Barbara Kingsolver mentions the euphoria of eating "in-season" produce with reckless a
bandon in Chapter 2 of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. While she is talking about eating asparagus as it makes its brief appearance in early spring, the premise is the same during strawberry season here in our area. Eating as many fresh strawberries as can be consumed during the short season when they can be picked from the fields and served on your table on the same day is the height of indulgence...a window of six weeks in Eastern North Carolina during which sweet succulent strawberries can be transformed into strawberry cobbler, berry sangria, strawberry shortcake...and anything else strawberried that can be imagined. The experience of slicing through a deliciou
sly fragranced berry that is rubied to its core is one that should be savored...46 weeks of waiting until they are ready again.
Our four mile drive to Renston Farm seemed only a short jaunt allowing us to walk among the barns, farm animals, and fields of strawberries and flowers that awaited us. (For those of you who have asked how to get there, turn right toward Snow Hill off of Hwy. 11, right past Sam's Club, at its intersection with Hwy. 903.) The gentleman from whom we bought our berries reported what he would have to offer once the berries were all gone...tomatoes, squash, corn, zinnias, and snapdragons as long as they lasted. When I asked if I could count on them as "open for business" if I drove from Greenville, he reported that they were open regardless of whether or not someone was actually at their farmstand. He went on to explain that their vegetables were always available. Their customers simply took what they wanted and left their mo
ney. He continued to explain that "we work on the honor system here and its always seemed to work for us." If the rest of the world could learn from such trust and dependence, it would be such a different place.
After buying all that we needed, we walked among the fields and animals, appreciating this beautiful and unspoiled. We were unique among most of the folks who brought their young children to see the newly born baby goats...umbilical cords still intact, the peacocks, chickens, roosters, and rabbits. Last, as we approached the back of the farmhouse, the chicken pen had new inhabitants...two young pigs, laid out in the mu
d, among a myriad of hens and roosters of differing varieties. While Stephen commented that he had never seen pigs and chickens together like this, we all agreed that this motley crew was the ultimate representation of bacon and eggs!
bandon in Chapter 2 of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. While she is talking about eating asparagus as it makes its brief appearance in early spring, the premise is the same during strawberry season here in our area. Eating as many fresh strawberries as can be consumed during the short season when they can be picked from the fields and served on your table on the same day is the height of indulgence...a window of six weeks in Eastern North Carolina during which sweet succulent strawberries can be transformed into strawberry cobbler, berry sangria, strawberry shortcake...and anything else strawberried that can be imagined. The experience of slicing through a deliciou
sly fragranced berry that is rubied to its core is one that should be savored...46 weeks of waiting until they are ready again. Our four mile drive to Renston Farm seemed only a short jaunt allowing us to walk among the barns, farm animals, and fields of strawberries and flowers that awaited us. (For those of you who have asked how to get there, turn right toward Snow Hill off of Hwy. 11, right past Sam's Club, at its intersection with Hwy. 903.) The gentleman from whom we bought our berries reported what he would have to offer once the berries were all gone...tomatoes, squash, corn, zinnias, and snapdragons as long as they lasted. When I asked if I could count on them as "open for business" if I drove from Greenville, he reported that they were open regardless of whether or not someone was actually at their farmstand. He went on to explain that their vegetables were always available. Their customers simply took what they wanted and left their mo
ney. He continued to explain that "we work on the honor system here and its always seemed to work for us." If the rest of the world could learn from such trust and dependence, it would be such a different place.
After buying all that we needed, we walked among the fields and animals, appreciating this beautiful and unspoiled. We were unique among most of the folks who brought their young children to see the newly born baby goats...umbilical cords still intact, the peacocks, chickens, roosters, and rabbits. Last, as we approached the back of the farmhouse, the chicken pen had new inhabitants...two young pigs, laid out in the mu
d, among a myriad of hens and roosters of differing varieties. While Stephen commented that he had never seen pigs and chickens together like this, we all agreed that this motley crew was the ultimate representation of bacon and eggs!
1 comment:
I have been thinking about the farm since you first mentioned it in class; can you please give us directions to it and the farmer's market? This also makes me think of the "farm tour" that is held in the piedmont of NC. When I was an undergraduates student at UNC-Greensboro, my mother and I took part in it one year. There are so many interesting places to go! You just get a map, read a description of the various farms, and choose which ones you want to see. They are all so different. We went to an old mill that uses traditional processes to grind grain, an imu farm, and an urban organic garden. It was so exciting to know that places like this are still within a 20 or 30 minute drive of urban and suburbian areas. I hope everyone gets to experience places like this and see the value in preserving this type of life.
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