Food - Organically Grown, A night on the farm

This summer we have done a CSA 1/2 share. For those of you that are not familiar with this -- it is Community Supported Agriculture. We pay for our vegetables from a farmer during the winter, giving the farmer a chance to get their seedlings started and so forth with a guaranteed amount of money. Then, each week during the summer we got a box of wonderfully fresh, organically grown vegetables. Let me tell you this was an experience! We learned to cook every green imaginable (Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and more), as well as lots of japanese veggies like endamame, bok choy, and others that we love, along with the traditional carrots and potatoes and tomatoes. As much as I loved all the food, we had a problem with an old refrigerator that kept freezing my greens if I didn't use them right away (now replaced with a new one), and when we traveled we had to find someone else to use our share.

Paul Littman is an awesome farmer and marketer. He knows how to talk about his vegetables, and to put them out in extremely attractive arrangements (nicer than a lot of the tail gate farmers). This was his first really big year of doing the CSA shares, and last night we went to a pot luck dinner at the farm. It was awesome. They had music, and food, a beautiful night, and farm tours. Have you ever seen shitake mushrooms growing on oak logs? And be told that it takes over a year to get a log to produce for the first time? And then learn all sorts of organic and sustainable ways to farm? Paul is a great educator, giving us lots of information without boring us. Although I might not do a CSA share next year, he will continue to be my tailgate farmer of choice. We saw some people we knew at the farm, and met lots of new people. I definitely want to get to know the person better who brought about 10 loaves of hot out of the oven fresh baked rustic breads! And Paul's wife Anna made some awesome eggplant lasagna (no noodles) with fresh tomato's and eggplant.

I had forgotten what fun an informal gathering like this can be. We stayed until the last light leaving with just enough light to walk back through the field down to our car. And we left with big smiles on our faces.

Tomorrow I leave for Chicago. I am almost all packed, just a few last minute things to throw into the suitcase. And, another friend will get my CSA share this week.

How I Spent my Summer Vacation - Part 2

After the time in Maine, we came home for a fast couple of weeks, unpacked, and then repacked for our planned long vacation to Utah and Nevada. The original itinerary was 8 nights away from home, the final itinerary, 10 nights away from home. We tacked on an extra night in Las Vegas to see a show that was "dark" on our planned 2 nights there, and then tacked on a night on Charlotte, NC to go to a Comic Con. But, I think I am getting ahead of myself.

Quite a few years ago, we did Bryce Nation Park, North Rim of Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park as a long family vacation. Adam kept asking that we repeat this vacation, but add in Las Vegas for shows. So, we dropped North Rim of Grand Canyon, and made our plans 11 months before the planned trip. We like to stay at the National Park Lodges, and those fill up quickly.

First Stop: Bryce National Park. This is not one of the more well known parks. Most people say, have you been to Arches? No, not been to Arches, but would return to Bryce in a heartbeat. Of all the 3 parks that I've mentioned, our favorite for trails, for view, for less crowds and so forth. Only negative, not many places to eat (choice of Ruby's just outside the park) or the National Park Lodge (good food, a bit pricey).

I had worked hard over the winter to get ready for a hiking trip. Treadmill, bike, zumba, yoga and more. I wanted to build stamina and some muscles. And it worked. We hiked about 5 miles each day and although it was still tough, it wasn't out of my ability. At Bryce you hike down first into the canyon, and then go back up at the end.

Our cabin at Bryce. Complete with resident mice. We stopped at the store to pick up food supplies for picnics and bought a big plastic container to put them into. Last time here we shared our food with the mice. This time, no sharing.

At the edge of the canyon, all ready to go for a hike. It took an extra suitcase for all of our gear.

A Hoodoo

National Park Lodge at Bryce

We saw a lot of deer both at Bryce and at Zion. 

At night we would play card games back at the cabin after sunset. We watched the sunset from the rim of the canyon each night. Very peaceful, very beautiful and typically a bit on the cool side. Then we would go back to our cabin and play card games or read books. No internet access which was awesome. My plans to download pictures and write each night didn't happen either -- too tired from hiking. But what a nice tired.

I forgot how long it takes to upload pictures into blogger. So, I am going to post this part of the trip, and then work on the next park - Zion.

What Happened This Summer?

I cannot believe that I have not blogged since May. I guess it was because my summer started off so strange, and then with my dear son home from school, the evenings were filled with watching movies, and playing games, and some how now it is past labor day. So, as my New Years Resolution I am back to blogging (faithfully I hope). There is so much to write about, but I will start with one major event at a time and hopefully also post some pictures.

Well, right after college got out, we headed up to Maine for the burial of my father in law. Yes, he passed away during the winter, but in Maine they don't bury until the ground has thawed out. We coincided the date of his burial with his birthday. The best part of the trip was seeing all of my husband's family, whom I hadn't seen for quite a few years. We rented a big van, drove around the coast of Maine, ate and drank, and talked and reminisced.

