(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
(Click here if you’d like to read Part I before reading this Part II.)
The reviews from Jim and Bill of Bear Spit and Wild Willy’s Wheat are as follows: more…
Bear Spit and Wild Willy’s Wheat — Part II
July 15, 2009Bear Spit and Wild Willy’s Wheat — Part I
July 13, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
At some point I’ll post more thoroughly about home beer brewing. Before I can do that, I need to learn more about the process. Until that time, hopefully bits and pieces will suffice in your sharing the fun of beer making with us.
May 31, 2009. L to R: David Weiser, Jim Eaton and Bill Shimon transferring Bear Spit from the turkey fryer to the carboy for fermentation. Click photo to enlarge.
Last Wednesday evening, July 8th, Jim Eaton and Bill (and I, a little bit) sampled their first fruits of beer making. To date Bill and Jim, with the help of Scott Finneseth and David Weiser, have begun three batches of home brew.
The first beer unveiled last Wednesday is what Bill and Jim fondly refer to as Bear Spit. The kit for what we call Bear Spit is officially marketed as True Brew TM * “DOUBLE IPA All Malt.” The Double IPA home brewing kit is $52.25 at Beer Crazy in Urbandale, Iowa. The packaging says the kit should yield five gallons of beer; however, the yield at the Shimon household was a skosh more than four gallons. more…
Blue Hat and Iowa Corn (Part III)
July 12, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
(To read “Part I” click here.)
(To read “Part II” click here.)
~ Submitted by Clara Gunderson Hoover
"Iowa Corn" watercolor by Mother (Marion Gunderson), 1956. (Click photo to enlarge.)
When I saw Bill and Judy Carmichael’s Ear of Iowa Corn, it seemed very similar to a painting Mother had given Sara (Olerich) and Dale Schoenefeld as a wedding present. Mother painted that painting, Iowa Corn, in 1956. Sara and Dale’s Iowa Corn was not in the small photo album Mother had created of most of her paintings, nor did I remember this painting until Sara mentioned it to me and, in 2006, sent me photographs of it. more…
Blue Hat and Iowa Corn (Part II)
July 10, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
(If you haven’t yet read “Part I” and would like to do so before reading this post, click here.)
~ Submitted by Clara Gunderson Hoover
"Ear of Iowa Corn" watercolor by Mother (Marion Gunderson), 1949. Sizes/Pricing: Medium limited edition --- 11.75" W x 10" H, $25. Grand limited edition --- 22" W x 18.75" H, $50. Largest --- 24" x 20.5" (same size as the original, usually a special order), $70. (Click photo to enlarge.) *
In July 2008, Hal and I were back at Okoboji for our annual reading marathon. I didn’t want to impose on the Carmichaels, but one day while on my walk I finally went to their house and knocked on their door. They invited me inside and showed me Mother’s painting, Ear of Iowa Corn (1949). They also showed me two paintings by Cathrine Barr. I was excited to see all three paintings and asked if I could get my camera and come back to take photos. They seemed glad to let me do this. more…
Blue Hat and Iowa Corn (Part I)
July 8, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
The view from Highway 15, looking east into Rolfe, Iowa, at almost dusk after RAGBRAI cyclists had passed through on July 23, 2007. (Click photo to enlarge.)
~ Submitted by Clara Gunderson Hoover
When RAGBRAI went through Rolfe on July 23, 2007, most of our family spent the day in town and enjoyed the many bicyclers and onlookers who talked with our father and visited his Cy sculpture on Garfield Street. In fact, my husband Hal and I had just concluded our Okoboji vacation in time to be in Rolfe for RAGBRAI. more…
A Good Reminder
July 7, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
Having been gone over the weekend, and celebrating Katie’s (our younger daughter) birthday today, I don’t have a new post ready for today except… more…
Savoring Independence Day
July 4, 2009
Grain elevator, Rolfe, Iowa. Photo taken by Clara Gunderson Hoover, June 2009. (Click photo to enlarge.)
INDEPENDENCE DAY, celebrating:
Who: the Second Continental Congress
What: the Declaration of Independence
Where: Philadelphia
When: July 4, 1776
Why: to declare the Thirteen colonies “Free and Independent States… Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown” of King George III. *
* http://www.answers.com/topic/independence-day
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Lake Okoboji and the Taco House — Two Spices of Life
July 3, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
West Lake Okoboji and Taco House beef and black olive nachos. (Click photo to enlarge.)
Although there are a couple of restaurants in the Lake Okoboji (Iowa) area that every once in awhile are my that-day choice of where I’d like to eat, the when-in-doubt default is always the Taco House.
According to a couple of current Taco House employees, the Taco House, as we know it today, has been in existence (same building, same recipes) since 1983, having changed ownership about six years ago. Previous to 1983, there was a different structure that housed the Taco House. more…
The Farmers Coop and a String Bikini — Part II
July 1, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
(To read Part I before reading this Part II, click here.)
~ Submitted by Marti (Martha Gunderson) Carlson
The mornings, in particular if it was raining, often found several regulars from the farming community gathered around the front office for coffee and pastries – and very colorful and/or funny stories, not all necessarily fit for feminine ears. more…
The Farmers Coop and a String Bikini — Part I
June 30, 2009(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)
~ Submitted by Marti (Martha Gunderson) Carlson
My very pleasant baptism into the working world started the summer of 1966 following high school graduation when I reported to the Farmers Cooperative* Company in Rolfe, Iowa – in a dress and heels! more…
Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter) 