Tobacco Barns

Examples of Kentucky's famous tobacco barns

I like these red barns that sit on the Edwards Mill Road in Christian County, and I've photographed them before. Both have burley tobacco air-drying in them right now.




Here's a closer look at burley tobacco, curing in a barn that hasn't seen paint for many a year, if ever. Burley is used mostly for cigarettes. If you look closely, you can see how the sticks, loaded with tobacco plants, are laid across "tiers" in the barn.



This is one of our neighbor's barns. It was looking gray and delapidated until he put metal siding on it about 8 or 10 years ago. They have been firing tobacco in it, but I didn't see any smoke oozing out of the eaves today. Maybe no one had tended it yet today.

I've been seeing lots of these metal hex signs on barns lately. My theory is that one of the farm stores is selling them.

Technorati tags: tobacco barns, Kentucky barns, old barns

Milkweed Pods

Seeds bursting out, just as they should

Milkweed seeds ready to fly away

This milkweed plant, growing in the ditch, reminds me of walking home from country school when I was a child.

In the fall when the weather was nice, I was either reading a book as I walked along, or I was watching for interesting stuff in the ditches.

I loved the milkweed plants when their pods burst open and their seeds spilled out into the wind. The fuzz on their seeds was as soft and delicate as a fairy's wings. Later, when the seeds had flown away, the dried pods were very smooth on the inside.

I still like milkweeds. I suppose some people would call them weeds, but I call them wildflowers. Their blossoms have a lovely fragrance. Smell one, and you'll understand why the butterflies love milkweeds. Bees like them, too.

With all those wind-borne seeds, I suspect that milkweeds are sometimes called invasive, but I don't really care. More milkweeds means more bees and butterflies. In fact, the very existence of Monarch butterflies is dependent on milkweeds.

During the summer, female monarchs look for milkweed plants in meadows, along roadsides, and abandoned farmers' fields of the northern United States and southern Canada. Females lay their eggs only on milkweed plants, and each female lays about 400 clear green oval eggs. The monarch egg is no bigger than the head of a pin, and is attached to the underside of a milkweed leaf. Within a few days, the egg hatches and a yellow, black and white striped caterpillar emerges, beginning its life cycle.

Source: Monarch Butterfly Facts

This article also explains that a certain chemical accumulates in the Monarch caterpillars as they eat the milkweed leaves. It produces the bad flavor that later helps to protect Monarch butterflies from being eaten.

I'm happy to see the milkweed pods exploding into seed again. It reassures me that some things are still right in this world.

Technorati tags: Monarch butterfly, butterflies, milkweed, milkweed pods, wind-borne seeds

An Idea for Table Decorations

Inexpensive but attractive

One of the ladies at our church is truly talented at decorating and entertaining for a crowd. She's had plenty of practice. Every Christmas, she has a big open house at her home with a wonderful buffet. It's a very nice holiday event. She always has a big crowd. She explained once that she isn't good at sending Christmas cards, so she has an open house instead.

This lady did the table decorations at church for the anniversary dinner, and I thought what she used was interesting. It looks nice, but still, the components aren't anything particularly expensive.

The squares of color are paper napkins in autumn colors, spread out, and the same napkins are used inside the "vases" that hold the sparkly sprigs. The small glass containers had tea lights in them. None of the glassware matches, but it still looks great. The confetti serves as sort of a table runner.

I am not good at thinking up thinks like this, but I admire people who can!

Technorati tags: autumn table decorations, banquet table decorations, table decor

Recovering From the Celebration

Another B-day

Keely baked this cake for me. It's rather nice to have someone bring me a homemade birthday cake. :)

It's been a weekend of heavy celebration. what with the birthday and the 45th anniversary dinner at church. When I say "heavy", I mean that I'm afraid to weigh myself. I'd better stay on the exercise bike an extra mile every day all week.

Related: Another B-day

Triple Decker Rice Krispies Treats

Rice Krispies Bars, fancied-up a bit

Here's an idea for Rice Krispies bars. I often make these for church potlucks because
1.) it makes a big batch,
2.) people like them, and
3.) it's relatively easy.

Coat an extra large baking dish with no-stick cooking spray. (I use a 4.8 quart, 10x14" Pyrex pan.) Make a batch of regular Rice Krispies Treats, and press it evenly into the bottom of the pan.

Make a second batch, substituting either Fruity Pebbles or Cocoa Krispies for the regular Rice Krispies cereal in the recipe. Spread and press it evenly over the bottom layer.

Then make a third batch of regular Rice Krispies Treats, and spread and press it over the colored layer.

Last step: Melt a couple blocks of white candy coating (sometimes called "almond bark") and drizzle it over the top of the Treats with a fork. Then add a final bit of pizazz with some color-coordinated cake sprinkles.

Who knows? A similar recipe may be on the Rice Krispies site. I've never looked! However, I did come up with this idea myself, even if someone else did also.

That's what I'm doing this morning, plus baking bread, fixing a large bowl of cole slaw and making a fruit jello. Those are my contributions to the church potluck tomorrow. I'm just taking side dishes because the church is supplying chicken and ham, and since we live about 25-30 minutes from church, I like to take foods that aren't likely to slop out of their pans.

I also need to vacuum this morning because Keely and Taurus are coming to eat a late lunch/early supper. We're having roast beef. It's a busy day, and I'd better get with it.