Posted in Iowa, bed and breakfast, christianity, enjoying life, faith, life, personal, random, relationships, tagged bed and breakfast, christianity, country living, faith, farm, farming, hospitality, Iowa, life, personal, random, relationships, spirituality on October 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
” When my friend and his wife were sailing in the Mediterranean , they found themselves being circled by 3 pirate boats- the pirates didn’t know who they were messing with. He had served in Viet Nam so when he outfitted his yacht, he had installed enough firepower to defend against this very thing…..he didn’t have to [...]
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Posted in Iowa, bed and breakfast, tagged bed and breakfast, country living, faith, farm, farming, hospitality, Iowa, life, personal, random, spirituality, vacation on October 6, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Albert and Alice
An Old-fashioned Ballad
Albert was a hired man
The moon was dark and new.
He hurried through chores that night
While snowy flurries flew.
Albert milked the cows by hand
He fed them grist and hay.
He shut tight the big barn-door
To keep the storm at bay.
He was musing of Alice’s dancing-
Her eyes were bright and blue.
He fussed and dressed [...]
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Posted in Iowa, apple orchard, bed and breakfast, country living, enjoying life, faith, life, life in the country, personal, random, spirituality, tagged bed and breakfast, buy fresh buy local, chickens, country living, faith, farm, farmer's market, farming, hospitality, Iowa, life, orchard, personal, spirituality on September 27, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Photo of our rooster….. ”The Colonel“
It was l dark as I loaded the back of my truck with the 40 pound crates of apples this morning . I kept thinking to myself…”Why am I doing this again? ???
It can’t be for the money. If that was the case, I would be way ahead to work a half a day [...]
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Posted in Iowa, apple orchard, bed and breakfast, country living, enjoying life, faith, farming, life in the country, orchard, personal, random, spirituality, tagged bed and breakfast, buy fresh buy local, chickens, christianity, country living, faith, farm, farmer's market, farming, gardening, hospitality, Iowa, life, orchard, personal, random, spirituality on September 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world”
George Washington
Today was a good day.
5:45 this morning, while it was still dark I was outside loading wooden crates of Ginger Gold and Royal Court apples to sell @ the farmers market.
I woke up the rooster. Normally he doesn’t start crowing until about [...]
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Posted in Iowa, apple orchard, bed and breakfast, country living, enjoying life, faith, farming, life, life in the country, orchard, tagged bear river concerts, bed and breakfast, buy fresh buy local, christianity, country living, faith, farm, farming, hospitality, Iowa, life, music festival, orchard, personal, photography, random, relationships, spirituality on September 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Apple trivia: Did you know that an apple will ripen 10 times faster at room temperature than in a frigerator?
We have a bumper crop of apples this season. Last night my son and I picked two cortland trees, each yielding about 7 crates of apples :
Tonight I noticed the Suncrisp apples were [...]
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Posted in apple orchard, bear River concert series, bed and breakfast, country living, enjoying life, farming, life in the country, music festival, tagged bear river concerts, bed and breakfast, buy fresh buy local, country living, faith, farm, farming, gardening, hospitality, Iowa, life, music, orchard, personal, photography, random, spirituality, vacation, winston on August 1, 2009 | 6 Comments »
“We all have hometown appetites. Every other person is a bundle of longing for the simplicities of good taste once enjoyed on the farm or in the hometown [he or she] left behind.”
Clementine Paddleford
July has been a whirlwind of activity, hospitality and the making of memories.
My wife’s 6 siblings had a family [...]
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Posted in Iowa, apple orchard, bed and breakfast, farming, orchard, tagged bed and breakfast, buy fresh buy local, country living, faith, farm, farming, hospitality, Iowa, orchard, personal, pick your own pumpkins, random, spirituality, vacation on June 27, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s gotta pick this one. He’s got to. I don’t see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there’s not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity [...]
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Posted in Iowa, apple orchard, bed and breakfast, enjoying life, life in the country, orchard, tagged bed and breakfast, christianity, country living, faith, farm, farming, Iowa, life, orchard, personal, photography, random, spirituality on May 29, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“John Chapman, or Johnny Appleseed was born September 26th1774, was the second child of Nathaniel Chapman and his wife, the former Elizabeth Symonds. of Leominster, Massachusetts. His father started young John upon a career as an Orchardist by apprenticing him to a Mr. Crawford, who had an apple orchard.
There are so many legends [...]
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Posted in Iowa, apple orchard, bed and breakfast, country living, enjoying life, farming, life in the country, orchard, personal, spirituality, tagged bed and breakfast, christianity, country living, farm, farming, Iowa, life, personal, photography, random, spirituality on May 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“Do you want to see a swarm of bees?” my wife asked me.
Paul and Deanne pulled into our driveway last night around 7:30 PM. They stopped to see if we’d like to see the swarm of honey bees Paul had spotted on an old wood fence post.
Here’s what we saw:
This is a large cluster of [...]
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Posted in apple orchard, bed and breakfast, enjoying life, tagged bed and breakfast, buy fresh buy local, country living, faith, farm, gardening, hospitality, Iowa, life, orchard, personal, random, spirituality, vacation on April 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“The most important ingredient in the welfare of an orchard is the sound of the orchardist’s foot steps.”
Tree ripened, crisp, juicy, flavorful, red, yellow, green, locally grown, apples!
The 2009 growing season is almost upon us. Monk’s orchard is gearing up for the biggest apple crop yet….Royal Court, Gala Gala, Sun Crisp, Honey Crisp, 3 [...]
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