Perfect Summer Evening in Iowa

Saturday evening I went to a grill out at some friends house out in the country. Their place has made it into my top ten favorite places in Iowa. I wish could just sit out on their back patio for hours eating brats, listening to all manner of night critters, chatting around a smokey fire and doodling on the patio with charcoal every night for the rest of my life.

We took a walk at sunset and I snapped this photo from the back lawn. I could hardly believe that this sunset was real and that I was standing there actually watching it.

View from the backyard overlooking the farms in the driftless region

Midwest in summer has sure won a spot in my heart although it's winters will only ever have a spot next to the pain in my butt.

We walked by a pasture with Jersey calves. A whole bunch of cute little baby jersey cows! I was almost ready to jump the fence and take one home. I did restrain myself even when they were being so cute staring at us and following us as we walked down the road. (it was near feeding time so I tried not to be too flattered)

Since I graduated, I haven't had as much time to practice my doodles so I was glad to not only find an opportunity to doodle but to find one using a new medium.

Iowa Adventures 2011

Like most people I take pictures here and there on my phone. I thought it would be fun to review 2011 using some of my random cell phone snap shots.

January:

If you were ever wondering how cold it can get in Northeastern Iowa, here is a bit of insight....

This was the temperature reading from my car on the drive to work on January 21, 2011.

Good news: there was a 30 degree increase during the day.

Bad news: the high was 7 degrees (F)

I learned one of the things to watch out for in a Midwest winter is the snow drifts. After a snow if the wind picks up the snow just blows every-which-way and can completely block out the roads and cover your parked car.

I took these photos at the end of the day when I was leaving work. My car was in the early stages of being devoured by a snow drift and I thought it was kind of nifty.

February:

I went to run some errands up in Rochester, MN and stopped in at a Savers (it's like goodwill or salvation army) and saw this little ditty on a T-shirt

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this was "I am sure there is some dude with a very large truck covered in a lot of offensive bumper sticks that would beg to differ" (Don't worry, I already know there is something really wrong with my brain)

March:

Proof that the price of gas is taking is toll everywhere....

I have to say that I have never tried a DQ taco and don't ever plan on it. Lets face it, what does a dairy queen really know about tacos and what business does she have even thinking she could!? There i said it. Stick to the ice cream sister, because you couldn't pay me $300 to eat 2 of your tacos! (Wait, if I get payed 3-hundred smackers, I might eat them)

April:

I was wandering and exploring the river trail that is next to Church in Fayette and found this turtle just hanging out.

I almost stepped on him and I have to say that he scared me stupid for a sec there. I am usually not that jumpy but I was not really expecting to see a turtle nearly 2 ft long at my feet.

May:

Spring has sure been taking it's sweet ol' time getting here. At the end of April we had about 1ft of snow dump one day. Insanity! Finally this past week its been warming up enough so the trees could put some leaves on their sorry looking twigs. Last Sunday it was a nice and sunny day so I did some exploring around Decorah on my bike and found a nice little spring so I stopped and put my feet in for a few minutes.

Not quite warm enough for wading feet in springs, so I would have to say it was more refreshing than relaxing but still completely worth doing.

Twin Springs, Decorah, Iowa

Sometimes I fall down and it's really funny

Today was the end of my second week back out in the gardens at Seed Savers Exchange. I had spent the day driving a truck all over muddy roads on the 1000 acre farm. It was a beautiful day. The grass was greening up, trees were budding and the sun was finally making an appearance after all this rain and gloom we’ve been having out here in Iowa. There were so many reasons why it was a good day but the best days end with a funny story and boy, did I have one today.

While parking the truck at the end of the day, I had my arms full of gear and went to reach for some poles that were in the bed of the truck when I lost my footing and started to trip. I almost caught my footing about three times in a row, which I am sure only added to the ridiculousness of my situation. I faced the facts and just let gravity have her way with me. I did about 2 or 3 revolutions as I rolled down the small embankment that the truck gets parked on. I just laid there in the muddy gravel laughing. It all happened so fast but the funniest part to me was that while I was mid tumble, the song “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood (link) was playing in my head. Anyway, tragedy in my little tumble was that no one was there to witness it.

On a side note, one of my top choices for supper power would be to have “Appropriate Theme Music” play at important, awe inspiring, or exceptionally comical moments in my life. It could be awesome and a great thing for all mankind!

Just a look at the aftermath

One more just to make my Momma proud. And Yes, I had to get creative and use my bathroom mirror to take a few backside shots.

Ruta-Toot-Toot Egg Salad

It seems like I am more likely to post a recipe, if I happen to come up with some incredibly stupid name for it. They just come to me, I can't stop myself. It's like an incredibly ridiculous and useless gift. My mom always use to tell me that I was "full of it!" Although she still has yet to indicated the proper pronoun that she had in mind, I gathered based on her tone and the intensity of her eye roll (and yes, I mean eye, the singular form of the word, that is her gift) that it was not the noble kind of "it."

