All posts by reneeinnd

2023, Family, Food, Uncategorized

Neurotic Rye Bread

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Husband loves to bake bread, particularly sourdough, and he also makes his own starter. He has what I would consider conflicted ideas about sourdough starter, such as should yeast be added at all, and if so, is he violating the code of the sourdough makers, and can he truly call himself a baker if that happens? Should the ingredients be weighed or measured by volume? What about covering the starter or exposing it to the air for a while? How long? The doubts and worries go on for days. I find it really exasperating to watch.

A few weeks ago he decided to make two kinds of sourdough rye; one was a Faroe Island rye recipe from Magnus Nilsson’s Nordic Baking, and the other a New York Rye recipe from the New York Times. He has successfully made plenty of starters with white flour, but there seemed to be some issue with the rye starter recipes. He fussed and fussed and hauled up one baking book after another until the dining room table was covered with them, consulted the internet endlessly, decided on one rye sourdough starter recipe and then changed his mind and chose another until he finally decided on one that he ended up making alterations to. He made enough for both recipes but ended up changing the New York Rye bread recipe so that he needed to use the entire amount for that recipe. It turned out well. It had a pinch of yeast added to the starter and more yeast added to the bread. The sourdough starter police didn’t come knocking on the door, either.

He has yet to make the Faroe Island bread but is mulling when he could do it. He also is trying to decide between making Finnish or Swedish Limpa. There are subtle but important differences, he says. I don’t know if I can stand any more fussing, but I think he has finally settled on his sourdough method. At least the bread is really good! Of course, I never get particular about the foods I prepare!!

What cooking or other skill are you trying to perfect? What are foods you are good at making, and what are challenges?

2023, Family, holidays, home, Uncategorized

Lit Up

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When we first moved to our house in 1988, people referred to our street, in December, as Santa Claus Lane because about four houses at the end of the street had elaborate, wooden, hand made, moving Christmas decorations in the front yard. One, the home of a piano teacher, had the swaying figure of an organist that looked like the teacher herself seated at a pipe organ, with choir boys standing along side in a row. The boys looked like the teacher’s three sons.

As the owners of the elaborate decorations aged and/or died, the decorations have been given to other residents on the street, but the decorations have aged, too, and no longer move. Most other residents opt for strings of lights on the trees and houses. All we have are four, year round LED lanterns stuck in the ground lining the edge of the front peony bed.

Our front yard isn’t conducive to light displays because of the awkward placement of the only electrical outlet on the front of the house being between the double garage doors. We would have to drive over electrical cords. I am fine with no lights. Something in me rebels about the falderal, and really, all that just takes up space in the basement 11 months of the year. Husband is even more ascetic than I am, but confessed last weekend while we were running errands to strange urges to get lights and hang the all over the front of the house. I don’t know what got into him, but I got him home as soon as I could and poured a glass of German brandy for him. that is something we usually only have around this time of year, since I need it for Stollen.

How do you decorate the outside of your house for the holidays? What is your favorite holiday beverage?

2023, Family, Theatre, Uncategorized, work

December

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December. Wow. That was fast, wasn’t it?

Hasn’t been a lot happening on the farm this past week. Since I finished all the tillage last week and it was cold, too cold to work in the shop, I had to go back to work work, or at least, pretend I was while I did other things.

I had a straw delivery, more HVAC work at the Rochester Repertory Theatre, a lot of work on the final essay for my English class (turned in by the time you read this) and a couple hours spent trying to teach my mom how to use her new talking watch. She’s had a talking watch and would use that before she got the Alexa. But she’s out of practice now. I tried to encourage her that the watch would give her something to occupy her time. We’ll see.

A group of theatre students from the drama club at the college came and helped haul out the demolition detritus from the HVAC project at the Rep. Some years you get a really good group of kids, and this is one of them. A couple students are new and some I’ve known from previous years, including the ringleader, and I say that with the best of intentions. She’s the cheerleader, she’s the one that inspires them, and influences them to be so friendly and so willing and to make them all feel so included. And that extends not only to other student members, but to me as well. And I’ve told her, she’s the reason this bunch has coalesced as they have. When I asked if the drama club would help with some demolition, she sent a chat message to the group, simply saying, from what I heard, “Ben needs help”. And nine students showed up. Or maybe it was the fact I promised them food.  Some days we sure get lucky. To me, camaraderie has always been the best part. See the header photo of the group.

