Catching up from the holiday weekend

I can't believe I haven't posted since June 30th!  One friend/faithful reader emailed to see if we were okay, and I had no good excuses--some days with nothing to post and other days too tired to post!  So now I'm catching up.

This weekend was the annual Flea Market at the Town Hall, sponsored by the Historical Society with all proceeds going to the Heritage Hall Museum here in town.

Part of the draw are all the vendors who pay for a booth to sell their wares, either outside under the pavilion or inside the Town Hall.

Another part are all the "fleas"--donated items from people in town--that are put out for sale on all the tables inside the hall.  At noon on the second day of the Flea Market--today--everything goes on sale for half price.

And a BIG part of what brings people in is the lunch that is served during the sale days--brats, sloppy Joes, coney dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, all kinds of bars and pie with ice cream--mostly rhubarb or raspberry pies.  Good stuff from good cooks!

Then when it's all done (this afternoon), anything left over gets boxed up for the next "fleas" destination.  And then we start collecting for next year!

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Catching up: Tuesday was CSA Day and here's what came in this week's box:

Fresh Bayfield strawberries, rhubarb, two kinds of Bibb lettuce, Swiss chard, garlic scapes and a jar of apple cider from a Bayfield orchard.  I never knew what a garlic scape was until a couple years ago.  They are the long stringy, sometimes curly, things by the cider jar.  The CSA people included a recipe for hummus made with the scapes, garbanzo beans, olive oil and cilantro--which was also in the box.  I made it and it was pretty good and VERY garlic-y!  Had the strawberries for breakfast.

One last catch-up item was this little guy visiting one morning:

I think he's a cecropia moth but he isn't the most colorful one I've ever seen, especially against that wood planter!

Oh, and I also found a wood tick firmly attached to the back of my knee.  Now I'm on "tick watch" for the dreaded "target" shape that is said to show up around the original bite. Yuck!

It's time to hit the trails!

This is how our meadow/orchard acreage up beyond the creek looks in its natural state:

Apple trees, pine trees of various kinds and lots of weeds and very tall grass.  And guess who's hanging out on and around that very tall grass?  Wood ticks...lots of them...as some visitors of ours recently found out. 

So we decided on this beautiful day that it was time to go up there and mow the trails.  Now the above scene looks like this:

We, actually Leann, is able to do this using a walk-behind brush mower.  She makes it look pretty easy but she's always just as happy when the gas runs out and it needs to cool off for a while.  But she's also very pleased with how they look when it's done!  Me too!

Above is another section of trail before mowing and after mowing below.  The little bird houses were gifts to Leann from her students when she retired.  This one says, "Miss Hess."

Below is one of our trail markers that we place where the trails intersect with each other.  We also have maps in the making.

 One of my favorite spots!  A bench to stop and take it all in.

 And what do I do for this project?  I run the SAG wagon!  I have cold water, extra supplies for the mower, and I watch for bears!  Well, not really...we haven't seen a bear around here all summer.  Mostly I think I'm there for moral support and keeping the "wagon" near where she's cutting.

And back at the house...we had these crazy winds all morning and afternoon.  These two poplar trees fell down this morning in all the wind.  We also saw another huge tree blown down in town.

But...other than trees falling down around us, it was a BEAUTIFUL day!

An afternoon at the Port Wing Heritage Hall

Today I did my first shift for this summer, staffing our museum from 1-4pm when it's open to the public.  This museum came to be back in 2001 following the big Port Wing Centennial celebration.  They had collected so many items for the Centennial displays and then decided they should build a museum to permanently house those treasures.  So, lots of volunteer hours and $40,000 in donations later, they had a museum...and lending library!

Behind the museum you can also visit the old Port Wing jail and also what they call the "Booth Building" which housed a commercial fishing operation at one time.  Both of those buildings were moved to this location.  Also inside the Booth Building is a miniature replica of the town as it looked in the early 1900's.  Pretty fun!

We are very fortunate to have a talented and hard-working curator, Soney Rockenbach, who has spent the last 13 years organizing and recording all of the donated items, and setting up thoughtfully arranged displays by topic and category.

It's nice when people can feel confident in those running the museum to trust them with their family treasures.  There are LOTS of items from the Larson family farm taking up space here!

The sign on this chair says, "Parlor chair from the home of Fred & Regina Larson."  And,
"Fred Larson was the first homesteader to move his family to Port Wing."  

This is the carding bench and carding brushes from our farm.

Lots of old toys, some from our old house.

Nice displays with informative captions and signs.

Lots of family histories in these notebooks!  Each family has contributed their stories and memories of family members to the contents of these notebooks.  What a treasure for a little town!

And below is the Lending Library corner.  This is run on the honor system and has been cared for all these years by my friend, Sandy.  Today, since I was going to be there for a few hours, she mentioned that I could help her weed out the old stuff so it can go to the flea market fundraiser for the museum next weekend.  So I was back "reading shelves"--putting the shelves in alphabetical order, and weeding per her criteria--anything older than 10 years old or any duplicates.  When everything is donated, and there isn't an abundance of shelf space, it could get to be kind of a conglomeration over time.  So clearing up the old stuff in time for the flea market leaves room for new donations in the future.  And I felt like I was "back on the job" again!  Thanks, Sandy!

Saturday Market & a visit from the "neigh"bors!

Today was the third Saturday Market of this summer.  We had guests here so Leann waited until after we served breakfast to go down there with our "treasures."  Everyone--vendors and customers--was pretty enthusiastic today because the sun was shining and they didn't have to wear their winter clothes to stay warm!  In fact, there was this weird mix of a warm blast of moist, humid air from the south one minute, and a cold Lake "breeze" from the north the next.  But overall, much warmer that the last two Saturdays!

The selection of produce is getting larger every week.  Rhubarb and lettuce has expanded to varieties of radishes, beets, kohlrabi, and onions.  What will next week bring?

A plethora of hens & chicks, next to the artwork and fresh eggs.

Little "hobbits" made from items from nature and lots of hand-made rugs

 Some of our "treasures" - most will be added to the Historical Society's Flea Market nest weekend.

 Right next to the pavilion a 4-H group was doing a freewill donation carwash.

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This afternoon I checked the SD card from our wildlife camera, currently pointed at our front garden,  and this is what I found:

The "neigh"bors stopped by for a look at the garden.  They must have just been passing through, because they left no sign they were there--not even a deposit we could have used to amend the soil!

6:27am...I guess I need to get up earlier to greet our guests!