Uncle Wiljo's Barn Wood

Three years ago Jimmy and I were able to retrieve, with permission, some of the wood from the Kalenius Barn at the end of Aho Road. Uncle "Bill" and Auntie Ailie lived there, and built the barn sometime around 1910.  I loved that farm, and have very fond memories of many childhood visits there.

Long story short, the wood has been waiting for a purpose. It's quite deteriorated, and there really isn't much to work with. The idea came to me to make a gate for the Apple Orchard. It is the first official project to come out of the workshop!  I was very lucky to have a supervisor too.

Real Life Drama

The sound of an unfamiliar chirping caught my ear this morning. Then I spotted baby chicks, one after the other leaving the tall grass and crossing the driveway and dodging under the truck. At first I wondered if Heta and Mayme...naw. Remembering that I had two cats outside, I ran out and collected them, each with an empty mouth!  That is when the mother quail showed herself. Her tail was all fanned out and she was squaring off with the Chickens.

Once back inside, I am watching the slow pace of the morning return out my kitchen window when a large shadow crossed over the yard. All chirping ceased and even my high octane, industrial strength Amazon Chicken Women went into hunker mode. It turned out to be a raven. My next google. "Do Ravens eat baby chicks?"

All of this drama brought to me by my almost free oversized windows on the world.

Mosquitos

On a tour of the Mille Lacs Anishanabi Museum, I asked how the Native Americans dealt with Mosquitos. Apparently they would grease up their skin with bear grease and then rub ash into the grease. I probably would not sacrifice a bear just for this purpose, but I'm game for other DEET alternatives.

Facebook has yielded some home remedies made from various essential oils. I thought, "Great! I'll go that route!" A trip to the Cloquet Health Food store revealed this to be incredibly expensive, as the essential oils are about $10 a bottle. However, they did have a ready made insect repellant for the bargain price of $8 for a 4 ounce bottle! 

Today it also became my fabric softener in my laundry and final rinse in my bath water!  There is Oil of Cedar in the repellant. That, together with my Finnish Birch (Koivu) shampoo and the lovely home made Pine soap from Janet and Sara, I feel like I have real forest cred! Now I am going out to work on my fence.

Adopting a stray cat

At first there were two strays. I named them "Skinny" and "Scrawny". Skinny was caught by the neighbor and given to his brother. That left little Scrawny out on her own and obviously lonesome. She resists being captured. She has done her best to befriend Booggaard, however, he can be a bit of a jerk.

For several days she has hung around, gratefully eating the scrawny nibbles I've left out for her. She has been plagued by these awful mosquitoes. They sit on her little ears and just feast away. I sprayed the herbal bug repellant on a towel in the cat carrier, which has been her home. Today she let me pat her head with one finger. I didn't waste the opportunity. I wiped the herbal bug repellent on her ears. Today she has a nice, full tummy, new friends, and a few hours of relief from the bugs! Peace out, little Scrawny! Let me know if you'd like a better name.

Life in the Bog means living in peace

Enough said.

*The* Smoothie Recipe!

The ingredients are:

1 cup chopped up fresh spinach and kale. Cut away the stems, use only the tender leaves.

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 banana

5-6 slices of unpeeled cucumber

1/4-1/2 an apple, unpeeled

1/4 cup frozen or fresh blueberries

2 heaping tablespoons pineapple

1/4 cup of "Simply Lemonade with Blueberries" 

Blend in your circa 1978 Montgomery Ward blender on the liquefy setting.

Once the raspberries are ripe, I will be experimenting! I can't wait till august when I can gather most of this from my own garden!

The Three Sisters.

Thus, referring to a Native American planting system which is suppose to be mutually beneficial to the three crops of Corn, Beans and Squash as well as to the soil.  Legend tells that it is time to plant corn when the leaves of the Dogwood are as big as squirrels' ears. I love measuring things that way! The corn provides a pole for the beans, the beans fix nitrogen to their roots and the squash provides ground cover. There are many more subtleties to it, as well as the whole nutritional thing. It is a centuries old technique and I am excited to see how it goes! 

Trying to live simply on an easier time scale is hardly congruent with one of the best $189 purchases ever, my electric tiller! I purchased it from L&M in Cloquet when I was still working. I had the garden tilled in 10 minutes. Let's face it, it's nice to be able to straighten up at the end of the day!

After it cools down this evening I hope to get my seeds into the ground. Stop by in July to see how it's doing!