A few weeks ago at work we had a bean tasting and pot luck. We needed to update some of the descriptions for the eating beans we sell, so to help stratify the work and for an excuse to have a party, we each took home a different bag of beans to cook up. We were instructed to cook them up plain and set aside about 1 cup for the taste test and then get creative with the rest.

The night before the potluck I had no idea what to do with my "Good Mother Stallard" beans. While I was cooking the beans, I was also making up some egg salad for my lunch when I had a crazy idea to just add the beans to the egg salad. It seemed just crazy enough to work so I boldly went with the impulse. I thought it was a pretty yummy dish, but felt it was a bit risky and likely that no one else would feel the same. I prepared myself for the high likelihood that I would be taking home a lot of leftovers. Too my surprise, people actually ate and liked it. Over all the potluck was a complete success. It was one of the most creative potlucks I've ever been to and I stuffed myself so much trying everything that I didn't even eat dinner that night.

Recipe:

I started out with 6 hard boiled eggs, couple of spoonfuls of Mrs. Clark's mayonnaise, little bit of pickle juice, fresh or pickled dill, half an purple onion (chopped), 1-2 cups of cooked Good Mother Stallard beans, and to put the "ruta" in ruta-toot-toot I chopped up and added some pickled rutabaga spears I had made back in November. I know not everyone is going to have Rutabagas laying around, let alone know what they are, but I got them for free and have only really come to enjoy them when pickled and added in things.

Fall in Iowa

I have been living in Iowa for 3 months now. Here are a few pictures of things I've done since I got here.

I went to Nauvoo, IL in September. I would like to dedicate this photo to my Mom. Thanks Mom for helping me refurbish this dress I thrifted into an awesome skirt. It turned out perfect and it looks great blowing in Mississippi wind.

In late September, I went on a field trip for work to the botanical garden in Minneapolis. One of the displays was this house of sticks. I thought it was pretty nifty and now I have a harebrained idea to someday make a summer home out of sticks. This house was made of willow, which I am not crazy about since they tend to have a nitrogenous aroma.

I started working at Seed Savers Exchange during the harvest season, which has it's perks. Mainly, coming home with garden booty multiple times a week. I've come home with garlic garlic, kale, collard greens, leeks, rutabaga, turnips, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and all manner of squash. My freezer is full of apple sauce, pumpkin butter, blanched kale and collards, spicy tomato sauce and squash guts. I have also lacto-fermented sauerkraut, garlic, rutabaga. The small little kitchen in my apartment is being pushed to it's limits. I am making due with what I've got but dreaming of the day when I have not only counter space, but functional counter space!

In this picture you can see the casualties from my apple orchard taste test and a few batches of sauerkraut I started fermenting.

Stuffed tomatoes with quinoa, bell pepper, and onion. Topped with melted mozzarella cheese.

Fried zucchini using coconut flour and seasoned with five spice

Iowa!

To any of those wondering, I moved to Decorah, Iowa almost a month ago. I got a seasonal position on the preservation garden crew at Seed Savers Exchange (SSE). I have wanted to work for SSE ever since I read about them in a text book during my last year of grad school. I am learning a lot working on the farm and having a ton of fun. I came during the harvest season, which is a great time to be on the farm, since I come home with garden leftovers almost 2-3 times a week. Every day work on the farm is different. My first day on the job, they had me out in the fields on a windy day digging up over 100 varieties of potatoes with the rest of the crew while today I was inside processing seeds in the morning, then washed pots in the afternoon and finished off the day harvesting seed out in the fields. The atmosphere at Seed Savers is definitely different from any place I’ve worked. The grounds are beautiful and covered with beautiful gardens, hiking paths and Ancient White Park cattle grazing in pastures (the cattle have an odd bellow that sounds like dinosaurs, or at least what Steven Spielberg thought dinosaurs sounded like). The people I work with are happy, friendly, and love bringing treats to share with everyone.

Decorah is a pretty neat little town in northeast Iowa. It is located in the Driftless region, which has more hills and wooded areas than is typical of the Midwest. Decorah is surrounded by limestone bluffs which have been carved out by the Upper Iowa River that meanders through town. I enjoy the outdoors and I am loving the close proximity of miles of walking, hiking and mountain biking trails. I have yet to check out the nearby campground and to take a canoeing or kayak on the river but I hope to change that soon. I have no idea what this crazy life will hold for me next but right now I am enjoying this experience while it is available to me.

Sunday Evening Stroll Down by the River (Sept 2010)

Trail at Seed Savers Exchange (Sept 2010)

While driving through Wisconsin I had to stop and snap a few shots of the view from this ridge