Local bounty/counting our blessings

[Jenise]

Okay, so I don't live a mile away from a great wine bar like Bob Ross. Not only is there not one good restaurant nearby, there is only one place around here to order a pizza delivery from, and it's a chain operation. And I don't have a farmstand produce place around the corner like David Bueker, or a strawberry field more or less across the street like Hoke. The closest Whole Foods is 45 miles and a border crossing away, just down the street from Bill Spohn's house. In fact, my favorite market, a crunchy local Coop, is 25 miles away, and the closest decent grocery store is 14.

But for about the last two weeks in July, I can fish for fresh Silver Salmon on the jetty that's just three houses away. I have yet to catch one, for in truth they rarely bite, but I can sit there on a rock with the wind and the salt spray in my hair and hope like crazy that the next one's mine, and I am a happy woman.

And then for six weeks in late summer, early fall, in less time than it takes me to get to the closest decent grocery store and back, I can take a little skiff out into the bay, pull my traps and be home cleaning fresh Dungeness. I just came home with five more--there's lunch. For this amazing privilege alone, I will gladly suffer the rest.

What do you treasure that's close to you?

Okay, so I don't live a mile away from a great wine bar like Bob Ross. Not only is there not one good restaurant nearby, there is only one place around here to order a pizza delivery from, and it's a chain operation. And I don't have a farmstand produce place around the corner like David Bueker, or a strawberry field more or less across the street like Hoke. The closest Whole Foods is 45 miles and a border crossing away, just down the street from Bill Spohn's house. In fact, my favorite market, a crunchy local Coop, is 25 miles away, and the closest decent grocery store is 14.

But for about the last two weeks in July, I can fish for fresh Silver Salmon on the jetty that's just three houses away. I have yet to catch one, for in truth they rarely bite, but I can sit there on a rock with the wind and the salt spray in my hair and hope like crazy that the next one's mine, and I am a happy woman.

And then for six weeks in late summer, early fall, in less time than it takes me to get to the closest decent grocery store and back, I can take a little skiff out into the bay, pull my traps and be home cleaning fresh Dungeness. I just came home with five more--there's lunch. For this amazing privilege alone, I will gladly suffer the rest.

What do you treasure that's close to you?

Making lemonade from those lemons, eh?

Poor girl, making the best of your situation.

I don't want to dissuade you from sitting in the salt spray, Jenise, but if you're fishing for salmon off the jetty, that means you're trying to catch them when they come back in to spawn??? Which is when they've quit eating. Which may be why they're hardly ever biting...

You wanta catch salmon, go out in your boat into deep water, drop a deep line with a downrigger. Pull up your catch, zip back to shore, split, gut, clean and pack with onions and dill, throw on the grill or in the oven.

[Jenise]

Poor girl, making the best of your situation.

Thanks for the sarcasm.

I don't want to dissuade you from sitting in the salt spray, Jenise, but if you're fishing for salmon off the jetty, that means you're trying to catch them when they come back in to spawn??? Which is when they've quit eating. Which may be why they're hardly ever biting...

No, REALLY? (My turn for sarcasm.) But we still like trying. Last year, my neighbor caught three one morning.

You wanta catch salmon, go out in your boat into deep water, drop a deep line with a downrigger. Pull up your catch, zip back to shore, split, gut, clean and pack with onions and dill, throw on the grill or in the oven.

I know about that, too. But the truth is there's not much salmon left up here. Eight years ago, there were 600 fishing boats stationed here. Now? Just 50. And this season may not even open commercially, so by this time next year, there will be even fewer.

I know about that, too. But the truth is there's not much salmon left up here. Eight years ago, there were 600 fishing boats stationed here. Now? Just 50. And this season may not even open commercially, so by this time next year, there will be even fewer.

I know. It's terrible (and that is said totally without sarcasm).

But 'sokay: at least you don't really need any excuse to sit on a jetty or dock and catch the sea wind in your hair. watching the low, grey clouds scud past, maybe hunching your shoulders up ever so slightly and burrowing your chin and neck down into the rucked up collar of your Norwester, with your hands bunched up and tightly clenched in your pockets...realizing there is the warm, silky haven of hot cocoa, spiked with either Mexican pepper or maybe a little brandy?, and a thick double-paned picture window to stand behind when you have to retreat.

It's important to count your blessings. I do it frequently. Driving down the road with the vineyard rows going by in measured blurs of symmetry. Watching the particular color of clouds along the Mayacamas at dusk, when I see colors that are brief but etched in memory, of pinks and purples that I could never replicate but that maybe Monet or Sisley could have possibly captured.

Or driving down the Valley of the Moon late at night on a cold, cold autumn evening, with the moon hanging right over the valley like a Japanese globe lantern, so beautiful it takes you a moment to realize you're holding your breath too long because somehow you've forgotten to breath in wonder of it all.

