Tornadoes, Hailstones And Rain, Oh My!

It has been a wild month since I last posted. We have had violent and strange weather. The farmers all around us have had a hard time getting into their fields. I'd buy corn futures if I were you. We did manage to build 9 raised beds. Tom has since revised his estimate of 300 raised beds to just 60. Whew! This is what they look like:

First we outline them with the plastic tubing and lime you see to the right. Then we dig them out and pile the dirt in the middle of each bed. They are 20' x 4' and the paths in between are 4 feet so the tractor can go between. Then we put in 2 cartloads of sand and 1 of cow poop (it's composted, don't worry). Then Tom rototills them until he is vibrating. We can do 3 beds a day and then we are wasted and no amount of Aleve and alcohol can cure the pain.
So far we have gotten in potatoes, onions, leeks, tomatoes (40 plants), peppers and eggplant. Tom just planted the first round of sweet corn. And the deer have been wandering through when they think we are not looking.

They don't look as pretty as the ones at Signal Hill but they do the job: they warm up quicker and drain faster. So if any of you have free time this Memorial Day weekend, come on down (or up) to the farm. We'll feed you and put a shovel in your hand. Yep, even made Kate drive the tractor and do a little work too.

In between working like field hands on a southern plantation, we have been bird watching. We like to take our drinks, er, I mean medicine, out on the front porch in the evening and watch the show. We have seen bluebirds, finches, swallows, hawks, vultures, blue herons, and so many others that I have no clue what they are. We hope we have purple martins in one of the houses. We know there are house sparrows in the far right house. How ghetto!

Meet Slytherin the black snake. I hope he eats the mice that have been nibbling on our cars! And the spiders, damn they are big. Yes Mary, the one I almost killed did come back seeking vengeance and scared the snot out of Kate. But I got him this time.

Look we have green fuzz! What a bitch that was to plant. We had someone come in and prep the soil and then we sowed the grass by hand and raked it in and put straw all over. Then a big wind came and blew the straw away and then the rain came and washed the seeds downhill. So yes I am surprised anything remained to sprout. The back of the house will have to wait. We need to have major grading done and he can't come out until it is really dried out. However, in the natural areas we have a fine crop of native weeds and grasses.  No doggies until we have no mud!

Doesn't that look nice?  Until the 60 mph wind came and almost blew them off the deck with the grill.

In other news, Kate is at the Hillmann-Ferry campground at Land Between the Lakes, KY. So if you want to visit, I'm sure she would be glad to see you. She had a bit of a scare this week when the storms went through and they herded the help into the gatehouse. The power went out and there was some damage. But the FEMA trailer is still standing. Kate says it's actually pretty nice. Joe and Tiffany came up for dinner. They are going to the Florida Keys. Mmmmmm Key Lime Pie......And no, we did not scare her off. Tom behaved himself and I was a perfect lady.

Thinking of going to Ireland after the harvest. If any of you have been, send us travel ideas.

A Mouse Ate My Homework

Mice. Lots of them. One started to eat something on the HHR's underside and another built a nest in the glove compartment of the Metro. And the spiders! They are HUGE! I was told they are wolf spiders. How come no one told me country spiders are as big as the mice? I keep catching them in the glue traps too. By the way, my karma must be real bad because of all the mice murders. Sigh.
Anyway, spring has finally come to the land. What a long winter that was for us all.  We got a new driveway.

Oh yeah, the Metro is gone. Sold it two weeks ago.

Then  Kate came to visit before jetting off to Denver. I made chocolate ganache cupcakes for her 21st birthday. All I can say is OMG! 

Wicked good!

I have been busy plotting out the herb garden. This will be for cooking. We will eventually grow larger quantities of herbs out in the market farm.  In our basement I have two tables filled with plants ready to go: heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, leeks and regular tomatoes. If it ever stops raining we will begin to build the 310 raised beds that Tom estimates we need. So, to take a break from all this, I went off to Mom's weekend at U of I. Kate, is now staying stateside her last year so I get to go one more time. Had a lot of fun

but I forgot how much walking you do on campus. Saw the Idea Garden, Arboretum and where the trial gardens will be later. I wish I had driven the truck. We went to a flower/plant show and they had 12 ft. trees for $80! Shrubs for $15.  Here is a shot of Kate's chickens. Actually two friends own them, but Kate and her housemates reap the benefits.

Kate says the two guys often visit the chickens in the coop and drink beer.

(The guys, not the chickens)

We have had more rain and severe weather, so now the lawn guy thinks we may not be able to plant grass until fall. No grass, no dogs. That's my rule and I'm sticking to it.

Bad storm.

