| Sunday
- October 4 2020:
This afternoon, we participated in the Kaw Valley Farm Tour, starting out
at Davenport Orchards Vineyard and Winery on the west side of Eudora. After
a brief tour of the wine making facility, we waited a a socially distanced
line for an opportunity to sample wines. After sampling the semi-sweet
wines, we purchased 3 bottles of Traminette. We bought it for the taste,
but after we got home, I noticed the wonderful science fiction theme label.
Davenport uses the art of local artists on their labels.
Our
second stop on the tour was at Country Road Farms, southeast of Eudora.
A number of other vendors had sat up tents and tables selling products
from other businesses in the region. We purchased fajita seasoning from
Kansas City, Kansas based Grammy Tammy Creating in Kansas.
Country
Road Farms has a small building devoted to selling their meat and other
products. We purchased frozen beef sticks and a whole chicken to try sometime
this fall.
We
headed south toward Baldwin City and went to Vesecky Family Farms, which
I first visited on the Kaw Valley Farm tour 4 or 5 years ago. After talking
to the goats, we purchased another whole chicken to roast when the days
get colder.
After
driving through Baldwin City, we visited Ad Astra Alpacas where we looked
through the selection of clothing made from from alpaca fiber. Then we
fed the alpacas, which were split into a group of boys and a group of girls.
Our
final stop was Clearfield Schoolhouse, northeast of Baldwin City. The one
room school was built in 1900 and operated until 1946. The Clearfield Grange
met in the building until the 1990s, It was placed on the National HIstoric
Registry in 2014.
Volunteers
have restored and furnished the schoolhouse, so it looks like it did about
1908. They host programs for children in the school. This school is a little
unusual, with two entrances in the front. One for boys and one for girls.
It is also unusual in the the front of the classroom is on the same end
as the entrances.
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Davenport Orchards
Ad Astra Alpacas
Clearfield Schoolhouse
|
| Wednesday
- October 7, 2020:
At lunch time I made my third recent trip to Edwardsville, Kansas to get
another carry out meal at Roscoe's Barbeque. Today' meal was a burnt end
dinner with onion rings and baked beans. I thought it was a little expensive
at $16. The burnt ends were slightly fatty and had a good flavor from the
smoking, but would have benefited from just a touch of crisp on the outside.
The onion rings and beans were both slightly above average, The beans are
sweet and have just a slight bit of meat.
From
Edwardsville, I circled north to Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City,
Kansas to take some photos and videos with the early fall colors and then
south to to Merriam to take more of the same at Waterfall
Park.
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Waterfall Park
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| Monday
- October 12, 2020:
We added a new page devoted to The Shepherd's
Mill in Phillipsburg, Kansas, which is one of only two fiber processing
facility in Kansas. About half of the facility is devoted to turning hair
from sheep, yak, alpaca, goat and other animals into thread and yarn. There
is an attractive gift shop and the mill shares a wall with several windows
where the work can be watched.
|
The Shepherd's Mill |
| Wednesday
- October 14, 2020:
We added a new page devoted to Jesse
James Cave, near Pomona, Kansas is one of the few caves in Kansas
where the public is welcome to visit. It is more of a large overhang than
a cave, but still interesting to visit. It is more of an overhang than
a cave, but it is an interesting spot, with a creek running through the
cave from right to left.
|
Jesse James Cave |