Or sitting on top of a (small) mountain, in a little clearing, surrounded by firs and madrone trees with their weird red-purple bark, watching a chiseled Rhodesian Ridgeback run through the vines just for the sheer joy of motion, and hearing the wind suss through the tops of the trees above, while you sit and drink the wine you helped make from last year's harvest, and the night comes on slowly until the stars pop out in the millions. And you still have wine.

And like you said, the strawberries; those too.

[Robin Garr]

... fresh Silver Salmon on the jetty ... the wind and the salt spray in my hair ... fresh Dungeness. I just came home with five more--there's lunch. For this amazing privilege alone, I will gladly suffer the rest.

What do you treasure that's close to you?

Those are very, very good things. I'm mighty happy in my turn to live in a middle-size town that has a lot more really good food and wine than it has any right to expect. But that goes double, maybe triple, from about April through November when the farmers' markets are open. We're situated just about halfway between the two biggest and best, true foodie social events that are both no more than five minutes away.

Just for chuckles - this is long - here's an E-mail list I got today detailing what's on this weekend at just one of them. The <i>smaller</i> one ...

Bardstown Road Farmers' Market shopping list for
Saturday, August 18th, 2007

Waterworks Farm - Shelbyville, KY
Free Range Chicken, whole and whole cut up, dark meat platters, eggs, split breasts, wings, thighs, leg and thigh quarters, and drumsticks

Field Day Family Farm - Louisville, KY
Omelets, beets, carrots, new potatoes, squash, garlic, cut basil, okra, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomtarts, heirloom tomatoes and cut flowers.

Duncan's Rabbit Farm - Boston, KY
Rabbit meat, whole hog hot or mild country sausage, zuchini bread, 100% beeswax candles, eggs, honey, Hungarian wax peppers, Shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, bi-color and yellow sweet corn and cucumbers

Kentucky Bison Co - Louisville, KY
No Antibiotics, No Hormones, grass fed-Buffalo meat, shish kabobs, fajitas, steaks, jerky, summer sausage, mild breakfast sausage. $5.00 meat sale!

Conrad Hambley Farms - Corydon, IN
Check us out at the Thursday market from 4:00 to 6:30. Field grown tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, peppers, eggplant, new potatoes, green beans, cantaloupe, okra and flowers

Highland Coffee Company - Louisville, KY
Coffees, iced chais, bagged coffee, thermos'

Wild Carrot Farm - Shelbyville, KY
Garlic, yukon gold new potatoes, blue and Kennebec potatoes, fingerling potatoes, red potatoes, Juliettes, cabbage, squash, eggs, beets, carrots, tomatoes, and flowers

Stonecross Farm, LLC - Taylorsville, KY
Now accepting credit/debit cards. Cheese coming soon! Blue Moon Farm garlic, breakfast sausage and links, pork chops, pork ribs, BBQ pork burgers, beef sausage, bacon, brats, Italian sausage, and steaks. New varieties of garlic ie. Music and Polish white. Handmade soaps and bath salts. Garlic Pesto from Bluemoon Farm

Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese - Austin, KY
Artisanal cheeses made from our own fresh milk in a variety of flavors.

Miss Charlotte's of KY, LLC - Louisville, KY
Jams & jellies, tomato preserves, baked goods, savory dips and music by Tony Meyer.

Nature's Dream - Nabb, IN
No information from Teresa this week.

Harvesthyme - Louisville, KY
Pet salad, shitake mushrooms, cucumbers, squash, kale, peaches, green beans, tomatoes, apples, herbs, garlic, and okra.

Williams & Gray's Hothouse - Salem, IN
Field grown tomatoes, variety of fresh garden vegetables, shucked and ready to cook sweet corn, green beans, roma beans and peppers

Finger Pickin Farm - Shepherdsville, KY
Onions, carrots, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, white cucumbers, speciality potatoes, herbs and flowers

Jackson's Produce - Borden, IN
Tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, patty pan, eight ball, and cue ball squash, eggs, sweet corn, peppers, eggplant, grape tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, beans, white, yellow, and bi-color sweet corn, crowder peas, winter squash and watermelon.

Happy Jack's Pumpkins & Produce - Frankfort, KY
Green beans, new potatoes, summer squash, bell peppers, peaches and cream sweet corn, heirloom tomatoes, blue potatoes, eggplant, giant onions, celery, silver queen sweet corn, sugarbaby watermelon, and flowers

Schwartz Berry Farm - Eckerty, IN
Soil grown tomatoes, sweet corn, potatoes, green beans, peppers, cantaloupe, and raspberries.

Capriole Farms - Greenville, IN
We entertained Diane Sawyer on a visit to our farm on Saturday, August 11th! Assorted world class goat cheese, Larry's Lavosh Flatbread and Capriole Farm T-shirts.