I'm an official severe storm spotter (took the class), but even I cowered in the basement while Tom stood at the window and commented on the green sky and hail.

That's marble and pea sized (the correct terms), not "garbanzo bean" or "lentil" as used by Tom.

Farmer Stan finally got the field tilled.

Farmer Tom unloading horse poop.

It seems Stan's sister, Janet, has 23 horses just up the road from us. So we called her and luckily we were able to get it loaded by tractor. We still had to unload it but I'd rather shovel shit on the farm than at work.

Janet also owns O'Jan's in Grafton, home of fried fish. Must try it soon.

Doesn't that look better? Wonder if I could spray paint the dirt green?

So fabulous! My muck boots.

Do you think Planet Green might give us our own show? Middle aged, over educated couple attempt to start up market farm? We could learn to bicker wittily. Sort of like the Fabulous Beekman Boys: http://beekman1802.com/  it's actually a fun show. Perhaps if Tom had been an exotic, transvestite dancer we might have had a shot....

Remember, you are all welcome to visit, but you will have to work for your meals. 

I'm Back, or What a Long Strange Winter It's Been.

Let's see, where were we before the snows that kept coming and coming. 29 inches officially at Lambert
Airport. Probably more here. Whoever said red sky at night, sailors delight was LYING.

Because they led to this:

At one point we were snowed in for two days. Of course being retired our two main concerns were, "is there enough toilet paper and alcohol?" Finally, in desperation, we fired up the truck, which has 4-wheel drive, and went into town. Yep, two middle aged people, driving this huge Chevy truck with tricked out wheels, listening to NPR and buying arugula.  But it wasn't all strum und drang. We built the seed starting tables.

And now as I write I have tomatoes, herbs, leeks, peppers, etc sprouting. No, we are not emulating the TV show "Weeds".  No wacky tobacky here.
At the end of January we had all the subcontractors and folks who have helped us during the construction process over for dinner. It was cute, one of the guys said he had never been to a party where there were appetizers. Our builder mentioned he mushrooms hunts and has even found some nearby. I made him promise to take us. We also met Ken Hudson, our farmer neighbor, in person. He was the one who granted us the easements for the utility poles. He came with his lady friend, Bonnie Douglas, who owns an animal rescue farm with llamas, monkeys, horses, and other creatures big and small. She said we could have all the llama poop we wanted. Interesting lady....
Once the snows receded, we discovered we have Lake Owen in the front yard.

It was worse when the rains came. I toyed with the idea of stocking it with fish from the local USDA office, but bought trees instead, aka deer food. Tom said the fish were so cheap, we should just buy them by the bagful and fry them up. It's drying up a bit and I intend to do a percolation test to see if we should just give up and build a rain garden at that end of the lawn. We also started to calculate the area we had plowed up. It's just under an acre. Tom did a spreadsheet and figured out we could build up to 318 raised beds 4' x 10'.
I about DIED when he told me that. Granted we are not going to do it all in one year but what an enormous task ahead of us.
We sent Tom to Beekeeping class in February. He is pretty enthused and wants to start with 2 hives. It won't be Tupelo honey, but they said you can get up to 9 quarts per hive. Here is a preliminary look at the site of the future market farm:

I did check into an organization called Crop Mob. See: http://cropmob.org/
There is a local outpost in Jefferson County, MO. I got in touch with the guy who runs their Facebook site (damn you, Facebook, I am going to have to learn how to use you!) He came over this past week and we all talked for 2 hours. The upshot is around May 1st we are hosting a Crop Mob day on our farmlet. We provide work and lunch, they provide labor. He said we hopefully could have anywhere from 10-35 people. So if you aren't doing anything, come on down, or up.
Other than obsessing about the farm, we have been exploring the area. We toured the lock and dam in Alton with Kate and did an eagle day at Pere Marquette State Park. We ended up seeing eagles and white pelicans (they stop over here on their way up to South Dakota). The tour took us into Calhoun County and we have some pretty cool places to take visitors to see wildlife. Plus Calhoun County doesn't look like anything in Illinois. Tom did get violently sick after eating at the Barefoot Inn in Hardin. It was where the ranger suggested we all go. I kinda liked the catfish fritters I had, but I don't suggest the burgers. For my money the Riverdock was way better (killer homemade pies).
I am volunteering at the Jerseyville Public Library on Thursdays. Unlike Fairview Heights, they are not union and let you do all sorts of jobs. Sweet. Tom helped them with their 501C3 application.
We met another neighbor. He is a tugboat captain. Real nice guy. He looks for artifacts and relics and wanted to search in our field. He did find some items and some were of the civil war era.

