July 5th, 2010

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What July should be

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Locally-grown peaches, sweet corn, green beans, eggplant, and tomatoes

You might remember that last year we discovered a whole network of farm stands and u-pick vegetable growers in Willcox…except that we couldn’t seem to find one that had anything when we were there (and they are a good drive off the main road). Well today that was all remedied when we went to Apple Annie’s produce stand and fruit orchard.

I am anxious to make some baba ganoush from the lovely eggplants, which we picked ourselves. (After seeing how big their plants are though, I’m less confident about my own.:) I am also going to make a peach pie this week with 10 lbs. of organic peaches we got.

They also had zucchini that were the size of watermelons, but we are well stocked on those from our own farm. They said that they will have all this stuff and more through October. We’re looking forward to going back. During apple season, I may bake some pies to sell at the farm stand.

We also got the rest of our furniture out of storage in Willcox and into the guest room. (We got the final cove put down this morning.) It is quite a bit of fun to have our own stuff back and to see things that we haven’t seen in a year and a half. I am most missing all my books and am excited to get them back on shelves.

When we unloaded the bed back at the house, you could see that there had been some kind of water leakage somewhere in the process. It was packed in a big corrugated box, but we were worried what we’d find when we unpacked it. Upon opening it though, we found that the whole mattress and box springs had been shrinkwrapped tightly before going in the box. Again, we thanked Charles our mover for his amazing professionalism.

After we got everything unloaded, we ended the day with a fire, chips and guacamole, and watermelon margaritas. The stars were amazing.

Happy July 4!

Monday, July 5th, 2010

How life has changed in a year! Last year we watched the Rodeo July 4 parade from the sidelines; this year we were in it.

We decorated a float for the farm and marched in the parade as a part of it (with a contingent of small kids on assorted bikes and wagons). It was a lot of fun, and we even won the prize for best float! (Remember, it’s a very small parade.:)

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We have really enjoyed the time we’ve spent on the farm and with Jerry and Jennifer. It has deepened my appreciation of the importance of small farms and locally grown organic food. Cooking with fresh seasonal produce is something I thought we had left behind in California with our farmer’s market there, but this has not been the case. And now we even know how to grow and harvest food.

There is a wholesome, idyllic quality to farm life. But it is also a lot of hard work and an incredibly difficult way to try to make a living. If you have an opportunity, support your local farms. Eating local and natural food is not only good for the planet and for the local economy, it’s healthy and satisfying.