Salsa

I love the colors of summer. Our high tunnel greenhouse is producing enough for our family and our farmers market stand. Every Wednesday afternoon, we set up our canopy, unfold the table and make people happy with fresh, local produce. Since ours is grown in a protected space, there is a minimum of dirt and blamishes, and the colors are vibrant. Who knew I would be a farm wife? Yesterday was our 10th anniversary. I am so happy! We are emotionally well-matched and find humor a part of daily life. Hooray for happily ever after!

County Fair

This year, I decided to enter two quilts in the County Fair. This one took the Grand Prize for "Quilts and Bedspreads". Of course, there were only four quilts entered. When Mom was raising us, I remember her entering sewing and baking projects in the fair each year. One year it was her homemade bread. Another year it was a lovely turquoise wool coat. I have the friendship quilt that earned her a Blue ribbon (which she sewed to the back of the quilt). Homemaking skills were a source of pride and a sign of accomplishment. Now those skills are considered hobbies, to be done in your spare time, as a special treat on Sunday afternoon. Thanks heavens for beautiful fabric, and time to quilt.

Quilting

When the quilt shop reopened, the most exciting part was having a longarm quilting machine in the store. Barb is quilting my lap size quilt with an allover pattern done by the computer template in the software (900 choices...really!) It is so fun to watch. I thought about buying one for myself, but the expense and the size were too much to invest in a hobby.

Today I'm splitting my time between quilting, and being outdoors weeding the raspberries. It is a beautiful, cool morning with a gentle breeze and sunshine. Tucker goes out with me and sits nearby. He is very sad when we go inside again. I have the front perimeter of the patch done, so now its time to sew. I am putting together a project Alex helped me pick out. It will be beautiful. I also have to finish the binding on the quilt in the picture. If I get it done, I could enter it in the fair in August. It is not a complicated project, but it will give the store some local advertising.

The electronic health record project is approaching a new phase. The government wants us to enter orders on the computer rather than writing them and having the unit secretary route the orders to the various departments. The hospital bought the software, but it does not come preloaded with logical sets of orders for a particular condition. If we want to avoid the hunt and pick method for each order, we have to come up with our own "order sets". It is incredibly time intensive and requires that the physicians agree on a standard group of orders for each diagnosis. There are companies who will sell a library of sets (for a hefty fee) but you still have to edit them locally and then IT has to build the set into the program one by one. The technology is still in development and changing rapidly. What we invest in today may be obsolete next year, as companies find ways for the computer to think logically and prompt you with suggestions so you avoid duplication or error. Medicare is pushing with financial incentives now followed by financial penalties later. Ultimately, they want medical data they can analyse and mine in order to save money, and moniter "quality of care/patient outcomes" I am of the opinion if they want the data, they should give us the software and program it so it is ready to go from day 1. The more standardized it is, the more efficient, but the less thought goes into caring for the individual patient and the nuances of a particular illness in context. Potential exists for a great tool which is useful and saves time. It is also possilbe to do things quickly without thinking just to get it done or to meet a government deadline. Pray for wisdom as we move forward. 

As for me, its time to quilt. :)

Morning in Dakota

This morning the distant buttes are a beautiful blue, with wisps of low-lying fog. The sun is up, and everything is green and growing. The high tunnel greenhouse continues to provide hours of enjoyment. We have had lettuce, spinach, strawberries, and brocalli thus far and beans, tomatoes, peppers and cauliflower are coming. I love the peacefulness and bird songs as I pull weeds. With the recent rain, the mosquito population has exploded. I have a clip-on insect repellant with a fan that creates a mosquito free zone as I work. Wouldn't it be nice if it would work on problems in general?

Tucker does not like his picture taken. It is a good thing he cannot talk!

Garden Day

Today is a garden day. Now that the high tunnel greenhouse is planted and weeded, its time to attend to the outdoor garden. The farmer had already pruned the grapes earlier this spring. Today we pile the old vines on a bare spot so they can be burned (when we get a damp, windless day). I cleaned out the dead leaves in the garden by the workshop, then the farmer and I transplanted some of the lilies into that spot. I am amazed how much they have multiplied. We only moved three (there are 21 other original sets to pull and separate).  We need to till ans replant the strawberry bed, and eventually cut the old growth out of the raspberries.  After the farmer builds a retaining wall south of the greenhouse, the asparagus and cucumbers will be planted in that area. Eventually, there will be another retaining wall curving around the front of the south garden, and the rest of the bulbs will find a new home there. I am tired just describing it. It is coffee break time.

Begging

Tucker is a shameless begger. He is asking the farmer to take him along for the day. Now the weather is nice, I take him out with me when I pull weeds in the high tunnel greenhouse. I have a little trouble telling the weeds from the vegitables when both are at the two-leaf stage. Only half the greenhouse is planted and already I feel pressure to keep up. The spreading green fuzz at the far end of the row is the weeds I haven't gotten to yet. Tomorrow is another day.