Still waiting to hear from Crop Insurance. The other day, on the back of an envelope, I spent some time on the computer finding the current balances due on various loans from this year. Machinery part loans through John Deere, crop loans for fertilizer and spraying, loans for seed, plus rent that I owe, estimate an amount for combining, an operating line of credit that I’ve made a lot of use of this year with the shop project, plus a credit card balance, all written on the back of the envelope. Then I would look at my checkbook balance. It was a larger gap than I would hope. Wild card being what to expect from Crop Insurance. I know it won’t be tens of thousands, it will probably be a few thousand dollars, and if we strictly focus on this year‘s crop loans , it will come out pretty even. Again, we are so lucky, and so fortunate: we own our home, we don’t have a mortgage on any of the land, Kelly continues to support me in the fashion to which I have become accustomed, and we have a warm home and warm clothes, and even with my shriveled-up eyeballs, we are healthy. I have nothing to complain about.

I saw a survey recently, asking if you would rather have a job you loved but that didn’t pay much, or a job you hated but it paid a lot. And most people said the job they hated because money gives you options. I have to agree, money does give you options, but I feel like I’d rather take the job I love. Maybe that’s because we are already in a comfortable spot, and we have a few options.

This weekend I think we really need to get snow fence up, it’s not gonna get much warmer. I have that old disc that needs to be cut up and loaded on the trailer for scrap iron, I would like to get that done this weekend. I bought some tarps that I intend to hang in the machine shed to create a bit of a fourth wall so I can try to contain some heat in the shop end and work in there a little more. There are a few things on my summer 2023 ‘to do’ list that I’m beginning to think I may have to move to my 2024 list.  Again, if I finish the list, I didn’t have high enough goals.

LOVE OR MONEY?

2023, Health, Medicine

Mindfulness

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​A mental state achieved by concentrating on the present moment, while calmly accepting the feelings and thoughts that come to you,

Mindfulness is a therapeutic strategy all the rage in mental health treatment. I personally find it annoying and tiresome to pay attention to what is going on in my thoughts and my body for extended periods of time, It has been very helpful lately, however, as I have struggled with some pain.

I have had crappy posture all my life. I slouch, even when I am sitting. I probably have a weak upper body and don’t do enough exercise. A few years ago I was having a great deal of back pain and found that I have lumbar scoliosis. I had Physical Therapy, and that helped a lot. I didn’t change my posture, though. Last year I struggled with sciatica down both legs, and PT also helped with that. For the past couple of months, though the sciatica came back with a vengeance, and there have been times I thought I needed a cane as my left leg would give out on me with intense pain while I walked, and I was afraid I was going to fall. I have a lumbar support chair at work that that didn’t help at all.

I decided I needed to do something about this, and I realized that when I sit, walk, or stand (especially in the kitchen when I cook) I slump my lower back outward in such a way that I was pinching a nerve in my left leg. I have started to direct my attention to my lower back and its position, keeping it straight, and for two weeks now my leg pain has disappeared. My lower back has protested somewhat as I am making it go into a position it hasn’t had to be in for some time, but I think I am on the right track. I am mindful of my back position when I drive, when I sit at my desk, when I stand, and when I walk. I hope that it will become automatic for me one of these days, but I may have to resign myself to have to practice mindfulness for a long time.

What do you need to be mindful of? What are you prone to ignore that you should pay attention to?

2023, Family, Fantasy, Music, Uncategorized

Would You Like To Be A Pip?

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For some odd reason, Husband was musing recently about what it was like being a backup singer in one of the various musical groups from the 1960’s and 1970’s. He thought it would be fun to be a Miracle, a Blue Note, or a Pip.

