The Poetry of Anne Maren-Hogan

“I can feel the grit of dust and crunch of downed cornstalks in these poems.  They are not nostalgic ditties, but instead are strong songs, often in a haunting minor key, that remove me to a time when many footsteps, from many families, from many homes, sounded on the Midwestern farm scape.”

Timothy Fay  (taken from  the back cover of Anne’s book of poetry)

Anne and Sam  with the Mrs and I  March 23 2013

I was introduced to Anne Maren-Hogan’s book of poetry this past November by her nephew Chris.

I would be the first to admit I am not a big reader of poetry….which makes what happened to me all the more powerful.

I can still remember sitting in Ms Burns 7th grade class reading “Jonathan Livingston Seagull. “

I got the impression something deep and profound was  going on in that story, but it was  beyond me.

(The same thing happened in Mr Newland’s slide rule class…..I felt  over my head and could not swim)

NEVER  wanting  to find  myself in that sort of discussion setting again.

Flash forward 40 year .

Chris  hands me a little book of poetry @ coffee break written by his aunt Anne. (Chris works with me)

In my mind, I’m thinking...oh/ no/  if I take it, he’s going to ask me later what I think…?

I will be exposed for the uncultured farm boy that I am.

I took the book.

I inhaled the book.

I discovered a writer that drew me in.

She wrote about growing up in a large farm family , not too many miles from me.

Here’ another quote from the back of the book:

“With narrative grace and keen insight, Anne Maren-Hogan celebrates the strength and perseverance of women.  Spanning two decades, the poems in The Farmers Wake offer a thoughtful meditation on family, place and culture.   The poems move beyond a chronicle of farm lief in the Midwest to remind us all of the very human connections we share with each other and this earth.  The landscape in these poems may be harsh and isolated, but the writing is rich and rewarding: stitching it all together with this certainty/ of leaving and returning as  Maren-Hogan writes in “Lifting My Eyes”  Pat Riviere-Seel

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Anne and her husband Sam were back in the area this past week visiting family.

I’d built a multipurpose addition to our shop this Fall and had been wanting to do a “German Building dedication”

Last Saturday night, was the dedication.

Anne and Sam, joined us for a night of poetry/ music and mirth.

I asked Anne,  if she cared if I included one of her poem on this post.  So I did get her blessing.

I intended to include my favorite poem titled The Farmer’s Wake”

(It is about her dad’s wake)

I’ve had a change of heart.

I’m going to hold off  because  I feel like she  has shared something with us very precious and sacred.

A  glimpse into her heart.

I will instead give you a link to her book of poetry, so you could have your own copy.

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In case you stumble across this post later Anne, I just want to say  thank you again for  sharing your heart, both in your poems and for actually coming and reading them aloud .

I am a wealthy man.  DM

German building dedication

Lead carpenter (me) nailing the evergreen branch to the gable. 

A trip to the Vet

Little Moe is the latest addition to our family

A pet chicken…

and not just any chicken mind you…a handicapped chicken

Here’s a recent photo:

He’s got a gimpy leg.  His right one just wants to flop

Last night I posted a 40 second video clip of Little Moe hobbling around on our face book home page.

A good friend and fellow blogger Kristina got after me and said I needed to take him to the vet.

Now in my mind that is a $35 to $40 office call/ not to mention any treatment that might have been suggested, so I let the need be known on face book.  I was willing to take him to the vet but we were not in a position financially @ this point to cover the cost.

Would you believe I had 2 people step forward, willing to underwrite Little Moe’s visit…

There are still  lots of kind tender heart-ed people out there, I meet them all the time.

I asked my wife to call the clinic first thing this morning to see if they’d see a pet chicken

Yep

The Vet clinic called at 2:30 this afternoon  and said we could bring him in for a check up….

