Know your remote farmer

Shopping at our local chain grocery store recently, I noticed an interesting new tag on some of the produce. Have you seen these in your area?

These tags allow you to search online to find out where the produce you are buying has originated:

Supposedly, at this online site, when you type in the produce ID included on this tag, you can "meet" the actual farmer who has grown your produce:

Possibly in an effort to counter the growing "eat local" movement, a new campaign has been created to allow consumers to get to know their not-so-local farmer.

Now, the skeptic in me questions this immediately. It would be nice if this was a rural farmer organization's attempt to maintain a connection to their customers and address the growing concern of where our food comes from and how it is grown. Instead, I fear this is the mega-grocery corporations' attempts to soothe and placate our worried brows so that their food market and profits aren't impacted by us gaining our senses.

I decided to go to the site offered on my tag and punch in my ID number:

If I believe what is posted, while not exactly local, my onions were at least grown in my state. Grown outside the small town of Nyssa, Oregon (301 miles east of Portland), my onions travelled - after going to the local packing/shipping company and back - about 400 miles to get to my hot little hands.

Of course, I clicked on the video to meet my farmer. My farmers are Warren and Jim Farmer (kid you not). This is actually a pretty cute video of two men looking really uncomfortable for the camera:

Further investigation shows me that it is the packing plant itself, Fort Boise Packing, located in Parma, Idaho, that is responsible for the Trace Produce program.

Unfortunately, none of the info they provide addresses any of my other concerns...growing methods, sustainable growing practices, use of chemicals, transportation and fuel costs. But I do appreciate knowing that my onions weren't grown in China. :-)

What's next to YOUR sink?

Meg and Kelly at Future House Farm posted a blog a couple weeks ago about what is IN their sink and what it means. I've been noticing lately what's NEXT to mine.

Here you'll see a of couple wine glasses from last night (no further comment necessary), the rinsed out blender from my husband's daily protein drinks and...the beginnings of my compost pile:

I'm in awe of my collection of compostables so far. With the lids on, the contents are already starting to do amazing things inside...getting all moist and steamy and smelly. Jim, on the other hand, is starting to get a bit eeked out by my fascination with our growing collection of biodegradable food scraps on our countertop.

You see, there was peace in our home when it was just one container. However, I've been promising to stake out and start our first-ever compost pile for weeks now. And while my intention to do this remains steadfast - it is still undone. In my defense, though, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I just have so many GREAT IDEAS and PROJECT THOUGHTS constantly coursing through my head. And that there are just not enough hours in a day to get to them all. But, now that the compost container quantity inside our home has reached three, and I am now in need of a fourth, I either need to start hiding my containers or this project needs to move to the top of the list.

I'll keep you posted.

Just a really nice day...

Yesterday was fun. So many nice things happened, I felt like I was under a shining star all day. Will you throw things at me if I tell you about it?

It began, as it usually does, with coffee and conversation with my sweet husband. I'll spare you the picture of the two of us early in the morning. You know how I love my pictures, so please appreciate the great restraint I'm showing right now.

After coffee, I donned my grubby blue overalls and black rubber boots and went outside to investigate the goat house. Yesterday's blog post showed you many of the photos I took. And although I had many other things on my "to do" list for yesterday, I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to start cleaning out the pen while I was there. I was so anxious to get started. There were so many fallen branches and a significant amount of other debris that, even after about 45 minutes, I had hardly made a dent. It may not look great now, but I can envision how sweet it's going to be when I'm finished!

