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Friday, January 28, 2011

alberta ave. farmers market report and straw bale house

We finished up a very successful night at the farmers market last night. I thought that it was a very good experience overall and I am still impressed by this little market. The customers that came to speak with me were very much there to buy food and were delightful to visit with. I just enjoyed visiting with everybody so much. It was also great to meet some friends like Kevin Kossowan and some new friends like Amy who is a new customer to our little farm!

I get a lot of satisfaction meeting the people who are buying our food. It makes the countless lonely hours spent in the cab of a combine, dusty and tired, all worthwhile. We are really looking forward to welcoming our new friends to our farm when we can get it presentable!

I did have a few people asking to see pictures of the house and farm. I hope that you can all understand that it is like an artist who doesn't want anyone to see their work before it's finished! Our home is still an absolute mess inside and out. Closets shelves are ongoing along with door trimming and installation. In the meantime, boxes and household items sit on every horizontal surface available!

The kitchen is pretty much complete although a couple cabinet doors are missing that will be replaced next week. I tell you what...I will take pictures of the house piece by piece as we complete things, ok? I will start with the kitchen tonight and post house updates as we go.

On the topic of the house...we are very pleased with the overall performance and efficiency. With the mild daytime temperatures above freezing and some sunny afternoons, the furnace has not come on in four days and we have not had the woodstove going at all. At night, the house drops to around 19 degrees Celsius and with the morning breakfast cooking, it gets back up to room temperature fairly quick. The passive solar design is nothing short of amazing and around supper it is too hot and we open the kitchen window a crack. The straw bale house is everything we had hoped it would be.

2 comments:

  1. Sorry that I missed you at the market this week! My daughter was sick. I'm enjoying the rye flour very much. I also have experimented with the White wheat-- it has a very different consistency than I'm used to. I used it to make pizza dough and I can't explain the difference-- but is it ground a lot finer than usual?

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  2. I can adjust the mill for a courser milling...this seemed like the best consistency for flour, but I have had one other baker ask for a courser flour. We are working on fine-tuning and I appreciate the feedback.

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