Here are some action photos from our time @ the vets:

Little Moe in the pet carrier waiting to see the vet

the Vet and I before he examines Little Moe

Little  Moe getting a check up

As I was driving into town I thought about the situation

What if there was nothing that could be done and this little bird is in constant pain?

What would be the loving thing to do?

What would you do?

At first the Veterinary  thought there was a broken bone

The more he manipulated the leg and felt around, he decided it wasn’t broken

Rather, Little Moe seems to be missing some tendons in that area of his leg

I asked if he were in pain.

Nope, didn’t appear to be

There was really nothing that could be done, in terms of a splint etc.  it just is what it is.

We talked briefly about some guy on the TV last night who shoots a bow and arrow with only his feet….

I guess that came up because Little Moe seems to be making allowances for his handicap in other ways.

I’ve had 3 different people suggest to me I ought to write a children’s book with Little Moe as the main character….

Any takers in the audience who would be willing to team up with me on this?  I’m thinking the story line doesn’t have to be really very long..

I think I need an illustrator as well.  If you’re at all interested let me know.

Well, I better go outside and shut the door to the chicken house.  I let Little Moe and his friends free range during the day, but have to lock them up at night or they may wind up as someone’s dinner in the middle of the night.

DM

Baby Chicks

I got a phone call 6:30 AM Thursday morning from the post office.  Our little peepers were in!  Come and get them

Our new Chicken shed in transit.   Found a John Deere wagon running gear on Craigs list for $200.  Ended up spending another $184.00 on 4  good used tires.

I saw a set up like this on a local CSA.  The birds free range during the day and spend the night in the shed, so as not to be eating by coyote’s , racoons etc. @ night.

I had the new chicken shed all set up with two heat lamps, 2 feeders, and a new waterier.  The day the chicks arrived it was windy and cold…even with the heat lamps I was concerned it might be too cold for the chicks so I did what any farmer would do trying to keep the baby animals alive…brought them into the house.  In this case, our living room

I was talking with  Janaan a farmer’s wife earlier this week.  She told us, her husband had brought, baby pigs, chicks, sheep and even a baby calf into their  basement to get them started.

60 baby chicks are in that box just waiting to get out

Here’s what they look like when you pop open the lid

baby chicks spending the night in our living room under the heat lamp

Yes we really do have 60 baby chicks in our living room.

At the water cooler

eating some tasty organic chick starter

birds eye view

Whatch you look’n at???

Here’s some pictures I grabbed of the Internet to get an idea what the chicks will look like when they mature:

Silver- laced Wynadotte

black-australorp-rooster.

Rhode_Island_Red_Rooster

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What I would really like to look into now is growing our own non-genetically modified chicken feed for next season…any of you reading this ever come up with your own chicken feed  recipe?  Talk to me.  We have an acre and 1/4 of ground behind the barn just sitting there doing nothing.  DM

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Update 4/20/2012  This post originally appeared on my other blog last week/ (it has more to do with things around our acreage)  Let me know if you’d like a link to that blog and I will get it for you.  Thought some of you might get a kick out of the little baby chick pictures. DM

Spring In The Country

I could not believe my eyes…

There they were, popping out of the grass in our orchard this past Wednesday evening.

Grey Morels….

A month early, no less…

close up of a morel I  found this week.

You’d be proud of me.

I resisted the temptation to pick them all,  and went to find my wife.

It felt like we were on an Easter egg hunt, only we were looking for mushrooms.

By the time we were done, we’d found over a 100:

They may look gross to the untrained eye, but boy are they tasty

They sell on craigslist around here for  $40 a pound.

In case you’re interested, here’s how I prepare them:

Cut them in 1/2  (sometimes little bugs like to hide in the hollow middle)

Then I soaked  them in salt water over night.

Rinsed them in clean water when I got ready to fry them.

Dip them in an egg wash

Then I put them in a baggy with crushed Ritz crackers and Johnny’s Seasoning Salt (shake)

Fry in real butter…

Yummy!

