Sounds of Summer

Right around mid-afternoon it begins....the cicada chorus! Can you hear them? When it's cool enough to have the AC off and the windows open, the sound of the cicadas fills the house. Sometimes they're so loud I even have to turn up the volume on the TV. Heck, I can hear them now and the house is closed up tight against the heat. Are you wondering about the foggy appearance of the video? That's the humidity that condensed on my camera lens in the few minutes I was outside. My glasses fogged over as well. It's definitely summer in Iowa!

Frogs Everywhere!

It's been SO wet! I see at least one or two of these frogs stuck to my house or windows almost every morning and evening. This little guy was on my front picture window last night. It was kind of interesting to see what his bottom side looks like. Those round toenail-like things are suction cups that enable him to cling to glass and the house siding. I'm not sure why they keep climbing on the house...maybe trying to get out of the wet flowers?

All is Well

In case you're reading all the online and national news about the massive flooding in Iowa....everything is fine so far at Red Bell Farm! The recent torrential rains have hit areas from Des Moines north; living south, I've avoided most all of it this week. The photos are awful, though, and my heart goes out to those people who have water in their basements, in their cars, and in their businesses. And remember, creeks don't just rise in their water level....they rush and roar and rage. The force of water is so destructive and dangerous. How miserable to be flooded and still have to endure the continuing heat and humidity! It just doesn't seem fair.

Fruits of the Season

It's the 'dog days' of summer...hot and humid. Me and the dog are lyin' low in our cool, airconditioned house. But the sultry heat is absolutely no reason to not enjoy the fruits of this season. Yesterday's trip to the Farmer's Market provided both food and friendship. Here's a photo of the food part.You haven't truly lived until you've lunched on luscious homegrown, never refrigerated Iowa tomatoes and melt-in-your-mouth Iowa sweet corn. A sandwich slathered with my friend, Karen's apricot/raspberry jam and a tall glass of iced tea completed my meal. Life is good even if the weather isn't!

More Green

As promised more greens today. Starting with lawn green, oak tree green, cottonwood green, weeping willow green and weed green...

Moving on to clover green sprinkled with lawn green and punctuated with 'tree by the backdoor' green....

Here we have mint green...why do we think it's this color? These leaves are catalpa green....

Ranging further afield we find 'across the fallow field' green..... and then see this 'thank goodness it's not in my yard illegal thistle' green!

I'm not even going there with this green!

Green

Continuing on the theme of the colors of summer in Iowa, I have to share GREEN with you. When I first moved to this state in 1982, I was absolutely amazed by how green it was. Green in ways I had never seen before. I had lived in California and in Colorado; both have lots of places that are green...forests, meadows, gardens, but never had I seen the variety of greens that paint the Iowa countryside in summer! I was so impressed that I wrote a poem about it; if I can find it, I'll share in another blog post. This green is right by my front door...hostas, daylilies and some kind of vine-y weed. More green coming up in the future.

Colors of Summer

As I think of my favorite things about summer in Iowa, color comes immediately to mind. Even though the 'red sky in the morning' brought the predicted 'sailors take warning' thunderstorms later in the day, this blazing Iowa sunrise took my breath away. There is something positive to be said for waking up at 5am! Mother Nature paints both grand canvases and smaller, more subtle ones this time of year. Iris petals and violet hearts show exquisitely beautiful detail in both vibrant and soft colors...

After a long winter of snow, ice and frozen dull brown earth, I feel blessed by the bounty of beautiful color right in my own front yard.

Things I Love About Summer

This is post number one of "Things I Love About Summer: An Occasional Post About Summer in Iowa." And yes, those are eggs....real eggs. Now I know you think you buy real eggs at the grocery store. You don't. You buy real eggs like these at the Kent Feed Store in St. Charles or maybe at your local Farmer's Market. Real eggs come in a variety of colors including pale green. Real eggs are also a variety of sizes. Real eggs come from real chickens...the kind that roost in boxes filled with straw and spend their days pecking around a farmyard supplementing their cracked corn feed with bugs and worms. Real chickens eat almost anything including your table scraps. Real chickens cluck and cackle when they lay an egg giving you notice that if you hurry to the barn, you can pluck one out of their nest and it will still be warm. Real chickens hide their real eggs if you let them have free roaming rights...hide them until there are enough to fill the nest at which time this real chicken will settle in and become a brood hen. Before you know it there will be real baby chicks peeping from under the hen's wings.

This photo shows two real eggs and one of those eggs you buy at the supermarket. Can you find the real eggs? When you break them, real eggs are definitely a richer yellow; they may also have a speck of red on the yolk. This indicates that the real chicken was loved by a real rooster and that if these eggs had been left with the hen there may have been additions to the chicken family. I love eating real eggs for breakfast. I love baking with them. Everything tastes better when you make it with eggs like these! And real chickens only lay eggs when the days get warmer and lighter...they are one of the joys of summer!

Wishful Thinking

There's really no special reason for this photo except:

the weather here stinks

I'm stuck at home...again

I miss my grandkids

I wish it was summer and I was back in San Diego

and it makes me feel better to remember the fun we had at the beach!

