13 Monday Mar 2023
Posted in Crafts
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While I barely acknowledged it, apparently we changed clocks… “losing” an hour.
It’s been a whirl of a week and, if I could have one for to do anything from the last week, aside from what simply cannot be re-created…🧚♀️
I’d spend it making more fun wraps:
22 Monday Oct 2018
Posted in Community
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Well it’s been a productive time at Anne’s place. I am finally feeling like we are going to make it with getting her a place for winter. We have a nice week ahead of us and the recent progress has been amazing.
Less than 2 weeks ago, the trailer had a saggy kitchen, holes through the floor, two old electrical boxes (one with screw-in fuses, one with breakers), a cracked toilet. We had no electricity, no heat, no plumbing. We had two scrappy trailers in the yard that need to be hauled away. Then there was a ceremony for quick progress and, like magic, it seems to be working. Thank you amazing goddesses!!
Thanks to many people (and for sure I am forgetting several someones) we have made a TON of progress. Noreen Hautala, Ralph and Paulette Friday, Larry and LaVonne, Peggy, Steven and his buddy, Cheyenne and Gene, Cedar, Becky Littlewolf, Corey, and, of course, Anne herself.
The old bathroom toilet and kitchen cabinets have been removed. The floor has had all the holes fixed and new 
subfloor is in the process of being added to the LR/Kitchen. And the flashing and caulking have been done for the doors so no more moisture infiltration! 😀
The kitchen has been primed! This top cabinet may still have to go… it looks really saggy and we can give Anne something better.
All the windows have been covered with plastic for winter. It already feels warmer. We have a new electrical panel which has been hooked up and THERE IS ELECTRICITY!! It was positively roasting in there with two space heaters Anne has in the LR/Kitchen – I had to take off my coat, & long-sleeve shirt and wear only my short-sleeve t-shirt!
The Bedroom is painted and has the new subfloor, luan, AND FLOORING installed!!! Just need the trim, boxing around the electrical wires, final light fixture repair, a bit more paint and we’re ready to install furniture and decorate!! 
The sewing room was pretty good though Anne has really made it hers with a paint wash on the barn wood wall – it looks really great. Perhaps in another year or so, all the walls will have this treatment… 😉
The bathroom has a good floor but we’ll need to tweak the cabinets for better storage. And, we still need to get the plumbing in place…
This week we hope to get a propane tank set – let’s hope the furnace works!
We hope to finish the subfloor so we can begin the kitchen reconstruction. We need to move a bunch of stuff around and then reconfigure the outlet for her new fridge placement. Then we’ll need to build some new cabinets and paint as Anne sees fit.
Meanwhile Anne is there everyday getting lots accomplished. I’m feeling better as we’ve made good progress and I’m going to hope it continues. It’s a village working on this and it’s been really fun to be a part of the crew.
24 Monday Sep 2018
Posted in Community, Dreams Coming True, Family, Local Reporting, Permaculture
So two significant Elders in my life have been keeping me busy in the last week or so… First, Ada is 90!!
Our neighbor and local legend, Ada Windecker turned 90 this month and there was a big community gathering to celebrate her major milestone. Ada is known as the Mayor, Sheriff, and Historian of Alida – the tiny town where we live. When we first bought our land, the owner of the local Country Store, now defunct but hoping for a re-opening someday, said to us, “Alida is population 16, 18 if you count dogs.” It is small!! There are now about a dozen folks who live right here within a couple blocks of “town” – basically the old Country Store building, a county maintenance building/defunct fire station, and the township dump. And Ada’s house amidst them all. She has raised her own five kids as well as many of the local kids as a Sunday School teacher (and superintendent too!). The gathering had dozens and dozens of folks come out to wish her well.
Family and friends prepared and served sandwiches, salads of potato/pasta/jello, chips, salsa, coffee, punch and cake. There were four sheet cakes in addition to her showy cake by which she sat greeting visitors. You had your choice of white, chocolate, marble, or the ever popular red velvet. Kids of all ages joined in the fun and just before the program started, about three dozen folks on 4x4s arrived to join the festivities.
The program consisted of much music, which, if you’ve ever met Ada, you’d know was a crucial element. Mark, an old Sunday School pupil of hers, sang Footprints and then Don, a neighbor who also recently turned ninety, serenaded her as well. Then two of Ada’s grandaughters, Kayla and Kylie (as I recall – both of Perry’s line – apparently the one which breeds good singers) came up and did a smash up of Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World. They were outstanding!! Several folks stood up to share memories and stories of Ada. My favorite was Perry’s story about the tooty boat ride on Long Lake. What a joy to hear these memories. Ada herself spoke for a bit and even sang a little piece of a song for us. She was overwhelmed by the day. But the best was held for last. Her grandson came up to share a song… and Ada’s secret superpower. Apparently she’d been asking for him to sing and no excuse would do. When he’d nearly run out of excuses, she turned on her sweet little tears and proclaimed that she simply must have him sing the Lord’s Prayer and boy were we all glad she used her super power to convince him to sing. No one can resist Ada’s tears. 🙂
The other Elder keeping us busy is Anne Dunn, Anishinaabe storyteller and dear friend. We have been on the project for over a year now as I believe the original dreaming meeting was at Esther’s house in 2017 with Esther, Anne, & Annie Humphrey, Patty Kakac, Dan and me scheming on what we could do to make Anne’s dream home a reality. Now, with Anne having a lot, we have a foundation on which to build. However, before we build, we must demolish! (Photos are from April 2018.)
The lot she has is full of debris. Back on June 3rd, Dan and I spent the day with Anne breaking free one of the old trailers that was stuck in the dirt from being in place for so long. We were able to remove the skirting and wood framing holding it in place so it could be pulled from its moorings and the attached porch could be broken down. We had been preceded by Barry Babcock who had chainsawed much of an old tree to clear its danger and happily we carted off a truckload of wood for our troubles. We were followed by some strong ones who broke up the deck and got it in the junk piles.
