bartblog loves flickr

Just a friendly reminder. Even when I totally ignore you on bartblog for a while (it’s nothing personal), we do upload fresh new photos of our kids and life to our Flickr page. It’s nicely organized, and full of beautiful stories we can’t tell in words.

http://flickr.com/joebart.

Other places to follow along: YouTube, Joe on Facebook, Joe on Twitter. Or, just stop by our house once in a while.

Slate Tiles and Pink Paint

Lots of pink.

That’s how I’d describe our progress in the basement. Just look around, it’s pretty obvious who picked the wall colors in the bedrooms. It’s also obvious we’re partial to continuing the slate tile theme, bringing it in from the lower level patio. I’m in the midst of tiling bliss this weekend, hoping to wrap up the slate fireplace surround, and grout the tile floors too.

Next up will be installing the railing, trim boards and doors. Then, paint touch ups, some plumbing and electrical odds and ends, followed finally by some carpet made of recycled pop bottles.  It all started one Thursday a long while back when Eric called.

“Are you going to finish your basement?”

“Yes, eventually, I guess,” I said.

“Why don’t we frame it this weekend?”

“This weekend!?”

“Yup. Buy some lumber.”

We measured the walls, I bought some 2×4’s, and we built all the walls in one Saturday. I use the term “we” pretty loosely here. I held a board here and there, and fetched the beer. And so it began. Then, with our news of Baby 4, we put it into warp drive–shooting for a Christmas completion. We might make it, almost.

Here’s a pictorial progression so far:

Chunks of Meat (it’s a South Dakota thing)

Raise your hand if you’ve never heard of chislic. I grew up eating the stuff quite often (it was usually deer at our house, but James Baxa always cooked up some fab lamb at Sport Days). From chislic feeds to booths at the fair to bar menus in every town, it’s a staple of southeastern South Dakota that I just figured everyone knew about. Until a little research a few years ago.

Turns out, it’s pretty much foreign everywhere outside of the Mount Rushmore state. We’re talking totally unheard of–even just across the border. You might expect it to be featured on the Rock Garden Tour’s three days of peace and love at the Turner County Fair, but it’s sweeping the nation–on Wikipedia,  Facebook and in the big city news. That’s right, cubed fried meat is the new pizza.

And so, to celebrate (and to prevent Eric from having to actually clean and freeze his hunt from the road trip home) a few dozen Bartmann cousins got together the night before Thanksgiving to imbibe in greasy meat, malt beverages and internet surfing. I’d have let you know sooner, but these pics were on my little sis’s camera, and she’s been busy playing Dukes of Hazard.

Pheasant chislic, of the breaded variety, was the menu. This was a first for me. I’ve eaten a mighty lot of ringneck in my day, but never in the form of South Dakota’s favorite dish.

Chef Jeremy did the slicing and dicing, and the frying (outside, on a very cold night). Greg kept the cats away from the the deep fat fryer. As you can see, beer is absolutely necessary as a side with any chislic.

By the way, according to the official know-it-all at the Freeman Courrier (the very finest small town newspaper in all the land), chislic has German roots, like me. It’s traditionally made of lamb, but any meat, cubed and deep fried or grilled, can safely be called chislic.

Jeremy, we loved eating your meat. Especially Justin.

Be Present and Authentic. No Excuses.

I was just perusing through too many “draft” posts sitting in the bartblog cue. This is one that I was excited to launch one day, and then had some technical trouble. I forgot about the post, but definitely not the talk I heard from Superintendent Homan. So, here it i:

Back in early October, I attended a lunch talk sponsored by the Sioux Falls Young Professionals Network. (I apparently still qualify as young, for a few more years.) The talk was given by Dr. Pam Homan, superintendent of Sioux Falls Public School District. She oversees the largest district in South Dakota, with 22,000 students and over 3,000 employees. There’s also the 15,000+ parents and hungry media. It’s a job that obviously takes a lot of time, and steals a lot of privacy (she was even recognized on a beach in Maui once). I’ve known DR. Homan for about a year now, and have been impressed at how she feels like a friend from the first time you meet her.

So, she had plenty of powerful stuff to say. She shared her very interesting life story, talked a bit about running the school district, and then tossed some wisdom our way.

I was very excited to hear about two new programs Pam is working on. One will create a new project-based learning high school in Sioux Falls, because “students learn in different ways, one size cannot fit all in the way we educate our kids.” Another will recreate the way teachers learn to be project-based teachers at USD, with the help of $3.9 million from the Bush Foundation. When contacted about partnering in the USD/Bush “Teacher Effectiveness Initiative,” Homan says she told USD officials, “I will not partner in any program to teach teachers how to teach the way we always have.”

The powerful stuff came when someone asked Homan how she balances life as a super superintendent and a mother and wife. Still gratefull for her answer:

“It takes two words: Be Present. Wherever you are, whomever you’re with, really be there in an authentic way. Really be who you are. I won’t allow myself or us to have any excuses.”

Can Honey Cure my Allergies?

