As promised, here’s Lucille, our tractor, in action.

Continue reading →

My Sweet Dreams store on Jackson Street in my hometown of Moscow, Idaho, needed to move to make room for a parking lot. I kid you not. We owned the building but leased the land, and when our landlord passed away, the new owner wouldn’t budge in his decision to clear the entire block. But remember my post about doubling the size of my Coeur d’Alene store recently and the huge parking lot outside our door that’s being converted to a park? Win some, lose some. All the work we’d put into the grounds weren’t lost entirely. Every single bush, tree, bulb, and plant was lovingly dug up and replanted somewhere else. Our landscaping endeavors had won awards! Sigh.

And do you remember the colors from my Winnie the Pooh poster? Well, guess what? I had painted my little store the exact same colors. After trying to sell the building (backyard mother-in-law quarters anyone?), we decided to move it to the farm to occupy the spot where my Winnie the Pooh tree stood … without bees. A new kind of swarm was about to happen.

We readied a spot by cutting down our one tree and then pulling out a thicket of small plum trees with the tractor. We brought in truckloads of gravel and poured a concrete pad.

Here’s my SIL, Lucas, knee deep in the muck of it.

As each tree we pulled out with the tractor was then pulled down the road to our debris pile, my little farm was bathed in a dust storm.

Walker had a free pass to lounge the day away.

Continue reading →

Remember my post on Saturday about hubby driving Lucille, our tractor, to town? I was elusive then and will be again today. Do stay tuned though. I’ll pull it all together in the end. But first, take note of the colors in this sign. I put this sign up a few years ago when my bees swarmed and took up residence in an ancient, almost rotten apple tree near where we park our cars at the farm. Okay, I thought. I won’t be able to harvest their honey, but a beehive in an apple tree sounds so right somehow.

But sadly, bears can’t read and a bear (or another critter with claws) did, in fact, raid and destroy most of the combs. The bees disappeared and never returned.

Fast forward a few years later when the sign, the tree, and the abandoned hive needed to come down. Why?

Continue reading →

In an earlier post, I shared some pics from our trip to Lindsborg, Kansas. While there, we also toured a flour mill built in 1898 that, for a couple of days each year, is cleaned up and turned on! Amazing.

Below is an advertisement from The Lindsborg News-Record of the Old Mill announcing their annual event, Millfest.

They even dressed the part and gave us a fabulous tour of their mill.

It was especially exciting touring this mill because for the most part, it’s a carbon copy (well, inside at least) of my J.C. Barron Flour Mill, located in Oakesdale, Washington.

Continue reading →

Don’t be afraid to confess.

We’re all friends here.

Your secret is safe.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

So, admit it …

You dream of bringing your chickens indoors.

A Girl with a Rooster by Jacob Gerritsz via Wikimedia Commons

It’s okay—it’s considered normal around here. I raised my girl Ginger indoors because sometimes …

a couple of daily visits to the henhouse just isn’t enough.

Continue reading →

On our recent trip to Lindsborg, Kansas, I stopped by to give a big ol’ farmgirl hug to my friend and National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson. (Treat yourself to some of his photos in his list of published stories.) He and his wife, Kathy Richardson, have a studio on Main Street called Small World Gallery.

If you’re a regular reader of Nat Geo, you know that Jim is still capturing the world in photos. In 1994, Jim spent a few days photographing us for a feature that appeared in 1995.

Continue reading →

How’s your junk drawer? The one with an assortment of loose change, Gorilla Glue, golf balls, keys that open who knows what, and that old cell phone that no longer works but you can’t bear to toss it in the trash.

Well, I have a purpose for at least one of those clutter bombs.

It’s called …

Dialers For Dollar$.

What’s that again? Dialers For Dollar$?

And yes, the “s” is a “$.” Clever, right?

Dialers For Dollar$, hosted by Reverse Recycling, is a company that collects old or unused cell phones (in ANY condition) and recycles them properly so they don’t end up circling back around to bury us. According to Dialers For Dollar$, “Did you know that cell phones, on average, are used for less than 18 months before being replaced? In America alone, more than 140 million cell phones will end up in a landfill this year. It is estimated that there are over 500 million unwanted cell phones in junk drawers in the United States alone, with an average of 4 in every household.”

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; Tomasz G. Sienicki

Dialers For Dollar$ has found a way to make recycling these devices a barrel of fun. Here’s how: You request a donation barrel for, say, your local coffee shop (once you’ve asked them for permission). You create some signage for the barrel and people drop in their old cell phones. (The barrel is only a 14” wide x 24” tall and can hold up to 15 gallons.) When the barrel’s full, you e-mail Dialers For Dollar$ and they send you a free shipping label for the original shipping box.

Dialers For Dollar$ offers $1.50/lb to the host location for all donated cell phones and personal handheld devices collected, and $.20/lb for all accessories such as chargers, ear buds, and batteries. Then, Reverse Recycling matches that amount to the charity of your choice. Another nice thing about this fundraiser is you can also choose to donate the full amount to your local charity. Many find the program to be a fun and easy way to give back to their community on a local level.