Much of the scrap metal had been carted off – metal has some value for the entrepreneurial soul. But much of the wood, wallboard, insulation and garbage (the stuff Anne hadn’t yet dug from the dirt) remained. Some of the demolition work had been piled neatly but there was a large pile with wallboard that was breaking down. Anne’s curious nature led her to investigate and she found that drywall can be placed on the ground and, as it breaks down, it can nourish the soil! She began moving pieces of it to an area on the east side of the lot where she wants to grow later.
After some scheduling, Noreen Hautala, Anne, Dan and I were able to find a day that worked for us to tackle the job en masse. We hoped for more volunteers but we knew the four of us could make nice headway. We began by removing more drywall from the junk pile and making an even bigger gypsum garden for Anne. We filled several large construction trash bags with loose debris and re-stacked boards and other large pieces making the material easier for pick-up. Robert Saxton had said he could arrange to remove some of it with his trailer so we wanted it to look more approachable! We did an excellent job. Robert came by a couple days later and carted off much of the mess.
Anne noted an old fence that had fallen over along the road side of the lot and we decided that would be the base for a Hugelbed. Hugelkultur uses wood, compost, soil, and vegetation to create a mound into which you can grow. The wood retains water meaning there is little need for watering once the Hugelbed is established. For Anne, this should also create some barriers to foot traffic at the road side of the property.
We attacked the pile of tree remains that had accumulated and created a habitat for birds and such by piling it at the back end of the property. Dan also cut back some box elder to open up the fruit trees in the orchard area. Noreen had a mission of getting the fallen roof structure out and WOW did she ever succeed! She was REALLY sore after all that sledge hammer swinging!
For a bunch of old folks working for a day and a half, we were happy with a job well done. A video of the progress we made is posted at Harn Theory. And good thing we did all we did as the new trailer arrived less than a week later!! It needs much work but it’s here and we can begin the cleaning, repairing, and decorating so Anne has a lovely home before winter. Lots more to do and we are grateful for anyone who has a heart to help. You can follow the progress at Operation Crone Corner.
16 Monday Jul 2018
Posted in Community, Finding Your Purpose
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I have for years wanted to be involved in a Habitat for Humanity (H4H) project. And finally, I have checked this item from the bucket list.
This finally happened because of my friend Sherry Bruckner’s efforts to find a good Community Service project for our U-Group (a group that meets monthly to focus on deep listening). She determined that there were multiple projects and we selected the July 9th workday at 1909 6th Avenue in Alexandria, Minnesota. Our project would be working on completing the garage roof. This was the scene early in the day.
We had 5 build supervisors, gentlemen in their later years who volunteered for H4H, some for only a few years to date and some who’d been volunteering for decades. And we had 5 UGroup members with Sherry being the youngster on the team, Dan and I middle agers and Lee and Reed being our elders. We also had another volunteer join our team, Michael from 3M.
We started the day with a safety talk consisting of mainly of a “work safe, drink plenty of fluids, watch out for each other” kind of briefing. Then we had a local minister provide a short “sermon”. I was interested as he began his talk with a definition of the word Church which simply means “gathering”.
Latin ecclesia, from Greek ekklesia had an original meaning of “assembly, congregation, council”, literally “convocation”. ~ Ecclesia (Church)
So he explained that we people were a church as we were gathered together for God. He joked about how people referring to the building as the church, and not the people, were not really correct (though if you look it up in Webster’s…) I liked that he recognized the gift of offering our services in the help of another as that is the message of H4H that rings true to me. But, especially as I’m not so keen on the organized religion aspect of H4H, I was offended that he took time during his talk to demean another religion (as he got into the topic of which day is the sabbath and when we should worship) but I guess I should expect that in today’s “Christianity”; largely the reason I am not a big organized religion supporter any longer. We spent about 10-15 minutes listening to his ideas and then we broke, imbibed our first drinks of water, and then got to work.
I will say that at this point I didn’t realize how poorly organized the work day would be but perhaps that is the nature of working with a differing group of people so frequently. And perhaps the goal of H4H is not simply building the structure but building the “church” by facilitating relationship building at the job site. The lack of efficiency disturbed me as an engineer but as a human, especially one experiencing a very hot and humid day, I enjoyed the many opportunities for chatting that arose as we stood around (in the shade whenever possible) waiting for our next instruction or work opportunity.
We started the day putting up the trusses for the garage roof. This was a fascinating process that I hadn’t really dealt with and I loved learning about the techniques. We would pick up each 24’ truss and let the point drop (as gravity would naturally have it do). Then we’d push the one end of the truss up over the top of the garage wall and walk the truss into the garage and push up the other end over the opposite wall. The truss would dangle there, upside down, until it was ready for installation at which point Michael would use the Y-bar (a long 2×4 with a shorter piece nailed into it to create a crook) for grabbing the truss point to push it up into proper place, with its apex at the top. As you can imagine, as we filled the space with trusses, our space available for the push up and into place diminished. So when we got to the last of the trusses, we put up the last 4 or so without nailing them into place. This way, we could stage the trusses against each other leaving room for the last ones to be put up and in place and flipped. Once we had them point up and stacked, we could space them properly for nailing into place. We measured spacing as we went to assure consistency at 24” but the trusses were so large, there was lots of wiggle room along the length.
Lee and Sherry 
put in the long truss screws that helped hold them onto the sidewalls. This was difficult work, only made harder by the watching of multiple people.
Then we went to the roof sheathing to hold things together. As we added the sheets of oriented strand board (OSB), we measured the trusses carefully to assure they were at 24” from the base to the top of the truss. While this took extra time, it assured a more square building by nailing everything in as perfectly as we could. I learned the importance of measuring and checking along the way as, at day’s end, we had a ½” difference on the east roof sheathing that would end up requiring a re-do (by a subsequent group thankfully) to bring the building into square. What we didn’t realize was that the work on the east sheathing consisted of simply putting up sheathing without all the double-check measuring. It made for quicker work at the time but would, in the end, require much more work to remedy.