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Apple Trees

There are   60  semi dwarf  apple trees on the East side of our house and another 20 on the West side…

They are in full bloom this week…

Wild bee pollinating in our orchard

Just like the rest of the plants this year, the apple trees are a month ahead of schedule.

I am gradually coming to the place where I think I may build a bee hive.

So far, the wild bees have been doing a pretty good job of pollinating the trees….

We’ll see…maybe next year.

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Wild Asparagus

This morning I came across some more “edible landscape”

Wild asparagus…

Wild asparagus

I can’t stand the stuff myself, but Mrs DM loves it….

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Grant Wood

My favorite Grant Wood  painting  is “Spring in the Country”

Remember American Gothic?

Yep, same guy…

Local boy too.
Turns out he was a prolific artist.

Sometime when you have a minute, Google his name and check out some of his other work.

We probably have a dozen of his prints scattered throughout our country farm house.

I feel like I’m living in the middle of that picture this week….

Several of you live in urban settings..

I know  it can be kind of stressful….

so tonight is my humble attempt @ bringing a little country to your door.

g-nite. 

DM

Starting a farm co-op

A co-op:  An autonomous association of persons who voluntarily  cooperate for their mutual social, economic, and cultural benefit.

I attended an organizational meeting of a new local food coop  getting set up in our area.

It got my wheels turning  (again)

Why not start my own mini farm-coop?

First project : raise free range chickens

I floated the  idea on face-book a couple of weeks ago.

I have been thinking I would like to raise (20) to (25) free range chickens this Summer  and wondered out loud if anyone else in our area would be interested in going into partnership with us.

I had (4)  families jump @ the opportunity…..

All were young families with children living inside city limits so it was not something they could do on their own, even if they wanted to.

We live on 4 and 1/2 acres so there is lots of room to experiment.

It is just about as easy to take care of 100 as it is 25.

The chickens will arrive April 12

We will let them mature into sometime late August..and when they are ready, we’ll have an old fashioned “chicken butchering party” …just like your grandpa used to do.

We will share the costs equally and all pitch in on butchering day.

One of the young mothers had obviously been thinking about this for a while….

I’m guessing she’ s been looking forward to the day when they had a place of their own in the country.

She asked if I would consider getting some Heritage breeds, and using Organic feed to supplement their free range foraging.

(Chickens only get 3% of their caloric intake from foraging so you have to supplement their diet with something)

“Why not?” I said.

We ended up picking (3) different breeds…

I can’t wait to take pictures  as they mature!!!!

(the pictures below are some I found on the Internet so I would know what they will look like)

Black Australorp’s

Silver laced Wynadotte

Rhode Island Red

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It’s too late this time around to be a part of this adventure, but let me know if you’d like to be a part of something like this next year.

Even if you’re coming from a distance, (I live in Iowa)  there’s nothing to say you couldn’t schedule a trip here the weekend we butcher.

Please don’t leave any nasty comments on how cruel I am, etc. etc. etc….

I’ll just delete them.

I do believe I will answer for how I treat the animals in my  care….

and I  also believe there is a reason my teeth are designed to eat meat as well as vegetables.

Well, it’s been a long day.

I filled (7) raised garden beds full of dirt,  planted  (5) apple trees, (450) hills of russet  potatoes

….and a 400 sq foot patch of grain.

I’m beat.  g-nite. DM

Row of seed potatoes before they were covered up

Wheel barrow full of seed potatoes

To my great, great, great, grand daughter…

You came to mind this morning

a hundred years from me,

My daughter’s

daughter’s

daughter….

a hundred years from me.

There’s some things I  want to tell you

Bout  things  that shouldn’t be.

about the world

you woke up in this morning.

100 years from me…..

