2nd week of October 2009

Picking up walnuts Garden action has been somewhat limited by cool, rainy days and I'm waiting for a dry spell to start planting garlic and finish planting cover crops. Meanwhile, our children are busy harvesting black walnuts. We have several trees around the farm plus we are asking permission from some neighbors and friends to glean from their crop of walnuts. There is a place locally that will hull them and pay by the pound for the whole nuts. The pay is only 12 cents/pound which isn't huge but makes a nice income for a kid. Our seven year old is especially motivated to gather all he can to earn some spending money. When Olin helped out by shaking one of the trees, it was almost like a pinata as they all scrambled to gather up the nuts into their own bags.

Several changes happened in our animal population recently. We butchered the last of the pastured broilers on Saturday Baby Hereford along with seventy or so old laying hens - soup anyone?? Our daughter bought 13 one year old Aracauna hens (rainbow eggs) from a friend plus we have seventy five new Golden Comet layer chicks scheduled to arrive next week. Two more calves have been added in the bovine corner. Our five year old's Hereford had a bull that he named "Ketchup" and pictured is "Charlie" with a hair-do which makes us chuckle every time we see him. They say that a curly coat is a sign of a good masculine qualities in a bull so he may grow up to be our herd bull someday.

Coming up on Saturday, October 17 starting at 11:00am is the first annual Kidron Red Beet Festival. This crazy idea started with Keith Schloneger, Kidron's ice-cream man, passing out German Lutz beet seeds this spring for a contest to see who could grow the largest beet. Lutz Beet I suggested we should make a festival out of it and that he needed to serve beet ice-cream. Well, we now have live music planned (my mom and aunt playing accordians from the Heritage Center balcony), folks bringing various beet dishes to sample, a judge to determine the best Lutz beet, a display of the various types of beets (golden, Chiogga,...) and of course, red beet ice-cream. Really, all it will be is a couple tables in front of the Kidron Heritage Center with the main festivities happening between 11 and noon but we do hope to have some fun and educate visitors about the finer side of red beets which by the way are reported to help cure cancer among other things. Here is my Lutz beet for the contest sitting next to a softball. See you at the Festival!

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