By the end of the day, it was nice to see a roofed building. 
We also learned a bit about building codes when we were given the job of nail checking. Apparently, there is a requirement for a 6” on edge and 8” on center nail spacing for the sheathing. Sherry, Lee, and I spent the last hours of the day working on adding nails where needed to assure we met code. While it wasn’t hard work, the presence of the scaffolding made reaching much of the west wall cumbersome… Though it was nice to be in shade! Here’s a shot of how the garage looked at the end of our work day.
And here’s some shots of us at the end of our day.
I feel good having done this work. I suffered for it later in the evening when I had a horrible leg cramp that Dan had to help massage out of me (and that had Mom thinking we were up to naughty business in her guest room). But I’d gladly do it again. And hopefully I’ll get another chance before too long.
02 Monday Jul 2018
Posted in Book Review
So this past week the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted to approve the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline through a new corridor in Minnesota even though multiple departments for the State of Minnesota had reported it as unnecessary and dangerous to the state’s people and environment. Since I was out of commission all last week, I haven’t seen all the details. But I had a backup blog ready and thought it quite ironic that the title of this book says how I feel about the PUC decision… I’m hopeful we can pull out a win in the end and prevent this new pipeline corridor from becoming a reality. More on that next week.
Let me start by saying that I was never a Ted Koppel fan. I actually was a dissenter. I just didn’t like him. I can’t tell you exactly why, but it’s probably a bit of a lot of things. I know at one point, he reported on something that I felt he showed bias and I was like, “I’m done with that guy.” So I was not super keen to read his book, Lights Out. But his topic was REALLY interesting. Plus Dan read it and kept telling me, “You need to read this.” So I did. I read the first half about 6 months ago and then we loaned the book to a friend. We got it back recently and I decided to finish it last week. And I am glad I did.
Part I of Lights Out is mainly a review of how vulnerable our electric grid is and how easy it might be attacked and put out of business. This is a scary but interesting review of how power stations are connected to government agencies and is mainly a condemnation of how poorly the whole thing is organized. There are many holes, most notably in what, if anything could be done in the event of an attack.
Ted reviews one coordinated attack of PG&E’s Metcalf substation near San Jose, California on April 16, 2013 that took twenty-seven days to repair and bring the substation back online. While this didn’t take the grid offline, even regionally, a better or more coordinated attack could prove much more damaging. A subsequent analysis of the event by Jon Wellinghoff, at that time chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), revealed a highly competent operation that he describes as “a targeting package just like the [Navy SEALs] would put together for an attack”.
Wellinghoff cited an analysis by FERC concluding that if nine of the country’s most critical substations were knocked out at the same time, it could cause a blackout encompassing most of the United States. ~ Lights Out, Ted Koppel p.19
Ted references William Forstchen’s novel, One Second After, which depicts an EMP attack by the Iranians and the North Koreans that knocks out the electric power across much of the country. The novel describes how a community might struggle to survive in this aftermath. While this is a fictional account, Lights Out notes that it aligns with a congressional commission report identifying the effects of an EMP attack on civilian infrastructure. Their conclusion? That “only one in ten of us would survive a year into a nationwide blackout”.
His review of the electrical industry and the federal regulations and organizations that govern them details those responsible for national security and emergency response. What he finds is an unprepared system, perhaps worse, one unwilling or unable to do what is needed to become prepared, if such a thing is even possible.
“Homeland Security proposes that families settle on a predeteremined meeting place and that they equip themselves with sufficient food, water, appropriate clothing, money, and medicine to survive seventy-two hours – and yes, of course, the radio, a flashlight, and adequate batteries for both.” Lights Out, p. 207
The electric power industry in the U.S. is highly complex and, because it is governed on one level federally but on another level by state, there is no cohesive set of controls or systems with which to assure competence for security or uninterrupted supply. And because it is complex and unconnected, there are many points at which it is vulnerable.
While Lights Out reviews some of the efforts in place to alleviate the problems, the odds are stacked against us in any of the many possible scenarios that might affect our power grid. Ted argues that our most likely issues will come from a cyberattack. But concerns about proprietary information and privacy prevent much advancement in fighting against such an attack. The Internet was designed to be a free and open market and it seems there is no way of securing that which was never designed to be secure. And it seems that both the U.S. and its enemies are working diligently to infiltrate power systems and likely plant attacks in such systems that can be deployed on command. It may well be, similar to our nuclear cold war, that it is only this threat of mutual destruction that prevents either side from acting.
However, with an Internet attack, it may not be an organized government with hierarchical structures that finds a way to sabotage. And for a mad hacker, there may be little incentive to NOT pull the trigger. If the only goal is terrorism, and the attack can be untraceable such that it prevents retaliation, there is only one option… Do it. [I must interject here, that with recent news coverage being as plugged into The Orange One’s diatribes as it is and the resulting endless repetitive chatter, I’d almost welcome a TV blackout.]
One event that highlights our vulnerabilities is Ted’s mention on page 83 of the Sony debacle with their film release for The Interview. Hackers not only rendered their corporate computer system inoperable (for months), they released some first-run films to the Internet along with information on compensation and medical records for executives and actors. In effect, the hackers were able to prevent the release of this film with the threat that there would be more to come, even potentially a 9/11-type attack. While Sony was condemned for bowing to the demands, it is unclear what the possible outcome may have been had they decided to tempt fate with the original version of the film. Though even more interesting may be the subsequent North Korean loss of Internet access days after President Obama’s “pledging that the United States would, at a time of its choosing, ‘respond proportionately’ against North Korea”. Perhaps the U.S. counter-attacked? Perhaps Anonymous intervened? With the Internet, we will likely never know for sure. One thing we know for sure, this event highlighted the vulnerable nature of our world and the complexity of the many socio-political factors involved.
