Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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Finally, we are enjoying some Indian summer. I wasn't sure if that was an allowed expression any longer, or if we'd gotten so P.C. that the term should now be "Native American summer," so I looked it up. Wikipedia still lists the term, described as "a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs," usually "following a period of cooler weather or frost in the late autumn." The first known recording of the phrase came from Letters From an American Farmer, in 1778, by J. H. St....
We have been away from home for the past week, traveling for a family reunion. My two younger sisters made the arrangements, and since they both live in southeastern Missouri, that's where we went. My husband and I traveled by car in rain almost the entire way. The first days were much warmer than what we'd left in Montana. My sister still has cherry tomatoes ripening in her yard, as well as lettuce and okra. Flowers are blooming. I had to take photos. But the rain and cooler weather followed...
Last week was not conducive to finishing my garden-clearing plans. Translation: the carrots are still in the ground. Or should I say, still in the mud? A couple more inches of heavy, wet snow fell early in the week. It has since melted, slowly, leaving the yard soggy and garden muddy. The low temperature we saw was 16 degrees, which shattered the record low for that date. It's not a new record we wanted. Again, I'll say that it is much too early in the fall to be having winter-weather...
It's official. Summer is over. We woke up to a light coating of snow this morning. Yuck, yuck, double-yuck! I'm never ready for the end of summer, but I'd rather ease into winter than get thrown in, kicking and screaming. The past week has been cold and gloomy. I miss the sun. I forced myself to get outside and work hard on getting my garden space cleared, and I'm glad I obeyed myself. Almost all the dead vegetation has been uprooted and hauled off to my "dead" piles. I left the sunflowers...
An unexpected early frost has pretty much ended my gardening for this year. It was late in the evening on a cold and rainy day when I realized it might freeze that night. A sense of fatalism set in, or perhaps a lazy lassitude, but I didn't even attempt to try to save anything. I hadn't wanted to drag the heavy truck tarps out anyway. It's the first time in many years those tarps haven't seen service. I awoke early the next morning with a vague sense of unease. The thermometer showed 30° from...
It seems as though our hot summer weather has departed. I don't expect prolonged heat to return so I've taken our two window air conditioners out. They're stored for the winter. If we do get an occasional hot day, the fans can handle our need for quick cooling. So now the windows need washing, but I'm not ready to take down the screens just yet. There are still flies and other flying nuisances that want to come inside. The yellow jackets gather on the south side, seeking entry. They will sneak...
Another week has passed me by, and I still haven't been able to do any housework. In fact, it's gotten to the point that once I do find the time I won't know where to start. Does anyone else face this? It seems as though everything needs to be done at once, and so it's easier to put it all off even longer. There are so many other things I'd rather be doing. What I really need is a self-cleaning house - or a maid. We should finish our wheat harvest today, Monday. Do you think I'll be tackling...
None of my plans for last week panned out. First off, while I had seriously contemplated dusting and vacuuming, Dennis decided we would make a run to town for various things on Monday. We headed down about noon. Two of the main things we wished to accomplish didn't happen, so they remain on our "to do" list. While having an early supper of Chinese on Front Street (we'd skipped lunch), we received a phone call from the Billings Clinic telling us an appointment had been made for the following...
There hasn't been much gardening or cooking done this past week as we've gone after harvesting our yearly income. When the wheat is ready to combine, that's what we do, almost to the exclusion of all else. Right now, I have a really good reason for the house being a mess. We've hardly been home long enough to notice what hasn't been done. While I'm spending the greater part of my days out in the field, my mother-in-law has stepped up to prepare hearty noon meals for us. She also makes a light...
I feel like I've done a lot of dilly-dallying these past couple of weeks. I started painting rocks when it got too hot to work outside. Even though we've since had cooler days, I've continued staying inside and painting. Of course, I'm going to claim that the unhealthy smoke in the air is the reason I didn't go out to do work that requires deep breathing. That's partly true. The other part is just plain laziness and procrastination rearing its ugly head. I didn't get around to doing any...
This is being written on Monday morning, Aug.13. After enduring several days of extreme heat, I'm searching for my sweatshirt and beanie instead of a tank top and sun hat. I had planned to pick green beans this morning. Instead of that, I'm going to bake bread (the bread machine mixed up the dough for me and I just shaped it into a loaf to rise while I write. I'd dropped the insert once, causing small dents, and now the machine won't make a nice loaf, but it still whips up great bread dough.)...
Since both the raspberries and green beans are slowing down, I've had a little time to look around more at the rest of the garden. I'm still picking some of both, but there aren't nearly as many to deal with at once. The beans are starting to blossom again, for another onslaught in a few weeks. No more berries are going into my freezer, but there are more than we can eat. I've given quite a few containers of them away, some to the staff at the Courier, more to my fellow church members in...
I will admit to having been a bit hasty recently when crying about my poor raspberry crop. I was doing the opposite of “counting my chickens before they hatched”. I’m not sure what you call that, but I was seriously wrong. There are sections where the canes are dying earlier than usual (where the emitters were plugged last summer), but the other areas are making up for that deficiency. There are now more than enough packages of raspberries in my freezer to see us through until next year’s crop. Plus we are eating fresh ones daily. Several...