This brought up memories for me of the Ronettes, the Marvelettes, and the Vandellas, although I don’t think it would be much fun to be an Ikette. I would have to put up with Ike.

What backup group would you like to sing with? Got any good ideas for names of new backup groups?

2023, Gatherings, holidays, Music, Songs, Uncategorized

Sitting Next to Eileen

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I have been a member of our church choir for about 20 years, most of them seated next to Eileen, a retired college librarian. She and I are both Altos, and are used to following one another through the music for pitch and rhythm.

For Christmas this year we are singing Morten Lauridsen’s Oh Magnum Mysterium, a beautiful piece that has parts for Soprano I and II, Alto I and II, Tenor I and II, as well as Baritone and Bass. Here is a recording of it>

Our choir is small right now, with only two tenors and two basses. We have four altos. The Tenor I part in the piece is quite high, so I and one other low Alto are singing Tenor I. Both Tenors will sing Tenor II, and the two basses will split the low men’s parts. Eileen will stay as a First Alto. Eileen and I decided after rehearsal of the piece last week that we just can’t sit next to each other while learning the Lauridsen piece because I was following her and she was following me and neither of us was getting our parts right. Neither of us realized how much we depended on one another. It will be better being in the row with the Tenors.

Who are your favorite choral composers? Who have you led astray?

2023, books, Family, Fantasy, home, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Sit Behind The Stove

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A favorite book when our children were growing up was “Louhi, Witch of North Farm” by Toni de Gerez with illustrations by Barbara Cooney. It is a story taken from the Kalevala about Louhi stealing the sun and the moon and hiding them. The hero, Vainamoinen, eventually gets them back with the help of Seppo the smith.

A minor character in the book is Sit Behind the Stove, a character from Russian mythology, who lives in Louhi’s cottage. Husband sketched pictures of Sit Behind the Stove, which our children loved. I imagine Louhi’s kitchen looking like this:

I hadn’t thought about this until recently when Kyrill our Cesky Terrier found a small red ball in the yard and brought it in the house. It is an official Minnesota Twins T-Ball that he loves to chase. At times the ball seems to have a mind of its own, as it is ultrasensitive to even the smallest imperfections and dips in our laminate flooring in the dining room and living room. It gains momentum for movement with every dip in the floor and then rolls. Kyrill has learned that if he tosses it under the furniture it will eventually roll back to him. He watches intently to see where it might emerge, and then pounces on it.

The other day the ball rolled under the buffet in the dining room. When that happens, we usually have to retrieve it for him. After a minute or so, though, it magically rolled back out! It was rather unsettling, I admit, and I imagined that Sit Behind the Stove or perhaps a tomten must have tossed it back out.

Who or what are your favorite mythological characters?

2023, Gatherings, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Musical Challenges

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We have a new church Worship and Music director, who also directs the choir. She is our son’s age, and we have known her since we first saw her at her infant baptism 35 years ago. She was an elementary music teacher and has a lovely mezzo voice. She has purchased lots of new, challenging music for us. We had got pretty entrenched with the same pieces with the former director.

Our church choir is pretty small with about ten regular singers. We are often short on sopranos, which we were yesterday on Reformation Sunday. This is a big day for Lutherans, and there was a display of Luther’s 95 Theses in the front of the church. Our choir director planned big, and we sang three very challenging choral pieces, and recruited the high school band director to play timpani, a college trombone student, a high school trumpet player, and three sopranos who sing in the Badlands Opera organization. Ironically, four of our visiting musicians were Roman Catholics, but they sat cheerfully through two services and sang “A Mighty Fortress” with gusto. They even took communion!

Our bell choir director is also the organist. She has been taking the choir director’s lead and giving us very challenging music, too. It is fun, but sort of daunting to try new things and stretch ourselves in ways we haven’t had to before. The congregation is very happy with our efforts. I believe it was Gustav Holst who said in reference to small church choirs attempting difficult musical pieces that “anything worth doing is worth doing badly”, which I take as encouragement to keep performing these challenging works even if we don’t do them perfectly.