“We have come to know how nuclear weapons can destroy societies and human civilization. We have not yet begun to understand how cyber warfare might destroy our way of life.” ~ Kennette Benedict, Executive Director, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (as referenced in Countdown to Zero Day by Kim Zetter)
Once we more fully comprehend the risks and dangers of a large scale electrical grid failure, Part II in Lights Out proceeds to explain how thoroughly unprepared we are to deal with it. From the Department of Energy (DOE), to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense (DOD) – NO ONE HAS A PLAN! Perhaps most damning is his discussion with Jeh Johnson, then DHS Secretary, and his Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Caitlin Durkovich on pages 96-98 & 108-112. While there were some more encouraging interviews with, for example, Craig Fugate, Administrator of FEMA, even then, there was little to instill faith that we could navigate this “uncharted territory”:
“Where normalcy [wouldn’t] get established quickly, [we would be] trying to hang on and keep as many people [as possible] from dying until the system comes back.” Craig Fugate, Lights Out p. 118
Even if we had some plans, the resources to provide are insufficient. As Fugate notes, “Basically, people have to drink water, they have to eat, that waste has to go somewhere, they need medical care, they need a safe environment. There has to be order of law there.”
“There have been, as of this writing, only four secretaries of homeland security. Each of them has conceded the likelihood of a castastrophic cyberattack affecting the power grid; none has developed a plan designed to deal with the aftermath.” Lights Out, p. 104
What’s the bright side? Part III covers “Surviving the Aftermath”. It is a more hopeful section of the book, if only to know that some people are preparing in a way that may lead to their survival. But for most Americans, it is salt in the wound of our gaping unpreparedness.
Ted begins by discussing the 
growing number of “Preppers”. But he notes that many are off-track, focusing on buying ‘bug-out kits’ and not truly being prepared for a world without electricity or fossil fuels. For instance, he presented the contents of one “Two Person Beginner’s Bug-Out Kit… noting the absence of a simple flashlight.
From what I read, much of the Prepper Retail Industry is geared for FEAR and PROFIT. They instill fear so you will make them profits. And I am certain there are many people who have spent hundreds, if not thousands or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars “preparing” who have no idea where they are going or what they’re doing should they find themselves facing an “abrupt departure into the unknown”, as one Prepper paraphernalia retailer puts it. I personally believe it’s not the physical so much that will get us, it’s the emotional, and I’m not seeing a single kit stocked with a year’s worth of Valium or Prozac to get you through that transition.
But Ted does focus on this aspect by continually asking each person how he or she would respond to someone who hadn’t prepared, someone who needed help. The answers varied but typically end with something along the lines of “your failure to prepare for crisis does not mean I have any obligation to help you now.” But one interviewee definitely mentions the fact that, at some point, if there is no recovery plan rolled out, anarchy may well result in someone showing up to “kill you for your food.”
While some are preparing to be self-sufficient, to whatever degree possible, others are preparing as a community. The best prepared individuals have housing with wind turbine or solar power capability, water availability and wood heat along with replenishable (hunting/fishing/growing/foraging) food stores. [And, I’d add, privies that function without electricity and water.] But many have minimal plans that don’t address likely crisis scenarios.
The example community of Preppers Ted discusses at length are the Mormons. Whatever you think of the Mormans, you have to respect their preparedness and ability to deal with crisis. When Katrina hit, they had evacuated New Orleans of all but seven of their ~2500 congregants before the storm even arrived. And, the LDS church was in place with tents, tarps, water and gas for those in most need before FEMA even had a plan. In its constant state of preparedness, the church readily addresses the needs of any member down on their luck or community in need, thus rotating the stocks of their stores over time. And not only do they store the food, they produce it with “fifty-two farms, ranches, and orchards; twelve canneries and processing plants.” THIS is prepared. But they too struggle with the question of what to do when others in need come calling.
Ted notes the over two thousand Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) affiliated with FEMA throughout the country but also that they don’t have much presence in America’s cities with only one CERT in the nation’s capital.
As a side project, I went to the CERT
website to find the group closest to me and got nowhere. First, there is a screen cautioning me to go back… that also notes the “security certificate expired 307 days ago…
When I persist, I get this lovely message:
So… good luck with the CERT program.
Instead, Ted recommends neighborliness. Two main steps include determining the needs of the most vulnerable and knowing the skills and assets of those willing to share either or both in your community. He mentions that local law enforcement, fire fighters, and local medical teams are good sources for help, though for some these days, local law enforcement have ruined their reputation for serving the public with their over-militarization and confrontational behaviors.
There are those who comprehend the scope of the issue, including Keith Alexander, retired director of the NSA who now owns a cybersecurity business in D.C. [Some questioned why his great ideas weren’t implemented while he worked for the government and accuse him of subsequently capitalizing on government needs after becoming intimate with the concerns.] However, many of the ideas for protection are thwarted by concerns about privacy and information sharing between industry, government, and private citizens. As Snowden made clear, our privacy is largely an illusion.
Unfortunately, when disaster does strike, it may largely be left to the military as the only organization with the required equipment and manpower. And while some are working to equip bases with their own power systems (which was standard practice thirty years ago), it may not be possible to implement these changes before disaster strikes. And the task of reacting will be made more difficult as the general public has little idea of what to do. I’m starting to think that a 10% survival rate may be a high estimate.
It would be the ultimate irony if the most connected, the most media-saturated population in history failed to disseminate the most elementary survival plan until the power was out and it no longer had the capacity to do so. ~ Lights Out, p. 222
And should we lose power, many would not know if it was a simple system anomaly we sometimes encounter, like a car accident taking out a transformer or a tree taking down a power line, or an act of cyberterrorism… an act of war. And should it be the latter, we may never know the source of the attack. And should it happen, we’d likely never know the number of affected people.