Signs of spring

We know it is spring when the prairie crocus (my mother called them pasque flowers) start to bloom. They grow wild on the hills and buttes by our house. I love the delicate purple and bright yellow.
The farmer has started putting in his crops, wheat first and then the corn. One of my favorite things is to ride around with him in the tractor as he is seeding. The sky is big and blue, dotted with white clouds. There are hawks that hover and soar as he goes along, hoping for a mouse to dart out of the way of the tractor. How do they know?

The family practice physician who came in March to interview has said yes! I am so excited to see the next generation of physicians joining us. The surgeon who interviewed the first of March will decide this week if he will join us as well. Life unfolds a day at a time. I am used to waiting-for spring, for rain, for delicate beauty in wild places. Life is good!

High Tunnel Greenhouse

It is up! I love the symmetry and soft light. Once the drip irrigation system is in, it will be ready for planting. In the future, we will be starting our own plants indoors so we can set them out sooner. I will update the photo when there is something growing.

We had potluck at church today to raise money for the Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society. I made 13 Bean Soup (which was really 12 Bean and Ham since I left out the large Lima beans. I feel guilty not liking beans since I married a farmer, but not guilty enough to eat them. The other 12 kinds will have to be sufficient). We raised over $500 dollars.

I finished the wallhanging with the kimono fabrics that Laura gave me. I want to quilt it myself, but I have to learn how to do free-motion quilting first. YouTube is great for tutorials. I will practice. There might be funky potholders and placemats for your stocking stuffers this year!

Snowfall

This is one of those North Dakota days where the snowflakes float down gently as if there is no hurry to get to the ground. They are big, fluffy flakes that remind me of ski trips and hot chocolate. So what if it is spring? Tucker sleeps on the floor, unconcerned. The farmer is wishing for sunshine and windless days to finish putting up the high tunnel greenhouse in the garden. He is planning on tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and carrots, as well as rows of onions. I asked about flowers, but he said "You can't eat flowers". Spoken like a true farmer.

I am waiting to hear if the physicians who interviewed with us in March wil join our group. One is a surgeon, the other in family practice. Both seemed like a great fit, and both would add needed services. Should they say yes, we will have recruited six new physicians in two years. I am optomistic about the future.

Wine Day

Today we bottled 18 gallons of wine from the 2012 grapes. It will sit for a year before it is ready to drink. I love the color. The flavor varies with the kind of grapes and the yeast used in the fermentation process.

The farmer attended a seminar on the high tunnel greenhouse he has in the garden. The frame went up last fall, and the plastic cover will go on this week if the wind and weather cooperate. It will extend the growing season, make it easier to weed and water, and hopefully keep out the deer. If we grow extra, we can sell it at the farmer's market on Wednesday nights. I'll still keep my day job for now.

Visitors

This has been a busy week. We had two physicians visit the clinic to see if they would like to work with us. I love giving the tours and meeting new people. I realize how glad I am for the choices I made in coming here. I was very pregnant and had no family nearby. Now it feels like home, and my co-workers feel like family to me. The babies I had here are grown and doing interesting things in the world. I love my life, but what I have may not be right for everyone. So I wait, and hope, that my physician family will soon have new members.

The quilt shop will be opening again at the end of the month. I have not sewn much in the last year. My quilt from the kimono fabrics is taking shape. I will hang it in my sewing room. Today I will enter prescriptions in the EHR. The pile has grown as I have been busy doing other things. The farmer is attending a seminar on his high-tunnel greenhouse. We will have tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and of course my favorite...peanuts. The seed order was finished this week. Busy spring approaching.

Layers

It has been a year since I have been writing. Where has the time gone? I love this picture from one of the ancient circle forts we saw in Ireland. Layer upon layer of carefull chosen stones stand for ages with no mortor holding them together. Look how well they meet at the corner. I am jealous.

It has been a year since I joined the recruitment committee. My goal was to recruit the next generation of physicians and have smooth transitions as people begin and end their work here. Josh, Carrie, and Jenny have all settled in as if they were always a part of the group. Stacy comes to look at housing at the end of the month. Tracy found us (family practice, born in Parshall, ND) and made a great impression. Jake is semi-retired amd the world did not end. He blames his need to retire on computers, but after all, I think he is looking forward to sleeping in.

It has been a year since I worked at the quilt shop. I have started making a wall-hanging using the fabrics I got for my birthday last year. I want to quilt it myself when it is done. I have so many unfinished projects. I tell myself, "One stone at a time" and hopefully in the end I will have a wall with beautiful corners that will stand the test of time.