July 4-10
By Matt
Driving slightly south through a bit of the Palouse landscape in Washington, we then went north and east into the “Panhandle” of Idaho. I hope Idaho is cooking potatoes in the main part of the pan, becuase we didn’t see any except the grocery store. Lots of trees, though! We spent two nights at a blueberry farm harvest host in Laclede. Went to the community church down the street and got invited to another potluck, which was fantastic, and fun to meet some folks.
4th of July evening along the Pend Oreille reservoir. We celebrated 250 years with the all-american combo, wiffleball and (a couple days later) blueberry pie.
July 6 was the first day of u-pick season, so we picked 14.5 lb (not me, I was working).
Eliza improvises a rolling pin with her water bottle. She made an excellent sorghum and tapioca flour (and butter) crust in a rectangular pyrex dish, filled with fresh blueberry filling. Reviews include “the best pie I’ve ever eaten”, 8 fingers up, and mmmmmmmm.
Math is over so Simeon used his old work book cover to improvise some shoes using no adhesive. He said they only lasted about 10 steps, but I thought it was very clever.
Our second stay was at a unique farm in a beautiful Idaho valley. They had chickens, goats, and pigs.
They have an aquaponics greenhouse where the fish waste fertilizes a whole greenhouse of lettuces, herbs, and even ginger! It was the cleanest greenhouse I have seen and the shade, heat, and other systems were automated along with the fish habitat controls. I could have asked a lot more questions if there was more time.
Swimming at Sand Point with a little friend Eliza made at our campsite:)
Another family was staying there and we played some music together. We had such a delightful time with them and feel like we’re cut out of the same cloth. Hope they can stop by the next time they’re in MN!
Below – Our first Montana stay at a ranch in the Kootenai National Forest. We got to park in the goat and horse grazing grounds
Look out Abel, don’t let that goat eat your shirt!
Swimming in Lake Koocanusa.
Finally, we really enjoyed these walnuts – voted the most walnutty we’ve ever eaten – thank you Mark and Joanne!
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