Many of the interviewees seemed to have a common idea: there have been many disasters for which we were not prepared… Katrina, Sandy, Snowmagedden… and we made it through them. But we didn’t ALL make it through, did we? How many thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, heck, even Snowmagedden, did we not count? My guess is that we lost hundreds, if not thousands, of people for whom we have no record. The Homeless are the “invisible” people we rarely consider. Maybe when we are all refugees of a power grid crisis, homeless people will finally be a part of the accounting, if only because so many will essentially be “homeless”.
And the questions are much bigger. How are federal and state resources managed and utilized? How are military and national guard personnel mustered without communication systems? How long will it take to determine plans and will that be fast enough to protect resources like fuel stations, groceries, and water utilities? There is much to consider and, I fear, we will never honestly and openly discuss the factors, let alone find ourselves prepared.
Ted closes with a description of WWII England where preparations, even with resources that seemed “woefully inadequate”, in the end gave a sense of purpose and feeling of confidence that in some ways saved the day. Men armed with long-handled brooms and garbage can lids would patrol the streets. While these are seemingly innocuous tools, they did allow an incendiary device to be swept from the roof of a building and smothered with the lid. The discipline instilled in the civilian population helped everyone at least feel like they were doing something helpful. And, in a case of a crisis, this feeling can go a long way in helping people not lose hope.
04 Monday Jun 2018
Posted in Community, Gardening, Homesteading
Tags
I have been having lots of fun playing in the dirt… some for the Harn Homestead and lots more volunteering to help others.
After such a slow coming spring, I worried that our gardens would not have enough time to finish. But, as Char assures me, even if you don’t plant until July 4th, the garden WILL make it (apparently one year they had a really late planting but still had a good harvest). And it now feels like mid-summer with all the HOT weather. Sometimes I’m amazed it’s just barely June! We just never really got much of a Spring… But things are growing, and fast!
Part of the process is cleaning up the past year’s growth. Connie and I have recently spent time at our 89-year-old neighbor’s place working on cleaning up gardens. And then we spent some time at Farm by the Lake, a local venue for shows, weddings, readings, and overnights. Their garden beds were in need of cleanup and, because they do so much to bring culture to our little rural community, we were glad to help with a bit of gardening. The property, on Lake Lomond in Bagley, was gifted by Bagley native Richard C. Davids, a naturalist, author, editor and teacher who wanted Farm By The Lake to provide a space where “we can find renewal with the land, with another, and with God.” I’ve attended music shows, storytelling events, a writing workshop, and their annual craft fair, which also features lots of musicians. It’s a lovely space currently being cared for by friends Dawn and Marty.
Before:
After:
You see, in the last photo, Connie “inspecting” my work, finding it acceptable. 😀
As a member of Shevlin Garden Club, Connie and I also recently did a Sunflower planting event where we helped children plant seeds at the Clearwater County History Center (CCHC). From their website:
The museum is located in the former Shevlin School, a two-story brick structure built in 1911. The school closed in 1991 and the historical society “History Center” opened in 1996. The grounds also include several historic buildings: the first log school built in the county in the late 1880s, a school built in 1936 by the local WPA crew, the Ebro Depot (a small transportable depot- the size of a box car), and The Halvorson cabin (a two story log cabin from 1904). Two additional buildings on site house larger tools, machinery and miscellany. Exhibits are changed on a 12 to 18 month schedule, with different themes and topics covered each year.
We ended up having a wonderful day, even with a cold rainy morning. The CCHC hosted a dairy event in the morning where kids made butter and ice cream and, just as they finished up their sundaes, the rain let up so we could plant the sunflower seeds! Connie Nunemaker and Nancy Ames showed the kids how to turn up the soil and then hoe trenches for the seeds. Then Connie explained spacing and the kids planted all five rows. The outside rows feature Teddy Bear Sunflowers, a shorter variety, while the inside row is Sunburst, a very tall sunflower variety. In between, we planted Ruby Moon and Autumn Beauty sunflowers, some of which present with red coloring.
First it’s nice to know we’re helping plants look their best by removing tall grasses and old growth. Maybe it’s something to do with my apparently-increasingly-more-prevalent-each-year-OCD, but I am liking more order than chaos. [Perhaps to combat the ‘chaos’ of not being able to control my aging??] I like seeing the plants without all the grass encroachment. And while I admit I do NOT have much issue pulling out grasses, I still struggle with the cultural idea of the ugliness of dandelions! They are much harder to pull…
Another benefit we can bring is to relocate some of the bird-dropped seeds to more appropriate places and this allow more space and better proliferation in new locations. Connie collected a spruce and a couple little pines to relocate. Would they be fine without us? Well, surely they would all duke out a co-existence. But in a few years, that large oak growing among the flowers might bust through the concrete barrier poured years ago to contain the bed. We have one of these to relocate too – but that will be another day.
We are hopeful to help Dawn as she works to bring the flower beds back to what Richard Davids intended at Farm by the Lake. It will be a multi-year project but will be fun to watch as things transform. It will be extra fun and a bit easier if we can find more community support for the project. So far, Dan has committed himself and I’ll be recruiting soon!
Plus it feels good to be with the plant nation! They are lovely and if you listen close, you might hear them saying hello. And, did you know? Dirt has some kind of Prozac-type effect on people? It apparently has some kind of component that makes us feel happy. It’s just anecdotal for me so far but there might be something to it! [And I much prefer the natural way to the idea of popping pills. Who knows what else those might be doing!?!]
And speaking of anecdotal, it seems that the friends I have that talk with their plants, giving them love and attention, really seem to have better luck with abundance and growth. I believe these plant beings hear us and appreciate us when we help and love them. As such, I’ve been talking to the Sungold and Grapes just outside our front door every day. And I head out to see the Raspberries several times a week to tell them how big they are getting! Hopefully they will soon be joined by the squash, beans, argula, beets, peppers and such that I seeded last week.