Byrnside Orchard - Shelbyville, KY
Honey with or without comb, honey sticks, lettuce, kale, squashes, tomatoes, blueberries, peppers, sweet corn, beans, apples, concord grapes, okra, and potatoes.

Perennial Favorites Flower Farm - Leopold, IN
Production is down somewhat from earlier in the season. We still have Tuberose, Sunflower, Zinnia, Butterfly flower, wheat celosia, Limelight Hydrangeas, some small stems of 2nd growth Lisianthus, a few lilies, and potted Hydrangea paniculata "Tardiva" plants.

CJ's Pasteries - Jeffersontown, KY
Chess pie, whole pies, 8 inch rounds, Banana split muffins, cookies, scones, pecan pie muffins, and luscious Caramel cake

Blue Moon Farm - ***Sustainably grown*** Madison County, KY
Our pesto has NO basil!! Blue Moon Farm GARLIC SCAPE PESTO is made from the flower stems of hardneck garlic plants, harvested in the early spring when they are tender and delicious. We chop them and blend with oil, cheese and nuts to create this terrific pasta topper. Try it also as sandwich spread, and you'll turn your humdrum turkey sandwich into an Italian specialty sandwich!
Get our PESTO and VARIETAL GARLIC from Patrick at the Stone Cross Farm booth.
Please visit our website http://www.bluemoongarlic.com for more info and farm photos.

R & B Produce - Fisherville, KY -
Zucchini squash, yellow squash, eggs, cabbage, onions, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, kale, raw honey with or without comb, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, andsweet corn.

Heritage Harvest Farm - DePauw, IN -
Zephyr squash, field tomatoes, long beans, variety beans, garlic, potatoes and peppers

J & J Heirloom Farm - Georgetown, IN
Squashes, tomatoes, peppers, a ton of green beans, eggplant, and onions.

Crosswind Farm/Fair hand Bakery- Crestwood, KY
Herbed breads, salsas, assorted produce, greens, jams, blueberry treats, cut and potted herbs, fresh fruit turnovers and shitake mushrooms.

Fisher's Honey - Louisville, KY
Will not be at the market this Saturday.

Mount Eden Greenhouse - Taylorsville, KY
Houseplants, herbs, patio pots, perennials and baskets at bargain prices.

Guest Vendor : Dream Catcher Farm
Grass fed beef, steaks, burgers, ground beef and lamb.

Great topic, Jenise.

There is so much I love here in New Mexico.

Picking sour cherries and pears and apricots from the trees in our side yard that we planted the first spring after we moved in. And strawberries from the rock garden.

Cherries, apricots, apples, and pears from the orchard at work, as much as I want to pick... and for free.

Chiles.... scads of varieties, especially when the Hatch chile crop comes in and there are roasters on every corner all over Santa Fe, perfuming the air with a heavenly scent.

Chile/fruit jams at the Farmer's Market.

Honey that tastes like the wild sunflowers smell.

Cherry cider from Carrizozo.

This says it better than I can. Farmer's Market are everywhere, almost year round. Lots of local wineries, olive growers who make wonderful olive oil, almond growers, folks who raise beef, lamb, pigs and sell locally.
Great fishing, four wonderful seasons, (summer is a bit hot for me, but tolerable) we can still see our stars and breath clean, fresh air.

http://www.visitredding.org/photos.html

Six - count 'em six - different varieties of figs at the Sacto Natural Foods Co-op today!

That's a summer highlight right there.

... those gray, misty days of fall where the sky always look like twilight, no matter what time of day it is, a day that you can only get in Seattle. The rain that's falling is a fine, misty shower that feels as if someone is spritzing your face with an aerosol pump of well water and there is the distinct smell of fresh water in the air that gets pushed up your nostrils by the light wind that's blowing. (I usually skip work the first few such days of fall and stay home with Al Jarreau and a bottle of home made pluck, a jar of briny olives, 8 oz of good cheese, and Carr's cracked black pepper crackers.) Then, two days later the sun is shining like a new jewel and there is the smell of freshly snipped sage and rosemary, clean earth and tomato vines just pulled up and thrown onto the compost heap.

[Jenise]

Hoke said:

But 'sokay: at least you don't really need any excuse to sit on a jetty or dock and catch the sea wind in your hair. watching the low, grey clouds scud past, maybe hunching your shoulders up ever so slightly and burrowing your chin

Exactly. Ever since I was a child, going fishing was more about sitting on the rock than it was taking home the catch. Guy caught a silver here yesterday, though--hope still lives.

You do live in an undeniably heavenly place, Hoke. Easy to understand why you love it. Robin sure makes Kentucky sound equally so--would be completely jealous, but for the humidity.