I think about my grandpa,

and his grandpa too

I wonder if they ever

gave much thought

bout the things

they’d say and do

the choices that  generation made

are landing at  my feet

We used to have 4 foot of top soil

Now it’s measured in inches

And now our leaders  spend like drunken fools

  you’ll be picking up the tab

I want you to know I wasn’t for it

I spoke out  for what it’s worth

“We’re  sorry” just don’t cut it,

hollow words

to my ears they sound.

We’ve got to live with a long term view

if we hope you’ll be around….

You came to mind this morning

a hundred years from me,

My daughter’s

daughter’s

daughter….

a hundred years from me….

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I  wrote this poem  Fathers day of 2009 so you may have seen this one before. I was reading some poetry my mom wrote this afternoon about her family and it  got me to thinking. DM

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You may have seen this video before, especially if you’re a long time reader of my blog.

It’s worth watching again if you haven’t seen it in a while.

it’s called “Generations” by Sarah Groves…

This line makes me think every time

“Generations will reap what I sow,

I can pass on, a curse or a blessing, to those I will never know…”

Where my mind has been

Long term gardening goals.

That’s where my mind has been.

I would like to raise 90% of what we eat.

Labor free as possible

Organic/ or at least as chemical free

only grow what we will eat and  as much as we will use

I’ve read articles, attended workshops, bought books… everything from  Permaculture gardening, square foot gardening, raised bed gardening,  Ruth Stout and Mulching, composting, organic gardening, self watering container gardening,, hoop buildings, three sisters gardening, earthworm composting…

and I’m still confused.

Here are some random pictures from the last couple of gardening cycles…..

just to get your mind  percolating:

Cortland apple tree in bloom

Heirloom Brandy-wine tomato  Grew this from seed

Close up of pole bean climbing  Mandan Bride corn in our 3 sisters garden patch

Heirloom tomato in bloom

my first attempt @ braiding onions.  Don’t let this picture fool you   they were not very big.

close up of Mandan Bride Heirloom corn  at pollination stage

Another Mandan Bride in pollination.  Didn’t realize there was so much color diversity.

Winter Greens experiment.  The past couple of months  I have been trying to grow Kale in our basement under a grow light.

Kale chips.  (think potato chips, only lighter)   Very easy to make…toss in olive oil, salt lightly, bake @ 250 or 300 for 15 minutes/ until crisp)

Farm fresh eggs.  We have (1) rooster and (2) hens currently

Red Delicious ready for the cooler

Black Futsu squash

Wild grapes behind the barn. ( I didn’t grow them or do anything with them, just

loved the picture and wanted to share)

Mandan Bride drying

Did I mention, I love watch things grow (people too for that matter)

Talk to me about  food, gardening, or  things  related.  DM

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Update 2/2/2012

Just came across this utube clip…I’m not interested in doing everything they are doing, but at least it gives me an idea how much you can cram in a 4000 sq ft space. Wow….Imagine what a person could do with an acre (43,560 sq ft)

Guess I better start eating more vegetables

The 2011 harvest is upon us

“The most important ingredient in the welfare of an orchard, is the sound of the Orchardist’s footsteps”

Below are some pictorial highlights of what’s been happening around here the past couple of weeks….

Yours truly picking the Ginger Gold’s

I use that little level to double check to make sure the apples are not sticking above the rim of the box.

When I put the crates in the cooler I like to stack them at least 3 crates high.  There are between 40 to 50 pounds of apples in a crate.  A bushel of apples weighs 42 pounds.

Long Island Cheese Heirloom pumpkins that were picked this weekend

Brandy-wine Heirloom Tomatoes. 

I lifted up some vines and discovered about 20 large ready to pick Brandy-wines’ just begging to be picked

2011 Cortland Apple crop (Royal Court strain).  I picked the last three bushel of these this morning.  We’re getting $1.50 a pound for them, but if you buy a whole bushel, I’ll sell them to you for $40.00.  Just 2 of these will be enough to make a pie

2011 plum crop.  I planted the plums just for fun. 