And of course there is the satisfaction of seeing the final result. The Sunflower event at the CCHC included a Sunflower growth chart where several kids marked their heights. It will be fun at the end of the summer to see how the sunflowers surpass the kids in annual growth!
Plus, helping to clean up a couple of my neighbor’s flower beds resulted in a delicious lunch! Can’t beat that!
Gardening is the gift that keeps on giving. Seeing the plants thrive, enjoying the beautiful flowers, watching pollinators enjoy the food, and harvesting the veggies throughout the season. I’m looking forward to great rewards for all my garden work.
26 Monday Mar 2018
Posted in Community, Crafts, Homesteading
So many blessings in the last couple months! I don’t even know where to begin and I’m sure I will leave out several of the most wonderful things… But I am starting to believe that some of the wonderfulness is because of our gratitude. We are continually saying, “How lucky are we?!?” It’s like good things just keep coming our way. And I will keep giving thanks for it all, and hope it keeps delivering.
One of the first signs of spring are baby lambs and goats. Our friends at Split Oak Farm have both. Their lambs were rescued triplets from a local farm that keeps the best two of a litter and these sweeties are so small! I never knew a lamb could be as little as a cat! And this is at some days old. I happened to be going for a visit with friend Connie who was helping Angie make an apron from an old linen tablecloth. That tablecloth never looked so good as when they were finished. A beautiful upcycle. Anyhow, the lambs had arrived earlier that week and they were so adorable. A few days later, Connie and I had a trip to town and so we stopped by the Farm on our way home. Good thing! Angie was just bringing out milk for the little lambs and we got to help! We also got to see baby goats – four of them at the time – two new born and two a few days old, all adorbz! Connie and I got to play farmer as we helped move two ewes to a birthing pen and relocate a momma and baby that had gotten into a wrong space. Those goats are sneaky little devils! All in all, I’m glad we don’t have livestock at our homestead… but I’m sure glad to have lots of farmer friends who do. 🙂
Another farmer couple, Jill & Randy at Merry Gardens Farm, are remodeling their kitchen and we (mostly Dan) are helping with the project. They pay us good… in food!! Every time we visit, we end up having a meal and it’s always, in part and sometimes almost in whole, harvest from their land. We’ve had pork liver and onions, roasted potatoes, beets, and Brussels sprouts, pork chops, and Thai cabbage salad. Yes, Thai food!! Jill is an amazing cook and on a recent visit we had both the Thai cabbage salad and Thai noodles. It was like a dream in rural Minnesota where most of the food tends toward the white and bland. Her recipes for the two sauces were very similar – a mix of Liquid Aminos (GF soy sauce), garlic, peanut butter, chili sauce, oil and honey – but just different enough to give a nice contrast. Oh, just yummy!! And she also makes several varieties of mean tapioca pudding – my favorite. We never leave their place hungry.
Winter at Merry Gardens is quiet in the fields but 
we also get to see baby piglets. These Red Wattles are SO SWEET!! I just love their sleek ruddy coats and their sturdy little frames. They are really manageable for the first couple weeks and then they are past the cuddle stage. But they are still fun. Their market pigs were cracking me up as they ran through the fields rearing up and taking off for no apparent reason. And even the older sows and boars are wonderful. Most of them are talkers and they are like little dogs the way they play with Jill when she steps into their pen. They have some Mangalitsas which are like a velcro pig. When they are little piglets, they look like sheep in their white fuzzy coats. And maybe my favorite is Moses, the big boar who, when I call his name, comes running out to meet me like a big kid. He has the best smile. And he knows when I call his name I usually have food! But his real buddy is Randy, as this video shows. I don’t know who is cuter, Moses or Randy. Merry Gardens Farm really love their pigs.
But it’s not all fun and games. The market pigs require castration to prevent “boar taint”, an unfavorable smell or taste caused by the sex hormones testosterone and androstenone. Though Randy had asked me to help last season, daughter Molly ended up being available. But this season I got my chance to help. It was a not difficult process and Randy made it very quick. I had Danny film us and hope to eventually get a video posted for informational purposes. Though it may take me a while because I realized it is much harder to watch (a requirement for video editing) than to do the actual castration. In the moment, I was focused on trying to assure the pig was still for Randy’s process and comforted… as best I could. Randy says it’s the hardest part of raising these guys.
Crafting has been magically happening in my life as well. Neighbor Connie and I took a Craft Day to attend the Creative Spirit Fiber Festival and visit Anderson Fabric Outlet. It was a wonderful event followed by a huge sale. SO MUCH Creativity and Imagination!! My favorite gal at the fair was Lisa Jordan of Lil Fish Studio. You should check her out. She’s super fun. https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=193090157396798&ref=content_filter
And all that fiber watching ended up being a good inspiration for a project that came about due to Connie mentioning “making puppets”. Turns out my friend Steph’s son Rook LOVES Boss Baby and I had the crazy idea that I would make him a puppet for one of the characters from the movie. Steph said Tim was his favorite character but I knew I would have to also make a Boss Baby puppet too. And we did!
How does the Fiber Festival factor in? Well, when it came to hands and shoes, I decided felted wool might be the easiest option. And it sure was… 
with Char’s help. Char (of Char’s Yarn Basket just down the road from me) is an amazing artist and I knew she’d be able to help me with my project. Sure enough, we got it done. I believe my favorite parts of Tim are the jeans and shoes. And his head is the best of the two puppets (Connie did the paper mache work on it).
All in all, we are truly blessed. Even the icky stuff that seems to happen ends up having a positive impact – lessons learned, relationships strengthened. I hope that you are feeling blessed in your life too!
29 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in Community, Crafts, Happiness in Life, Homesteading
What a week of fun!! Cooking and Crafting with Connie and Angie.
