40 Days of Thankfulness: Day Twelve

 

Today, I am thankful for Saturdays.  It' the one day of the week I don't have to be anywhere, do anything.  I can do webwork, if I want, but I don't have any deadlines. 

I never have doctor appointments on Saturdays, no medical testing.

No piano students.  I don't even talk to prospective students on Saturdays.

It's a day for maybe brunch, a trip to the farm, maybe a little TV, maybe (most assuredly!)  a nap.

Saturdays are family days, even though our family is smaller than it was.

Saturdays are always full of promise.

Off to see what today's promise is...

40 Days of Thankfulness: Day Three

I am thankful today for our CSA farm, Great Country Farms.  We've been members there since our son was young, since 1995.  We just love being out in the country, picking whatever is available seasonally, having fresh fruits and vegges delivered.  The Zurschmeides are the nicest people you could ever want to meet, too.

From their website:

The goal of Great Country Farms is to offer a way for everyone to experience farm life and enjoy the benefits of its bounty.

Great Country Farms is a 200 acre working farm situated at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains outside the village of Bluemont, VA. Great Country Farms offers produce as well as the farm experience to its customers. 

The Zurschmeide Family has been farming in Loudoun County for over 35 years and Great Country Farms was started by the second generation of  Zurschmeides in Loudoun in 1994. The farm started with a Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA) which has grown over the years and delivers produce to homes as far as Alexandria and Arlington.   In 1996 and again in 2007, the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce voted Great Country Farms, "Agribusiness of the Year" for its unique efforts to farm in a difficult climate through innovation, rather than selling out and growing houses.

We owe it all to Farmer Bob for instilling a love of farming in us. He still visits the farm regularly on weekends to continue that tradition for the new generation of farm visitors.  Be sure to look for him on your next visit. As our farm grows, we are thrilled to welcome the next generation of Zurschmeides in the fields, behind the counter, making Kettle Corn and as the Pumpkin Princess of course!

We are thrilled to still be a family farm in our growing county and welcome you to visit our farm, pick some produce, create some memories and begin your own farm adventure as part of our farm family.

 

Other pictures from one of my blogs.

Exhaustion, again

Today, we went out to "our" farm again. We've been members of this CSA (consumer supported agriculture) farm for 13 years now.

It's wonderful! They deliver fresh, in season, no pesticides veggies, various fruits and berries from May through October, once a week. The other days, we can go out anytime we want and pick whatever is available.

I love just going out there, even if I don't feel like picking. It's wonderful to get away, out to "our" farm, and see the animals, and the veggies...very soothing and healing.

The first year we belonged, I did a comparison study of several of the local stores, and carefully weighed everything. The farm was a bargain.

In addition to getting all this stuff, we've made some new friends, I've tried some new veggies and herbs - and I think it's important to support the small local farmer like this - and to have a source of food that hasn't been sprayed with chemicals.

Anyway, we went out again today. We haven't been so much since our son went away to college. But just driving out into the country is so refreshing.

For the last several years, I've had trouble getting back from picking stuff. I could hike out to the fields ok and pick but coming back, I'd have to stop and sit by the side of the dirt road, sometimes even lying down. After a while of this, I found that taking an extra Cortef would help. I found that eating a raw green pepper would sometimes help, too. I don't know if it was the heat, the walk, the 'work" of picking or some combo that caused this to happen.

Today seemed better. We went to the peach orchard and picked about 10 pounds of peaches which we took back to the car. My husband wanted to stop by the blackberries - just a little out of our way. I wanted to take the farm wagon out for the blackberries. In addition to the field we knew, there was supposed to be a new one, further away.

So...we got back to the car and put our peaches away. We waited a while for the wagon but my husband got impatient and wanted to walk back to the berries. I gave him the boxes and told him I'd wait on the porch, in a rocking chair, in the shade, thank you.

I finally summoned up some more energy and went out and helped him finish the blackberry picking. On the way home, we were talking about how I seemed to have more energy, that I had made it back after the peaches but I reminded him that it was cooler than it often is and that the peaches were about halfway to the fields where we've usually picked vegetables. So, maybe my energy level isn't really any better.

We got home about 5. And I napped until 9:45. Some improvement - HA!