Joey went back to farming last week and I'm back to the life of a farmer's wife. Today was the first day of the harvest season, which means long hours on the tractor, picking corn and soybeans. It's 9 pm and I'm still waiting for Joey to come home. He has some long days ahead of him. Last autumn he worked from 6 am until midnight some nights. It was good to have the long weekend to relax before jumping head-first into hard work.
Last weekend, my mom came to visit and we decided to take a mini road-trip. In the past few years, we have discovered the Seed Savers Organization for heirloom and organic vegetable and flower seeds for our gardens. The organization preserves the history of plants that have been passed down through the generations and compiles a list of members that have saved seeds from thousands of heirloom plants. Their colorful seed catalog is enough to keep any gardener going through the long months of January and February. This weekend, Seed Savers was having a tomato testing party at their farm in Decorah, IA and since my mom loves tomatoes, I thought she would love to go. I also thought that Decorah, IA wasn't that far away from my house...
It took us 6 hours on Saturday morning to get to the Seed Savers farm. But it was worth the trip. The farm was beautiful, the old barn was amazing, and the tomatoes were tasty. But to be honest, Iowa was kind of a drag. We were hoping to stay the night somewhere in the area but because of the holiday weekend, our options were limited. My mom made a reservation at a hotel about an hour away from the Seed Savers farm in the hopes that there would be interesting things to do and see on our way back home Sunday. Nope, we didn't see anything on our drive but farm, after farm, after farm. And we like our drives in the country, we were just hoping for an antique shop or two. It didn't help that it rained almost the entire day and by the early evening, we just wanted to eat dinner and go home. So we ended up eating dinner at an Italian restaurant that gave us heartburn and garlic breath and kept on driving. We got to my house around 1 am.
The next morning we slept in until 9 am and puttered around the house and then Joey took us out to the state park where there is an annual tractor show and flea market. Sunday was beautiful and breezy and my mom and I had fun walking around the flea market while Joey wandered off to look at the tractors. I bought a pair of vintage embroidered pillowcases and looked at all the hand-sewn quilts. We found a hand-knit baby hat for my cousin's baby, Molly, that looks like a sock-monkey. I can't wait to see her in it. She is the most fashionable baby I know and I think she has a different hair bow and tutu for every occasion, from birthdays to Steelers games.
After the flea market, my mom and I made the hour-long trip up to a town with a Lowes, JC Penney's, and target to get some things for my house like blinds and a new toilet for the downstairs bathroom. I'll fill you in tomorrow on our adventures in home repair. Let's just say that we had a full cart and a giant flat-bed trolley filled with stuff from Lowes. All in all, it was a great weekend. Love you Mom, thanks for all your help!
Last weekend, my mom came to visit and we decided to take a mini road-trip. In the past few years, we have discovered the Seed Savers Organization for heirloom and organic vegetable and flower seeds for our gardens. The organization preserves the history of plants that have been passed down through the generations and compiles a list of members that have saved seeds from thousands of heirloom plants. Their colorful seed catalog is enough to keep any gardener going through the long months of January and February. This weekend, Seed Savers was having a tomato testing party at their farm in Decorah, IA and since my mom loves tomatoes, I thought she would love to go. I also thought that Decorah, IA wasn't that far away from my house...
It took us 6 hours on Saturday morning to get to the Seed Savers farm. But it was worth the trip. The farm was beautiful, the old barn was amazing, and the tomatoes were tasty. But to be honest, Iowa was kind of a drag. We were hoping to stay the night somewhere in the area but because of the holiday weekend, our options were limited. My mom made a reservation at a hotel about an hour away from the Seed Savers farm in the hopes that there would be interesting things to do and see on our way back home Sunday. Nope, we didn't see anything on our drive but farm, after farm, after farm. And we like our drives in the country, we were just hoping for an antique shop or two. It didn't help that it rained almost the entire day and by the early evening, we just wanted to eat dinner and go home. So we ended up eating dinner at an Italian restaurant that gave us heartburn and garlic breath and kept on driving. We got to my house around 1 am.
The next morning we slept in until 9 am and puttered around the house and then Joey took us out to the state park where there is an annual tractor show and flea market. Sunday was beautiful and breezy and my mom and I had fun walking around the flea market while Joey wandered off to look at the tractors. I bought a pair of vintage embroidered pillowcases and looked at all the hand-sewn quilts. We found a hand-knit baby hat for my cousin's baby, Molly, that looks like a sock-monkey. I can't wait to see her in it. She is the most fashionable baby I know and I think she has a different hair bow and tutu for every occasion, from birthdays to Steelers games.
After the flea market, my mom and I made the hour-long trip up to a town with a Lowes, JC Penney's, and target to get some things for my house like blinds and a new toilet for the downstairs bathroom. I'll fill you in tomorrow on our adventures in home repair. Let's just say that we had a full cart and a giant flat-bed trolley filled with stuff from Lowes. All in all, it was a great weekend. Love you Mom, thanks for all your help!
I love Seed Savers and so wanted to go to this conference. Your tomato picture at the bottom is beautiful! Instead I just canned a bunch yesterday :)
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