Alien recycling (and Farm Day)

Luboš Motl's reference frame: Rae Ann: Alien recycling

Please read my guest post at Lubos Motl's Reference Frame. I 'won' that opportunity by being one of the four people who claimed being his 400,000th visitor.

Yesterday when I got home from a field trip to the Knox County Farm Bureau Annual Farm Day with my first grader I checked the progress of his contest and was amazed at the timing of my visit. I captured a screenshot and sent it to him. Thank you, Lubos!


More about Farm Day...

We saw all kinds of animals like horses, cows, chickens, goats, and sheep. There was an extremely cute miniature horse that the own said he'd sell us for $300. Of course, my daughter wanted it real bad. But I'm not ready for a new pet yet, and especially not one that requires even more care than a dog.

A group of bee-keepers had a display there too. While watching the bees busy in their hive I was telling my daughter that my great grandfather used to keep bees. The older lady at the table said, "And why doesn't his great granddaughter keep bees too?" Good question! So we talked a little about it and I'm now seriously considering it. She said that most bee-keepers are getting old and that they need some younger people to teach how to do it. I asked if the Africanized 'killer bees' have come here yet. She said not yet but that they will be here eventually and that bee-keepers have to learn new ways to deal with them. That's probably the only reason I'm hesitant about it.

We also learned how to make our own butter with heavy cream and an electric mixer. Of course, you can do it without electric appliances. They had assorted styles of churns on display also. I'm definitely going to try it with the mixer though.

On a side note, with our very warm spring weather so far the wild black raspberries are blooming early. Last year I made jelly from the berries. They are the best-tasting berries you can find. They are smaller and sweeter than true blackberries which also grow around the perimeter of the woods around our house. I'm a little stingy with the jelly I make because it's a lot of work to pick the berries and get enough juice for jelly. They grow on very thorny brambles that leave me looking like I've been in a fight with several cats. And to get enough juice for jelly you have to pick a lots of berries. It would be easier to make jam, but I like the smooth texture of jelly better. There will be a cold snap in the next month or so, and that is called 'blackberry winter.'