Saturday, October 10, 2009

Farm Markets, fundraising, and putting the garden to bed

What's that white stuff? Snow flurries? Already?

The Farmers' Market, two weeks away from closing, was like a ghost town. Only the most dedicated vendors and the die-hard customers (like me) were there. All were decked out in warm outerwear, gloves, hats, the keep-warm collection. It was windy, too. Brrrr. I bought honey crisp apples for lunches, a little sweet corn, peppers in green and (mostly) red. The peppers we've bought from this stand lately are delicious. I'll cook some and freeze a few.

I'm a sucker for a good cause. A polite young Boy Scout asked if I was interested in buying popcorn. Chuck and I are not supposed to eat much popcorn, so we'll probably bring the box to La Petite next time we visit. I'll call it her fall midterms Care Package. Of course I bought it! Did you need to ask? After I finished buying lettuce and carrots (with greens) for the bunny, I passed a local nonprofit cafe and their coffee of the day dragged me by the taste buds through the door and to the counter. White chocolate strawberry, if you must know. That kept me warm while standing in a much-too-long line at the post office.

Actual conversation while tearing down and uprooting dead and dying garden plants:
Me: "I'm getting the last few beans."
Chuck: "Give them to my parents. They love beans, and they just pulled in the driveway."
Me: "I don't have many."
Chuck: "They don't need many."
Me: "I have, like, five beans."
Silence.
We sent them home with fundraiser cookie dough instead.

One anti-static dryer ball is lost. One. They work in a pair, and this pair has last me 6 months already and is still going strong. Now one is lost. One. I felt a twinge of guilt adding fabric softener to the washer. Only a twinge pulled at my eco-heartstrings, however, because after all, I've done largely without fabric softener for six months.

The garden is nearly ready to hibernate, the last harvest is in the sink to be cleaned, laundry is in, Chuck is painting scenery for his model trains, and Amigo is watching college football. Life is good. I think I'll make some cappuccino or hot cocoa and have a cookie from my own stash of fundraiser cookie dough. Shhhhh.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous Elizabeth said...

It always takes me a while to remember what there is to like about Fall. Maybe the first good storm will do it, if we don't lose power. I have a feeling it will have something to do with cooking - maybe bread or soup, both good for sharing. If there are cookies I'm likely to hoard. :)

10/12/2009 11:10 AM  
Anonymous Farmgirl Susan said...

LOL I lost one of our dryer balls, too! Good to know I'm not the only person who fell for those at the store. But I had no idea they only work in pairs (are yours the kind that look like little round blue porcupines?) so I've just been using the one.

Love the bean conversation. : )

10/13/2009 7:11 PM  
Blogger Club 166 said...

I love the light this time of year. I have been putting off taking care of the garden. It's looking pretty grim out there.

Joe

10/14/2009 2:32 PM  

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