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Post by plantsnobin on Sept 17, 2010 6:54:07 GMT -5
Jo & family made it here around midnight! Her son came in this morning around 6:30 to see what time it was and to get a drink of water-said it was about the time he usually got started on chores. It would be wrong of me to head him off to the chickens, wouldn't it? He's on vacation after all...
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Post by bunkie on Sept 17, 2010 10:30:54 GMT -5
LOL!
glad to hear they made it safely! ;D
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Post by blackthumbmary on Sept 17, 2010 14:16:50 GMT -5
Welcome to Indiana Jo & family! Glad you made it safe and sound. Karen- I am impressed with your self control....it would be awfully tempting to put such a hardworking fellow to work gathering eggs... I mean show him around the farm a little bit Seriously, I am impressed that he was up so early and is in the habit of doing chores at that wee hour! See you guys tomorrow at 2 pm.
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Post by johno on Sept 18, 2010 7:35:17 GMT -5
Clear those cards - I want to see lots of pictures!
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Post by greenzone on Sept 18, 2010 21:01:40 GMT -5
So sorry to miss out--I really wanted to go. I was especially sorry because I knew Johno wouldn't be making the trip alone.
I'm feeling tolerable now but still a long ways from normal.
I would've been tempted to let the kid work...
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Post by plantsnobin on Sept 18, 2010 22:07:40 GMT -5
Swap is over and done. Had a good turn out, I was afraid there for awhile that almost no one could come, but Randy & family made it, Kelli, Maria & her mom, Mary and sister Sarah, sorry, my husband watches old Clint Eastwood movies. I'm tired, but got the kitchen cleaned up almost good as new. Randel, glad you are feeling better, really wish you could have made it. Hope everyone has a good trip home.
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Post by johno on Sept 18, 2010 23:07:41 GMT -5
Turns out I've been in bad shape the last couple of days. If I had gone, I wouldn't have been able to walk much, and would have been miserable. Hopefully I'll make it sometime when I'm in good form. Glad there was a good turnout! Pictures?
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Post by bunkie on Sept 19, 2010 9:45:33 GMT -5
yes yes yes....where are the pic?! ;D
(sending healing vibes to both randel and john)
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Post by plantsnobin on Sept 19, 2010 9:50:56 GMT -5
Kelli took some pics, maybe she will get them posted soon. It was really great to meet everyone. John, sorry you aren't feeling well either. There is a fair bit of walking at Alans, up hill. I know my husband and I both get stiff traveling, takes awhile to be able to stand upright after just a two hour trip. Can't imagine how miserable it would be to ride far with the kind of back trouble you have.
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Post by garnetmoth on Sept 19, 2010 9:56:39 GMT -5
Hi all, thanks so much to Karen and Allen- it was a great time! I got to goof around with the turkeys and one of the goats at Allens, and we went to Pioneer Days for a little while, saw a neat model train set, and then went to Karen's for a great dinner spread and swap. I just went through a few photos, but here is the FB link for them www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=214561&id=544382359&l=5bbfcb29ddJo brought an awesome fish and bunches of shrimp, her fantastic hubby made me a chocolate truffle latte for the road, Karen's hubby (and brother?) did an excellent job on the pork loin, Karen gave us a great run-down of her experience with some exotic fruits, saved time and money learning from everyone!
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Post by bunkie on Sept 19, 2010 10:40:35 GMT -5
thanks for the link to the pics garnet!
the tomatoes look yummy!
and nice looking paw paw plants there karen!
alan's seed stash looks plentiful! love your sign too!
the butterfly on kim's back was cool!
all the animal pics were awesome!
sounds like a great time! ;D
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Post by flowerpower on Sept 21, 2010 6:10:40 GMT -5
It looks like everyone had a great time.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Sept 25, 2010 3:57:30 GMT -5
We made it back home! I've been catching up on stuff. It's 3 a.m. but I was having nightmares about hand pollinating corn and it woke me up. ANYway... Karen should DEFINITELY put the Robby to work! He got out of practice while we were gone ;o)
We learned a whole lot on our trip. Seeing different set ups for various things gave us lots of inspiration. The rabbits at both Karen's and Alan's were of special interest to us because rabbits will be our next acquisition. In hindsight it occurs to me that seeing a rabbit slaughtered and butchered would have been a good thing. On the other hand, we were all really busy throughout the entire time we were there.