Broom Corn.   The broom corn is also just a novelty crop  I planted.  In the pioneer days, they really did make brooms out of these.

2011 apples in  the walk in cooler

At this point, I would guess we’re about 75% done picking apples.  Now you know why I feel like I live in the Garden of Eden sometimes.

 

Tell me I’m special

One of my Mom’  winter onion’s

I took them because I didn’t want to be rude.

Stuck them  in an out-of-the-way place amidst the ferns, blue bells, and bleeding hearts.

Probably not the best location for onions..

Going through their life cycle the past ten years  without me doing a thing…..

Until this year.

All of a sudden, I saw these little onions in a whole new light.

You see,  I have always secretly harbored the opinion that these  “onions”  were not really worth my time to mess with.

They were so small.

They were “wanna- be’s”

Read  an article in a hobby farm magazine last winter about their cousin the garlic plant.

Did you know there are hundreds of species of heirloom garlic?

most of which you’ll never find  in a store.

So on a whim this Spring, I pulled up  15 of those  wild  onions, figured if little garlic bulbs are that special then so might these.

After I washed the little fella’s off,  I  keep several inches of the stem….

otherwise  I  would have ended up with  a 2  inch piece the size of  my little finger.

Chopped  them up, fried them  in butter, with some potatoes..and boy was I in for the surprise of my life….delicious!~

Even the tops fried up into a crispy little morsels.

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Those onions  reminds me of me.

I’m tucked away in a quiet out-of-the-way spot.

There is nothing about me that makes  me stand out in a crowd.

Sometimes I feel despised and misunderstood by people who don’t really know me.

It’s always exciting when someone  stumbles across me  into my little corner of the garden  and tell me I’m special.

I think it’s part of the human condition to want to be appreciated.

To feel valued

To be cherished for who we are

I’m not a Walla Walla  or  Spanish hybrid

I am a winter onion.

to be continued….

The Walk- in Cooler story

We  were sitting around  kitchen table today for Father’s day   reminiscing with John and Kathy

The walk in cooler story came up.

It happened last September….

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Last Fall  my wife and I  took the time  to go on another mighty adventure.

We traveled East to  visit friends, drink lots of coffee  and go white water rafting.

I’m not a swimmer so the whole idea of going white water rafting gave me  a rush every time I thought about it.

The day of the rafting trip  I was outfitted with a  super  tight life-preserver.

Supposedly it was designed to keep an adult male  from drowning, but if your boat capsizes in the middle of a #5 rapid, and you get your foot wedged under a rock, then your still gonna die.

That’s me on the left in a #4 rapid

Well, unbeknownst to me  son John was having his own adventure back at home….

We were in the middle of selling apples when we took off on our trip and John was in charge of the apple stand.

Before work that morning   he ran out to the walk in cooler to grab a couple of bags of apples.

We keep the cooler set  at a constant 38 degrees.

John was in a hurry so he ran into the cooler in just a pair of shorts…no shoes, no shirt.The door on the cooler does not have a latch.

I keep it locked with a board on the outside

Well, when  John went into the cooler,  the door swung shut behind him and somehow  locked.

That was a problem for several reasons..

A.  there was no handle on the inside.

B. his cell phone did not have reception in the cooler.

C.  There was nobody else at home, and no one would miss John for at least  a day.

John told us he had visions of us coming home to find his frozen carcass amidst the apple crates.

We asked him if he panicked?

No…he said.  He knew it wouldn’t do any good to yell, cause there was nobody around to hear him.

He said he must have stood there 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do. He finally realized ff he had to, he could  shove the air conditioner back out of the wall, but that was his last resort and would have did several hundred dollars of damage.

Finally, he said, he noticed a little hole  the face of the door., he stuck his finger in the opening, twirled a little shaft  and out swung the door!

 

picture of John boxing up the Cortlands

How about you?

What’s the biggest pickle you’ve ever found yourself in and how did it work out?