We're not really a "brownie out of the box" kind of family. At least not anymore. Not when making brownies from scratch is so easy to do. It's more fun to experiment with your own recipes, and I've got some pretty forgiving kids who are willing to try almost anything. They're also a pretty good... Continue Reading →
Autumn has been incredibly graceful this year. In Iowa, this season is usually an unpredictable tug o war between autumn and an ever looming winter. The fallout is usually a flurry of snow, wildly fluctuating temperatures and relentless wind that violently scrubs the land of all things giving it character. Sometimes autumn, with all its... Continue Reading →
Well, spring arrived here in Iowa...and then it quickly slipped back into winter. The last couple days temps have plummeted back down to the high thirties. It was seventy-five last weekend, just to give you perspective. And while the rain is keeping us out of the fields, it is a necessary blessing. The radish, carrot... Continue Reading →
I sat down with a local agronomist to go over soil samples he pulled from both of our fields. I was encouraged, but not necessarily surprised by the results. For the most part, our soil is pretty healthy. Nitrogen levels are good, which is to be expected after years of conventional soybean and corn rotation.... Continue Reading →
So we're starting to figure some things out. When we first started this adventure last year, we only had a vague idea of what we wanted to do with our acreage. We had a vision, a dream, but the details of how that dream would evolve into reality were pretty soft and vague.... Continue Reading →
It's January and the temps are plummeting again outside. The last couple mornings here have been below zero, something we're still getting used to. The land is still frozen, there's left over snow in the fields, but I've got my mind on spring. I've been flipping through the seed catalogs, trying to put together our... Continue Reading →
A couple of years ago, we found a tick behind our Aussie's ear. The sucker was hidden well and had been latched on for a while. The only reason we found it was because Oscar's eye had begun to swell, which caused us to take a closer look at what would be causing such... Continue Reading →
I was cleaning out my dad's garage last summer, and I came across a container of crushed eggshells. Now, my dad was a borderline hoarder. He called himself a "collector" but that's really a soft way of saying he just didn't throw anything away. Newspapers, old stamps, coins (he had coins of all... Continue Reading →
This morning started out normal. Pretty much the same as every morning has started this week. Eyes open to a semi-kind of-daylight leaking through the window. Coffee downstairs followed by the pattering of little feet and impish giggling in the hallway. Cartoons on the television, cereal pouring into plastic bowls, the house suddenly coming awake.... Continue Reading →
When we first told our family that we were moving to Iowa, my grandpa asked me if I knew that Iowa gets "weather". That wasn't the first time we were asked that question, nor was it the last. Even when we finally did make the move, well-meaning Midwesterners asked us if we'd experienced Iowa winters... Continue Reading →