Photo Journal, no. 44 | From the Farm

Marbled bell peppers, tomatoes, peaches, and a weird little melon of some sort which was so sugary sweet.  Sometimes, I think it's a good idea to pick up fruits and vegetables you don't recognize, or can only vaguely identify, and then devour them without bothering to learn their names.  Mystery food straight from Gaia's cafeteria!  When I was taking pictures at the Carden Farm Stand, Wolfman took a little distance from me.  I said, "I'm sorry I embarrass you," and he answered, "No, it's not that.  But sometimes you do act like a tourist."  Wolfman was born and raised in Apex, so tourist-ing around these parts is bizarre to him.  But, being a tourist in your home town isn't a bad idea, I think, nor is embarrassing my husband on occasion. 

Photo Journal, no. 28 | From the Farm

I get a Farmer's Market high.  I go, I peruse, I chat, I walk home with arms over-burdened, feeling unutterably amazing.  This time of year is so magical.

Frozen peas from Smith Nursery (CSA); Strawberries, blueberries (my first of the season!), new potatoes, spinach, and sugar snap peas from Lyon Farms of Creedmoor (about 35 miles from us).

4 lbs hamburger (ground), beef shoulder medallion, London broil, and 1 dozen eggs from Queen B. Farms of Mebane (about 40 miles from us).  We've been buying our meat almost exclusively from Queen B. for a few months now, since making the decision to cut factory farm meat out of our diets once and for all.  Queen B provides to the Carden Farm stand (basically, a 7-day-a-week Farmer's Market) up the street from our house.  What I particularly love about buying from farmers is that they love their work and they take care of their animals.  I'd even go so far as to say they love their animals, which might seem odd given that many of the cows Queen B raises will go to slaughter to feed my hungry belly, but while Wolfman discussed cuts with the farmer, I browsed the photo album of his animals on the table next to the display eggs.  I mean, really.

Look how big that spinach leaf is!

Photo Journal, no. 23 | From the Farm

Last Wednesday I brought home my first box of goodies from Smith's Nursery.  This year, my work place is participating in a Doorstep Market program, a sort of CSA-modeled program, with some major (and I think positive) differences.  Instead of paying one lump sum up front, we only pay $10 up front per season for the transportation of our food and boxes, and then order the products we like and pay by week.  (For an example of prices, I spent $24 for the above, including the one-time $10 service fee.)  I'm sort of dizzy with excitement over all this, and rode home on Wednesday next to a box of strawberries that smelled so sweet, it took every ounce of my willpower not to devour them immediately on the bus.

Above you see: spinach, bok choy, asparagus, & my first strawberries of the season.  They always taste so much better when they're in season, and that tastiness is made all the richer if you haven't had it since July.

P.S. Did you notice the little chicken feather stuck to the strawberry's green in the last picture?  I swooned when I discovered it.