Farm n Fun 2007

After two years of rainy weather - last year it poured all day long! - we finally got a break and had perfect weather for Farm n Fun this year. Campers started showing up Friday afternoon - of course the citizens of Mohneyville always arrive early to stake their claim to traditional spots. Lots of last minute jobs to be done - trash bins and recycling barrels put out, Paul's funky decorations deployed in just the right spots, and of course, it never hurts to add a few last minute logs to the bonfire.

We had lots of friends and relatives and neighbors and colleagues show up this year. The house was full with 14 of us, including children. Dave and Claire didn't give up after last years' damp experience, and made the 9-hour drive with not only 2-year-old Brynn, but our new grand-baby, 2-month old Evan. Brynn has a great time at the party, and she is working on getting her nerve up to ride a pony!

Mike had to work so he didn't come for the week, but took off the party weekend and made a road trip with two of his friends, Andrew and Buzz.

Friday night - in addition to the first night of Farm n Fun - was, of course the release of the 7th and last Harry Potter book. Thanks to Ann Trupo, who braved hordes of costumed young people at a local book store, we had several copies which were snatched up by true fans. Here's niece Helen reading hers oblivious to the world - wait! She could not possibly have read all that in such a short time! Cheater! She skipped to the end, and .... well, don't tell how it comes out for those of us who read books the old-fashioned way!!!

In addition to Oberlin friends Karen and Carol, Scott and wife Eleanor drove up from Columbus, so we had a mini-Oberlin reunion. Nancy Blum with husband Bill Hurlbut and family came all the way from Maryland - their first Farm n Fun - so we had a large Blum clan together with Jim and all the dogs. And it wouldn't be a party without Jan and Jean and Molly and Pat Shifflett, the Brasses and of course all the wonderful musicians who make this little mini-festival happen. There are many more pictures, courtesy of Jan, Karen and Carol, who have all three claimed the title "Official Photographer of Farm n Fun" - I've posted them on Flickr, and you can look at them by going here. (Alternatively, go to www.flickr.com and search on "Farm n Fun" all in quotes.) Thanks, everyone, for another great time!

July - One Busy Month!

July was a very busy month at the farm. Don and I drove out from CT on the 14th, and were joined a day later by friends Karen K. and Carol H. who arrived to help road-test the idea of a summer commune for friends, family, and kindly strangers who drop in unexpectedly. We shared a very pleasant and relatively quiet week together, before the craziness of Farm n Fun began.

Took Jack and Helen to see their first major league baseball game - watching the Indians trounce the White Sox at Jacobs Field, which is a terrific place to watch a ball game. Cleveland is in second place in the Central division, which is not too bad!

Mid-week I had to head out to a board meeting in Boulder, but Karen and Carol amused themselves with visits to the West Side Market, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and our alma mater, Oberlin. (Photo credits to Ms. K) Down time was filled with catching up on each others lives, and learning to knit. Here's Ms. H. demonstrating her progress! Karen and I decided next year we'll plan a quilting week and all make squares of our own design and then put them together and tie-quilt it.

Don is usually pretty bored in Ohio, but this year he kept busy playing with my new toy, the husky Husqvarna lawn tractor that I have always coveted and now finally have a real need for! Oh, yes, all the boys had fun with this and I hardly got a chance to use my own tractor!

Friday afternoon, Farm n Fun campers started showing up. As Paul says, this is really three parties in one: first, from Friday night until about 5pm on Saturday - when everyone comes back from the softball game and hops in the pool to cool off. Second, from evening Saturday - the pot luck, the pinatas, the jam sessions - to the evening stage show and the bonfire and then party into the wee hours. And last, Sunday morning - breakfast around the campfire, everyone pitching in to help clean up, and ending with the Frisbee golf game in the mid-afternoon. Next post will have party pictures!

Gold Medal Chairs

Gorgeous day in CT and I am taking advantage of it being too hot to work in the garden to finish up a project for the farm I started awhile ago - repairing and repainting a pair of old chairs that were headed for the dumpster in Ohio. I remember these chairs - and some other matching pieces that seem to have disintegrated or at least, disappeared - from my earliest childhood memories of the farm. In fact, here's a picture my mom took in the mid-50's which I'm sure she took because of the interesting shadows - but darn if my chairs (the two on the left) aren't the subject of her picture!

Anyway, I was remembering none of this when I rescued the chairs - mostly I did it because they are nice chairs, and because Laura and Jan have me thinking 'sustainability' and re-use these days. So I scarfed them up, threw them in the Explorer and schlepped them home to Connecticut, where they've been sitting in the garage until this weekend. The slats in the seats were missing or broken and needed replacing, then of course there was a good sanding, and finally, a couple coats of paint. While I was sanding, I noticed a little metal tag on each chair, which said 'Gold Medal Folding Furniture, Racine, Wisconsin'. Of course I looked them up on the web - the company no longer seems to exist, but they were a popular maker of camp furniture in the 1920's, and in fact seem to have been the company that made popular the folding 'director's chair' style with canvas seat and back. Also made wooden folding cots that were standard issue in the US Army at the time.

And while I was working away, I thought - yeah, I could go to Walmart and pick up a couple of lawn chairs for cheap. And on the back, they'd say (injection molded into the plastic) 'Made in China'. No company name, no city or town - because after all, they're just generic lawn chairs and if they get stained or broken we'll throw them away and buy new ones.

Anyway, here are my finished chairs. I think I'll take them back to Ohio next week, and maybe I'll take another look through the barn for the bench and table that went with the set. They are comfy to sit in - come and visit and you can have one and I'll take the other and we'll sit on the lawn in the shade with a pitcher of ice tea!

I can't believe its been so long since I posted on this blog - in April we had 2 feet of snow and now it's hot, humid July with snow and cold a dim, distant memory! Nevertheless, a lot has been going on at Villa Mir, and here's some of what's happening:

- Upper fields have been tilled and planted for the first time in decades. We have about 6 or so acres of feed corn growing nicely in fields that used to sit idle or be mown for hay.

- We put in a test plot of blueberries, about 500 plants. It will take 3 years to our first harvest, but this should be a very nice yielding crop - a healthy food, relatively pest- and disease-free, with reasonably high margins. We are thinking to make it 'pick-your-own' but we'll worry more about harvest when we have something to pick!

- Plans for house renovation continue. We are close to finalizing a plan that will add a second story to the bedroom wing of the house, with an exterior elevation that looks something like this. Our architect has an extremely cool program that let's him move from plans and detailed layouts to these elevation views. This view - in case you don't recognize it - is from the little yard in front, the 'play-yard' - without the familiar trees and white picket fence, which will stay but aren't shown in the drawing. The interior will be renovated significantly, leaving the old living room pretty much as is, but opening up the kitchen and former dining room area into a very large common space. With the new upstairs - which is all master bed, master bath, and office/sitting room - we only need put two bedrooms downstairs, which of course will have their own bath. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the design and now we figure out how much it will cost and hopefully we start construction late summer or early fall.

Anyway, Don and I have been spending a little time there. I've been in Cleveland several times since Easter for the Case board of trustees meeting and in June for a conference at BioEnterprise on global biotech investing. Don joined me for this trip and we had a great time on our off days, building a stone patio at the pool from 'reclaimed materials' from Dad's junk pile. Pool is clean and got a fresh coat of paint thanks to Paul. We'll be back later in July, to enjoy the pool and pick some blueberries!