As I was spreading this honey from a local farm on this delicious cranberry orange bread for lunch, I remembered that my Mom wondered out loud this weekend if I have quit blogging. I’ll share more about why I’ve been on blogger’s sabbatical later. Today, let’s talk honey.

Local honey, actually. Local honey and curing seasonal allergies.

Since I was pretty young, I’ve suffered from all kinds of no-fun symptoms from allergies every spring and fall. I’ve tried dozens of different medications, with varying results. Then, a couple years ago, I heard somewhere about honey as the cure-all. Eating honey that was made (by the bees) near your home can all but cure your seasonal allergies, or so the story goes. The story came from a guy selling honey raised close to my home, so I was a bit skeptical. But somehow it made some sense–after all, bees make that stuff from pollen, and pollen (for me) equals sneezes and watery eyes and chronic sinus infections. So, if I can immunize myself from colds and chicken pox by being exposed to it a little bit over time, then maybe this honey thing could actually work. Besides, I really like honey.

Bottom line: I think it might work. I still have some symptoms, but significantly less often and less harsh. I haven’t change much else I can think of, besides spreading or drizzling that thick sweet stuff on toast and tea and pancakes and all sorts of other corn syrup replacements. Come to think of it, I also started rinsing my sinuses at around the same time–a pretty gross trick my Mom taught me. So, I guess it’s a bad experiment. Bottom line is, as far as seasonal allergies go, I’m feeling pretty great compared to most of my life.

The honey in the picture above is from Grandma Wick’s nephew. I usually get my local honey from my sweet sister, but she must not love me anymore. I’ve also bought it from a nice quiet dude at the Falls Park Farmers Market–he brings some bees with him, and the girls really dig that. His honey is raw, which he tells me makes it super-powered for fighting allergies and a whole list of other ailments. Most recently, I bought a double-quart of local honey from the nearby Mayrose Farm on the silent auction at the St. Pat’s Church Soup and Pie lunch on Sunday.This whole story began there, at said Soup and Pie extravaganza, where Anne and Grandma and I talked a little honey and allergies over a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Want more allergy-fighting honey news? Here are a few links–some supporting my theory, others not really buying it (and one warning from Mayo Clinic not to give your baby any honey):

http://health.howstuffworks.com/local-honey-for-allergies2.htm

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/to_honey2009.html

http://www.fitsugar.com/258237

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/honey-homeopathic-treatment-for-seasonal-allergies.html

http://www.localhoneyblog.com/local-honey/how-to-relieve-seasonal-allergies-with-raw-local-honey

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/infant-botulism/HQ00854

Live from Mayo

All went well visiting Docs today. We’re set to check in for Hope’s procedure at 8am Thursday morning. Should be in recovery by noon. Updates to come…

Thursday afternoon update:

The procedure went really well. So well, Hope wasn’t even admitted to the hospital! She’s doing awesome, as we’re recovering with some family near Rochester. Plan to head for home tomorrow so long as all goes well til then.

We’ll be back for the next surgery sometime in late January or early February. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes–they really meant a lot to us.

Sunday Update:

Hope is doing super. She’s had very little pain, and we’ve had to just about tie her down to keep her from playing too hard. she had a slight reaction to some of the stuff they cleaned her with in surgery prep–just a rash. Back to school on Monday. All is well! We’ll be heading back to Mayo for round two in Jan or Feb.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. It really mattered. You can check out some pics of the adventure here.

Worms, Witches and Wreckage

We missed the Harvest Moon, but his weekend was worm harvest time. (It was actually well overdue, but who’s counting.) That means Zoey and I sorted the worms from the worm poo, then mixed up some new bedding to tuck those red wigglers in for the winter. We also expanded, adding another worm house, which makes it three total now. It’s really hard to separate the teeny tiny babies from the good stuff, so I’m letting it sit in a tub for several weeks, hoping those tiny worms get bigger and I’ll be able to pull them out of there.

Here’s the new bedding recipe, since I know you were dying to get your hands on it:

• 1/3 peat moss
• 1/3 soil (with some organic matter in it)
• 1/3 shredded brown leaves
• enough water to make it most and a bit sticky

I replaced shredded newspaper (an Uncle Carl trick) with the leaves, thanks to a tip from a worm-lover I met in St. Paul in April. It keeps the bedding more airy, and breaks down to give ‘em some extra snacking. I bought myself a little toy last week–a leaf vac and mulcher. Jon and Nicole got some help bagging their 10 million leaves this weekend…

In case you missed it, Halloween was Saturday. Trick or treating started for us at about 5pm, and wrapped up around 8:30. That’s crazy long, but when you go trick or treating in the country, stuff takes a while. We had a witch, a fairy princess, and a box of popcorn heading out of our house this year. All costumes made from stuff we already had, except a bit of face paint. (Not pictured: me after Zoey painted my face last night.)

And finally, we’re in the midst of a construction project. With baby on the way, it’s time to finish up the basement and add a couple bedrooms. Thanks to help from Brooks and Dad, I have it ready for sheetrock on Wednesday. One step this weekend was tearing out the temporary wall at the bottom of the stairs (we reused everything but the sheetrock). After I smacked a little hole in the wall just to startle Colleen, the girls’ eyes all got huge and a chorus of “Can we try that!?” cam soon after. So, take a look at this video to see the demolition crew in action.

