Summertime

poolside dining

(the hit of the party)

We spend a lot of our time and money acquiring wholesome food. This is true all year round, but it's especially true for the six months of the year that are the growing season here in lush Lancaster County. Every Saturday morning we go out to an Amish farm and buy our milk and eggs, then our organic/bulk food items at a health food store on the farm. Every Friday morning I "go to market," which is what people actually say here: the year-round market downtown that is mostly locally grown but also has imported fruits and vegetables, a dairy, deli, sausage, grass-fed beef, chicken-- pretty much everything but ketchup and toilet paper. Then once a week we pick up our farm share at an organic co-op farm, where there's also usually some pick-your-own items. And we have our own vegetable plot, which Michael tries to visit at least a couple of times a week. And on top of that we go to the orchards to pick fruit in season. Then I still need to go to the supermarket for ketchup and toilet paper. Yesterday was a good example: out to breakfast, milk farm, health-foods store, across the county to the vegetable co-op where we picked blueberries and black raspberries, then south to the orchard to pick sour pie cherries. It's great and we eat very well, but sometimes I wonder what my grandmother would say... she was a big fan of frozen bread dough! Having grown up and lived for years on farms, she had a great appreciation for convenience, for the simplification of household duties rather than the elaboration of them (honestly: SEVEN different stops to gather our food? and that doesn't include beer or wine, each of which must be purchased at a separate store). After a long, hot, sticky day, we had a date night Saturday while my mom sat with our sleeping kids. And what did we do? We went out to our garden plot, where Michael weeded while I sat and watched the fireflies.

picking blueberries with friend Leo

toddler intrigue

Michael in his beautiful, lush garden plot