Yes, Indiana is Cool!

Yesterday my friend Jennifer wrote a blog post about Stone Horses having made it to the quarterfinals in Indiana's Chamber of Commerce's 5th annual The Coolest Thing Made in Indiana Tournament. 

And that is really cool! Both that Stone Horses are made here in Indiana as well as that they have made it so far in the competition. A win would be very well deserved. (To vote, click the link above.)

As Jennifer noted, there is a lot of corn in Indiana. We are one of the biggest producers of corn in the world. 

The soil is excellent for crop production and the corn grows tall. That's Leslie in her maturing corn crop.

A field of corn planted by the tenant farmer on our farm two years ago.

Lesser known is Indiana's soybean production.

To protect one crop from depleting necessary nutrients from the soil, corn and soybeans are alternated every couple of years to allow the soil to rest and recover.

Besides Indiana's farm side, there are other notable things here in the state. For example, Hoosiers are very sports oriented.

I never miss watching the Indianapolis 500!  Four time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is my all time favorite driver.

I haven't been to the race in years, but I always catch it online.

Indiana is known as a basketball loving state, so much so that if you drive around and look at wooden barns, you are likely to see a basketball hoop hanging from it.

The old barn is no exception!

Purdue's basketball team is currently 5th in the NCAA rankings.

Players Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Braden Smith. (Anyone else think that Fletcher Loyer looks like Hermie from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? I sure do!)

Other notable universities in the state are Indiana University, Notre Dame, Butler, and Ball State.

Professional sports teams include the Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis Colts, the Indiana Fever, the Indy Fuel, and the Indy Eleven.

The Feast of the Hunters' Moon

I write a lot about the Feast here on the blog so I won't go into any more detail except to say that it is a very big part of Indiana's culture. Couple that with the Battle of Tippecanoe, also fought here in my home county, and there is a lot of significant state history right in my back yard.

That's just the tip of the iceberg as to what Indiana offers beyond the corn and beans that most people think of. I haven't even mentioned the state and national parks, the museums, or the historical sites beyond Fort Ouiatenon. The "Hoosier hospitality" that is so well known. And more.

I love my home state. Is it any wonder I named a horse after it?

Don't forget to go and vote for my state's coolest business - Stone Horses!

Mish Mosh!

The first mish mosh post of August! 

What's a mish mosh post? Several small things, too small for a full blog post, combined into one. ("Mish mosh" was also a common answer when we kids used to ask our mom what she was making for dinner. In other words, she really didn't know at that moment! LOL)

My BreyerFest Volunteer Model

This gorgeous guy arrived yesterday - Salut, the 2025 volunteer model.

His paint job is stunning and he is very, very matte.

I liked all three colors (it was a gambler's choice) but black was the color I liked best. I am thrilled to have this pretty guy in my collection. Thanks, Breyer!

Some New Dala Fabric

The theme for BreyerFest 2026 is Midsummer Fair (I love that!) and Scandinavian horses will be a big part of the event. Daughter-in-love Emily is Swedish/Canadian, and I know from her that Dala horses are very much a part of their culture.

I have begun to buy Dala-themed fabrics in anticipation of the event.

I made two XLTs from each of these stylized Dala fabrics

and they sold before I could even advertise them! I've got more more of this fabric on order - I really like the black and red and may make one for me.

One new order of fabric has arrived while another is still on the way.

Some of the fabric (like this one) is already spoken for - I've had people contact me after they heard the 2026 BreyerFest theme and ask specifically to make them an order using Dala horses.

Since I am currently awash in all fabrics Dala (LOL), I'm trying to think of something I could make Emily from some of it. This fabric would make a nice pillow.

I will send these pics to those who asked me to make them some haversacks using a Dala print and then I will use the rest of it for my stash of completed haversacks. (Which is very depleted at the moment between recent sales and donations to a couple of shows.)

I reordered more of this Halloween fabric. It's sold out twice and is very popular. (I like it, too.)

And I got more of this burro fabric in. Burros are also a very requested print for haversacks.

Cambria & Titan Keep Busy!

Shrek the Musical (and the infamous How Now Brown Cow video) hadn't been over for more than a few days when they were back recording another video.

This was a different composer and it was a Christmas song that they were recording. Titan is in the middle with Cambria to his left in the back row.

New to their experience was a modeling gig.

After seeing the kids in Shrek the Musical, Christy Marshall Photography contacted Jessica and asked if the kids would do a photo shoot for her. As I understand it, it is to be used advertising mini shoots for back to school pictures. (Photo by Christy Marshall Photography.)

