Spring is Here and the Ladies are Loving It

Joshua has been very busy cleaning and digging.  The crates are covering the budding rhubarb that the chickens think are great to peck at.  We got our first shipment of fruit stock in and already have them potted up until the soil gets warmer.  

The coop is back in use.  This group of ladies are quite interesting.
They still prefer to roost any place except the roost we built for them.
They don't like the upper level of the nest boxes prefering
 to build their own on the floor or underneath the boxes. 

 Today was so beautiful we had to let them roam.  

 Isn't she a beauty?  Her name is Maureen and she keeps them all in order. 

 Under the old apple tree seemed to be the best place for scratching and pecking. 

Hope they're eating all the nasty insects.

Tick Eaters - and Japanese Beetle Grub Devourers.

It only takes two to start a collection

I came from a family of collectors nothing too fancy, just stuff.  But then I married into a family of real die hard pickers and collectors.  Going from auctions in the 70's to cleaning out houses in the 80's and 90's we amassed a lot of really neat things.  Many of my items are our families household objects that have been used and loved for several generations.  Added to that are the miscellaneous finds we picked up along the way to add to our already growing collections. 

Now in this collection of spice tins I found some very unique ones.  One in particular was 

While the tin itself doesn't provide much in the way of history, the story of the business that produced this does. 

Utica has such a rich history for such a small city.  One person who made a big impact there was William Blaikie (1822-1910)(http://www.oneidacountyfreedomtrail.com/who-s-who.html)

William Blaikie played an important part in the Underground Railroad as a link in the network of black and white “stations” that covered the county’s Underground Railroad. Blaikie’s Apothecary was on Genesee Street where the Radisson Hotel now sits.  He sheltered freedom-seekers at his home at 2203 Genesee, (now St. Elizabeth's parking lot)sometimes in the barn of his pro-slavery neighbor.  His family sometimes fled their home because of the threat of anti-abolitionist violence. They were often reviled by their neighbors, and many faced violence. Moreover, they risked serious legal penalties if they were caught.

Blaikie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1822. He is buried in Utica’s Forest Hill Cemetery (Plot 30).

I spent quite a while looking for an old photo of this business located at 202 Genesee Street.  I was pretty sure this was the place as Hurlburt's was 188 Genesee Street. Then I remembered a photo on the Utica College web site on a entry about the underground railway and there is was, the name I couldn't see on this photo.  

I don't know what it is about my passion for mixing bowls but I imagine it is the image my memory holds of my mom making her wonderful pies and cookies back in our 50's house kitchen.  Or maybe the Saturday's we ate at gramma's house during our dinner break as they called lunch back then, in between the farm and green house chores.  She always had the cookie jar full and something special for dessert. 

Rainbow Riding Stables

My dad was an avid horseman.  Unfortunately for me, the horse had to go before I came along in 1952.  Black Pete was a beautiful black Morgan and was my father's pride and joy.  After my parents married in 1946 and built a house in North Utica, Pete had a home in the back yard in a barn also built by my dad.  But eventually, zoning came into effect and horses weren't on the "allowed" list.

Black Pete took my father on many adventures.

  

From Becker's to Holiday Shores

Rainbow Riding Stable, Fourth Lake at Beckers was owned and operated by J. Kenyon and R. Heinrich.  They offered Well-mannered Horses for $1.50 an hour.  Located on Old Becker's Road it was just a walk, or ride, across Route 28 where you could enter the trails that lead to Bub and Sis Lake and then on to Moss Lake. 

I didn't learn about most of them until I was cleaning out their house after my mom past away. 

Thanksgiving 2015

It's been 7 years since my first Thanksgiving in Kentucky.  This time I took a LONG week and have enjoyed beautiful weather and a much needed rest.  We had some great adventures as well. 

Our letter boxing journey took us to Indiana and a delightful candy store that makes their own candy AND they even had a smashed penny machine. 

Schimpff's has been in business for generations. 

You can see on the back wall the old molds they use. 

 They have a marvelous and extensive collection of candy containers; tins, cartons, wrappers. 

One of the candies they are famous for.  Red Hots……

Here they are making a batch of red hots. You can see them cooling along the edge. 

Christmas window and vintage typewriter

 We'll be sure to make this an annual stop.

Then it was off to Bass Pro for some Christmas fun. 

 Making a snowman wall hanging.

And finally, searching for a letter box.  No, it wasn't up the tree, but it sure was hard to find. 

 Tuesday night we went to Cub Scouts and Tyler received an award.  

