Since our move I have missed certain things. Most of them not things one would think of as being important.
I have missed farm fresh eggs, raw milk, enough room for a garden, getting out in the fresh air to work in the dirt.
Yesterday a friend of mine, who I cherish more each day, went a long way to filling all of those missing desires.
First, she took me to her friend's house. This friend has a son who has a hen yard filled with the most beautiful and well tended hens I have seen since mine! He gave me a tour, proudly showing off his prize hens. He handed me feathered creatures to hold and pet and coo over. He was proud of his flock and ecstatic that someone found as much pleasure in these creatures as he did. I walked away with 2 dozen freshly laid eggs and the assurance of "as man as I want or need!"
Then, this same friend of my friend, walked us a mile down the road to her brother's DAIRY! Again, the same pride, the same care taken, the same joy that someone else understood and even loved what they were seeing. Her brother explained that he was getting so little for his milk that it was crazy! The price we see in the market is more than quadruple what he is paid. He went on to tell me that he doesn't sell much milk out the back door, but what he does sell that way gives him more money than selling through the governmentally mandated channels that commercial dairies have to follow. To make a long story short, if I bring my gallon jug to his barn between 7 and 9 any evening, I can fill it up with fresh, raw, untouched by human hands milk for the paltry sum of $1.50! And he makes more from back door customers?!
After the visit to her brother's dairy, my friends and I walked back toward home. On the walk a community garden was mentioned. A new community garden. Anyone that wanted a plot just had to stop by a little church on the outskirts of town and put their name on the list, first come, first served. My eyes lite up! The church is just around the field from my home!
On the drive back to my home, we passed this little church and saw a small group of people standing in the field behind it. My friend and I stopped. We inquired. We each got a plot. My friend knows nothing of gardening. She gave me her plot. All she wants are some tomatoes!
What a perfect hunter, gatherer day! Now I just need to get a freezer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Oh, this is cool! Way to go! Once again you find a way around obstacles in the way.
Just goes to show ya, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. I'm glad to hear that your new home keeps bringing you joy, even the joys you didn't think you'd have again!
Bev- And tomatoes are the easiest things to grow- sounds like a great deal!
Sounds like you had a great day! Good luck with your new garden/plot, hope you will have loads of tomatoes and all other kinds of wonderful vegetables!
Oh, that's such great news! I'd be excited too - especially about the plot for gardening. I know how excited I was just having a deck I can have a container garden on!
(Um, and now that I uh, have in fact decided to take the apartment downstairs, I'll have an even BIGGER space to plant!)
What a fun day! And what great news that you'll be able to get your organic garden going again! :)
I miss the farm fresh eggs, with their beautiful dark, rich yolks, and getting milk in a gallon jar, with the cream floating on top. It was so much fun making butter out of that cream with the kiddos!
Have yet to find a source for those things where we live now. I know they're out there, just not sure where to look, or who to talk to. Would love to have my two youngest be able to experience those things as thier older siblings did. Besides, I'd like to experience it again!
I live on a farm,plant a huge garden, but don't raise livestock except a few sheep for weed control and one LLama for predator control. Your post stirred up a new appreciation for what I had taken for granted.
Bev you made me miss my little homestead in Nova Scotia again. The fresh eggs were one of the best parts of being on the land. Can you have "pet" backyard hens in your town? I can't. What an incredible day you had!!
Post a Comment