oh, never-mind

"Will one of you guys go turn on the water to the spinach?"  I asked my teen-age boys.  "Go to the hydrant North of the trailer and turn on  the knob that is second from the left as you are facing West, I think it has a yellow hose attached to it.  Follow the hose to the Y and shut off the left hand side and leave the right side running.  Go to the end of the right garden hose and remove the black hose.   Oh wait, I guess you will have to shut the water off at the Y before you change the hoses, any-way remove the black hose and put the short orange one on that has the re-placed end.  Go back and turn on the right Y and then make sure the sprinkler is going in a counter-clock -wise direction."  After I had given these simple instructions I was met with a blank expression of-------------What did you say mom I wasn't listening.  I was  thinking about how hungry I am, and when can we go eat breakfast.---------- I chuckle to myself and instead of repeating it again, or maybe even twice I say,  "I'll go turn on the water and then we can go eat breakfast."

My Grandmother used to always say:

Work first, get it done,

Play last, you'll have more fun.

I feel the same way.  We get up at 5:30 and rather than wasting the best part of the day cooking, eating and cleaning up breakfast, we head straight to the farm.  I will have the boys grab a muffin and fruit, or toast and jam and eat it as we are walking down the lane.  Then around 10:00  we go in for a nice big filling breakfast.

I have changed Grandma's saying:

Work first, make it fun,

Eat last, you'll get more done!

Thanks boys for all your help this past weekend.  What a way to spend your "vacation".

Wind Chimes

This wind chime I made years ago.  I have always used vintage glass-ware (long before it was called vintage and very collectable) and with 5 kids they were often broken.  What to do with the beautiful, thick colored glass?   Sometimes the pieces were put into a mosiac, or collected in a jar, but usually found their way into a wind chime.

                                An old hanging lamp top was used to hang the glass-ware from

These two wind chimes were made from old bits and pieces found at the different places we have lived.   Old utensils, a real glass piece from a old 36 Buick's  tail-light, gallon jug necks, spark plugs and colored glass.   I have 4 box crates just full of items waiting to be made into chimes.  When making your own use heavy duty fishing line and a strong adhesive  to glue the glass to a beading hasp for hanging.   If hung outside in the sun the line gets brittle in a few years and breaks so hang them in the shade.

I hung these chimes in the sunroom, excess wind can  shatter the glass as it hits into each other.  A soft breeze coming through an open window makes these chimes play a beautiful melody.  One of my favorite chimes was made from a collection of old different sized hand- made nails.   If you make one send pictures and I'll post them.

Radish Report

Lets see what can I report about other than it is still freezing every night preventing the setting out of tomatoes and other warm weather plants.  Oh, I had a chip-monk eat most of  my heirloom tomatoe plants ( about 125 tomatoes of all kinds).  I have babied those plants along since February.  They even made several trips in the car back and forth from Roosevelt.  The night I got home to the farm I set them in the Sunroom and the next morning they were gone.  Gone, long gone,------- eaten.  I trapped the little guy using duct tape.  Every good farmer has rolls of duct tape stashed, but  I'm not saying how the catching process was carried out.  I still have about 40 heirloom plants left and hopefully will be able to set them outside  this next week.  I do have heirloom tomatoes in the greenhouse and my large box cold frame that are coming along nicely.

I have 8 green zebra and 8 brandywine planted in this box-frame

Had another flat tire.  Only this time it was on Hwy 56.  Bad thing was, I was in a skirt and the wind was a blowin.   I  had it about changed when a nice fellow stopped to help.  Thank you Mr. Christensen!!! 

                                                
                               
I will have green garlic at market on Saturday.  Green garlic is mature bulbs that are left in the ground over the winter without being harvested and seperated.   In the spring, every bulb sends up a small garlic plant from each individual clove in the bulb.  I harvest these when they are young and tender.  Just cut the whole plant up and use in your cooking.

I will also have rhubarb, onions, chard, tomatoes, celery, sage, chives, oregano, tarragon, more bags of my gourmet goat garden garnish, and of course our famous eggs.  Please bring a carton for your eggs if possible.

                                        she's a struttin her stuff down the chicken run--------way

The girls have not been to happy with me since they have been confined to the Hen-house Hotel and the walk out, enclosed terrace. I'm sorry girls, but once the gardens go in you cannot be digging up the carrot seedlings.  All is forgiven though when I bring them fresh goats milk and a big armful of greens from the greenhouse.

