One of the last things I did before heading out on mare and foal watch was to visit several farms and farm stands, in search of locally grown vegetables and cheeses. I did fairly well, though the tomatoes are barely out even though it is the 4th of July. This is my first attempt at joining the folks at One Local Summer. I decided that just because I am flat out busy doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun too.
I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be hanging out in the tack room and barn, so I wanted to be prepared for a couple of days at least. I cheated on a couple of things — like the baby bananas. They were just too cute to pass by, and I knew Valerie would like them in her Mr. Bento lunches that I’ve been doing lately. Everything else, though, was found within 30 minutes of my house. Oh, not the peanut butter either. So two things don’t count as local. I baked the bread, and am lucky enough to live fairly close to King Arthur Flour, so I’m counting that as local too.
It’s been a long time since I did something just for me, and a picnic was perfect. I even brought a matching table cloth, which is covering up a dog crate that I used for a table. It was really nice to spend enforced down time, and I either crocheted or read to pass the time, checking on Pearl every half hour or so through the day and all that night. She had the baby at 6 in the morning.
That reading time let me finish “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life“, by Barbara Kingsolver. What a great book. Reading it certainly helped me reaffirm why it is I quit my high tech job and am devoting all of my energies into this farm. I noticed tons of similarities in what we are doing, though we are clearly a full year behind where she was when she wrote the book. We need far more gardening space, for one thing, and a barn. I noticed a throw away mention that she says they are getting Icelandic sheep — I wonder if that happened? (I just went and checked out her website — those look like Icelandic lambs to me!) If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend the book. It’s great when someone who can write writes about something that is so close to my heart right now.
This post is part of the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle blogpost roundup.
Barbara Kingsolver was considering getting Icelandics? Fascinating! I have actually had this book on my list of holds with the library for a couple of weeks now and have been looking forward to reading it.
Not only has she written a book I want to read, but she is considering getting the same breed of sheep that I want to get. Small world.
Have a good day!