Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Full Farm Day


Well, I had a full day yesterday.

Work. Check. Nothing too crazy there. Home for about 15 minutes to don farm attire and grab a water bottle. Check.

Next, the drive to the farm. Sometimes we play hide and seek when we get to the farm. We don't get cell phone reception and the farmers don't carry theirs. So we have to resort to old fashioned detective work. There are three main areas where we might be. Little greenhouse. Nope. No cars, no wandering bodies. Next farm, no one in the packing area so we took the hike to the high tunnel. Kind of a bingo. We harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and zucchini. Weeding and learning while picking. Heirloom tomatoes are tricky little guys. And picking at the right time is important. Black zebra picked green is not going to be good. But then there's green zebra. Tomatoes picked too ripe won't be good for a CSA pack. And squash bugs are bad. Squish squash bugs...and they smell tutti-frutti said the farmer. I squished but didn't sniff. Squash bugs lay eggs on the back of the leaves so you have to look and scrape. It's a brutal war in veggie land...plain and simple survival of the fittest or biggest.

The weather, of course, was quite toasty. Let's just say sweating was unavoidable. I didn't hit a delirious state but got a little over warm in the high tunnel. One of the farmers tends to wax poetic about veggies. I knew she'd gotten a little too much sun when she referred to our harvest as "stuff."

Next week's bounty is going to be impressive. Eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet corn, maybe some peppers. Today's box was the heaviest it's been. Definitely a good haul and a good day.

We arrived home in time for me to shower, eat speedy (thank you Trader Joe's and farmers!) and head out for Bible study. We arrived late, but saw two unusual sights along the way. A bright yellow bi-plane was crop dusting. (UGH) and at one point it was so low and so looking like it was going to land on our car that I almost ducked. Then. We saw wolves or a dog wolf hybrid. And I didn't have my camera!!! So annoyed.

When we got to Bible Study we started telling about the wolf sighting and everyone laughed. There is a new guy in the neighborhood who apparently likes very realistic yard decorations. Freaky. I think they were the real deal.

Then after Bible study we sat on the deck until Vampire Mosquitoes embraced the night and smelled our blood. Before fleeing for our lives we did enjoy the antics of three bats swooping through the air and five tree frogs suction-cupping their way across the siding to get closer to the lights so they could scarf bugs.

Way more than you ever thought you might want to know about my day, ehhh?