farmhousebarb's blog

I just thought I would let you know that the WPIG radio-thon for St. Jude's children's research hospital was a huge success! Our little geographic location raised $143,498.52!!!! I do not know yet how many lbs. of poptops were collected,as soon as I find out I will let you know. Many thanks to those of you who have sent them to me. Please continue to do so..we are already starting for next year!! Bigger and better for 2010, we hope.( P.S., my grandson would'nt go on the air...He decided to be shy. .I am still very proud of him, that is a great job for a 7 yr. old to be willing to help other kids.). THANK-YOU!!!!!

I was wondering if any of you folks have anyone in the military? I sent a pkg. this week to my nephew, who is stationed in Iraq. He is 21, and is the son of my youngest brother. My brother passed away 3 yrs. ago and his son has remained very close. He calls my son just about every weekend. 2 weeks ago, I spoke to him and asked him what he would like from home. He listed the usual candy and snack food , but then he said, "Aunt Barb, what I'd really love are some of your homemade dill pickles!" I said ok, but he was worried that I could not ship a canning jar. I put the screw cap back on the jar, triple-wrapped it in bubble wrap, and put it in a plastic coffee can which I duct taped shut. It did not move!! Packed in the box with the candy , cookies, chips and salsa..I am pretty sure he will get his pickles! When he was little, he'd come to my house and eat the garlic cloves out of the pickle jar..I made sure to send him a jar with some really nice garlic. Just thought I'd share, cuz it was on my mind and I was curious about military family members on this site.

Tomorrow, my daughter & I are making our annual trek to the greenhouse! We go every year at this time to choose  the flowers for our gardens and hanging baskets for our porches. The greenhouse is owned by a couple that I have known all of my life, I went to school with their daughter. It is small by comparison to some, but they raise all of the plants from seed. They always do extremely well for us. It is an enjoyable day for us, although it isn't totally a "girl's" day..her two little boys go along! It is fun to watch them run up and down the long rows of flowers. Paul, the owner, likes to pick on the kids. I am looking forward to a good time, and I'll let you all know what I choose this year!!

Here's a little bit of what's happening 'round here...the new asparagus bed is producing like crazy! I have already picked 4 batches. The old bed is starting to come on, as well. I guess I will have plenty to can, as well as eat fresh. My rhubarb is nearly ready to start picking. In the garden, the kale, onions,radishes , and horseradish are all up. The garlic and strawberries that were put in last fall are also doing well. We got to mow the yard once,too. I think the guys are done spreading lime and fertilizer,but I could be wrong. We are getting our little pigs tonight, the kids are so excited! My chickens are laying well, too. I sell the excess eggs, and believe it or not, demand is starting to exceed availability!! I guess that is a sign of these economic times. My milk cow is being dried off now, so that she will produce a healthy calf. I am hoping for a heifer..we usually get a bull. I hate to buy milk, it just isn't the same. I see my son was building new fence this AM for the beef cows..they will appreciate the new grass!! Guess that's about it for news, soon it will be time to start supper, so I'd better get busy.( I can't believe that only a short week ago that I was saying everything was slow coming. Must be those few 70 plus days and the warm rain woke everything up!) A nice P.S...just a little bit ago, we had our first spring rainbow!!

I thought I would let you know of something that I and my oldest grandson are up to. We have a local country music radio station,  WPIG , Located in Olean,NY. which is about 20 miles from here. One of their dj's , does a great fundraiser each year for St. Jude's children' s hosp. Anyone can enter, but usually it is done thru a school or business. All we do is thru-out the year, save the pop tabs off from pop or beer cans. Then in the spring, Smitty and "Big Pig" come to your business and pick them up. The winning folks with the most pounds win a free DJ party with Smitty. As a rule, it is usually a school. It takes 1200 tabs to make a pound, and last year our little area collected 4,000 pounds!!! The recyclers that are involved match the $ amount, and we get 50 cents per pound!! That is $2,000.00 for saving tabs!!! 4 years ago, I took Jesse, then age 3 to the radio station. We gave Smitty our meager amt. of tabs, and it has been an on going thing every year since. Today, Smitty and "Big Pig" came to collect our tabs. The kids were so excited, as "Big Pig" was here. The poor person in the over-sized, very cumbersome, pig suit must have been MELTING!!! It is 80+ here today! ( DJ Smitty later introduced me to "Big Pig", it was his poor wife!). Our little welding shop will most likely never win the DJ party, but it is for a very good cause, and so very easy to do. They will be having a radio-thon May 15 & 16 at the Kmart in Olean, NY. Jesse and I will be going, because Smitty wants to put Jesse on air. I hope he will do it! This will be one proud grandma!! The goal this year is to make the Million $ mark, we almost did last year. All proceeds go directly to St, Jude. If you want to help, just save your tabs and mail them to me...help some little ones!!!