August Flew By

When I saw that my last post was August 2 my first thought is now the title.  How do these days fly by so quickly?  August was very busy and now we are in school mode and missing farm mode!  Here are a few pictures from the month:

If you are from Michigan you will know this is the Mackinaw Bridge.  It is always fun to go across!

We were able to spend some time in Door County, Wisconsin where this Moravian church is located.  As I was downloading these pictures it occurred to me that I like white buildings.

                              

This is a picture my daughter took out the window as we were on the interstate.  It wasn't in Door County but it was on this trip!

                                                 

This is a replica of a Stave Church in Borgund, Norway.  They had a very nice prayer path with stopping places that had plaques with a Bible verse that you could meditate on then continue on to the next one.

Here is the interior.

This is one of the viewing towers we got to climb.  It was a beautiful view and kinda scary looking

down from the top:)

This is the view we had from the place we were staying in Ephraim.  Door County is a peninsula that has a number of small towns with some cherry orchards mixed throughout.   It has lots of interesting places to see and is a great place for biking or doing something on the water.  At the end of the peninsula we took the ferry to Washington Island.   As we were biking we actually found a weaving/knitting store:) and it just happened to have some yarn I needed!

These are just a few moments from the month of August.  They say time goes faster the older you get.  Hmm... I hope my next title won't be September Flew By!

Greenfield Village

We were in the Detroit area last week and spent some time at Greenfield Village.  It was a very hot day but there is so much to see that it was still very enjoyable.

This was a very nice chapel.  I like the strong contrast of color.

This was a beautiful group of black eyed susans.  

This was one of my favorite houses.

Lots of different Model T's going around.  We actually saw one being towed by an equally old tow truck.  

This was an English cottage and the gardens around it were so pretty.

This was in the garden:)

This was part of the Thomas Edison workshops.

I really like the work island with all the drawers.

This was the glass blowing building.  Great windows.

A pleasant little building with just the right colors.

This is just a small sample of things to see so if you are near Dearborn  do try and visit.  We also were in several other very nice towns:  Birmingham, Lake Orion, etc.

The Process of Cherry Harvest

Today I am going to try and show what is involved in machine harvesting cherries.  Of course you can always pick cherries one by one into your bucket and climb ladders etc. but someone figured out you can do it by machine and it is much faster:) The first thing you need are cherry trees!

This is a one man shaker.  You have to shake each and every tree.

This is a close up of the front of the shaker as it is ready to clamp on the tree trunk.

The umbrella part of the shaker comes around the tree (to catch the cherries).

The tree is ready and it is time to shake.

                                      

This is how it looks while the tree is being shaken.

The tree is shaking and the cherries are falling onto the tarps and down on the conveyor belt.

The cherries go up the conveyor belt and then into a tank of water that is on the back of the shaker.

The tank is full.  The racquet is used to clean the leaves/branches that often fall with the cherries.

Waiting to exchange tanks.

 

When the tank on the shaker is full it is dropped off and will be taken back to the cooling pad  The lid is put on the full tank and then the new tank is put where it can be picked up by the shaker

           

The full tanks are put on a cooling pad.  There is cold water running into each tank to cool and firm the tart cherries.  All the tanks are filled halfway with water before being taken out to the shaker.

When about ten tanks are done it is time to start loading the truck.  The tanks are cleaned of leaves/sticks and damaged cherries and then drained of excess water.

The tanks are loaded on the truck.   This truck can take eight tanks at a time.

Next they are strapped down.  (I love this pic!)

              

                                       

And then they are taken to the receiving station.

Next they are measured and graded.   Each tank has about a thousand pounds of cherries.  From the receiving station they are taken to the processor.  Then the process starts all over again:)

Gardens

I am happy to report that harvest is over :)  Of course there is still plenty to do but we are very thankful for the cherries that were harvested! and the blessing of safety.  The next post will focus on cherries but today I want to share some flower pictures.  They are just glimpses into a beautiful garden of my very talented friend.

 I love all the shades of colors each flower has.

                                          

I don't remember all the names because it has taken me so long to download these!

                                                  

These are practically glowing!

                                                    

Even the fly is looking at all the beauty:)

                                          

I seem to love these favorite tractor colors.

Another favorite color...

I love the detail of this...What a blessing flowers are to our lives.  God knew we would need them:)

It's Cherry Harvest - Early!

Today was the first day of harvest:)  Twenty four thousand pounds for the first day!  The Napoleons (light sweets-Queen Anne type) are the first ones off.  Hopefully it won't rain for the next week!  If I get a chance I will take a few harvest pictures.  Eat lots of cherries!

How Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

I believe time just flies the older you get! and since we are getting older every minute time is really flying!  I'm enjoying being back on the farm and planting a small garden and putting flower plants in the window boxes and focusing on the cherry orchard.  There is always the everyday or weekly things like getting groceries, running errands, rearranging a few things, cleaning, fixing, doing laundry, cooking, baking.......and seeing the beauty of flowers:) We were in a beautiful garden today and I hope to put some pictures from there soon.

I wish this gerbera daisy was from my garden but wherever it is from I love the green center. 

This is my new bag:)  It is very light and easy to carry.  I usually use it as a cross body bag (meaning the strap is long enough to go across the body).  Originally I was going to make a bag out of just one fabric and keep it simple (basic rectangle) so I would get it done (but I couldn't seem to get going on it).  Then I remembered a project I had seen on the Country Living website: www.countryliving.
com/crafts/projects/Flowers-Fabric-0606 and I decided to try something more interesting (and it was easy to get started!). So using fabrics I already had and a strap recycled from something else this is what I made.  When I went to buy the magnetic catch I was surprised at all the colors to choose from (I used a bright green).  The lining is in the small black check fabric.  I tried a different way to do some inside pockets but they are a bit too low to be really useful but they do give the bag a more substantial feel.  My next bag is going to be something bigger that can be used when you need to take along a change of shoes/clothes and you wish you didn't have to use a plastic grocery bag!