thing I read says they are supposed to go in a month BEFORE the last frost - here, that's May 15th or so ... so ... Tax Day.

Hubby bought several pieces of equipment for the tractor to put them in ... I've been stressing that he needs to have no less than a foots length between the potatoes he drops in or they will choke each other out ... quite a bit of education over here...

BUT if we have to wait until the end of May like we usually do ... I'm thinking it's gonna cut down on the production.

Last time:

Hubby put them in the on the long side of the Triangle field, put in like 100# ... planted them FOUR INCHES APART!!!  I was sick in bed so I wasn't out there to supervise ... that's okay, the onion shoots went in with about 1 inch between them - if they were lucky - they were suppose to have no less than 4 inches between, they were Candy onions - like the big Vandalias /Vadalias (however you spell it) - huge, sweet, great for salads, French onion soup, cooking, freezing, dehydrating ... I admit, they would be great sellers too ... if we had any ... they are still growing - didn't dig up the tiny things last year so they are sprouting up again, small but ok, not quite as sweet as I'd like.

----

Hmmm, okay it's been 3 days now ... it's still raining and now they say it will rain tomorrow too ...

Those potatoes are never going to get planted :-(