 

Hopenhagen

OK, it’s time to talk climate change. I know it’s a touchy topic for some bartblog readers (and I love you anyway), but let’s just get something clear: climate change is happening, fast. And it’s mostly our fault.

All the really smart scientists say so, and so did South Dakota legend Tony Dean. And experts say it’s worse than we first thought, especially those who study the poles first hand (like Minnesota uber-explorer Will Steger). If we keep up the status quo, our changing weather will be particularly painful for lots of South Dakotans, like hunters and farmers (and people who like to drink water). So enough about some sort of debate about wether climate change is for real. (It’s as silly as a “debate” about evolution.) The only worthwhile and super-important debate is how we (as in humanity) should do something about it. There, now that’s out of the way…

Leaders from all over the planet will be gathering in December at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.  One of those leaders will be my friend and intern–if we all pitch in to help get her there.

Jamie Horter works with me at the Sioux Falls Green Project. She’s also a senior at Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Jamie was picked by Will Steger to be part of his foundation’s Expedition Copenhagen, a group of Midwest youth who will travel with him to the Climate Change Conference next month. Jamie has been interacting with kids and grown ups around South Dakota, gathering up hopes and dreams for our state’s future. She’ll be our messenger in December, talking about stuff near and dear to our hearts here in good ‘ol SD. Things like our place in the clean energy future, and our love of the land, rural communities and agriculture (see her video on YouTube). You can get more details on a blog post I wrote for the Green Project here.

Please help Jamie get to Copenhagen. She’s too shy to ask you, so I will. We need to raise some bucks to cover her travel expenses from South Dakota to Copenhagen and back. Her travel is not covered by Will Steger, and she’s a college student. You can drop a dime or two here, or give me a shout. Every dime will be used to help Jamie connect us to the talks in Denmark December 7-13. If you can’t chip in, that’s OK. Just help me spread the word, and this link: http://jamiehorter.chipin.com. I promise she’s way worth it.

We can’t all go to Denmark. If you live in the Midwest, please connect with Jamie to share your message. If you live somewhere else (or not), there’s a really cool project out there gathering up hope from all over the world and plastering it on the leaders who will attend the conference in Copenhagen. Please share your dreams and hopes and fears at Hopenhagen.

Above is a shot of one of the awareness campaigns Jamie recently helped organize. Check that stunning little activist in the colorful hat on the far right!

Awesome Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Here they are. After the carving carnage, the best part of jack-o-lanterns is munching on those roasted seeds. We had a couple friends ask for the recipe, so now you all get it. Turns out these things are high in protein, and zinc (whatever that does). You can check out the nutrition in detail here.

So, they make a great snack, and are super simple to cook up. We couldn’t find the recipe, so my lovely wife just made one up on the spot. It worked, thanks to one big secret. There is one negative side effect to snacking on roasted pumpkin seeds: greasy keyboard.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, ala Jaimie

Step 1: Carve the hell out of a few pumpkins. Make them fun and scary. When you’re digging the “guts” (or “brains,” depending upon your perspective) out of that soon-to-be-jack-o-lantern, pile them up in a clean bowl for sorting. Then, sort out the seeds and place them in another clean bowl. Be sure to compost the remaining stringy stuff. I fed some to my worms, but I’ll save the picture for a non-food post.

Step 2: Here’s Jaimie’s BIG SECRET: don’t wash the seeds. You need them to be wet, and washing just wastes that groovy pumpkin flavor goodness. We clean them up a little, but a bit of orange stringy stuff here and there just adds character, and they have that perfect stickiness when unwashed. We used the seeds from three kid-sized pumpkins, which ended up about four cups worth. Jaim added around 3 Tablespoons of EVOO (that’s extra virgin olive oil), some Mrs. Dash and some dried garlic granules. Don’t ask how much, ‘cuz she don’t know. As Grandma B always says with her bread recipe, “add just enough.”

Step 3: Fold it all together real good, to coat the seeds with EVOO and seasonings. Now spread the seeds out on a baking sheet. They don’t need to be single layer, but close.

Step 4: Sprinkle the seeds with some brown sugar. I would advocate for local-raised honey here instead, but we’ve run out and my little sis hasn’t brought us another tub full yet. (Hint, hint.). Now toss the pan in the oven at 350 for about an hour, maybe a little less. Again, I don’t now exactly how long they were in there–just until they are done. I do know that I’ve never seen my wife bake anything at any other temp but 350. Maybe she should have done some sort of thing for the 350 Day of Climate Action? (Btw, Hope got famous on Saturday at the Falls Park 350 Action.)

Step 5: Enjoy. We store them under a lid in the orange container you see in the picture above, and keep it on the counter. I doubt this batch will see Friday.

Short names and pumpkin art

From Mrs. Edwards, the (fabulous) first grade teacher:

“Do you know why Mesa would have started signing her name ‘Mesa Bart?’ “

And, some jack-o carving in the kitchen Monday night. See more of the process on our Flickr site.