I had to take the van in for something and I drove past the dealer’s camper lot. I found my dream camper, so I made the guy give me a tour. Oh, it is just what I would want.

  • two sets of bunk beds
  • very small
  • front part folded out like a tent with queen bed
  • it would be an awesome way to visit my MIL (or anyone else for that matter) without imposing

It is pretty hard to justify something like that when we don’t go anywhere. That and the fact that we don’t have the money in the first place. But a girl can dream. I took pictures, and if I had fast internet, you’d be looking at ’em. GD pointed out that maybe it won’t sell this year and they will knock a lot off the price. Yeah right. But if we don’t go anywhere, why get it? They wanted $11,500, and it is an 02.

On the way home I did something I’ll bet most of you haven’t. The little community just north of us (on a US highway) has a couple of road side melon/produce stands. This time of the year not much is ripe yet, so they don’t man the stands. They chain a tool box with a slit cut into it to a table and post a price list. I got 12 ears of corn (mmmmm) half a dozen ugly tomatoes, two zucchini and four huge bell peppers for $10.50. I wrote my check and slid it into the slot. In two weeks things will really take off and I could buy pretty tomatoes from real people. Some people from Washington stopped as I left. I wonder what they thought!

I made a zucchini cake today and as I cracked my homemade eggs, I found little specks of blood. This is very typical of homegrown eggs, and it is perfectly safe. I guess they breed the anomalies and the color out of eggs at the factories. Some people candle their eggs, I don’t know what that is really, but I guess you can see things that customers may not want (like specks of blood). GD killed the rooster earlier this month (after he attacked me), cooked him and fed him to the dog, so we definitely won’t have any eggs with chickies in them. All he was doing was harassing the hens, maybe they will re-grow their back feathers now.

It is embarrassing to admit I bought zucchini, but our garden is a complete train wreck. In my defense it was under water three separate times, and it had standing water for a few days too. I planned to get out there and weed it tonight after Paul went to bed, but he didn’t zonk out until after 10. GD would rototill if I just found the things he was supposed to miss! I planted zucchini and a few other things, but they got planted late, so they will be producing late. I have my fingers crossed. The atrazine from the corn field across the road wiped out our raspberry bushes. They looked beautiful too. Somehow the tomatoes survived.

My friend OBL wrote about her disappointing experiences with farmer’s markets where she lives. I don’t know what planet Barbara Kingsolver lives on, but I have never seen a market like what she describes. Nobody sells lettuce or anything early, they don’t even set up until after July 4! The informal one has maybe four vendors, the honey guy, the two roadside stand folks from the next town and maybe another guy who just sells corn. On a side note, I used to drive by a sign that read “Corn on the Curb.” How clever is that? The more organized market is now defunct. They had several more vendors, a meat guy, the honey guy, an herb woman, homeschoolers selling homemade cookies, and someone who made goat milk soaps. I don’t think the farmers from up the road even had a spot there, probably because they had to pay for it. There might have even been some crafts too. You certainly couldn’t count on getting much in the way of groceries there. I guess the more farmer’s markets get patronized the better they will be. I hope so.