5 Things I Do at My Farm, but Not at My Condo

“So what did you do this past weekend, Jean?” a friend asked.

“Not a lot, but enough to keep me amused,” I replied. Actually, just being at the farm with its quiet, slower pace has restorative value.

My half-dozen activities can be summed up in these photos. Instead of tackling all the work that comes with the care and keeping of a weekend home, I assign chores to others who are more agile than I am, which leaves me with time for cooking, chatting and blogging.

In a Nutshell

I Cooked for Family and Friends. Actually, I experiment on them like a mad scientist. I test new recipes with strange names and ingredients I don’t have on hand. It’s all in the interest of finding a dish that’s blog worthy.

This past weekend, lunch was a pan bagnat, (a French sandwich that I wrote about earlier), and our dinner entree a bobotie, (a curried beef-lamb dish from South Africa). If a recipe passes the arduous taste test of family and friends, I pass it onto blog readers.

From bottom left: wild chanterelles with wine, shallots, cream and parmesan; salad with fresh basil vinaigrette; roasted broccoli; bobotie (a South African beef-lamb curry); and rice.

I Blogged Outdoors. I put on my ~~Yale~~ Kale t-shirt (see photo above), that gets me in a foody frame of mind and sat on the deck, the gentle breeze tempering the heat, as I composed handwritten drafts. Scribbling en plein air is a good mental break from composing on a computer all the time.

Sunny skies and soft clouds made for good photos, too. For me, part of blogging is telling the story of the various seasons at the farm; photos do that best.

The peaceful view from my kitchen window. Sadly, our pair of fan-shaped elm trees died and need to be removed.

The smell of freshly cut hay reminds me of our family bailing and hauling hay in Rolla each summer. We used our Belgian horses to pull the hay wagon. Hot work, but fond memories.

Apparently insects are getting to my basil before I do.

I love the smell and color of the Russian Sage, that drapes over the bench on my deck.

I Watched the World Cup on TV. Well, I watched three games just to be social. After that I watched my family hoop and holler along with the soccer fanatics on the screen. The Denmark-Croatia game, that ran into overtime, taught me more about soccer than I wanted to know.

Soccer’s many fans have unbridled enthusiasm for the game.

I Took in the Local Farmer’s Market. I bought some locally-grown fresh tomatoes—a preview of BLTs to come. There were also lots of canned and baked items being sold in the downtown Rolla market.

The Relish Lady at the Rolla Farmer’s Market is able to spice up just about anything.

Amusing hats for sale. Mid-Missouri Republicans either have a sense of humor or they’ve figured out how to recycle their political swag.

These mushroom were grown on logs. My grandson, Austin, tried this a few years ago with moderate success.

Bread baker Ken Alford offers up his final loaf of the day—a marble rye. The loaf reminded me of the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry wrestles the last available marble rye from an old woman who had just bought it.

I Enjoyed a Bounty of Wild Mushrooms. Heat and rain make for mushrooms galore. Robin and JC, undaunted by the 90 degree temperature, harvested a large basket of chanterelles in no time. A bit of white wine, butter, shallots, and cream made for a dish of flavorful fungi.