He said yes there was a house at the front of the property and two across the road. Apparently a barn stood where our house is now. The creek was a favorite dumping place and he has found pottery and bottles in there too. He has a pond and is going to let us fish. Score!
In other news: Kate will be living in a FEMA trailer this summer as an intern at Land Between the Lakes, KY. OMG, my daughter is trailer court trash! She is looking forward to the experience. She has decided not to pursue the Turks and Caicos study abroad and will finish up her degree at U of I next year.
Joe is continuing in the MBA program at Carbondale. He just bought a $3,900 bike. Don't ask. You can view it on his Facebook page.
In other news, we are watching Justified on FX and if you aren't, you are missing one of the best shows on TV. The other is Big Bang Theory.

More later on the farm's progress as we get out and play in the mud. Visitors are welcome, but we may put you to work. Spring is coming, on warm nights I have heard the siren call of the Spring Peepers....

I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world. (George Washington)

We made it. We finally made it. And just before the cold winds and snow started to blow. Home. The sweetest four letters in the world.
We went from this:

Our lovely apartment living/dining/everything else room 

To this:

Kate enjoying wifi in our new living room.

Please note the crappy ersatz Christmas "tree" in the corner. By the time we moved in all the tree lots were gone. I suppose we could have gone off with the chain saw and cut down some wild pine tree at night when no one was looking but I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with the neighbors. Also just tromping 350 feet down to the mailbox every day is exhausting! And I have to get on boots, a coat and gloves just to do it! Maybe I can train one of the dogs to fetch the mail and paper (and make me a nice cappuchino while he's at it). No wait that's what I have Tom for.

Anyway, here are the rest of the interior pix:

View from kitchen into dining/living room.

Kitchen (yay finally got the counter top)

Den/office

Master bedroom

Family room in basement

Queen bedroom basement (aka the jungle room)

 

smaller basement bedroom

Basement area where you don't get to look

After big snow, the view from the upper acres towards front property.

The money shot. That's why we moved here. It was beautiful up there. We have seen many eagles, some as close as Otterville Rd. Yes, the drive to anywhere is long, but I like being out here. It's peaceful. We have met so many interesting folks. Many, like our plumber who gardens (so big he needs a tractor) on the side. He has promised to introduce us a guy who starts tomato plants for the truck farms around here. Apparently he is into heritage varieties. And the appraiser who is doing vermiculture (worm composting to you regular people out there). And our builder who hunts and processes his venison. Many of the men even do their own canning! Tom refuses, says it women's work. I'll give him a pass if he ever gets that pizza/bread oven going.

We are hoping to get started on the "farm" this spring but know it to be a long row to hoe (if I may use a farm term). I will keep this blog going as we document how we start a small organic farm. As always, we welcome visitors. You can even stay overnight in your own suite of rooms complete with Dish network TV and DVR! And you know we love to cook. 

In other news: Kate is off to Brussels for 10 days. Then she is looking at an intership this summer with the USDA at Land Between the Lakes, Ky. After that the big plan is to get accepted at a field school for Marine studies in the Turks and Caicos for fall semester. Hello Keith Richards! (He owns a compound there).

Joe just finished his first semester in grad school and did pretty damn good. Maybe soon we can call him "Master" Joe Owen.

Wishing everyone a great 2011. It has to be better than 2010, right? An annus horribilis if ever I saw one.

Patience is not my Strong Suit

Well here it is Dec. 10 and we are not yet in the new house. In fact we just got some upsetting news this week that got worse today.
It seems the kitchen counters were improperly measured by the computer (yep, when in doubt people like to blame technology). But as we all know its GIGO (garbage in garbage out, it's always human error, stupid). Anyway, the replacement counters were going to be delivered in a few days, so we thought, sure we can live with out a dishwasher and sink and counter for a day or two- no sweat we'll eat out a lot! Then today we get a call from Quint, it seems K & D cannot get the new counters in until Dec. 21st. Tom went ape-shit and got right into his old "dealing with vendors mode" (ah, those old management skills never die). The upshot is they are going to put in a sink with 6 feet of generic counter until ours can get done. So Mike and Rach- we can still host you and make meals and kids: don't worry, there will be sustenance and water. The counters BTW are gorgeous (a small section next to the stove was installed).

Here is the finished front.

Yes, there is a sea of mud. We will be buying tons of grass seed this spring. Hopefully, my Master Gardener training will kick in. I just completed my 60 hours volunteer work and got my official badge. But I digress...

Side (south) view.

I'd show you inside shots but since it is a mess with no furniture and, oh right,

NO FLIPPIN' COUNTERS!... what's the point? We move the storage stuff in tomorrow and on Tuesday Dec. 14, we move the apartment stuff. The Pod gets delivered on the 17th. Just in time for Christmas. Every time I will open a box up, it will seem like Santa brought me something. The saddest thing is I won't be able to make cookies or nutroll (the mind is willing but the body is weak).