I then went wandering through our garage. I've been looking for the box of winter gear - that the movers hid from me - for over three weeks now. I really needed my ski pants for my son, Aidan's, ski race on Mt. Hood today. Success and what luck! Now, why didn't I see those before? After just a bit of searching, I finally found them:

Returning inside, I spied the cookie ingredients that had been sitting on my counter for two days waiting to be used for the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever, that Judy at No Fear Entertaining had shared the recipe for. Right then and there, I decided it was baking day (and yes, I always bake with my laptop, don't you?!):

These cookies were the very first dessert I've baked in my new kitchen and they turned out beautifully. And yummmm...I really believe Jim loved me even more when he got home to these delicious treats (thanks, Judy!!):

While waiting for my cookies to finish, I delighted in sitting down with my new magazine, Hobby Farms. I received a surprise "Welcome to your Farm" subscription to this magazine from my friend (and fellow blogger, Ms In-Between) Mindi and her husband, Mike. I had absolutely no idea why this issue showed up in my mailbox...until she told me yesterday! It was such a fun surprise. :-)

Capping off a most wonderful day, I received a notice from the mailman that a package was waiting for me at the post office. After a quick trip into town late yesterday afternoon to pick it up, I couldn't wait to see what was inside:

This adorable messenger bag is my gift from Michelle at Sugar Creek Stuff. And all I had to do was post a comment on her 100th blog and then be lucky #1 on her dice roll! :-)

After unpacking it, I wore it around the house all evening long, still totally empty, just because it made me happy and it fits me so well. My husband kept saying, every time I walked by, "Nice bag!!". :-)
Just by asking me a few questions, Michelle was able to personalize it for me in surprising ways. Thank you, Michelle, I love it!! (Be sure to check out some of Michelle's other things she has made at her Etsy site).

What a nice day!

The Goat House

Another introduction is in order for today.
This is what I see when I look out of one of my kitchen windows. See that reddish structure in the distance through the trees? Do you know what it is?

Upon closer inspection, it becomes obvious:

It's a goat house, of course, as clearly indicated by the white-painted lettering on the little door:

I'm very excited. Our new property has so many interesting things about it, as well as on it. This little house was actually a selling feature (for me) back when we initially viewed the property. The then-owner and my husband looked at me like I had lost my mind when I squealed upon seeing it for the first time.

But there is work to be done. The outside is desperate for a fresh coat of paint:

And the roof clearly needs some attention:

But overall, it seems structurally sound to me.

Inside the house, there is a 3.5' x 7.5' storage area (right side of picture) that can be closed off from the rest of the house with a small gate. The rest of the house is an L-shaped stall area, measuring a bit over 4' by 7.5' at the skinny part and....

7.5' x 7.75' at the bigger part:

It even has a precious little storage area above the stalls:

The outside pen is approximately 18' x 22' currently. While the metal rods holding the wire fence seem solid, the fencing itself is a disaster and will need to be replaced. I will also make it at least a foot higher than it is right now.

I think, with a good scrubbing out, a new fence, some attention to the roof, a new coat of paint, securing the doors, and cutting away all the branches and debris, it'll be a perfect little goat home. ...Piece of cake, right? :-)

There were, as always, a couple of interesting finds.
Here is a galvinized metal can that is in perfect condition. Once it's cleaned out, it will make a great storage container for feed:

I wonder if these still work:

And then there's this here. It looks like some kind of stall mat. I tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge:

Now, all you goat people out there: is there a need for stall mats in a goat shelter?

Does anyone have advice or thoughts on other things I need to be paying attention to?

Every day I get just a little bit closer...

Internet: the final chapter

Gosh, I'm so happy! But, oh, I'm so sad! Here's my story. Told with the ending first. Just so those of you not interested in our continuing saga of Internet access can stop reading after the next paragraph and still know how everything turns out. If you do stop reading now, though, you'll miss the pictures at the end. :-)

Conclusion: We have hi-speed Internet again! Yay!! Bye-bye dial-up, hello 1mb download speeds...whee!

Introduction: The neighbor up the hill from us is a former ham radio operator with a 70' tower on his hill. The local rural wi-fi company contacted him a few months ago asking if they could put one of their transmitters on his tower to enable rural wi-fi Internet access for the area. He said "yes" and many of the surrounding folk have been able to get access other than dial-up for the first time.