Pretty cool. Plus he got up and did a cheer that he made up himself. 

 One of the places we always visit is Cave Hill Cemetery, a national cemetery that is immense.

Many of the grave site areas are quite unique.  I was so taken by this grouping of Jesus welcoming the children.  

and of course we always visit Col. Sanders. 

 Wednesday night we journeyed to the Mega Caverns just south of the zoo.  This place was AMAZING.  Underground Christmas light show that started with Keep Christ in Christmas and ended with a beautiful nativity scene. There were themes throughout and music as well.  Lasting a half hour it was well worth the $25.00.  Tyler agrees. 

 What would Thanksgiving be without the decorating of the Christmas tree. 

Tyler did a great job. 

 ON Thanksgiving Day we tried for that elusive family photo. 

Where did he go. 

Oh Oh !

 Token Bond Christmas photo - She's had lots of practice. 

 While Kate and Bob and Tyler went to Bob's mother's house, 

I decided it was a good time to back the pies.  Akron thought it was a good time too. 

What better way to end the day but with a puzzle. 

Not just hatshttp://www.knititnow.com/knit/sizingtable/4/Childs-Size-charts and soakers

I've been knitting vests as of late.  It's been with Tyler in my mind.  BUT it is hard to knit a vest with out the wearer present, esp. one who is tall and lean.

knititnow - gets the size right. 

It's a battle cry

It is a battle cry and it needs to be heard through out not just the USA but the world.  I have always loved reading about the revolutionary war years.  Perhaps that rebellion within me accounts for my understanding of why my ancestors did what they did.  And I've always believed that one day we, believers, will need to take the same stand that they did. They fought for what they believed in.

My husband has been talking a lot lately about the great awakenings and this appeal to heaven.  I think he is on to something.  Nothing original but God is making it real to us.  

It really all started back before we were even a nation.  Back to a time when my ancestors and Doug's too came here to settle.  Germans and Englishmen.  What drove them? - The Klocks were driven from Germany after severe freezing weather killed many trees making it hard to survive

In 1600, the Huaynaputina in Peru erupted. Tree ring studies show that 1601 was cold. Russia had its worst famine in 1601-1603. From 1600 to 1602,Switzerland, Latvia and Estonia had exceptionally cold winters. The wine harvest was late in 1601 in France, and in Peru and Germany, wine production collapsed. Peach trees bloomed late in China, and Lake Suwa in Japan froze early.^[Wikipedia]

^{In fact, there were many famines caused by extreme weather during the 1600's .}

 ^{NASA defines the term as a cold period between AD 1550 and 1850 and notes three particularly cold intervals: one beginning about 1650, another about 1770, and the last in 1850, each separated by intervals of slight warming.  It is of interest to me that in 1850 both the Benson and the Heinrich families journeyed to America.}  

^{The German Palatines were early 18th century emigrants from the Middle Rhine region of the Holy Roman Empire, including a minority from the Palatinate which gave its name to the entire group. Towards the end of the 17th century and into the 18th, the wealthy region was repeatedly invaded by French troops, which resulted in continuous military requisitions, widespread devastation and famine. The "Poor Palatines" were some 13,000 Germans who came to England between May and November 1709. Their arrival in England, and the inability of the British Government to integrate them, caused a highly politicized debate over the merits of immigration. The English tried to settle them in England, Ireland and the Colonies.}

^{With regard to America, the English transported nearly 3,000 German Palatines in ten ships to New York in 1710. Many of them first were assigned to work camps along the Hudson River to work off their passage. Close to 850 families settled in the Hudson River Valley, primarily in what are now Germantown and Saugerties, New York. In 1723 100 heads of families from the work camps were the first Europeans to acquire land west of Little Falls, New York, in present-day Herkimer County on both the north and south sides along the Mohawk River. Later additional Palatine Germans settled along the Mohawk River for several miles, founding towns such as Palatine Bridge, and in the Schoharie Valley.}

^{But I am wandering here, as I listen to the fireworks in the distance.  And I got lost in the Klock genealogy.} 

If there's blackberries it must be cobbler time.

THE BLACKBERRIES ARE READY and Tyler and I just made an awesome cobbler - so simple, quick and easy (follow the link) and already Tyler says it's delicious.

We are blessed, because we don't cut down the weeds, to have several varieties of black berry plants around the farm.  We have :

Rubus fruticosus

Rubus occidentals also called  wild black raspberry, black caps, black cap raspberry, thimbleberry, and scotch cap

 And one that we only have a few of scattered around. 

Rubus chamamorus (possibly)