I will also have hand-made ear-rings for sale.  All proceeds go to the Primary Children's Hospital.  Thank you Tosha for coming every week to purchase a pair.

I have a confession to make

I have felt guilty about this all week.  I have been swamped with all the kidding, bogged down and drug around by my tiller, blistering my hands shoveling potato rows, and almost getting a hernia from lifting  125 pound bales of hay.  And to top it all off I got a flat tire that I had to change myself.  Well, I ------here goes-----I bought-----------paper plates.  Not just the wrinkled edged white ones, but heavy duty ones with a cutesy design around the rim.  It seemed that after dragging in long after dark I just didn't have the energy to wash dishes by hand.  I am so  ashamed.  I have always used the finest un-matching china I could purchase from the thrift store.  Beautiful rose patterns trimmed in gold, amber green glass goblets from the seventies and silver flatware left behind by a prior caretaker.  A lace table cloth  adorned the table and a meal fit for a king would be placed upon it.   Now when I do stop long enough to eat I plop a scoop of  yogurt on a paper plate, top it off with a handful of berries, grab an oatmeal raisin cookie (found the dough in the freezer that Jake must have made last summer) and away I go.  Just had to get that off my conscience.  Back to work.

IRIS

The Iris are blooming.  Iris is my favorite spring flower.  Well, it may be my favorite flower along with the sunflower, um--------------or hollyhocks,  or---------wild roses,-------or dandy lions, or-------When the Iris bloom it gives me hope that it will warm up eventually.  It is still freezing hard at night.  18 degrees on Friday night,  (yep, I live in burrrrrrrl) .

The word Iris  means RAINBOW.  Iris is the flower of the Greek Goddess IRIS who is the messenger of love.

they look as if they are dancing

Plant Care:  apply compost in the spring.  In Autumn, trim away dead foliage and prune back to a height of 4 to 5 inches.  Once the soil has frozen, apply a layer of mulch to protect the roots from heaving out of the soil.  Cover the roots with additional soil if they become exposed.  Divide every 4 to 5  years.  With my short season I have found early spring time is the best to transplant.  They however, usually will not bloom until the following spring.  Generally it is recommended to divide and transplant in the late summer.

There are well over 200 varieties of Iris and they come in many colors.   Their beauty is undiscribable and poetic.  I have  yellow, peach, purple, blue, and pale blue here at the farm.

What's your favorite flower?

SOLAR ECLIPSE PARTY in Beryl

Hey everyone, I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner,    I guess I was just so busy trying to get the tilling and planting done  .My farm is directly in the path of the eclipse.  Last minute I thought we could have a eclipse party.  Bring your friends and neighbors, even the in-laws, and your lawn chairs.  Please don't forget your viewing glasses and a jacket.  If you will be hungry bring a picnic or hot dogs to roast over the fire pit.  I have a few marshmallows and chocolate chip cookies for cookie s'mores, but please bring extra if you'd like.

Disclaimer:  The farm is still in dis-array, I can't get the lawn mower to go.   You'll have to come again when I have my work crew to help and  everything is green and beautiful.

I have often wondered why the sun sets here are just so unbelievable.  Could it be because of the sun's journey across the sky DIRECTLY over head that makes them this way?         Don't know, could Be.

                                              This photo was taken onThursday

                                                       This photo taken on Friday

I am blessed to see  a sunset like this most every night.  Long before  it was required that the streets be numbered out here, my road I farm on was called------- SUNSET ROAD.

Radish Report/ CSA Delivery

First delivery of the season starts tomorrow.

Full Share:                         1/2 Share
---------------------------                                               -------------------------------
potatoes                                                                           potatoes
onions                                                                              onions
peas                                                                                  peas
lettuce                                                                               lettuce
spinach                                                                              radish
artichoke                                                                           yellow squash
radish                                                                                rhubarb
yellow squash
rhubarb
honey

Thank you Shelly for providing some of the yummy veges this week.  You are the greatest sister EVER!

Our famous, great tasting eggs will be included if you purchased the egg share. 

WE STILL HAVE SHARES AVAILABLE  FOR THE CSA SEASON, BUT HURRY WE ARE ALMOST FULL

Just stop by our booth for sign-up information. 