Furlough Monday

It's Furlough Monday (doesn't have quite the ring to it as Furlough Friday, does it?). This morning, Lucie and I walked at a county conservation park called Jensen Marsh. I snapped a few photos to share with you....

Surprise!

It's been an unseasonably cool summer in Iowa. In fact, July may have set a record for the coolest on record. That's fine with me...I love the coolness. Open the windows, turn off the AC, pull up a blanket!! I'm all about almost any weather that isn't hot and humid. However, there is a downside to this cool summer. My tomatoes are just not ripening; they NEED hot, humid weather. As I finished up my walk with Lucie this morning, I thought I'd check my plants to see if anything at all was happening. As I suspected, all I found were medium sized and small hard, green tomatoes. Oh wait...there's one that's starting to turn yellow...and there almost hidden under some bottom branches...these two beauties! Surprise! So tonight it will be some Iowa sweet corn and my first bite of luscious, homegrown vine-ripened Iowa tomatoes. Life is good!

Being "Non-Native"

Queen Anne's Lace is prolific along roadsides and in ditches this time of year. So prolific that many people think it's one of our native wildflowers; it's not. It was introduced from Europe as a medicinal plant and from it carrots were developed. As a 'non-native' it could be considered a weed, an intruder, something that competes with its natural surroundings. Queen Anne's Lace, however, has made herself right at home here and contributes most positively to any neighborhood she finds herself in. She's a beautiful flowering plant that welcomes bugs and butterflies, birds and bees.

When I think about my ex-pat friends who live both here (Randi) and abroad (Laury, Kristin), I think of this lovely wild flower. Non-native, yes. But living beautiful lives, wholly engaged and involved in their adopted communities, welcoming all the local flora and fauna and feeling right at home!

Victoria's Table

I helped my friend, Karen, set up her booth at the West Glen Farmer's Market yesterday morning. While Karen also sells at the downtown market, this one in West Glen is much handier for me. It's closer, and it doesn't open until 10am which works better for me as well. This is the second time I've been Karen's set-up assistant. It's an enjoyable 'chore,' and earns me a jar of jam in payment. Karen's jams and jellies are awesome. She currently has 34 different varieties in stock, every one a winner! Helping her has given me a whole new appreciation for people who make their living working the Farmer's Market circuit. It's WORK, and I've only helped with a tiny bit of it. Once we're set up, Karen's on her own for the selling and the taking down parts. And the cleaning up...see all those little jam-tasting containers? They all have to be washed and dried along with the spoons, empty sample jars and the linens once the day is done. Victoria's Table doesn't have a website, but if you're interested in what jam and jelly flavors Karen has in stock, you can email her at kvheege@hotmail.com What kind did I pick for my reward? Raspberry with Melange du Chamonix tea....tres yummy!

RAGBRAI Leftovers

Thousands of bottom-weary bicyclists dipped their front wheels into the mighty Mississippi this morning, grateful to have completed another RAGBRAI. What? You don't have a clue what RAGBRAI is?? Let me enlighten you...RAGBRAI is a yearly 400 miles+ bicycle ride across Iowa. In its 37th year, it's sponsored by the Des Moines Register newspaper...hence the name: the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It's a ride, it's a party, it's totally Iowa. It always begins at the Missouri River and ends at the Mississippi, but the route is different every year. This year it snaked through central Iowa, up my county highway and into St.Charles on Tuesday. Main street was closed off, there were port-a-potties on every corner, multiple food and water stands, and plenty of entertainment to spur the riders on to their destination for the evening, Indianola. This farmer's field along the way welcomed riders for water and a rest at the picnic tables. I understand that Iowa pie is a big draw for a lot of riders; others ride for the opportunity to meet new people or to party along the way. And for those who party too hardy...there's always the Sag Wagon!

Butterfly Weed

I moved to Red Bell Farm the summer of 2003. On my first trip north on Settlers Trail, I spied one of my very favorite Iowa wildflowers...butterfly weed. Here it is complete with the tiny visitor it was named for. That first summer back in Iowa there were only two small plants along the roadside; today when I took this photo, I counted at least 20!! I think that speaks well for Iowa conservation practices...no herbicides sprayed along roadways to kill weeds. The plant's scientific name is Asclepias tuberosa, and while it is a native wildflower in Iowa, it can also be grown domestically in your garden. It attracts bees as well as butterflies. I like to imagine what the Iowa tall grass prairie must have looked like before the farmers put plow to it...mile after mile of swaying grasses with these lovely orange spots of color tucked randomly throughout.

Hollyhocks

I had so many more photos of my week in Vail, but when I got home and saw my hollyhocks in glorious full bloom, I knew I had to share them with you. I picked up a little baggy of seeds at the Winterset Historical Center the first fall I lived here at Red Bell Farm. The woman behind the desk had collected them from her hollyhocks and was giving them away. I scattered them along the front of my house without even digging holes to plant them in. And they flourished!Although many people think hollyhocks are too old-fashioned to plant, I love them! They are big and bold and powerful flowers. Their deep red color looks beautiful against the cream siding on my house. The plants are so loaded with the heavy flowers that they are bending over the walkway to my front door. To me, hollyhocks shout "Summer!"