Chapter 1: Early last week, we had the wi-fi technician from this rural wi-fi company out to our house to "sniff" for the signal transmitting from our neighbor's tower. If the signal could be detected, our Internet access problem would be solved. If no signal was found, satellite with a 2 year contract (or dial-up) would probably be our only option.

We found out that the transmitter on our neighbor's tower transmits via 'line of sight', meaning our receiver has to literally "see" the transmitter, and, alas, due to the canopy of the huge Douglas Firs between our two properties, this wasn't occuring. At the end of the day, the wi-fi installer dude went away saying it couldn't be done. I said goodbye to him feeling more than a little dejected, but, believing fully in his inherent goodness, knew that he would continue thinking about it after he left and call again later with an alternate plan.

Chapter 2: Sure enough, last Wednesday we got a call from the wi-fi company saying that wi-fi installer dude (bless his heart) had come up with another idea and wanted to try installing a second transmitter much lower on our neighbor's tower, in an attempt to transmit below the canopy of the trees. Excellent plan. So, on Friday, wi-fi installer dude returned to install the second, lower transmitter and then came to our house to "sniff" for the signal again. Success - the signal was found, the speed is excellent, and it looked like all would be working perfectly upon installation.

Chapter 3: Right about this time, I had to leave for an appointment, and handed over the installation reins to my husband. He had come home early from work so he could be here to answer any questions the installer might have in my absence.

When I got home about five hours later, Jim was giddy with Internet connection satisfaction. It was up and running! Due to the fact that our home office is on the opposite side of the house, though, some adjustments had been made and they had opted not to try to run cable through, over, or under the entire house. This seemed reasonable. The two of them, Jim and the wi-fi installer dude, installed the receiver, ran cabling from it underneath the deck, up the wall, into the laundry room and attached it to a wireless router on top of the cabinets in the laundry room. Sheesh, this country living is complicated. The laundry room? But, ok...this doesn't impact doing laundry in the slightest, and we can't see the router, except at night in the dark, when you can see a small green glow up in the left corner by the ceiling.

But this is the part where things get a little dissapointing for me. I don't want to be unthankful or grouchy, but when I had left earlier that day, I had been told that the receiver, a fairly large, square piece of white plastic attached to a gray, metal post, would be installed on our roof. Off the ground. Possibly still within sight, but nevertheless, not anywhere we might trip over it or otherwise be impacted by it. Wrong! Here it is:

Of all the places that it had to be installed, on 7 1/2 acres mind you, it is on the side of the deck railing at hip level, well within sight of the entire landscaped side yard and garden. Not on the roof, not on a pole, not in any of the fields, not on the garage, noooo....right smack dab in the small part that we look out on daily, hourly, maybe more. We can't grow anything around or in front of it to hide it, as this would stop the whole 'line of sight' thingy. And it's brilliant white...like a beacon. It could only be more obvious if it blinked and emitted a loud beeping sound.

Afterword: And so, in the immortal words of Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need." We needed Internet access and we got it, and mighty speedy at that. I am very thankful.

Jim has offered to paint it brown for me. Though, he warns, this could impact the speed. :-)

And now, here's a gratuitous close-up picture of broccoli for you - to make up for me blogging about feeling sorry for myself over something stupid:

Surprises in my garden

It's funny, but ever since we moved to the country, we have only been able to spend - maybe - two, full, uninterrupted days here. Both my husband and I are yearning to just stop, breathe, and explore our new place for hours on end. Unfortunately, that's not yet in the cards and I have found myself having to travel into town almost every day since our move. While the distance itself isn't all that far, with the appointments/stops and then traffic to and from, each of these trips has me leaving in the morning and not returning until late in the afternoon.

Despite this, though, I gave myself permission yesterday morning to be a bit late to my "city date" and just wander for thirty minutes through my garden and barn. The pastures will have to wait for another day.