;
The garden is coming along nicely.  Last night with the winds from the south it did not freeze and we even got a little rain today.  Don't forget to attend the Farmers Market.  It starts at 9:00.  Come out and support your local farmers.

I have this quirky  beach bag I appliqued some veges on for a market bag.  Hey, you are just going to throw dirty potatoes in the bottom so it doesn't have to be fancy.  The next five people to sigh up as a follower will get a chance to own this awesome ugly bag.  If you are in the St. George area I will bring it to market.  If you are a reader in the U.S. I will mail it to you.  Can't dis-reguard my loyal followers.  If you are all ready a follower and would like a chance  to own an ugly market bag (blue one) JUST LEAVE A COMMENT AT THE END OF THIS POST.

                               

                                                       

                                                                  It's WASHABLE

Planting Potatoes

                          
                                         The moon is waning.  It is time to plant the potatoes.

                                              Red Potatoes saved from last years crop

Cut potatoes, leaving 3 or 4 eyes in each piece

and the sprouts attached

This large potato I cut into 4 pieces.  Leave potatoes whole if they are small.

I only plant about an acre of potatoes so this is my fancy planting equipment:  a bucket to carry the seed in, and a shovel to dig the rows and then plant the seed by digging down deep into the top of the row.  Now holding the shovel with all the dirt on, I somehow reach into the bucket and plant the seed as far into the ground as possible.   The dirt is replaced and hilled up.  By planting very deep I miss setting the crop back due to frost, and spend less time hilling up  over the growing season.  Oh did I forget to mention you also need a good strong back. ( I'm getting to old for this!)

potatoes are planted very deep and hilled up with a hoe when I weed

I have planted Blue, Red, and Yukon Gold thus far, I will be planting Purple Viking and Russets and hopefully have them in by tomorrow night.

"chitting or greening potatoes"

The potato sprouts have turned green.  This happens when the potato is set out in the sun before planting.  Many small gardeners use this method, it gives you a jump start on the season.  I plant potatoes right out of the root cellar and  leave the white, un-green sprouts on.  If the sprouts are too long you can break them off the potato and plant just the sprouts.  I have had good success using this method.  Potato seed can be expensive and if you plant the longer sprouts separate from the potato you can increase your crop substantially.

                                       these potatoes have sprouts over a foot long

This is a bag of potatoes given to me by a neighbor.  He had kept them in the paper bag and the sprouts had grown about a foot tall.  I decided to experiment.  I have tried all kinds of ways to grow potatoes in containers over the years without much success.   Large tires stacked up higher and higher as the vines grow.  Fenced in areas using sawdust and straw, barrels etc.  nothing has worked well, but I am always looking for ways to produce more in less space.  So I tried this:

A large black pipe about 4 feet wide.  Placed the potatoes on the ground and stood the sprouts up vertically; covered the potatoes with a couple 5 gallon buckets of compost, watered in well, shoveled dirt over that, and then put straw for the next layer being careful to keep the sprouts vertical.  Two more buckets of compost, straw and another bucket of compost just for good measure.  We'll see what happens.

I read that some potato varieties will only set on a certain amount of potatoes. To raise potatoes in a barrel you need one that will set all along the root system as it climbs higher.  The suggested types are Yellow Finn and Pontiac Red.  I have reds in the black pipe.

With the remaining sprouts and potato intact, I am going to dig small trenches and lay the  1 to 2 foot sprouts down length-wise.   (Usually I plant the sprouts  deep, just like potatoes, but I want to try something different)  Cover  over with a little bit of dirt, water them in well and then lay a 4 inch layer of straw over-top.  To keep the wind from blowing the straw away I will place 5x16 foot wire cattle panels on the straw.  It will be easy to remove the panels and add more straw as the vines break the surface.  Let's see if it will work.

Here is a picture half way through the growing season.  I dug trenches 3 inches deep and placed the potatoe with sprouts lengthwise along the bottom of  the trench.   I covered with a little dirt and 6 inches of straw, and then placed 16 foot wire panels over the straw to keep it from blowing away.  I removed the wire panels after the plants gained enough size to hold the straw down.  The weeds were kept to a minimum, except for wheat berries that sprouted, but those were pulled and fed to the chickens.  This has been the best method of growing (other than rows and hills)  I have tried.  The one drawback is  chickens scratching through the straw and discovering the new potatoes and eating them.