We did some exploring on our own as well. We went to Spring Mill and went through the pioneer village. The leather smith was most interesting, there was a wonderful display of shoe making equipment. A woman spinning wool from one of her own sheep gave me a turn at her wheel. I'm a lousy spinner so far. She broke off my "work" and let me keep it as a souvenir. We had the potter all to ourselves for a long time. Robby wants to learn how to throw and he was full of questions and very interested in watching her work. The mill was also very interesting and we learned that Beck's Mill, very close to Alan, is a dual purpose mill. Stones used for corn won't work for other grains. Beck's has corn and wheat stones. We also learned about a 4 story furniture factory that runs on a water wheel. Switching power from one tool to another is merely a matter of switching the belt assembly.
The Gather itself was truly awesome. Everyone was chatting and questioning and sharing like we had known each other for years. There was so much to talk about and we were going from person to person trying to squeeze in as much as possible. This really could have been a week long event. Easy for me to say of course. But truly, there was so much more to learn and do.
I never saw the paw paws! I NEED paw paws! Where the heck was I when the paw paws came out?
Karen sent me home with some beautiful mints which are going to get potted up tomorrow. The made the trip in fabulous condition. I'm looking forward to seeing our bees take advantage of having a little extra nectar flow in the future. I meant to get some of the basil as well but totally forgot about that.
We went by the Buffalo Trace distillery on our way home. That was very interesting. We acquired a 10 year old bottle of bourbon and now I need a recipe for a bourbon pecan cake. They also make a fabulous root beer. The MOST interesting thing we learned was about the corn they use... They use only certified organic corn. It can not be GMO contaminated and they test to make sure it isn't. I found this to be most interesting and I'm wondering how significantly this could affect corn politics.
We spent 2 nights in the Great Smoky mountains on the way home. It was on the edge of dark when we got there and we got our tent up post haste. It's a much easier chore with 4 people than it is with 1! The next day the fellas got dumped by the Little River where they proceeded to haul out 4 nice little river bass. I cruised the nearby town checking out dulcimers, local history, and everything else that caught my fancy. Then we did the scenic loop around Cade's Cove and looked over the home site of a pioneer family that also had the local mill. The mill demo was already closed down for the day. Still, pretty interesting to see how things were done differently there then at the mill in Indiana. Indiana's mill was much larger and served many more people.
Another thing about the Smokies was the trees. We keep comparing everything to California. Mostly, it's just a matter of different trees. The Smokies are covered in dogwood and rhododendron. I can just imagine what it would look like in spring with all the dogwood in bloom. We are toying with the idea of going back in April.
Well, it's 4 a.m. and no sign of Mike getting up to make me coffee. I think I'll try to get a few more winks.
When is the next Gather? Who's making brownies?
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Post by mnjrutherford on Sept 26, 2010 9:26:16 GMT -5
BRINGING: Starter for sourdough bread Seeds from last year and this (including any cotton seed harvested to date) 3 varieties of muscadine grape concord grape coffee espresso machine husband sons high BTU camp stove pots pans and cooking utensils knives garlic IF requested homemade wine olive oil laundry soap HOPEFULLY TAKING: everything useful I can lay my hands on... including Karen!!!! ;o) I'm also hoping to spend some time watching demos of various gardening techniques such as grafting. See the worm farm in action Learn more about gardening for butterflies and bees Watch some fun competition between the guys like maybe a chainsaw race and a wood splitting race. The resulting wood being left to benefit our hostess and host. Tastings of tomatoes, and other veggies get tipsy on homemade wine and moonshine cooking demonstration using fresh ingredients and showing some techniques that might be new to folks DANCE!!!! SING!!! listen to the musicians make music sit and chat till the sun comes over the horizon Boy! This turned out to be a WAY to ambitious list! I didn't take half of what I was thinking of! We would have had to live with Karen a MONTH to get all that stuff done to boot! I didn't sing, everyone should be very grateful for that. I didn't dance, my legs are grateful for that. We didn't make music but that was cause we wuz WAY to busy yakking for that. We didn't greet the sun but that wuz cause we were all to darned tired. Yep, way to ambitious for a one day affair. What are the possibilities of extending it to 2 days for next year?
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Post by garnetmoth on Sept 26, 2010 10:21:40 GMT -5
your cottons are pretty! thanks again for the garlics- im trying to decide where to put them so I can weed them well, I think on the edge of our new retaining wall. its just lower than arm-height so its visible and shouldnt get forgotten....
I have a flexible work schedule- If i have a call, I can just jump into the car. If its going to be 10 hrs drive, I dont know if my husband could stay 2 days.
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