To the Prairie and Beyond!

Salsa in Progress!

2020-09-07T16:35:00.005-05:00

With a potential frost looming, we figured it was time to get canning.

The Garden Produces!

2020-08-25T12:49:00.003-05:00

For a quick midsummer update, the garden is producing interesting and tasty things.

Elderflowers and elderberries (not ripe, but photogenic):

Somerset seedless grapes, turned into raisins for Christmas baking:

Painted serpent cucumber:

Luffa (actual fruits hidden in the vines):

Dilly Dilly!

2020-07-29T12:43:00.002-05:00

One of three Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars feasting on our garden's self-seeding dill:

Small Green Visitors

2020-06-29T23:50:00.001-05:00

A painted turtle made its way across the lawn, and occasionally got stuck in the garage:

Later, a white-lined sphinx caterpillar explored the driveway:

Easter Greetings!

2020-04-13T17:56:00.001-05:00

We can always hope for a White Easter, and this year did not disappoint (except in quantity).

Also, our attempt at German Easter Sweet Bread was a photogenic and gastronomic success:

Bread in progress:

Planting Day

2019-04-15T22:50:00.001-05:00

According to Gardening in the Dakotas, April 15th is planting day for beets, carrots, radishes, and onion sets.

We're going to be a few days behind this year.

A Snowy February

2019-03-05T00:34:00.000-06:00

Snow rainbow!

Sunset!

Garden

A Winter Wonderland

2019-01-28T14:37:00.000-06:00

After a mid-January frost, the weather station reported absolute calm:

Knobby Moppe for Coffee and Crafts

2019-01-28T14:33:00.000-06:00

IKEA's MOPPE Mini Storage Chest, stained and with knobs, a great storage item for Keurig K-cups and craft items:

Columbus Day Festivities: Garden Pumpkins and Burgers!

2018-10-15T21:02:00.000-05:00

Ahead of our first snowstorm (for the 19th Day of Autumn), it was finally time to bring in the pumpkins:

And then, to commemorate Columbus Day, we couldn't decide on Italian, Spanish, Latin American, or North American food, so we Columbus Burgers (hamburger with mozzarella and Italian salsa fresca):

A Sampling of Garden Produce

2018-09-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

Melon, basil, sugar snap peas, strawberries, chives, banana peppers, red onions, and Chioggia beets!

We have also started harvesting a good crop of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and eggplant with a number of ominously large pumpkins ripening beneath the leaves.

A Mudroom Knagglig

2018-08-07T12:26:00.001-05:00

Our latest project: a shoe and boot cart for a tough corner of the mudroom. It is based on two IKEA Knagglig boxes, plus some wood stain and spare casters:

Not Quite Planting Season

2018-04-15T11:18:00.000-05:00

According to Gardening in the Dakotas, April 15th is a possible planting date for onions, beets, carrots, kohlrabi, and peas. That schedule didn't work out so well this year:

Luckily, our new trees haven't arrived, but some lilac buds were visible from above:

Easter Tuesday

2018-04-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

Although we did not have a White Easter, we did have a White Easter Tuesday:

And The Mitchell Republic reminds us just how long Winter is:

With snow on the ground and a low pressure system over Canada, Mitchell reached a low of 5 early Wednesday morning.

Alexandria and Tyndall both hit 3 degrees Wednesday morning, breaking records set in 1920...

This winter season, since Oct. 1, Mitchell has received 39.3 inches of snow, which is about average.

Most "Most Livable Cities" Speak German

2018-03-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

From Yahoo:

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria's capital Vienna once again defended its position as the city offering the best quality of life in the world...

Europe has eight of the world's top 10 most pleasant cities: Germany and Switzerland each have three cities in the top 10, while New Zealand, Canada and Australia each have one.

That's seven out of ten in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

Now, for the obligatory Vienna travel photos:

The First Day of Spring

2018-03-20T23:19:00.000-05:00

The first day of Spring, March 20, 2018:

A few from two weeks earlier illustrate our love of snow drifts:

January, Compare and Contrast

2018-02-13T17:07:00.000-06:00

A garden in California, January 17th:

A garden in South Dakota, January 21st:

Out for a walk in California, January 17th:

Out for a walk in South Dakota, January 17th:

Linzer Cookies!

2018-02-13T17:01:00.001-06:00

From January 2, 2018, the 9th Day of Christmas!

Wait for the Pie

2017-11-23T22:03:00.002-06:00

A short excerpt from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy includes a delicious reminder about Thanksgiving priorities:

Almanzo simply ate. He ate ham and chicken and turkey, and dressing and cranberry jelly; he ate potatoes and gravy, succotash, baked beans and boiled beans and onions, and white bread and rye ’n’ injun bread, and sweet pickles and jam and preserves. Then he drew a long breath, and he ate pie.

When he began to eat pie, he wished he had eaten nothing else. He ate a piece of pumpkin pie and a piece of custard pie, and he ate almost a piece of vinegar pie. He tried a piece of mince pie, but could not finish it. He just couldn’t do it. There were berry pies and cream pies and vinegar pies and raisin pies, but he could not eat any more.

Source: "Every Meal Almanzo Eats in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy"

Six Weeks Until Winter

2017-11-06T20:26:00.000-06:00

Carrots!

2017-10-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

The garden carrots, with a few giant radishes thrown in:

Jack Frost's First Visit of the Season

2017-10-10T13:20:00.000-05:00

With temperatures in the high 20s last night, it is the end of the season for tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins:

Sunflowers & Butterflies

2017-09-20T22:23:00.001-05:00

This year's sunflowers were a great success and helped bring in the occasional cloud of butterflies.

A Basket of Plenty

2017-09-19T15:41:00.001-05:00

From our first tomato and pepper harvest, with a few cucumbers thrown in as well:

And radish pods, the treat left over when you let radishes go to seed:

State Fair Straw Poll for 2018 House and Governor Primaries

2017-09-07T12:40:00.001-05:00

KELO reports:

If [straw] could vote, Marty Jackley would be the Republican nominee for governor and Dusty Johnson would be the GOP nominee for the U.S. House.

The state Republican Party held a "staw poll" during the run of the State Fair at their booth.

Marty Jackley won with 58%, Dusty Johnson with 54%. Click here for the full results.

The primary election will be June 5, 2018.