Welcome those of you who have stopped by from the square foot gardening forum.  I hope this will give you a little information.  I did not have good success with the potatoes in the black pipe.  As far as just planting the sprouts, I have had very good success.  The blue potatoes seem to produce the best from only planting the long sprouts.

Here are the end of the season results:

When the vines are dead I just use a regular shovel to remove the potatoes

This is my usual harvest per hill

all this from just one little potato seed

                            I  was raised growing potatoes on the farm, read an earlier post
                             " You say potato, I say tater".
                                    Happy Planting!!!!

I'm Parched !!

I actually painted this in beautiful colors, however without any rain this spring this is how I look.  Everything is covered in dust.  There I am in my hat walking down the lane to the farm.  Little puffs of fine dust rise up to float around my cracked dry feet.  My smile is full of grit and my lips will crack when I speak.   The wind picks up the dust and twists it round and round.  I have observed several dust devils dancing in a row together, picking up tumble weeds and scattering them where they may.  Sometimes they are so tall they reach hundreds of feet into the sky and I watch in wonder.

Until the rains come I will use the water hydrant.

When my kids were little, every time is was about to rain I would send them out to do a rain dance to assure that it would rain.  One day in the spring as the clouds were building it became really cold.  The kids began their rain dancing and the rain began.  It rained harder and harder and the kids kept dancing.  All at once it turned to hail.  Big stones, as big as nickles came pounding down on their heads.  They all ran for cover under the picnic table.  After the hail subsided and the kids made it back to the house, my cute little Meadow who was 4 at the time, and in all innocence said.  "  We did a HAIL of a dance didn't we mom!" 

RHUBARB

Rhubarb takes everyone back to their childhood.  I have so many people stop by my booth and reminisce about raiding the rhubarb patch with a salt -shaker in hand;  how their mothers made them rhubarb pie and then pulling a face as they remember how tart it tastes.

I  know a little somethin' about rhubarb.  It grows in my unpredictable weather because it is a cool weather crop.  It is sour and comes in two colors red (sour) and green (sourer).   It makes the best pies and jam.  Rhubarb  originated in China, first mentioned in 2700b.c. and came to the U.S. in 1790.  A Maine gardener began selling seeds and by the mid 1800's it had spread all across the Continent.  I got my start from my mother-in-law (the green one---not her the plant) and the red start came from the old 1910 homestead we had in Lund.  Rhubarb was used medicinally for years.  Usually the root is dried and the powder used.  A drink of rhubarb tea is extremely healthful.    Please don't eat the leaves they are poisonous.


Rhubarb can be purchased in the early spring from your garden center.  It comes as a plant or in a bag with roots only.  The best way to get a rhubarb plant is to beg a start  from a neighbor.   Keep moist and transplant immediately.

I am transplanting this plant tonight.  Generally it is better to dig and divide when the buds are just coming through the soil in early spring.  Sometimes farm life doesn't follow my schedule so I am a little late this year.  The leaves are still small enough it will transplant without any trouble.

First dig a big hole where you want the new divided plants to go.  Amend with compost and manure.  Fill the holes with water and let it soak into the ground while you are digging out the plant.

Try to dig out the entire root system at once.  Separate out any roots that are loose.  Remove or cut out any rotten, diseased or dead roots.  Now using a shovel or knife cut the root ball into several good sized pieces.  The plant above, even though it is small should give me 3 or 4 starts.

Transplant immediately.  Rhubarb needs moisture to produce well so mulch heavily with old hay or straw.  Keep well watered.

 Had some rhubarb left from market.  I cannot let anything go to waste so I will be slicing it and putting it in the freezer so I can make jam at a later date.  Just cut into 1/2 pieces and freeze.

The ends should look like this after picking rhubarb.  To harvest stalks do  not break or cut it off, just pull and twist slightly and it comes right up.

Every fall, manure and mulch heavily.  The plant will come up through the mulch in the spring.






               RHUBARB RECIPES

TO DRY:  slice and put in a dehydrator 8-12 hours, or in the sun 1-2 days until hard.  It will loose some of its color. 


 YIELD:  1 lb fresh .=4 cups sliced or 2 cups cooked and pureed.

RHUBARB SAUCE:  we  LOOOOOVE this hot over home-made ice-cream or at least a good French vanilla.
3 cups chopped Rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar or honey
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
Simmer over med heat until Rhubarb is tender.  About 20 mins. Serve HOT.