What was really hard for us, is that my father in law and husband used to talk every Sunday evening at about the same time. So, for months I planned our eating and so forth not to coincide with the normal phone call time, even though we knew no call would come. Force of habit.

So, here are a few photos from the trip

Yes, this is a 1500 pound chocolate moose! What a tourist attraction -- in the back of a really nice candy shop.

My brother in law - walking around ruins of an old building on the coast.

Pizza had to come from Pat's. We worked at the original one during our first year of marriage while going to school full time. What memories. There are definitely better pizzas out there, but none that evoke the feelings of seeing a Pats Pizza Box (and we still knew the old prices from way back when!)

Two brothers and a sister.

My favorite picture from the trip. Lighthouse in South Portland, ME

In Memory.

The Aches and Pains of Getting Old

Yesterday, I was sitting at my desk at work and I got a shooting pain in my leg. Turns out it was a shin splint but I don't know why or how I got it. I usually know (too much walking on pavement at Disney), or whatever. But, the only thing I can figure is something I did at Pilates Thursday night. Argh! Very frustrating, I ended up not doing my Zumba class, iced it quite a few times throughout the day and night and today it is mostly better.

This morning, my husband woke up with an excruciating painful back problem. He has been seeing both his chiropractor and massage therapist regarding this problem, but for some reason it took a turn for the worse. So, here I am at work on a Saturday working with my nephew who is also our IT person as he does computer upgrades, maintenance, and stuff I don't full understand. So, by the end of the day I will have a really clean desk (or at least part of it) because I don't have any work work I really need to do today. Now, if only I could train my dogs to do the loads of laundry that are waiting for me at home.

What is so frustrating, is that we will be leaving on a vacation soon to go out to Bryce and Zion parks to do some hiking, and then to Las Vegas (where we will also walk a lot) and to see some shows. And we will need to keep up with our 21 year old son who doesn't have all the aches and pains of getting old. I am glad we waited til we were a bit older to have a child, but as we get older it is harder to keep up with him.

My mom is almost 90 and still living alone at her home. I see things that lead me to believe that she too is getting old (I guess at her age she has the right to be getting old). She has trouble with her manual dexterity due to arthritis in her fingers (if this is hereditary I too will probably get like that as my grandmother also had arthritis problems). She is still active, and she is still driving, and she is planning a big birthday bash for this summer.

So, I see more and more the importance of keeping up with my Yoga, strength training, and so forth. And my diet has become much healthier in the past few years. I hope it all pays off and although I have aches and pains, I want to be living in our own place when we are 90.

Obama in Asheville

President Obama is in Asheville. So how does this affect me? Well for Admin Professional Week I took the two women from my office in to downtown Asheville to paint pottery and for lunch. Well, we literally could NOT get out of town after lunch. All the expressways were blocked because of Obama. We figured out, OK, we would take the river road home. Nope. Obama and his wife decided to eat at 12 Bones (Ribs) where they had gotten food from during the campaign stop here 2 years ago. That was my root down to the river. So, decided to go through Biltmore village, nope, bridge construction. Finally headed south, hit the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway and made the 12 minute drive from Asheville to Weaverville in about 50 minutes! Thank goodness I didn't run out of gas, as I started out with a quarter tank.

People are taking the long routes home to get home from work, and parents are having trouble picking up their kids from school. What a mess!

Anyways, the pottery painting was fun! The lunch (brick oven fired pizzas) was delicious. Can't wait to go back and pick up the pottery after it has been fired. Should be ready in about a week.

Computer Updates

I hate computer updates. I have two computers I use at home. An older one that I mostly use for keeping track of my finances, and doing my email because I have been too lazy to move it over, and a newer laptop. And, they both demanded updates tonight that needed to reboot my computer. They are running on different windows operating systems. I understand we want things better, faster, brighter, and so forth, but it just burns me up. I am all ready to do something or other on my computer... and it says update me, update me, you didn't really want to do anything else!!

Oh well, now I am tired, but they are both updated. Maybe tomorrow they won't need anything from me and we will get along better. Oh, and of course, laptops always decide on needing updates when you are in the airport, with only a limited amount of time and or battery life. But, I have learned to check for as many updates as possible before a trip (if I have time in between packing, paying bills, watering plants, and leaving instructions for the dog sitter).

Tailgate Market / Weaverville

The Weaverville Tailgate market opens today. Hooray!! I have pre-ordered my fish, because otherwise at 5;30 they are almost all sold out. Hoping for some baked goods, and some spring lettuce for a salad. Starting in May I will be getting a half share from a local farm. Can't wait to see what all he brings this year, and his produce was by and far the best that I had from the vendors last year. If you'd like to see more information about the local market in Weaverville check out their web site: http://weavervilletailgate.org/ . What is nice, is that it gives me something to look forward to in mid-week. And I need some more "Rainbow Jam" as we just ran out of our last jar (I bought extra at the last fall tailgate to last me through the winter). The matzoh at passover finished it off.