Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Tweet tweet. Tweetely Deetlety Deet.



Baby Robin, just hanging out. I should form a committee and lobby for changing the Latin binomial for this little guy. Turdus migratorius is really kind of unfortunate. And not very fitting to this feathery little harbinger of spring.



Yesterday was a good day. Spent mostly driving all around southeastern Pennsylvania. I got an hour long tour of a quarry in Birdsboro, when all I really needed were some pictures of rocks for a stream restoration project. Still interesting though.



And I got to see MORE GOATS!!!!


A farm near where I was taking more pictures of a stream project had all these little guys. How cute!



It was all I could do to not just jump in their pen and start grabbing baby goats and just absorb all their smushy baby goaty goodness.


But then I could hear the unpleasant ruminant noises coming from the barn which housed the adult goats. Did you know that goats make this rather piggy snorting noise which is actually them burping because they eat a ton of grain and sit around and digest it? It momentarily cured my goat fever.


And since it was Tuesday, on the way home I stopped at Roots Farmers Market in Manheim. I didn't buy much. Some Swiss Chard and two quarts of homegrown berries. I'm getting a little berried out. Kind of ready for cherries and blueberries and something different.

Last week was a whirlwind of local food. Wonderful spring mix, snap peas, baby potatoes, and strawberries from Masonic Homes Orchards. Which is now also offering grass-fed, dry-aged beef. We bought some hamburger patties to try, as the cuts of steak were rather expensive and if it wasn't that great, I'd be annoyed that I spent a lot of money. We made the burgers over the weekend. Just beef, nothing added. My husband took one bite and said "Is it just me, or are these really, really good?" I thought they were fantastic as well. He thought they tasted like burgers we had when we were kids. He said he had forgotten what beef was supposed to taste like. We loved them. And probably will never buy anything else. Seriously, that good. And then there was local chicken from Shady Acres, which also had homegrown tomatoes from their hothouses. Yumm!

8 Comments:

Blogger woof nanny said...

You lead such an interesting life--I wish I had a job like that.

Isn't it sad how Americans don't know what food tastes like anymore? Convenience has replaced flavor. I was at a strip mall recently, and a woman was there with a pickup filled with tangelos (tangeloes?) off her own trees. I don't usually like tangelos, but I thought...what the heck. I bought some. I never tasted anything so fantastic. I guess that's what tangelos are supposed to taste like! Apples are waxed, tomatoes are cardboard...it's really a shame.
Thank you for the blog comment--I had a feeling you'd like that post. I can't just reply because your email address doesn't come up.

1:12 PM  
Blogger cyndy said...

Great Goats!

The Roots market looks fantastic...are those radish in the photo??!! Beautiful!

8:38 PM  
Blogger Faith said...

Gosh, you were just down the road from me. If you continued up 72 you probably went right past my house. I was just saying to my husband the other day that I've been wanting to get to Roots for a while now but just haven't gotten to it. I know they're open Tuesdays and Saturdays and that I could go on a Saturday, but I'm guessing it would be less crowded and with more selection on a Tuesday. I love the pronunciation of Roots, which sounds closer to "rutts" than "roots". Isn't LANC-aster county grand?

The radishes in your picture look beautiful. And I agree, I'm beginning to be berried out as well. We went strawberry picking a couple of weeks ago -- now I'm ready to move on to the next available fruit. What's next? Cherries?

I agree with woofnanny -- you lead an interesting (and enviable) life. Your blog has become my first stop every day. Keep it up! :o)

8:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh I wish I had better luck at finding farmer's markets around here. I'm still on the hunt for them though...and grass fed beef. Congrats. on finding a good source in your neck of the woods.
We've found an organic poultry farm...I tell you, I'll never eat grocery store bought chicken again. Heck, my dogs won't even eat it so that has to tell ya something. =)
Wonderful baby goat pictures...I love baby animals.

9:15 AM  
Blogger meresy_g said...

My life isn't really that interesting. I just cherry pick the fun parts. Nobody wants to read a post about scraping chicken crap out of the hen house or picking up sticks in the yard after every thunderstorm. Or do you?

Those are radishes in the photo. I didn't buy any cause I have my own radishes, but I just liked the huge colorful pile.

Faith, I don't think the farmers market is open on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it is just Tuesday. Check out the Green Dragon in Ephrata and the one in Bird in Hand. They might have Saturday hours. They do have a flea market at Roots on Saturdays' though. I know Central Market is open in downtown Lancaster on Saturdays until about 2pm. heh, don't you hate to hear lan-CASTER county?

Cherries and lots more kinds of berries (blueberries, raspberries etc.) should be coming soon.

9:50 AM  
Blogger Faith said...

Oh... I saw the sign that said Saturday hours and didn't realize it didn't pertain to the farmer's market part of it. I've been to the Green Dragon, but I haven't gone back because I never want to go so far out of the way when I have Roots right down the road. I like Roots, too, because there's a vendor who sells Zum soap and I don't have to pay postage for it.

My husband, who is a New Yorker, says lan-CAST-er (as does everyone else in NYC). Try as I might to change him, he won't budge. He insists that we're in the wrong. Which, maybe he's right, but you're in LANC-aster now, buddy. Learn to adapt. Like the Amish have. :oD

Meredith, what I wouldn't give to be able to be out in my own yard on my own property, picking up sticks after a thunderstorm or scraping chicken crap. What you think is mundane is music to my ears. I shouldn't complain too much, though: I get to watch storms roll in over Manhattan from the 38th floor of a building that overlooks the Hudson River. How many people get to do that? :o\

10:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a little white goat when I was small, but it didn't stay that way. When it was larger, Monkey (that was her name) used to knock me down whenever she got the chance. We all learned pretty quickly not to turn our back on her. And, she could also climb out of her pen, my dad didn't like that much.

Love those market shots!

8:01 AM  
Blogger kris said...

love the goats - too cute!

11:52 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home