Harvesting Carrots

Ah, winter in Idaho... All my gardening books say you can over winter carrots in the ground, but from personal experience I know this does not work here.  The problem is a combination of cold and mice.  We are overrun with mice in winter.  I don't know why the welfare cats hang out in the warm barn and don't do their job of digging through freezing snow at -2 temp. to catch the mice...

So I went out to harvest the carrots before our first big snow.  

This is what a carrot should look like.   And a few of mine did.

 

But this is what most of them looked like - compliments of the mice.  Look at my beautiful harvest!  Gnawed away by mice!  I threw them to the chickens.  It always makes me feel better not to call these disasters a complete waste.  Thank goodness for the chickens.

Favorite Christmas Song

Can I just start out by stressing that these are Christmas Songs not Holiday songs, etc. etc. 

 I just like to say the word Christmas as much as possible since some folks would like to rewrite history on that topic... 

  I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has to be my favorite.  

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiear carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

This song was originally a poem Longfellow wrote during the Civil War when times were very difficult for our nation.  There are two stanzas that are left out of the song version that deal specifically with the war and slavery.  The remaining stanzas are switched in order for the song also.  

And in despaire I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth,' I said;

'For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!

The wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Thomas Jefferson

Wouldn't it be great if our current Politicians were as wise?

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.” Thomas Jefferson, “To James Madison, Paris, December 20, 1787,” in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2, ed. H. A. Washington (New York: John C. Riker, 1853), 332.

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson quoted in John Galt, Dreams Come Due (Simon and Schuster, 1986), 312.

“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes—a principle which, if acted on, would save one-half the wars of the world.” Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to Destutt Tracy, 1820,” in The Quotable Founding Fathers, ed. Buckner F. Melton (Brassey’s, 2004), 126.

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Robert S. Minor, The Rebirth of a Nation (Third Century Fund, 1978), 138.

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” Thomas Jefferson, quoted in The Forbes Book of Business Quotations, ed. Edward C. Goodman and Ted Goodman (Leventhal, 1997), 361.

“No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Zell Miller, A National Party No More (Stroud and Hall, 2003) ,120.

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Walter Edward Williams, Do the Right Thing (Hoover, 1995), 149.

“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Jeffrey M. Berry, A Voice for Nonprofits (Brookings Institution Press, 2005), 80.


“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property.” Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Robert F. Bruner, The Panic of 1907 (1907), 146.

A Little Christmas Visitor- To Stay

By Golden Delicious

On Sunday, after we had just gotten back from the First Presidency Christmas Broadcast, Braeburn and the Spy Twins went downstairs to load wood (It's freezing here)  and they heard meowing.  

"Mom!  There's a cat stuck in the window well!"

I grabbed my big fat protective gloves (necessary when dealing with wild cats) and tromped outside to grab the unfortunate cat.  

Once I saw it I should change the definition to unfortunate half-cat.  That thing was the skinniest half-grown kitten I had ever seen.  Immediately this became a crisis- Something fun to lighten up the day- so we greatly exaggerated everything.  

I took a trip out to the neighbors to see if it was theirs, and it wasn't.  Soon the kitten was in the barn, shoving our 'Welfare Cats' out of the way and gobbling down food.  (Welfare Cats is our definition for strays that eat your food but aren't friendly.)  

It looks like the little boy's here to stay.  

At the moment we are trying to think up names, and any suggestions left in the form of a comment would be most welcome.

Arrow of Light

The Spy twins are turning 11 this month.  They both worked very hard  earning their Arrow of Light awards and got them at Pack Meeting this month.

You will not find a better Webelos Leader anywhere.  Sister F.  is the greatest!

Yes, I am very proud.  Double Happiness.

The boys could choose whether they wanted an indian web award, or feathers with a real arrow.  A real arrow, of course.  

Nice Job Boys.

Getting Hay

We have a long, noble tradition here at Crabapple Farm of waiting until the last possible moment to get hay for our critters.  

I can know for weeks we are getting low.  I can daily watch the supply of bales get lower and lower, but it just doesn't reach critical mass until there are only 1 or 2 bales left.

I do have excuses.  I hate calling people about hay.  So does Mr. Bechtel.  When Mr. Bechtel calls I'm always afraid he'll forget to ask critical questions like, " Is your hay stemmy?"  And when I call I am pretty bad at talking with farmers (who aren't a real verbal bunch) and end up saying things like , "well, so how's your hay??"  Long silence... then, "Well, it's pretty good".  And I get no where.     So we ignore it as long as possible.

The other problem is that we always lose the phone numbers for the people we would like to re- buy from (which are few) but have a growing list of people that we'd rather not purchase from.  See how complicated this is?

Enter my brother, Clark, and my Dad.  They saved the day for me this weekend and went and got hay while Mr. Bechtel was gone.  Clark loaded, unloaded and stacked 2 tons of hay and my gratitude is limitless.  

The other huge plus is that they got to deal with the quirks of the hay supplier (an older lady) who tried to convince them that the moldy bales were great and they should take them.    I had to explain that all farmers in this area think their hay is the best, the most tender, etc.  And unfortunately, they also think it is gold and the bales are always "heavier than the normal bale, so you can only take  ____ bales per ton. "   I'm thrilled I missed that whole conversation.  They were both of the opinion that next time we should try a different place, so I guess I'll strike that number off the list. 

The great news is that this batch really is a good third crop batch.  It's leafy, tender and the little goats just love it.  See how spoiled these animals are?  Luxury. 

Dinnertime Conversations

Tonight for dinner I made roasted winter veggies.  I was thrilled with my creativity and combined potatoes, turnips, parsnips and potatoes with a bit of oil and seasoning and tucked them in the oven at a high temp. anticipating everyone's delight.

Unfortunately, Mr. Bechtel is out of town so my comments were as follows:

"Uh mom, I don't know what it is in this, maybe the turnips or something, but it tastes just like squash and automatically activates my gag reflex"  (Golden Delicious) - no I did not make that up.

"Uh mom, could I have a little more, but could you make sure it's only potatoes this time?"  (Prairie Spy)

"Mom, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm FULL.  No Mom!  I really am!"  (Granny Smith)

"You know, it's funny, but I really prefer my vegetables raw."  (Breaburn) - me too.  I love raw potato??

After we'd loaded the dishwasher and I was putting the extras in the fridge, Golden Delicious said, "mom, that was a great meal.  Dad will love the leftovers."

  Gosh, I wonder if the chickens will even touch it?