What are some of the positive challenges you have had lately? Have you been part of an organization where positive “shake ups” have happened? What is the most challenging musical work you ever performed?

2023, Art, Farming Update, home, Theatre, Uncategorized, work

Don’t Forget Your Jacket

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

This week has all been about the theater. Well, Covid and Theatre, I guess. Wait, Covid was last week. It’s all a blur. I’m over the symptoms, but still testing positive. Good thing I work alone most of the time. And by now I shouldn’t be contagious anymore.

It’s rained a lot lately. And now it’s getting cold. We’ve had more than six inches of rain since the end of September. Oh well.

We open a show Saturday, and then next week will be two shows a day for all five days. Kids are bused in from the local area elementary schools. This kid show has always been a big hit for us, and of course we haven’t been able to do one since 2019. We were afraid we had lost a lot of the contacts at the schools and weren’t really sure what kind of reception we’d get this year. We feel really lucky to have an audience for all 10 shows, including three that are sold out. The play is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth night’ called “Lions in Illyria” by Robert Kauzlaric. Very cartoony and big and goofy and the kids should enjoy it. And short at 65 minutes. The three days I missed with Covid would have been helpful about now. I’m sure the paint will be dry by Saturday afternoon. Things will be ‘good enough’. I did take a few shortcuts, I called in some favors. The show must go on. As long as we can keep cast healthy.

I have a can full of stir sticks at the college. I’m pretty sure some of them were here when I started the job 17 years ago. I do know that I threw out a bunch a few years ago and for this show I decided to put all the ones that I’ve used a different container, because I feel like the sticks at the back of the first can were being neglected. Kelly was in to help paint one day and her goal was to use up all the stir sticks. She made a good dent in it. The can on the left is the unused sticks for the show, and the can on the right are the ones that I have used.


I learned how to paint marble for the show. The white and pink one I painted using a ripped T-shirt. My friend Paul came in and painted the green one. He makes it look so easy. And he enjoyed having an easy project like this.


I’ve talked with Crop Insurance about my soybeans. We started some preliminary claims just so the paperwork is out there. I’ve got until December 10 to get them harvested. After that we just write it off and let them go to insurance. This week of 20° temps at night will certainly freeze everything, but honestly, I’m not sure if the beans will ever dry down enough to harvest. We would need a good week of clear sunny, warmish temperatures and that’s really pushing it this time of the year. But with these weather patterns, who knows. I get home about 10:00 PM these nights (after rehearsal) and I was out picking up hoses and taking the outside faucet off the wellhouse. I need to pick up the pressure washer and hand sprayer yet.

Luna has moved right in and made herself at home. Our bed is her favorite place to be now. She loves to play catch and Tug-O-War. She’s shredded a few toys. And we’ve left her home alone and she’s just fine. Doesn’t like it, but at least she’s not chewing up the furniture.

THINGS THAT NEVER WEAR OUT?

2023, Food, home, pets, Seasons, Uncategorized, Weather

The Nose Knows

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Yesterday was a snow day for me as my agency was closed. Husband had a morning Zoom meeting for his Bismarck agency, which he did on his computer at the kitchen table. It didn’t last long, and we made a somewhat treacherous trip to the grocery store before the snow got any deeper. The city plows hadn’t been out and it was very slippery.

I made banana bread when we got back from the store, which filled the house with a wonderful aroma. Smells can be so evocative. The smell of Charteuse brings me back 45 years to memories of warm summer evenings in Moorhead having a drink after dinner with friends. I wouldn’t touch the stuff now with a ten foot pole, but the memories are good ones.

Kyrill has a very powerful sense of smell, and he can tell whenever we have been to the pet store and picked up treats for him without even taking them out of the bag. He mobs us when we walk in the door and tries to get to the bags. He can smell wrapped hard candy in my pants pockets, and tries to put his nose down my pocket to extract them. He may not see the bunnies as he walks past them, but he can smell where their holes are and tries to dig them out. I think it would be very distracting to have such a keen sense of smell.

What smells and tastes are evocative for you? What are your favorite smells to have wafting through your home?