I am feeling so lucky in many of the new friends we have up here in the North Woods and two of the best are Connie and Angie. Luckily for me, Connie lives close enough that we’re talking about biking to each other’s homes… once summer comes ’round again! And even though Angie is farther away, she has cute bunnies and goats and the best cat ever, Helga, so I get there too. Both of these ladies have something that I do not… a real kitchen with stoves, ovens, running water that doesn’t go into a bucket. 😀
But the other thing they have is a love of crafts. We started the crafting venture with Wire-wrapped Pendants and now we’re on to Driftwood Art, which uses some of the same techniques. While Connie focused more on the bead creations aspect, Angie and I both made a Driftwood piece. And we all chatted and chillaxed and created. Here’s our work: Angie’s, mine and two for Connie.
So much fun! I am loving this creative outlet. It is amazing to see where it all goes as it’s a natural process and came sometimes turn out different than you expect.
So this was the second day this week for creation at Connie’s as she and I had done cooking too. We worked on a few Gluten Free (GF) recipes and had good luck with all though we thought we’d only had luck with about half. 
So, we started with a GF Beet Chocolate Cake… I KNOW! It sounds weird. But it’s really good. I wasn’t sure but I really ended up liking it a lot. Even Danny liked it! So. One success.
We had some weirdness along the way like a hard boiled egg in with the regular ones. But we tried three different cracker recipes with mixed results. The Sesame Seed crackers were the best of the three – nice and flaky, crunchy and tasty. The Corn Puffs did not really puff – and while these were the third favorite, they were too salty. This lead to several ideas on how we could improve on the recipe and we plan to implement three of those ideas by making a few more batches for the Super Bowl Feast. The least workable was an Almond Flour Flax Seed cracker which we didn’t use Almond Flour to make. Yeah, maybe most of the problem. The substitution flours were likely too absorbant and we ended up with a VERY crisp cracker. Too dry. But the spice blend was good and Dan declared them “good”. So, we can claim 4 victories… of sorts!
We’ve got lots of crafting and cooking plans so I’ll keep you posted if we have more fantastic adventures to share with you all. Hope you are having your own successful creative endeavors as well.
01 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in Homesteading
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Once again, water has gotten the better of us this winter at the Harn. Not as tragic as it was last year with the busted cistern. Not as tragic as it could have been. But a bit of work nonetheless. As usual though, there is also a silver lining.
We had a lovely evening Christmas Eve dinner with neighbors Bill and Connie and farmer friends Jeff and Angie. Dinner included a scrumptious ham, perfectly basted by the first couple and lovingly raised by the latter. We brought mashed potatoes and cornbread. Angie brought beets and carrots and a beautiful braided Christmas bread. Connie made yummy Pilgrim Pumpkin Custard for dessert. We stuffed ourselves and headed home for a warm winter’s nap. When we awoke Christmas morning, we did the usual stuff and eventually turned on the tap… only to find it was frozen. Bummer!
We put a space heater in the corner cabinet where the pipes run and… nothing. We decided to clear all the crafting stuff (a 6’ high pile of boxes in the corner) and put a space heater there. Ran it all night and, about 11:30 the next morning, we had flow.
I did some dishes to clear the lines and we kept checking the tap through the day. We contemplated all day what we might have to do. We knew it was not feasible to run space heaters like that all the time. We ran the heater overnight as it was to be even colder than the previous but I decided at bedtime that we could turn it down to 64 instead of 72… to use a bit less energy. Not a good idea. We woke up the next day to frozen pipes again! [Pretty sure I drive Dan crazy with my “saving” plans.]
This second night in a row of freezing let us know we really needed to take out the wall to look at the pipes and see what could be done to mitigate the issue. The next day, we got to work. We pulled all the trim and removed the tougue-in-groove. We knew the lines ran along the east exterior wall of the Harn but once we opened up the wall, we found another issue. There was cold air in the wall.
Our walls are basically steel exterior, then insulation batting and a layer of 4 mil plastic in the studs, then tongue-in-groove pine boards. There is a stub wall between the kitchen area and the craft area and it is in this stub wall that the kitchen lines run from the west side of the Harn to the kitchen area. Since we put electrical outlets in this stub wall, there is a wire that runs from the exterior wall, through the plastic and into the stub wall. This wire happened to enter the wall, just where the 90° bend for the water lines (with brass fittings) took a turn to the kitchen sink. And there, a hole in the plastic was creating a jet of cold air right at that bend in the pipe.
First Dan taped the hole to stop the cold air jet. I was glad he did as a short while later I saw a large mouse run into the gap in the wall. He was under the plastic and I touched him telling him to get on out of there. We then pulled the water lines off the exterior wall and stapled them to the next 
stud over. We added a piece of foam board between the exterior stud and the bend in the water pipes and added insulation in the studs at this location. We covered the water lines with insulation and tied the hot and cold lines together higher up with a second piece of tube insulation. Then we also stuffed fiber insulation around the lines where it was still exposed. We decided we didn’t need to heat tape the lines but we did cut the tongue-in-groove to allow for access to the area, should we need it again. Let’s hope that does NOT happen!
Before we put things back together, we also ran a new 20-amp line down into the stub wall to allow for the addition of a couple more outlets – since I had been cooking on that side of the kitchen as a habit. And, knowing me, Dan gave me a 6-plug outlet! Now I can cook AND do crafts at the same time. AND Dan is going to add two new shelves for me on that wall, since I moved the tall cabinet from that corner to the opposite one in the craft area. On the opposite side of the stud wall, I’m also getting that high kitchen shelf I’ve wanted.
We realized after the wall was apart and everything in the craft room had been piled to the side, that we might have company over the New Year’s weekend… so we scampered to clear clutter and get things put back together. And, while digging through craft boxes to determine what could go to the storage area, I found a small Mary Engelbreit shelf that Mom had made me that fit the bill for a small kitchen shelf we planned for the new cooking area we had created a couple weeks back.