TOMATO RHUBARB SAUCE
I haven't tried this one but it sounds delicious
3 tbs. butter
2 cups diced tomatoes
4 cups diced rhubarb
1 cup orange juice
4 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground rosemary.  Melt butter and add ingredients.  Simmer until soft.  Serve over chicken, pork or fish.


HOT RHUBARB PUDDING

2 eggs beaten
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
4 cups diced rhubarb
whipped cream-  the real stuff you do by hand!!!!!!
Whisk egg, add sugar, vanilla and flour.  Stir in Rhubarb.  Grease a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.  Pour in mixture.  Bake 40 mins, until the pudding is warm and set.  Serve with REAL whipped cream.


RHUBARB CRISP
this is my favorite crisp, but you can substitute rhubarb for any fruit crisp recipe you like
1 cup flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1 cup sugar-divided
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups diced Rhubarb
2 cups elderberries or black berries--Note- our elderberries are not ripe at the same time so we use reconstituted elderberries or simply add 1 more cup of rhubarb instead of berries
3/4 cups of water
2 tbs. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
In a bowl combine flour, oats (old-fashioned), 1/2 of the sugar and cinnamon.  Cut in butter.  Set aside 1/2 half of this mixture for the topping.  Press remaining crumb mixture into a 9x9 greased baking dish.  Add rhubarb and berries over-top.
In a small sauce pan combine  cornstarch and 1/2 cup sugar.  Gradually stir in 3/4 cup water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook 1-2 mins. or until thickened.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Pour sauce over the fruit and sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 mins.  Serve with REAL  whipped cream.


RHUBARB PIE
Use the crumb mixture and the cornstarch sauce (doubled) from the recipe above.--Note- you can substitute cornstarch with quick cooking tapioca granules if desired
4-5 cups chopped rhubarb. Put Rhubarb into a prepared pie crust.  Add sauce  (double the recipe) and top with crumb mixture.  Bake 350 for 50-55 mins.
If you have strawberries add 2 cups sliced to the rhubarb.

My opinion is that Rhubarb should have it's own Holiday!!!!!

RADISH REPORT

Each week I will keep you up on what's happening in the garden, what I will be taking to the Farmer's Market, the weather and other nonsense.

I will call it the RADISH REPORT 

The weather is typical for spring around here.  Fairly warm, but windy during the day.  Freezing at night , mid teens to low 20's.  The hoses do not thaw out until 10:00 in the morning.  I got brave and set out broccoli, I put black 3 gallon buckets around them, but they still froze back.  The plants weren't killed by the frost so that is a relief just all the leaves were frozen and it has to start growing again..  Lettuce, mustard, mesclun. chard, onions, kohl rabi, kale, mixed greens, and spinach are all planted.  This weekend the potatoes will go in.  Glen is coming down to dig potato rows and shear the sheep.  The goats are still kidding, Precious will kid in an hour or two and then I only have one yearling left.  After kidding season is over I will not have an excuse not to clean my house.

I will have Rhubarb at the Downtown Farmer's Market in St. George on Saturday.  Everyone come out and support your local Farmers!

                                             

                                                Chard will be available, onions, and herbs

I will also have eggs.  There have been new regulations this year concerning the sale of eggs.  I cannot recycle cartons  and will be purchasing new unmarked ones.  You can bring these back to re-fill weekly, or bring something else to carry your eggs home in.

Back to work, thank you for letting me be your farmHER!

CSA Deliveries start May 19

   The fence at the farm....the bird houses were made by friends, some of the boards are from the old horse corrals from Glen childhood home.  An old metal pot I found somewhere and drug home.    

Yes, we still have CSA shares available.  It is not to late to join.

The CSA members that have an Extended Season  share will receive their first delivery at the St. George Farmers Market on May 19th.  Regular Season shares do not begin until June 16th.  The hours have changed this year,  the market will begin at 9:00 a.m..  It will be good to see everyone.  

New Arrivals

                                                                
                                                    

This little gal is having a hard time figuring out how to make her legs go where she wants them to.

Orphan Annie on the left had 3 kids and Skittzy on the right had 5 ..........yes I said 5, FIVE, five!!!!!!

