Farm fun
Today the whole family went to Salomon Farm together for the afternoon. I caught up on some volunteering, and the whole family soaked in the wonderful historic working farm. We enjoyed the new blue Andalusian chickens, and we fed the goats. We were surprised by a couple of playfully prowling farm cats. Fiona picked a few "little marvel" peas and I picked some "Dow purple pod pole beans". That was cool! Did I mention they're PURPLE "GREEN" BEANS THAT TURN GREEN AS THEY'RE COOKED? What a fun selling point.I also picked a number of Japanese beetles, which wasn't quite as cool, but felt very industrious nonetheless. The fruits, vegetables, and flowers at the farm are heirloom varieties, and aren't very tolerant of bugs; in addition, there are no commercial pesticides used. The girls had to go home for dinner or else Fiona would have joined me in the bug-picking. She was really looking forward to it.
I drove out to the farm separately, knowing that my volunteering would keep me longer this evening than the girls could reasonably stay. The car radio was already tuned to NPR, and I happened to catch today's Speaking of Faith program called The Ethics of Eating. Krista Tippet was interviewing Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life author Barbara Kingsolver about her year spent trying to live sustainably. It really was food for thought, no pun intended. I'm currently no gardener, but the show did reinforce my resolve to spend some more time learning about organic and earth-friendly practices, and to learn additional ways to live in harmony with the earth and its inhabitants. I suppose I could start by not taking two vehicles to a destination, huh? : (
Also, could anyone clear this up for me? I've been wondering this since I was a kid: is Indiana just REALLY good at growing corn, or is this "knee high by the fourth of July" saying exceedingly archaic? I realize it's almost August now, but the corn here has been knee-high for, like, forever. Just look at it! And this has been a dry, dry summer! Any thoughts?
posted by Jen @ 11:20 PM
Ian
Jen
3 Comments:
First, chickens - woo!
I caught part of the NPR segment; I didn't know it was Barbara Kingsolver being interviewed! But it fits perfectly, because I just finished her "Poisonwood Bible" and was thinking about it as the women spoke. She describes in the book the unfathomable luxuries that we take for granted in the US by contrasting then with rural African life - like hot (clean) water right out if the tap, and the fact the we generally have no idea where our food was grown.
As for the "knee high by the Fourth of July" thing, I have been noticing that as well. I meant to take a picture that day this year as we drove by the fields but never did. Several years ago, I was driving up in northern Indiana with my brother and mentioned that the corn there was not nearly as tall as it was in our area. He said there were a lot of Amish farmers up there, so I wonder if it has to do with the manufactured seeds used by many farmers? It always strikes me as odd to see the signs advertising the brand of corn being grown.
Also, isn't odd that with the amount of soybeans grown in this area that it's next to impossible to purchase them fresh here? I doubt many local people have eaten them, except in Japanese restaurants as "edamame". What I wouldn't give to pick them up at the Farmers' Market!
Indiana is good at growing corn? Isn't that Iowa's job? Indiana grew basketball players, I thought ; )
What a great photo of Ian, Fiona and Nora.....the corn is nice too 8^) --Gran
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