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Cougar of Flourish
Aug. 25th, 2019 10:18 pmSundays always seem to be the worst. The Sparrowhawk has been trying to cheer me up. He made pancakes for breakfast, and then we went to visit a peach orchard. This was billed as a drive in the country, but there wasn't too much of that because first we had to go through downtown and over the river. When we arrived, there was a barn surrounded by cornfields, and a sign in front of the barn saying "CSA pickup here." Otherwise it seemed deserted, until we saw a guy sitting in his pickup in the driveway. He got out of the truck and turned out to be the farmer, a stalwart guy with bright blue eyes, not unlike my uncles. He gave me a bushel of peaches and told me to pick out as many as I wanted. He offered various other things, and we ended up also buying green beans, sweet corn, and potatoes. We actually went into his garden patch and helped him pick a couple of pounds of green beans, because he didn't have as many on hand as we wanted. He told me why I'm not getting any beans out of my Kentucky Wonder vines--good to know. I'll plant a different kind next year. We had corn, beans, and potatoes for dinner, along with a bit of leftover chicken. The corn was good.
We got to talking with the farmer and learned a couple of things. One, the polar vortex last winter had a much worse effect on the peach orchards than we realized. The farmer said that many of his trees were wiped out, and he knows other farmers who are out of business because they lost so many trees. The farmer also told us how he ran this farm with his father until the father died a couple of years ago. He showed us a picture of himself and his dad on the wall. He was an only son, so when his father got sick, he sold his business and moved back to the farm to help his dad until he died. And then his mother died too. That didn't exactly cheer me up, but it was a touch of that fellowship in grief that can be a comfort on its own. We also learned where one of Kwame Kilpatrick's criminal henchman is living with his ill-gotten gains. The things you can learn when you go out in the country . . . .
Unfortunately, my stomach is very upset for some unknown reason. We went for a walk by the lake and sat on the dock for awhile, enjoying the fresh wind from the east. I was able to manage that, but since we got home, I have not been doing too well. I meant to peel a bunch of those peaches tonight, but I'm just not up to it. Hopefully tomorrow.
We got to talking with the farmer and learned a couple of things. One, the polar vortex last winter had a much worse effect on the peach orchards than we realized. The farmer said that many of his trees were wiped out, and he knows other farmers who are out of business because they lost so many trees. The farmer also told us how he ran this farm with his father until the father died a couple of years ago. He showed us a picture of himself and his dad on the wall. He was an only son, so when his father got sick, he sold his business and moved back to the farm to help his dad until he died. And then his mother died too. That didn't exactly cheer me up, but it was a touch of that fellowship in grief that can be a comfort on its own. We also learned where one of Kwame Kilpatrick's criminal henchman is living with his ill-gotten gains. The things you can learn when you go out in the country . . . .
Unfortunately, my stomach is very upset for some unknown reason. We went for a walk by the lake and sat on the dock for awhile, enjoying the fresh wind from the east. I was able to manage that, but since we got home, I have not been doing too well. I meant to peel a bunch of those peaches tonight, but I'm just not up to it. Hopefully tomorrow.
