What I've been up to: March 2013

Well, it's quite a spring we're having this year.  Our alley was a mess after all the snow and rain we received in mid-March.  Such a change from last year, when I was planting pansies in March because of the 80 degree temps.

Also this month, I stopped at the new Prairie Canary restaurant in downtown Grinnell. It's a gorgeous restaurant, with a great upscale menu. I ordered the grilled cheese pesto sandwich, which was excellent.

My family and I also stopped for lunch at  Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown.  After I posted these photos on my Facebook page, a friend told me that it used to be a no-no to put ketchup on your maid-rites at Taylor's. But now they have ketchup bottles at the counter, so I guess it's OK?

 I got to meet my new niece, Brenna Lou! She's a little shy around the camera, but such a cutie!

For work, I got to visit Berry Patch Farm in Nevada, where they are growing lettuce in greenhouses in the winter.  It was 30 degrees outside when I took this photos, but 90 degrees inside the greenhouse.  Love the Bright Light kale planted in the rows.

I'm hoping for warmer temperatures soon so I can start planting lettuce in my own garden.

Sewer line repair

A few weekends ago, my hubby noticed that our sewer line was slowly backing up in our basement. This happens to us every spring when the snow starts to melt.  There are tree roots growing into the tile line that's our sewer line, so we have to call the Rotor Rooter folks out a couple times a year to clear up the line.

Well, this time, the Rotor Rooter guy couldn't clear up the line. So we brought in another drain expert, and he told us that a section of the tile line had collapsed, and he'd have to dig it up and repair it.  We knew this repair was a long time coming, so we weren't too shocked by the news.  It just wasn't the best time of year for digging up the yard. The ground was very soft and muddy, and the backhoe left tracks in the front yard.

The repair crew was very professional, though, and we're so happy to have the sewer line fixed. We couldn't run water for almost a week, which meant we couldn't wash dishes, flush the toilets or take long showers. We ate a lot of sandwiches off paper plates, and I took showers at the local gym.  Like I said, I'm happy it's fixed and now I can get back to the kitchen to try some new recipes!

ISU's mobile maple syrup sugar shack

March is maple syrup season here in Iowa.  We don't have a lot of maple groves in central Iowa, but there are a few maple syrup farms in north-east and eastern Iowa. A few weeks ago, Iowa State University forestry students brought the mobile maple syrup sugar shack to the Iowa Arboretum near Madrid. It's a trailer that's been outfitted with a wood-fired maple syrup evaporator, donated to the university by a fellow Iowan.

Here's an exterior photo to show that the sugar shack is indeed on wheels and mobile.

And here's the inside of the sugar shack, with the wood-fired evaporator.  It was a cold day, with temperatures below freezing, so there wasn't any maple sap flowing from the trees yet.  The maple sap starts flowing when the daytime temps reach above freezing, while the nighttime temps dip below freezing. For the demonstration, they filled the evaporator with tap water to show how it works to "evaporate" the sap down into a thick syrup.

Logs to fuel the evaporator.

 The mobile sugar shack is lined with fire-proof material for safety, and there's a chimney to vent the smoke.

Also during the event, the ISU forestry students served up a pancake breakfast with real maple syrup.  I can't pass up a good pancake feed!

The ISU maple sugar shack tours the state in the spring. You can also find it on the ISU campus. (I was told that it's located near the greenhouses by Agronomy Hall, but I'm not exactly sure if I'm remembering that right.)

Do you have a favorite maple syrup recipe?  I've been looking for a fun maple recipe to try out at home.