That's new to their wheelhouse (and their mama's!) but Cambria and Titan are having fun doing projects like these.

Summertime! And the Livin's Easy

Leslie and Rick plant a huge garden every year, and they focus on heirloom varieties and indigenous plants.

This was their corn a few weeks ago...

... and this is that same corn right now! I think Rick stood in the bed of the truck to take that photo. Wowza!

Hmm, I actually had more mish mosh to share, but this post has become quite long so I'll share the rest in a day or two.

Stay 'tooned!

 

We Sold the Farm!

 We did it! At long last! We no longer are farm owners and it is a relief.

Originally bought by Craig's grandfather, it was inherited by Craig's father and aunt. The aunt disappeared in Florida in the 1980s leaving only a mailing address, and she refused to respond to any contact, leaving management of the farm to Craig's father, Cotton.

Cotton rented it out to a tenant farmer and paid the taxes on the land while mailing a check for his sister's share of the profit year after year. The checks were always cashed but we never heard a word or got any other response.

Then Cotton passed away, and Craig's mom Phyllis took over. She too tried to contact Craig's aunt but to no avail. 

When Phyllis died in 2016, the farm dropped into Craig's lap. For the last 8 years he has been managing the farm, renting it out, paying taxes, and setting aside his aunt's share of the profit after she stopped cashing the checks. (We learned later that she had died.)

For years Craig searched for his aunt, and a lucky search on Facebook a year ago brought him into contact with a cousin. And that got the ball rolling on the sale at last. The deal closed on December 30 and that was one bright start for us as the New Year began - no more farm to worry about!

In July of 2023 I wrote a blog post about the farm. Here it is below so you can see some pictures. While it had been in the family for three generations, we are not sorry to sell it. It is such a relief that Craig no longer has to manage it.

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Summer Gathering 2023: Our Farm

"Knee high by the fourth of July" is the benchmark farmers use to determine how tall their corn should be if it is growing as it should.

Looks like Leslie and Rick have gone well beyond the mark this year!

As for our corn, it is also doing well, although not nearly as well as Leslie and Rick's.

"Our corn" may have surprised you. I don't think I have ever mentioned that we own a farm. It's south of Lafayette and about 25 acres. The old farmhouse was razed along with a couple of smaller outbuildings years ago, and we have a farmer who rents the land from us and keeps it in corn or soybeans.

At the south end of the property is a beautiful woods that is thick and almost impenetrable.

A creek runs through the woods where Craig used to fish with his grandfather (the original owner of the property) when he was a boy. 

We inherited the farm in 2016 and haven't done anything with the land aside from keeping it in production and paying taxes, but if I were younger I might be tempted to use it for horses.

Recently the farm has become classified as prime development land. Unsolicited offers for it have been coming in from developers ever since. I'm amenable to selling, but several of our kids are keenly interested in keeping the land in the family. A trip out to see it while we were all gathered only fueled that desire.

What will we do? Hard to tell - the discussion is tabled for now. The land has been in the family for sixty odd years so I can see the kids' point.

Guess I'll be staying 'tooned on this one myself!

Catching My Breath

What a show! The Great Lakes Congress show is always a good one and this year's October show was no exception. My show string did well, I sold a lot of haversacks, and I sold both my extra Chevaliers.

Even better, I caught up with a lot of friends.

Since I dislike driving on the freeways in and around Chicago, I always take state highways and drive through the country to get to Huntley where the show is held. That drive is longer, but it has several bonuses.

That route takes me past some very old family graves in Onarga and Watseka, Illinois.

I always stop by and visit them. This year I cut some snapdragons from my front flowerbed and laid them at the graves. (Sorry, no pics of those but they sure looked cheerful and pretty.)

On the way home after the show I stopped at a Caseys in Forrest, Illinois for a break and leg stretch. It's harvest season in the Midwest and the corn dryer across the road was working hard and was incredibly loud!

At first I thought the noise was from a train approaching. (The Caseys and the corn dryer across the road sit on a very busy set of train tracks.) Nope, just midwestern corn drying before going to market.

Stopping at the family graves as well as for lunch or dinner adds additional time to my trip to and from Huntley. Luckily for me Liz Cory made sure I was well prepared for the drive home. She surprised me with several cases of Vanilla Coke Zero!

For some reason, the stores in West Lafayette and Lafayette no longer carry Vanilla Coke Zero. Huntley does, and Liz and Sam thoughtfully made sure I had enough to last for a while. (As you can see, I drank several cans on the way home!)

I'll catch my breath today and then write more tomorrow and share pics from the show. Stay 'tooned!