My garden has been producing summer squash from those too many plants I put in. I took a couple of the round ones, along with a couple zucchini-type ones, and arranged them to form the eyes, nose, and mouth of a face. I shared the photo on Facebook, joking about "playing with my food." My youngest sister then posted a photo of a "veggie face" composed of peppers, tomatoes, and a blackberry, saying she saw my face and raised the bet. Shortly after that, my next younger sister also posted her...
I have an abundance of the herb, French tarragon. When I'd first planted it a few years ago, I treated it like parsley: as an annual that I'd have to replant yearly if I liked it. So it was a surprise to find it is actually a perennial up here in Zone 3. Even tilling over it (two years in a row) failed to cause its death. Last summer I found it emerging in the midst of my green beans, so I dug it up and planted it on the northeast edge of the garden where it would be safe from the tiller. It...
I've taken a few days to work on our decks. I know this should be done earlier in the spring, but farming and gardening always seem to get in the way. Don't judge. The front deck is made of redwood and seems to need lots of upkeep every year. First, I just washed it with plain water, using my little pressure washer. There was lots of debris stuck between the boards - twigs, small rocks, leaves - so I took an old butter knife out and pried that gunk out as well as I could. Some pebbles are still...
We’ve been getting more rain, for which we are grateful. However, all that wetness means the weeds are really sprouting. The crops we want to grow are not the only plants thriving out there. So, while my husband is trying to get our wheat crop sprayed to kill those weeds, I’m out doing more hand-weeding in my garden. I do love my shelterbelt trees but I’m not so very thankful they drop lots of seeds. There is one tree with small serrated-edged leaves that have tons of seeds encased in a white papery disc that flutters nicely in the wind. They...
I did finally make some rhubarb muffins, but was disappointed in how they turned out. They tasted fine, but the topping wasn't the best. I do, however, feel that is my fault, not the fault of the recipe. I wasn't careful enough measuring the butter, so there was too much for the amount of sugar and cinnamon. That caused it to not sprinkle but to glop on in the center of each and then to sink into the muffins as they baked leaving the muffins with unsightly craters on top. I did consume several...
It’s that time of year where the garden is really starting to look like a garden, but it isn’t producing much yet. The weeds, however, are trying to take over. Therefore, I’m doing lots of weeding, trying to give my veggies a leg up. Weeding is grunt work, and the older I get, the more I grunt. My weeding is done by hand. I’d rather wear my kneepads and crawl alongside my rows than try to use a hoe. I find those are really hard on my back, and quickly give my hands blisters. I’ve had gas-powered tillers in the past but always found them to b...
The controversy raised by Colin Kaepernick had been resurrected by none other than our president, who had suggested those protesting are not the children of morally upright mothers, and that their right to protest injustice is not legitimate. I would point out that the President swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” It would seem he is not doing that at all. Instead, what he is doing is dividing us rather than uniting us, and seemingly claiming that some of our citizens do not possess the rights our...
This harvest has been extra long for me. That’s because the crop is so poor we decided we couldn’t afford to hire our usual custom cutters (and we are sorry they are hurting, too) to cut a third of it for us. It’s just Dennis and me doing it all. We cut and fill the truck by noon, haul it in and have a quick lunch, then go back out to fill the truck and grain cart again. Sometimes we manage to get four truckloads in a day, but usually only three this year. (In previous years we would regularly get four, sometimes five in a day, but this year...
Valley View: There were several interesting letters to the editor last week regarding the upcoming vote on supporting Valley View. While we agree that some assistance in funding the home is needed, we feel the committee is taking the easy way out. The bulk of the proposed need of $300,000 will fall on the shoulders of the county’s property owners. Those of us farming are already being pinched hard this year. The drought is causing a great deal of hurt, not only on farmers, but also on all the businesses that rely on the farmers’ spending. As...
You may have noticed a proliferation of pretty, painted rocks around town lately. If you aren't on Facebook, or know anyone who is, you may have wondered about them. What are they for? Why are they where they are? What should I do with them? Why are people investing their time and artistic abilities on something as mundane as a rock? A bit of research, a bit of googling, or asking the children who hunt for the rocks, will let you know. It's called The Kindness Rocks Project was started by Megan...
The night before the special election, as the news broke of Gianforte losing his temper, a friend posted a report on social media by rawstory.com, titled ‘Reporter decked by Montana candidate Greg Gianforte was just hauled off in an ambulance.’ The very first comment was “pretty sure this is a fake article!,” immediately followed by “I believe they will say anything at this point.” The first commenter did eventually allow that this report was ‘partly true.’ Other comments included “too bad he didn’t break more than his glasses,” “more med...
The furor over Colin Kaepernick’s “lack of respect” has not died down. Other famous people are blasting his actions. Mike Ditka has now declared that he believes if “they don’t like this country” they should “get the hell out.” He did go on to say this is his (Mike’s) “choice, I like this country, I respect our flag, and I don’t see all the atrocities ... I see opportunities if people want to look ...” I’ve seen arguments on both sides of this issue. There are soldiers, active military members, who’ve written and signed a letter saying they...