Rear view.

See, I said there was a party deck. Sea of mud in back too.

Oh, the other crisis was placement of mailbox and existence of our address. It seems because we were a field of soy (not dreams) a few years ago, the post office says we do not exist (yet). I want to make some sort of existential comment here, but I just can't think of anything witty. Maybe Tom and I live in some sort of alt-verse, or in a hiccup in the space/time continuum. Yeah, I sort of like that explanation. We reached a compromise with mailbox placement by promising to build a small turnaround off the drive.

Once we get the place looking habitable, I will post pictures of the inside. It really does look good.

So Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, Krazy Kwanzaa and my favorite: a joyous Festivus (Dec. 23) to you all and to all a good night.

Holy Crap!

Things are moving real fast now. We could possibly be moved by Dec. 10. In short order they have painted, put in most of the flooring, started the trim work and interior doors, finished the deck (and it is righteous!), started to install bathroom and kitchen cabinets and lights. The appliances are to be delivered Monday and phone/internet to be installed Tuesday. Here are what the paint colors look like:

This is the master bedroom.

This is most of the rest of the house (Kilim Beige).

This is the study (Taupe).

Here is the kitchen. Notice bamboo floors. The walls will have a backsplash of subway tiles in biscuit and browns. The counters are a mottled dark brown (laminate).

Hope they don't get screwed up. We were supposed to get a green counter for the powder room, but all three bathrooms are now biscuit.

Tom on party deck.

That's one hell of a deck, eh? It is 32 feet long and 12 feet deep. We already decided to put the gas grill on it, plus adirondack chairs, a dining table with chairs and umbrella. Join us for mojitos this summer.

Site of the future Owen Family Farm.

We had Stan D.  plow this up for us, since we don't own a tractor. He also ended up plowing up some history.

Notice the creepy glass doll head...

Anyway, it seems the story of the old house located near the road is true. Joe, Tim and Ryan spent part of a lunch break kicking this stuff up. I'm sure the rain and weather will expose more. Hope there isn't an ancient Indian burial ground nearby (like in Poltergiest). Whoa, watch out for the TV!

They say the best stuff is often found in old privies. Guess the soil may be more fertile then we thought.

Happy turkey day to all.

Whoo-Hoo! (And All That Jazz)

It's been a while since I last posted. Sorry, guess having to eat all the leftover Halloween candy put me into a sugar coma. Quite a bit happened since the 31st of October. But first, I digress: we found out an interesting tidbit about the property. It seems during the Civil War (you know, the one Taz calls the War of Northern Aggression), part of the land was used as a staging area for local troops. A house once stood at the front of the land, close to the cemetery, according to Stan Drainer, who used to own the land. He said I need to talk to his mother about the early history. I am intrigued, especially since an old coin ( a half dime to be exact) and button was found.
So in short order here is what has transpired:

Walls went in. Tom talking to Kenny, aka "the drywaller"

Seems Kenny knows someone in Litchfield-small world.

Poop processor, aka "sand filtered septic system"

Siding all up (looks like the Signal Hill stuff, right?)

Actually you be wrong. Looks like wood, but it's concrete siding, aka "Hardie board".

Peek-a-boo wall in basement.

Cistern.

It doesn't look like much, but it goes down pretty deep. Our builder, Joe, created this on the fly. It harvests rainwater off the roof. An electric pump then permits us to water the garden. The whole time he was explaining to Tom how he might need to go down and do maintenance, I am thinking: "No flippin' way is Tom going down into that thing!" Just like Tom is not going to crawl through the attic to pull insulation off the attic fan. These are recipes for disaster, or at least unexplainable emergency 911 calls.

The walls are being painted in the next couple of days because on Wednesday the flooring gets installed. The overall colors are Kilim Beige for most of the house, Timeless Taupe for the study and Smooth Sailing Blue for the master bedroom. The kitchen is supposed to be delivered to the warehouse by Friday and we have gone nuts and ordered all the appliances. Stan said he would till the front acres this week and we plan on planting the mailbox post before the ground freezes. I keep trying to pin Joe down on move in dates. He vaguely says early December.

We will be out again this week as we must get the mirrored vanities to them and we want to talk to the closet guy. By the way, we have tried a few eateries in Jerseyville: Fran and Marilyn's (delish pork tenderloin sandwich and fried chicken livers), Hickory Grove (more fried pork tenderloins-very yummy) and The White Spot (killer onion rings). Do I detect a pattern here?

Parting shot:

Jerseyville courthouse, 1893. Pretty, huh?