Visit an Iowa pumpkin patch

I've been super busy enjoying the gorgeous fall weather.  I didn't have time to try a new recipe last weekend, but I did stop by the Harvest Barn pumpkin patch east of Osceola in southern Iowa.  Look at all the cute pumpkins!

I should make a scarecrow for my little backyard garden.  Do you plan a trip to a local pumpkin patch every fall?  What's your favorite type of pumpkin?  I like the little round ones :)

Our first real Christmas tree

I've met quite a few Christmas tree growers through my job, but I've never set up a real Christmas tree in our house.  This year, I decided to convince my husband to help me pick out our first real Christmas tree.  It turned out, he didn't need much convincing.  His family never had a real Christmas tree when he was growing up, so he was all for the idea.  He suggested that we drive to a nearby grocery store and pick out a tree. But I insisted that we visit a local Christmas tree farm.

There aren't many Christmas tree farms left in Iowa.  It's a tough business to get into.  First, you need the land.  With today's high corn prices, you're likely to make more money planting corn than planting Christmas trees.  Plus, operating a Christmas tree farm is a lot harder than it looks.  You need to tend to the trees throughout the year, trimming and weeding and spraying for insects when necessary.  You also have to keep the deer from eating all your trees.  And did I mention that it takes seven years before a Christmas tree is large enough to sell?  You better have a lot of patience if you're a Christmas tree grower.

My husband and I traveled to the Kidman tree farm near Polk City to buy our tree.  We chose a White pine, because I love the "Teddy bear" soft needles.

I'm leaving the tag on the tree as an "ornament."

We bought the tree stand at the farm, as well, for only $25.  It's a very sturdy tree stand, and very simple to use.  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture before we put the tree up. But I'll post one sometime.)  The best part of buying straight from the farm? They had the tree all wrapped and placed in the back of our pick-up by the time we left the gift shop.  We were in and out in 15 minutes, which made my impatient hubby very happy.

So far, the tree has been very easy to care for.  It's like an indoor gardening project.  I water the tree twice a day, since it sucks up quite a bit of water.  We've had only a few needles to clean up from the carpet.  I put down a layer of garbage bags to protect the carpet from water, but so far, there hasn't been any water spilled, another benefit of a good tree stand.

I wrapped the tree in the homemade tree skirt my mother-in-law made for us.  It's such a beautiful addition to our holiday decorations.

You may have noticed that I don't have any ornaments on the tree.  Too be honest, I'm not really a fan of ornaments.  I hate packing and unpacking them each year.  I might make time to put a few ornaments up, but I'm happy with just the lights.  My philosophy with Christmas lights:  the more colorful, the better!

So does your family prefer a real tree to an artificial tree?  Do you prefer white lights over colored lights?  Or do you skip the tree all together?  I'm usually not big on decorating the house for the holidays, but I was excited about getting a real tree for the first time.

Bucket list

I don't really like to talk about my work that much on this blog, because I'm a rather shy person and still have reservations about sharing my life to all on the World Wide Web.  (I wonder sometimes how professional bloggers share their everyday lives so easily.)  But I've had some pretty amazing things happen to me while on the job that I just had to share with someone.

If you didn't already know, I'm an ag journalist, so I spend a lot of time traveling the state of Iowa, meeting some amazing people and visiting all kinds of farms -- small farms, big farms, dairy farms, hog farms, organic farms and conventional farms.  A lot of people think Iowa farmers just grow corn and hogs, but in reality, Iowa agriculture is very diverse and vibrant.  There's room for all types of farms, and our hungry world needs them all.



A couple weeks ago, I visited a dairy goat farm in western Iowa.  While giving me a tour of the milking parlor, the farmers asked if I wanted to milk a goat.  At first, I was embarrassed. But then I said, "Why not!"  Next thing I know I was milking a goat, and believe it or not, I actually liked it.  The goats were very calm, and it wasn't "icky" at all to milk a goat. Now I can't stop daydreaming about raising my own dairy goats someday!

So now I can cross "milking a goat" off my bucket list!

Then earlier this week, I visited a farm where the family raised Clydesdale horses - like the Budweiser Clydesdales.  When I arrived, the family had the Clydesdales hitched to a hay rack, and they offered to give me a ride!  On the way back to their farm, they asked if I wanted to drive the horses down the gravel road.  Oh heck yeah!  And I must say, I did a pretty good job leading those horses -- until we hit a hay bale with the cart!  But no harm done :)

I was too busy with the horses to take a picture, but here's one I snapped of the farmer and the Clydesdales.