HELLO BABY, WELCOME TO THE WORLD

Precious is a 2 year old.  She had triplets last year as a yearling, I am thinking 4 or maybe 5 this year.  ( she is Skittzy's daughter so the genetics are probable that she will)  She should kid within the next few days.  Probably at 2:00 a.m. like everyone else.  Only had one doe kid during the day.

News Flash..........Precious had 3 nice big bucks.  Dropped the last one at 2:32 A.M.

FOR SALE

I would like to sell Skittzy's bucks (3 of them).  SOLD 

I have a buck kid out of Orphan Annie.  Her mother was the highest producer I have had.  18 cups a milking, that is 2 gallons and 1 quart daily.

Annie is an excellent milker also.  She milked a gallon as a yearling.  I did not milk her last year.

Her buck is black and white.  About 4 weeks old.  Dehorned.

$75.00

I have a buck kid out of Precious.  Born early morning May 8th.

$50.00

The bucks will add size and milk production to your herd.  No papers available. 

                                                  email       cricketsongfarm@hotmail.com

Silence is Golden

So, I live in a house full of men, my wonderful husband and my amazing sons.  My doors are always opened for me.  The trash is hauled out.  The oil gets changed, and the heavy stuff always gets moved.  The lawns are mowed, the mouse traps emptied, and when my old 53 FORD leaves me stranded  my husband comes to the rescue.
There is only one thing lacking in my life..............   CONVERSATION   ....................

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a chatter-box.  I don't like to talk on the phone.  I cannot text, and most days I spend 12-16 hours alone.  Silence is something I am used to and enjoy........but when the guys are home our conversations go something like this.

"I'm going to town today, is there anything any of you need?"


SILENCE

"Isn't it a beautiful day out today?"

SILENCE

In order to have a conversation around the breakfast  table I began answering my own questions and then commenting on my observations.

"Yes Jill, it is a beautiful day today.  It will be a good day for a drive in your old truck."  I answered myself back.

"No, we don't need anything at town, but thank you for asking."  I replied.


A few weeks ago we traveled to Idaho to my son's college graduation.  We left at 4:00 in the morning.  Glen had worked until mid-night the night before and the boys had gotten home late so I was the designated driver.  I am always up at that time anyway, the only problem is I do not see well in the dark.  There was a full moon however, so it was not as difficult to see.  I knew that because of the moonlight, the deer and elk would be out feeding so I kept my eyes peeled.  Yep, I  saw the big ole elk soon enough, as he ran across the road in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and threw everyone forward, waking them up.  No, I did not hit the elk but I bet I scared him awful bad.  I drove on to Heber City and then Glen  traded with me.  We took I- 80 and hit one of the worst snow storms ever.  We saw 3 horrible wrecks, needless to say not much conversing was going on.  After a few hours Glen began getting tired again so I took over the driving.  As we were nearing the Idaho border I began to get a little sleepy so I tried to begin a conversation to help keep myself awake.  The boys were half-asleep in the back seat and Glen wasn't to spry either.

 
 "Look at all those black rocks all over the ground.  I bet it is hard to raise a garden here."

SILENCE

So in response I said to myself.  "  There are a-lot of rocks.  I would imagine the only garden they can grow here is a rock garden."  I even laughed out-loud at my witty observation.

SILENCE

And so my conversation continued on, ( I was trying to stay awake remember) but soon I was interrupted by my son in the back seat, he was only trying to join in, but I jokingly said.  "Don't interrupt me when I am having a conversation with myself." 

Then we had a real nice conversation about Glen's side of the family.  His mother is from Ucon, Idaho which was right along our way.  He had made many trips to Idaho as a youth to see his Grandparents and all his relatives there.  His mother is one of 11 children.  We took the exit off the highway and drove by his grandparents old house.  I think one of the relatives still own it.  We did not however have time to stop to visit.

The next day traveling back we stopped at Idaho Falls and took a walk along the river.

This bench was along side the river.  It is dedicated to a father and mother of six sons.  (I bet she carried on a conversation with herself often).   They must of spent many hours together quietly fishing the snake river.   Listening to the water running over the rocks and to the hum of the fishing line as it swished back and forth.  The almost silent plunk as the fly hit the surface. An afternoon of silence shared with those closest to you.   So my thought is this.......... It is not the silence that is golden, it is the ones you spend the silence with, that is golden...........