Out in Leggett, CA, having just caught my breath after an hour of slow driving on winding mountain roads, I bought a kit of a midwestern farm windmill at the souvenier stand at Drive-Through Tree Park. It took me until Saturday evening to start it. As you will see from that link, Chief Honest John …
Author Archives: deanb
Return trip from Unity
Across the street from the MOFGA grounds (this is still on Oct. 14) we saw this sculpture marking Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm. It didn’t seem to be open, and we had just got in the car and were psyched for moving a little, but there it is, and if we see them at the Fiber …
BBC story on alpaca raising in Peru
This is what I originally thought blogs were supposed to be about — find something interesting on the web and put up a link to it. The BBC news today had an article about alpacas, so here you go. It looks as though the people in Peru like alpacas even more than the people who …
Orionid Meteors
When we got to Casco it was another gorgrous clear starry night. I’m not yet so used to being able to see the Milky Way on moonless nights that I take it for granted. I looked a while and didn’t see any meteors. In the early hours of Saturday I slept so poorly that I …
Maine Apple Day
We went to the Great Maine Apple Day (or better, this link) at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association place in Unity on Saturday. Well! It was different from the Fryeburg Fair! For one thing, there was no traffic. Partly that was because we left Casco just about at 8 AM to get to …
Crabapple Liqueur recipe
From a handout from Fedco Trees that we picked up at the Apple event yesterday 4 quarts crabapples cut in half 4 C granulated sugar 26 oz vodka Fill 4 quart container 3/4 full with crabapples. Pour sugar over top. Add vodka. Add remaining crabapples. Put lid on. Let stand on counter or in cupboard. …
Apple Crumble recipe, from Aunt Lee
She emailed us this yesterday. We still have more apples than we know what to do with, so we made the recipe, but we didn’t have ginger so our opinion won’t be a good indication of how the recipe is. About 5 large apples, peeled and sliced 1/4 cup honey 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1/4 …
Fryeburg Midway
You’re not really going to find a fair without a midway. There’s a pretty interesting article about the guy who owns and runs the midway for the Fryeburg fair on their website. He started working in carnivals when he was a kid, sleeping in people’s game booths as a watchman so the prizes (which they …
Fryeburg Home Ec Exhibits
Besides animal exhibits, the Fryeburg Fair has opportunities to exhibit, well, for instance, vegetable gardening, canning and knitting. I’m not sure what other cooking competitions or exhibits there are, because I had to zoom through that building to keep up with my family. We’ve seen TV reports about giant pumpkin contests at big fairs. I …
Fryeburg Agriculture Exhibits
The Fryeburg fair is after all an agricultural fair. It has lots and lots of animals on display. Maybe more people come to watch the harness racing and to ride the rides at the midway than to look at the animals, but I’m not at all sure. The barns were packed with so many visitors …