So now I can cross "drive a team of horses" off my bucket list!

Misty afternoon

I was driving to town the other day to check out a few Presidents Day sales.  I saw these sheds out of the corner of my eye, and I had to stop and take a picture.

I've seriously driven past this old farmstead dozens, if not hundreds, of times, and I've never noticed it before.  Maybe it captured my attention because the misty weather fogged out the surroundings and made the red buildings pop from the landscape.

It's funny how we take these little barns, sheds and farmsteads for granted as we drive down Iowa's highways.  It's not something that people who live in the cities get to see everyday.  I get to drive by cattle, hog barns, rivers and corn fields each morning on my way to and from work. And usually, it's a peaceful drive.  I'm a lucky woman to live in such a beautiful, productive land.

Oh, and by the way, the snow is gone. For now.  Here's hoping we don't get another snow storm next month.

I'll take seconds

One of my favorite local orchards, Center Grove Orchard near Cambridge, sends out and weekly e-newsletter, which recently announced that the orchard store was going to stay open this year until Christmas.  I love snacking on the dried apple chips we've made thanks to our handy-dandy food dehydrator.  So I decided to drive over to the orchard to see what apples they still have for sale.

I told the orchard staff that I wanted apples for drying, and they offered to find some apple "seconds" in their back room for me.  I only recently learned that "seconds" are bruised or otherwise unattractive apples, which I discovered from a recent post on one of my favorite blogs, Home Joys.

So I agreed to buy a few bags of seconds, although right now, I can't quite remember what variety of apple they were.  I think it was a Mutsu apple, which looks a bit like a Golden Delicious.

To my surprise, the clerk returned from the backroom with four 10-pound bags of apples for me to take home.  She offered to give me two bags for free.  So the next thing I knew, I was navigating a wheelbarrow-full of apples out to my truck.

My husband, who was happy to have an indoor project now that fishing season is over, immediately got to work sorting through the bags, looking for any, ahem, "bad apples." 

Yes, we use our microwave as a TV stand.  Leaves us with more counterspace :)

All the apples were in pretty good shape, except for a few soft and sunburned spots.

He cut them up, sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar, and stacked them in our food dehydrator.  (Note: This is an old picture from last year, just to give you an idea of how we use the dehydrator.)

I fed a few dried apples to my sister last time she stopped for a visit.  She replied, "I want these for Christmas!"  So I've saved a gallon-size bag of dried apples just for her Christmas stocking.  But I had to hide the bag, because I've been eating the apple chips faster than we can make them!

What I'm thankful for

I'm thankful for my health, my family and a 70-degree day in November.

That's right.

It's Nov. 9.

It's northern Iowa.

The temperature is 70 degrees.

And I visited a Christmas tree farm today.

Who needs a "White Christmas"?  All I want for Christmas is an unseasonably warm day.

The Great Pumpkin (Hunt)

I took a few days off last week to soak up as much of the lovely fall weather before the first frost sets in.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature put a damper on my plans.  After a blessedly dry month, it rained -- a lot -- during my three-day vacation.  I spent my vacation days looking at the window, waiting for a break in the rain so I could drive to a local apple orchard or hop on the bike trail. 

On my last day of vacation, I decided enough was enough.  The rain wasn't going to stop me from a finding a pumpkin patch.  I wanted to get my hands on some butternut squash!  My hubby has been urging me to check out a pumpkin farm north of Ames, DeMoss pumpkin patch, ever since he fixed a garage door at the farm a few years ago (my husband is a repairman). So I jumped in my truck, turned on the windshield wipers and made the misty drive to the DeMoss farm.

My husband was so right about this place.  I drove up into the farmyard, and there were pumpkins piled up everywhere.  The farmer, Dick DeMoss, was loading up a hayrack and van with pumpkins and squash for the Ames farmers' market later that day.  But he still took the time to show me the different kinds of squash he has to offer.

He was quite the salesman, as you can tell by my haul.  I picked up three different kinds of squash, plus a few decorative pumpkins.

I asked Mr. DeMoss how to cook the little squash.  He told me to pop them in the microwave, then slice them in quarters or in halves, "add your brown sugar" (now that's my kind of vegetable!), and then plate them as individual, personalized servings.  He grows the tiny squash for local restaurants, since they make such a lovely presentation. 

