Value Added: It's worth the price

These days my hair feels like straw and my freckles are multiplying. My boobs have gotten rounder and my ass plumper thanks to no cardio whatsoever in over a month. I know we work hard daily, and my muscles ache- I am tired, but it’s not the same as a big shot of endorphins at 6:30AM.

I enjoy the smell of the tomato plants as we placed them in the mulch-covered soil and I could almost taste the basil as we planted them 4” apart five rows deep. Delish. Chris and Thomas found some of last year’s garlic growing in the field where they planted turnips and gathered up 40-50 bunches. Thomas told us about garlic shoots and we’ve been eating them now for three days. Delish!

I’m reading Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver again and feeling guilty about the Saltines and Almond Butter on my cabinets while I drink my Fresca. I wish I could eat local, really local, for an entire year… and while I feel like I do what I can, I know I can always do more.

I am enjoying making homemade bread, but feel like it is extremely timely, and I have to factor it into my week. This in addition to the fact that it is gone so quickly. I want to pickle and can some of our fruits and veggies as the harvesting begins. And I’d love to make my own wine… but we’ll see how that goes.

After getting the piglets on Tuesday I’m continuously reminded of their awful smell. Yes, pigs do stink. After simply helping Chris load them we both stank of pig. Maybe after I wash my Northface fleece jacket the smell will subside, however I’m beginning to think that we live in a barn, therefore we smell like the barn. Period. End of discussion. So, I stink, and I’ve got to learn to live with the aches and pains of throbbing knees and sore fingers.

It’s getting to be the time of year when the weather will no longer effect what we do on a daily basis. Wind, rain, cool temperatures aside, I think that if something needs planted we’re going to have to get out in the field. Up to our ankles in mud, we’re going to have to do it. And that sucks.

This weekend I hope to make it to the Farmers Market in Troy. This is the second weekend they are outside on the Riverwalk instead of inside like they were during our visit almost a month ago now. I know I should not yearn for such things. Pretty soon I’ll be at the Farmer’s Market (in Glens Falls) every single Saturday morning and long for rest and time to do whatever I’d like… But for now, this is how I’d like to spend my time; shopping for asparagus and leafy greens and maybe some yogurt or cheese.

I’m seriously learning to appreciate all the time and effort and planning and preparing that go into growing a simple fruit or vegetable. It’s not all for nothing, even though sometimes it sure does feel like it is. I had no idea that the kale and the sprouts and the apples and the cabbage and the potatoes and the parsnips and the blueberries I bought at Farmer’s Market were worth so much.

Whatever you pay for organic strawberries, it’s not enough!