I can't express how beautiful it was...the weather was gray, cool and wet, but the birds were out in force, singing, chirping and chattering and the air smelled so fresh. I found and noticed the most wonderful things:

...a tree, still living, with many woodpecker holes in it:

...an ancient old pitchfork spade that I pulled out of the dirt:

I was able to determine that this fruit tree is, indeed, apple and not pear:

...a rope in a tree that has been there so long, it has huge clumps of moss growing on it:

...a larger than average nest above the hay storage area of my barn:

My husband had found a surprise in the garden for me the night before that made me laugh so loud. It was buried, on its side, beneath an overgrown shrub:

Our new farm mascot! So you can get a sense of his size, here he is next to Roxy:

What shall I name him?

Introducing: My Barn

I realize that to many, this won't seem like a real barn. This isn't a fully dedicated, hay-loft holding, tractor-housing, sharp farm tool-storing barn like most real farmers have. But it is the closest thing that I have ever had to a barn (a.k.a. a place for my critters) and it tickles me beyond belief.

I don't think my family really understands my love for this building. To them, it's a rather cold, musty-smelling, poorly wired, disabled plumbing, garage-type building that happens to have three horse-stalls added to the side. To me, however, this building is the embodiment of all my farm dreams. It's what I yearned for when I thought about moving to the country - a place to keep my animals warm, safe and dry. To the practiced farm-dwelling eye, my barn will probably seem simple and lacking, but to me, despite its many problems, it's the coolest place around. And it's mine.

Want a tour? We'll have to hike up a short hill from the house to get there.
That's it, through the trees.

Let's take a closer look, just a little farther to go:

Here we are at the entrance to the stalls:

On the inside, there are three horse stalls. The one on the far left is currently storing stall pellet bedding:

Same view, different angle:

Here's Roxy atop our recent farm & feed store purchases (pine shavings for the chickens, rabbit chow for our bunny, Walter, one chick feeder, two lead ropes, 2 hoof picks):

Roxy again, outside the stalls. (Note the new lead ropes and hoof picks again attractively displayed.) That little pup has NO idea that really cool animals are going to live here someday soon:


I've had a good week.

A game, oh boy, a game!!

I think today should be Danni-Appreciation-Day.

Why, you ask? Well, because today I have chosen to step out of my normal comfort zone to do something that I always flee from. You see, I am a person who has never enjoyed playing games. I will come up with a hundred and one other things to do before I will ever resort to game playing. My husband pulls out the cribbage board, I roll my eyes. My friends want to get together for a game of Pictionary or Guesstures, I suggest alternative activities. Friends extoll the joys of playing cards (in Vegas or at home) and my eyes practically roll back in my head from anticipated boredom.

So, you can maybe imagine my reaction when Sugarcreekstuff tagged me for the "7 Things" game. Then, Chicken Mama Susan at Eastside Farm Chronicles tagged me, too, a few days later. My eyes grew wide when I read that Fay at the Country Livin'Blog tagged me. I'd been able to put off responding for quite a while, since I was in the middle of a move and all, but then, today, Sue at A Multi-Colored Life tagged me. I'm really touched that each one has thought to 'tag' me, but now I'm also thinking..."the madness must stop!!" :-)

And so....I have gone against my very nature today to participate in something that I would normally avoid like the plague. Why? Because I'm really a team-player at heart. I may not want to play with a group, but I love being part of a group, talking and interacting. Besides, everyone else has been so funny and good-natured about what I'm about to do, that I can't stand to rain on anyone's parade. Therefore, here are my seven random (useless), weird (who cares), interesting (boring, really) things about me that most of your probably don't know:

1. While I am most recently of the high-tech professional world, I was formerly a personal trainer at Bally's Total Fitness. I loved this job and invested so much in it (personally and monetarily), that it literally cost me to work there.
2. I speak fluent German. My mom is a German native and, when my sister and I were kids, she would take us every other summer to visit family and travel through eastern Europe.
3. I hate to fly. I consider myself a very stable and strong woman, but put me on a plane and the feelings of panic I experience have me contemplating running down the aisle screaming, spitting and pulling at my hair. NEVER fly anywhere with me. Oh, and thank God for Xanax.
4. Other people don't generally "get" my family's sense of humor. I guess we're pretty rough on each other, with quick banter, sarcasm, and more than occasional snide insults, but we adore each other and feelings are never scathed. Visitors will come to a family gathering and look at us in horror, not understanding why everyone isn't crying.
5. I can be a bit spacy and absent-minded at times. I once gardened in my front yard (in the city) for 20 minutes in my bra, because I had earlier gone in to change my shirt, got distracted, and never finished the job. My husband finally came outside and said, "Uh, Danni....?"
6. I like the smell of my dog's feet. (oooh, that's a good one, isn't it?!)
7. I am a secret People and Us magazine reader. (shhhhh...don't tell!)

Jeez. That was painful.
--> But wait...as per the directions I was given, here are the rules I am following:

- Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you. (Done)
- Post the rules on your blog. (Done)
- Post 7 random or weird facts about yourself on your blog. (Done!)
- Tag 7 people and link to them. (See below)
- Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged. (See below)

I am choosing to disobey the last two rules. Out of the kindness of my heart, I will not be tagging anyone else for this game. The "fun" ends here. With me.
You can all thank and appreciate me now.

Please, please never tag me again, because I will probably implode. (This especially includes that Archive meme that is going around...)

Engage me in conversation, though, or invite me to a group lunch and I'll be there in a heartbeat. :-)

A day with the birds and my husband wants a gun

Yesterday was a good day. I've got birds again. Since we moved in almost two weeks ago, we've heard them and seen a few from afar, but they weren't coming around the house much. I had put bird seed out about 5 days ago hoping to lure them in, but I was beginning to get frustrated by their lack of interest. How could I possibly have fewer birds in the country than at my city feeder?

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of pouring rain - a type of rain that, I would guess, is indigenous to Oregon: heavy, pelting, elongated drops - and the wonderful sound of something else....a huge flock of birds nearby. The chirping and tweeting and singing that was right outside our windows was incredible and it made me so happy!!

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera and my telephoto lens, and pretty much spent the next two hours just watching them and snapping shots.

I think this was the finch party that was making all the noise when I woke up. I caught one in flight (lower right-hand side of picture):

I think this little guy is called a chestnut-backed chickadee:

Here's a beautiful nuthatch. We didn't get many of these guys in the city because we didn't have any fir trees around us:

More finches:

And then this. Look at the lower right half of the picture below. It looks like our horse got out of the barn and dropped a few on our lawn. Neat thought, but we don't have a horse. Those are mole hills. Now that Jim has his chainsaw, he talks a lot about getting a shotgun. He says he's going to sit in a chair on the back deck and shoot the moles when they come up. Poor little guys. What's happening to my peace-loving, pacifist husband???

We've moved to the country, that's what. :-)

Still here!

What a week! I love my new home, although I continue to feel very isolated. The lack of t.v. is not really an issue, but I never anticipated it would be THIS difficult to obtain an Internet connection in the country. We've run into one challenge after another this last week with still no final solution in sight. We were finally able to get a dial-up connection in place tonight, which truly feels like a real treat since it is allowing me to post my first blog update in over a week!

I've managed to come down with a horrible cold and a (shudder) bladder infection, so I'm just a tad under the weather currently. My sweet Jim brought me home antibiotics this afternoon, so I hope to be on my feet again shortly.

My husband and son took care of that tree yesterday that had fallen on my fence. Jim had gone to our small town hardware store on Saturday and bought a Stihl chainsaw (grunt, grunt) called the "Farm Boss" (LOL). The two of them were so excited to fire that baby up! It was just a small tree, but they were out there for over an hour, revving and sawing. They were probably spitting and cursing, too, although I didn't personally witness this.

I miss all my blogging buddies...please don't forget me. :-)