So things are shaping up pretty good! We’re keeping warmer now and the pipes are in good shape! The weather has been cold as ever and no more frozen tap in the morning.
Hope our New Year flows easily. And we hope yours does too.
04 Monday Dec 2017
Posted in Community, Homesteading
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Some of my FB friends may recall a recent post I made:
“Never dreamed this is the kind of thing I’d be doing once I moved to the North Woods…”
You can see in this shot, not only the array of deer carcasses from a local processor (two that we were going to use for bird feeders and the remaining that our friends were going to use for pig food), but also a small pumpkin and buttercup squash I would process later and a deer hide that I’d scraped earlier than evening. I am kind of amazed at the Homesteader I’m becoming.
Jeff and Angie Ness of Split Oak Farm have taught me much, including how to process a deer into venison. The deer in this video is the one Jeff shot while hunting with Dan in November. Jeff is a Retired Navy Medical Chief so has ample knowledge of anatomy which helps in the process. I’m a SLOW but steady learner. He would start with a section, like a shoulder, and I’d have the opposite section and he’d walk me through how to best utilize all the meat from the bones. He truly gets as much meat as he can from his kill. I appreciate that. I was MUCH slower than him due to my unfamiliarity (I can’t even venture a guess at how many deer Jeff has processed over the years). But I was also amazed that I could handle the processing when years ago I was barely willing to cut up store-bought chicken breasts for dinner!
Jeff explained how to remove the silverskin and tendons, which are tough, He advised on removing the fat which gives the a distasteful flavor if too prevalent in the ground meat. [I had some cabbage rolls Angie made from their deer this past weekend and I believe we did a good job as you’d never know it wasn’t beef. Well, this untrained palate recognized it as familiar enough anyway!] He was a thorough instructor as I made my way through the muscle, connective tissue, and bone. We ended up with 25-30# of sausage, two bags each of tenderloin and backstrap steaks, and several roasts. It’s a lot of meat and will carry us through this winter well fed.
I have been slowly making my way into these new skills. Recently Jeff and Angie had a friend looking to downsize his flock of some old layers and so we gathered the seven hens and processed them into food. These ladies were much smaller than the birds we’d previously processed for Split Oak Farms – running just over half the size. And, due to age, they were much different physically from birds I’d processed in the past, which were usually chickens that had been raised for meat and were thus only a few months old.
When we’d processed birds a few months earlier, Jeff did the slaughter, while Angie and I cleaned the birds. Once the process got going, Angie moved to final clean-up while Jeff and I continued with the processing. She focused on the precision work of cleaning all the last tiny feathers, removing the bits that most people don’t like to see on their store-bought birds. It’s been eye-opening for me, from the first processing I did at Dancing Rabbit with the Critters, to the processing I continue to do, to learn more and more about what real chickens look like as they go from feathery frolicking creatures to what we put into our ovens and crock pots. It is tedious work to make a chicken look ready for cooking; removing anything that might remind people of the previous life the chicken lived, of its previous animation.
I was the one to take five of the birds from the cage to the killing station. I thanked each bird for her life. I held each gently as I could and tried to make her last walk to the garden a calm one. I did my best to carefully put each bird head down into the cone. I watched as Jeff slit the throat of the first bird. He had asked if I wanted to do the kill but I wasn’t quite ready. To be honest, I hadn’t considered that taking a bird’s life might be a part of the day for me. But realized it was probably a hurdle I was ready to try to overcome. When I brought the next bird to the cone, I knew I’d be the one to take her life.
It was an experience I cannot fully explain. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of responsibility. I felt like I was finally being fully accountable for my food. That was empowering. But it still chokes me up to think about it. While I did my best, I don’t think I did as well as I could have. I was inexperienced but I knew that practice would improve my technique.
I was also the one to take the final hen to her death. I did it alone. I pulled her from the cage, talked to her calmly, thanked her for her life, put her gently into the cone, and prepared to make the cut. I found this second kill to be very poorly executed. I took what felt like a full minute to break through and reach the carotid artery and jugular veins. In all likelihood, it was probably more like 3-7 seconds but it felt like a very long time. I apologized over and again to the hen. I was visibly crying. Jeff and Angie were processing birds a dozen feet behind me and didn’t say anything but I felt horrible for the botched job.
I grabbed the chicken from the other cone that Jeff had killed minutes earlier by its feet and took it to the water pot in the garage. I assured the temperature was adequate (we want it at 145°F or a bit more, but not too hot) and dunked her in the water several times to release the oils and feathers. I took her to the plucker and Jeff joined me as this was his part of the job. I headed to the processing table to begin again with that work. I was pretty introspective as we finished the work.
Earlier this same day, Alex from H&S Meats had come by to slaughter four pigs for Split Oak Farms. One of the pigs was for Dan and me. As Jeff and I drove to H&S to discuss the processing for those animals, I told him that I felt I’d done a terrible job on the last bird. He reassured me by explaining that sometimes, no matter how hard you try to do it well, the knife can get caught on the quill of a feather and can be very hard to break through. While it helped to know this, I still felt conscience-stricken.
Today I cooked one of the chickens from that day. It may well be one that I killed. I felt great reverence for this bird as I added onions to the body cavity that I had cleaned. I felt love and tenderness for this hen as I tucked garlic between her skin and flesh. I took care as I salted and arranged her in the crock pot. I felt lucky to have this good food. And I felt responsible for bringing this well-processed meat to my family table.
Oh, and those are potatoes Dan and I dug at Merry Gardens Farm!
I’m changing a lot as I become a North Woods Homesteader. It’s a contemplative process and I know it’s changing who I am as a human being. I work to be compassionate in my endeavors and I know I’m much more accountable for my sustenance than I have ever been. I know it is making me more resilient and self-supporting but I also believe it’s making me more considerate.
Retired at 45 