Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Farm Sing-Alongs

Come farm day, I'm not even looking at the temperature now. I just assume it's going to be suck-the-air-out-of-your-lungs-and-spring-outta-your-step hot. So I wasn't disappointed when I hit the sizzling pavement after work and drove to the country.

Yes, indeed, it was hot.

I will admit there was a breeze. And that my outside job, after yanking turnips from terra firma, was washing them and the radish harvest. Me, being the less than coordinated woman that I am, managed to soak myself so thoroughly that my faux-crocs squeaked and squealed when I walked the rest of the day and my underwear finally thoroughly dried HOURS after the hose encounters.

But the water did save me from wandering lost and dazed in the tall corn. So we should all be thankful. Can you imagine the stories that would come from that kind of incident?

My musical theme music started playing in my brain when we found that we lacked zucchini but one of the farmers had harvested a few new little squash. Buttercup squash. If you've ever seen the hilariously stupid 90's gem "The Three Amigos" remember Little Ned's hit song. Ha. Ha. If you've not seen this movie (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short) you really, really should look into it.

The second part of farm songs (errr chants) follows: I did not have to squish bugs. I suppose, as a Vegan, I should be alarmed about squishing bugs. However, as I've pointed out, I'm a health motivated Vegan. (BTW my aunt tells me that technically I should call myself a whole-food-plant-based eater because lots of Vegans, who are of the animal rights version eat crud that doesn't do a whole lot for them healthwise. But I digress.) ... 24 was assigned tomato wrangling and squash picking. She killed lots of squash bugs and a few new little critters that come straight out of a horror movie....wait for it...wait for it. The Tomato Worm. Now, apparently this guy is about the size of a pinkie finger and squirms whilst being squeezed, so much so that the farmer said strong, strapping males recoil at the sight of a dying Tomato Worm. 24 shuddered when she told the story.

The farmer added elements of horror while she carried armloads of turnips to one of the tables for sorting. She said that these horrible little bugs even have horns, "like demons." And suddenly she burst out in a little bizarre chant of "ooh..ooh...oy." and kind of hopped skipped to the table while waving the turnips in the air.

The room grew silent. Then we slowly realized that this was no demon-begone-turnip-waving-dance-and-chant at all. She was simply trying to keep the aforementioned armload of turnips from tumbling off the table. Ahhh. Fun and games, kids. Nothing like a little heat exhaustion and talk of killing and demons to add a little spice to your life.

And. I have discovered a sweet little bonus (Oh, my, speaking of sweet. We actually shared an ear of freshly picked sweet corn. RAW. Still slightly warm from the sun. Oh, oh, my was that tasty!!!) again, I digress, remnants of sun poisoning, no doubt. The benefit is, now with all these pounds of produce coming in, there are seconds that are not fit for CSA boxes or market. A blemish, a few too many bug bites...and well, we get to take a few little misfits home with us and eat them, too. Wahhhahhahhahha.(Meet Casper, the white ghost eggplant.) Muwhahahaha

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Travel Tales Part 13

Trees, trees, trees.


Montana, Wyoming and Yellowstone trees.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Travel Tales Part 12

Totally ridiculous fun we had on our trip. Planking is a new, goofy fad that I hadn't heard about til my Fail-Blog-fan son mentioned it at our first camping spot.

Here Rob, Toad-Boy and Mrs. Toad-Boy demonstrate in two states.

Ha.

Unfortunately I was so busy snapping pics and laughing that I didn't plank.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Travel Tales Part 11

So I've managed to double my vacation time by posting about it. Beats putting pictures in a drawer.

These are pictures snapped from our little trek on Uncle Tom's Trail. This bad boy had some warnings about what we might encounter, and who should stay behind.

I don't remember the exact length of this trail or step count. But there were over 300 steps. That doesn't seem awful...no biggie at all, right? But before the steps were packed dirt switchback trails that delivered us to the steps. Then appeared the warning signs about the steep climb. Okay, I began to get a little more concerned that we were not on a simple stroll. We began to climb down. The first picture is the view of water from the beginning of the descent. The moss-dotted tree hid in the deeply shaded forest along the trail.

I did not count the actual number of staircases. This is representative of many and at the mid-wayish point...(used a picture opp as a chance to breath...ha.ha). Notice the caved in area on the step. There were plenty of those spots along the staircase. I'm assuming boulders shake loose and travel down the steps.

After several minutes spent climbing down we hit the bottom and a small platform almost close enough to feel the spray of the waterfall. There was enough room for about a dozen people to hang out a bit before heading back up the steps. At first I was concerned that we wouldn't actually get to take a picture or even see the waterfall because there was a photographer who had his big old camera set up on a big old tripod.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Travel Tales Part 10

These photos are from the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Which is also the most photographed section of Yellowstone. Vast and beautiful. Not actually Grand Canyon sized but breathtaking none-the-less.

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?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Travel Tales Part 9

My youngest has officially left the teens. Happy Birthday! You know who you are!

Snow on the mountains in July.


Snow on the windshield in July.


Snow on the grass in July.


And a rainbow.