Somewhat Finished Kitchen

Darren did recently put the trim up (happy birthday and merry Christmas to me) and moved out the white fridge since these pictures were taken.  We still quite a few things we want to do to "finish" the kitchen.  It is more than functional now and I have enjoyed using it.

 

If Ya Told Me

Darren and I were interviewed on the radio for the spring live drive.  If I had known that would lead to me co-hosting a monthly Real Presence Live show...I would have laughed, panicked, turned around, and walked away.  That's exactly opposite of what I did...so here we are in November leading up to another broadcast of Real Presence Live.

I get the honor of co-hosting with Fr. Michel Mulloy, vicar general for the Rapid City diocese and current diocesan administrator.  He has been a wonderful co-host.  He's becoming a favorite in our family.

A Quiet Place to Be

Blase and Darren did a wonderful thing for me.  They built some benches and a table for my friend, Laree.  Well, she's Blase's friend, too.  Blase helps her clean the church in Sturgis.  She has become a valued member of our family.  This was our way of giving back to her the gift of love she's given us.

 The benches are in memory of her dad and her sister that have passed away.

The Mark Park has a new corner to just stop and smell the roses in.  

Or the wildflowers near by...can't promise any roses.

Chicken, Corn, and Applesauce

Our grand adventure of chickens came to it's first major butchering just a few days after apple picking.  Darren had a great set up that worked smoothly.

 Blase and Stephen were assigned to help.  Stephen decided he wasn't cut out for butchering as much as he thought he was.  In fact, he was content to do the job that neither Darren nor Blase wanted.  They worked well together and got through quite a few in a short period of time.

 Nothing better than a family working together!

 I had the easy job of making applesauce from Papa's apples.

 It was a great night - corn from our garden and chicken from our flock.

Harney Peak

I refuse to call it by its new name!

Anyway, Darren took some of the kids hiking up Harney Peak.  They got caught in a storm with hail and crazy winds.  Darren called for a forecast and then booked it down the peak during a break in the storms.  What a fun memory!!  (At least for me in the dry house! HAHA)

Topbar Farms

 I walked by the produce one day and look what I found!  Topbar Farms herbs were being sold.  We have since gotten our herbs into six more stores in the Northern Hills and Rapid City.  It's been a slow, but steady increase in sales.  Thank you to everyone who has purchased a package of our herbs!

 Darren, what is a FedEx truck...legit truck...doing here?

Delivering that?

Seriously?

Wow, hope they didn't get fined for overweight!

Topbar Farms, LLC

Darren has been busy starting a business.  We are owners and operators (is that the proper way of putting it?) of Topbarm Farms, LLC.  Topbar Farms is a hydroponics greenhouse business.  We are growing a variety of lettuces, herbs, greens, and odds and ends.  We have a couple of restaurants that are buying from us already.  We started little with only a few towers.  Then we grew to 50 towers last month.  Now we are expanding again with the purchase of a shipping container and over a hundred more towers.  Our plans are to grow what produce the local restaurants are in need of.

 The baby plants waiting for their time to transplant into the towers.

 some of the produce

 The towers with the grow lights off.

 The towers with the grow lights on.

 These pictures have the grow lights shining on them.

One of the amazing benefits to this business is getting to eat the produce.

Darren brings home lettuce, parsley, mint, basil, radishes (that was an "odds and ends" experiment), bok choy, greens, micro-greens, cilantro, chives, and other random experiments to eat.  

We are selling to individuals as well.  Our plan is to sell mostly to restaurants, but if we have extra produce we will sell to anyone.

Porcupine Mountains, Bond and Agate Falls

After Mass we drove just over an hour west to the Porcupine Mountains on the shoreline of Lake Superior.  These mountains were blanketed with trees.  If we had visited just a bit later I'm sure the colors would have blown us away with beauty.

  

 This is one of the wooded areas that juts out into Lake Superior.

 The visitor's center had a new model of the mountains so you could see how big the lakes were compared to the mountain range itself.

 Petting some bear fur....fun!

 Funniest sign - "End of the Earth    2"

Gosh, I think I want to move to End of the Earth.

 Hiking buddies.

We have used the "buddy" system throughout this entire trip.  It helps me keep track of the kids and helps the kids learn to watch out for each other.  Of course the most often asked question is, "Where is your buddy?"

 At the very top of the mountains, just a stone's throw away from Lake Superior, is a lake that is amazing in size and in color.

 Lake of the Clouds is truly a wonder of nature.

  

  

Just a half hour down the road and to the south was our first waterfall of the day:

  

  

 This lake is what spills out to make Bond Falls.

Just a bit north of Bond Falls is Agate Falls.  Not as impressive - but a close hike from the road, so why not go see it we decided. 

The kids decided this railroad bridge might be the coolest thing about Agate Falls. 

A white pine and a red pine growing together in harmony.