OK...my food plating skills aren't so lovely, but you get the idea.  This squash was very mild tasting.  My hubby cooked it in the microwave with some brown sugar and butter, which ended up like a caramel topping for squash.  Yum!

I also bought a gorgeous round pumpkin for my front porch. And as I was paying for the squash, Mr. DeMoss asked if I would be interested in buying a watermelon.  Uh, yes please!  I didn't even know watermelon were still in season.

Then as I was loading up my truck, Mr. DeMoss asked if I would like to see all the pumpkin pecan bread his wife was making for the farmers' market.  Uh, yes please!  So he invited me, a total stranger, to step into his house, where there were dozens of just-made loaves of quick bread, cinnamon rolls, pies and kringla in their kitchen. His wife, Letha, spends all day Wednesday and Friday baking for the Ames farmers' market.  In between time, she makes jellies and jams using locally grown produce.

I regret that I didn't have a camera with me (I'm still too embarrassed to take pictures of other people's homes), but I did end up taking home two loaves of pumpkin pecan bread to share with my family and a loaf of coconut bread, because it looked so darn good.

Like I said, Mr. DeMoss was quite a salesman.  He invited me to come back and visit on the weekend, when they offer hay rides and bonfires.  I told him, "Oh, I'll be back."

So please, pretty please, if you are in the Ames area, stop be the DeMoss farm.  It's located north of Ames -- take Highway 69 north of town until you hit the little town of Gilbert, then travel east on 170th St. His farm is just west of the Gilbert railroad tracks.  I had no idea that I lived so close to a 6-acre pumpkin patch.  For once, I'm glad I listened to my husband :)

Urban farming inspiration

I've visited many field days where Iowa farmers show off their bountiful corn and soybean crops.  But last week, I went to my first urban farming field day, and it was so inspiring!

The event, sponsored by Practical Farmers of Iowa, invited guests to see how a few local residents in Ames have turned their backyards (and sometimes their front yards) into small-scale vegetable gardens.

Imagine my surprise when I visited the first stop on the tour and discovered goats in the backyard.  That's
right.  Goats.  Miniature goats. 

The homeowner, who also raises chickens and ducks in her backyard, said she liked the idea of raising her own livestock for meat, milk and eggs. She discovered that the City of Ames allows homeowners to keep up to four goats on their property.

These goats, which are about the size of a dog, are still young, but they won't get much bigger than they are now. Eventually, the homeowner plans to milk the goats so she can make her own goat cheese at home.  How cool would that be!

The homeowner also had a backyard beehive, and she said the bees go about their daily business of making honey and don't bother the neighbors, the animals or herself.

And the chickens and goats lived together in harmony in her little backyard.

The next stop was just as amazing.  A local couple decided to tear up their backyard, including their concrete driveway, so they would have room to plant whatever fruit or vegetable they like.

They built a greenhouse onto their garage for seed starting in the winter.

They used the same plastic greenhouse material to create a "privacy fence" around their garden.  The homeowner said they preferred the clear plastic fencing to a wood fence, because "fences aren't very friendly."

I was super excited to see all the apple trees they have been training to grow flat against their fence.  I've been wanting to try this myself in my backyard.

And look!  A grape arbor!  And there are a few clumps of purple grapes ripening in the sun.

Seriously, I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the amazing garden features in their backyard.  They have raised beds, a herb garden, tropical plants, cacti -- even a couple cabbage and broccoli plants tucked in along the sidewalk on the street side of their fence.  A-mazing!

After all this inspiration, my hubby and I are making plans to tear up our backyard and turn it into one big garden.  I would love to have more room to grow vegetables and flowers (I love growing flowers!), and we both HATE to mow our lawn.  (We both have grass allergies, but we don't want to spend the money to hire someone to mow our lawn, especially when we are both pretty fit people.)

It was so great to see what's possible when people have the courage to turn their backyards into something unique, beautiful and productive.

A trip to the farm

All the beautiful summer weather makes me want to venture out and explore.  I recently visited a local goat farm, Northern Prairie Chevre, in Woodward, Iowa, that was holding an open house.  The farm sells goat cheese from their shop, which they've named Miss Tillie's, after one of the favorite goats.

They had baby goats waiting for the visitors to see when they arrived.  So cute!

I came home with a dill goat cheese and feta from Miss Tillie's.  I really love their feta cheese; it's very smooth and not as tangy as those in the grocery store.