Canning madness

On Tuesday I picked apples and peaches. Today, I am going to try canning them. I have canned before, with Mom, but never on my own. For peaches and applesauce it seems pretty easy, almost fool-proof. We shall see. Pictures will be forthcoming, both of the picking expedition and the canning, when I get around to firing up Benjamin's computer and taking them off the camera.

Grasshopper memories

This little green grasshopper was resting on my catnip plant yesterday morning. I love grasshoppers - especially trying to catch them. When I was small and Mom and I would visit my great-grandfather at his farm in Nebraska, he and I would go out and catch them. He would point them out with his cane, and I would pounce on them. I always loved fluttery feeling of a grasshopper in your hand, trying to escape. I would usually let them go - the thrill was in the catch more than anything. I still get that thrill - on our recent hike I managed to catch a couple, although I seem to have slowed down and am no longer so close to the ground as I was at 7.

More local food

Despite the lack of a physical organic farmer's market in Conway, there is an on-line market. You log in, order what you want from the available products, and then go pick it up at the set time. The pick ups are available every other week, for now, although the organizers hope to go to weekly deliveries in the spring. It is like a CSA, except that you can choose what you want to buy, instead of just getting what is given to you. Thanks to one of Benjamin's co-workers, we discovered it in time to order last week, and this is what we got:

• Natural ground beef
• Buffalo summer sausage
• Raw milk cheddar
• Green beans
• Squash
• Eggs
• Purple potatoes
• Buffalo hot dogs
• Heirloom tomatoes
  

I could also have ordered honey (but we have plenty of that at the moment), raw milk, a deposit on a natural, heritage turkey for Thanksgiving, whole chicken roasters, okra, grapes, and buffalo roast, and more. So, for now, we seem to have figured out where to get good food. We will get the basket once a month - have to see if it continues to be worth it during the winter - and order from this group every other week. And I have a lead on a local fruit farm that is currently picking peaches and apples! Don't worry, there will be pictures when I go.