The pomegranate bushes right outside our front door are just starting to whisper about fall,
but the blackberry bushes know only one season: summer.
My friend Courtney invited us out to her father's ranch to pick blackberries the other night. Hopefully the first of many evenings we spend out there this summer. (Next time I'm bringing scooters for the kids and cold beers for the moms.)
The next day, in a burst of entrepreneurial enthusiasm, my son sold all of the blackberries we picked at his little farm stand (more about his stand in a later post). He was down to his very last basket, the basket I had put aside for our dessert, which he snuck out of the kitchen when I wasn't watching, when a neighbor pulled up and asked, "How much?"
Aidan answered, "One dollar."
"Here's a five," the neighbor said, taking his berries and driving away from one very happy eight year old boy. Even though I had started my day by perusing the local real estate web page searching for land, I fell in love with my neighborhood all over again while watching their transaction from my kitchen window. Maybe not enough in love to stop looking for land, but just enough in love to appreciate how green our grass is right here, right now.
Oh but how I would love to have these girls as neighbors, and if only I could just have one of my own.
Have you noticed the queen anne's lace popping up everywhere? I picked some this evening to put in a vase. OK, not a vase, but a green glass water bottle my friend Maya left at my house. One friend's garbage is another friend's treasure. Have you noticed that queen anne's lace smells like fresh corn tortillas? Take a whiff and see for yourself.
Speaking of tortillas, Avery revolutionized taco night at our house with a very cool idea she found online: hang tortillas on your oven racks to form shells and bake at 375 for about five minutes, or until crunchy. Brilliant!
I'm extremely grateful to have our evenings free from swim practice, giving us plenty of time to cook creative dinners, get together with friends, and pick blackberries for dessert - or for selling, depending on who gets to the berries first. While I'm looking forward to ripe pomegranates, I'm in no rush. It feels like summer has finally bloomed, and we're just beginning to enjoy its fruit.
Great post & beautiful pictures! Love the fruit stand story!
ReplyDeleteVanessa
such a sweet story about the fruit stand! and a great tip on the tacos!
ReplyDeleteOoo... I love the tip for making tacos!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen pomegranates growing before - what a pretty flower!
I love that last photo so very much. I may just need a print of it.
ReplyDeleteI also love how your posts seem to have become collections of disparate yet connected bits. Combined with your eye for photography, your blog has become something utterly unique, different than any other blog I read.
And, my friend, I really love that!
Your son has a lot of willpower - our oldest wouldn't have made it out of the driveway before the last berry had passed his lips.
ReplyDeleteSo moved by your posts. Like reading a diary that I wished belonged to me.
xoxo michele
What a beautiful pictures, they're actually speak the kind of peace you write about. And I was in complete adoration of how pommegranates grow.
ReplyDeleteMoll, yes, those cows would make great neighbours. My appreciation of queen anne's lace began last year but I have never smelled it. That just went on my list of things to do. So sorry about your loss of blackberries but congratulations on having such an entrepreneurial son.
ReplyDeleteWow. I have never seen a pomegranate plant before and it's incredible you have one to call your own.
ReplyDeleteI feel ya! ~m
ReplyDeleteWhoohoo what a wonderful post. Love love love your pictures, gorgeous. Love the berry story and now i want to run off and try the tortilla thing right away, what a awesome idea!
ReplyDeleteQueen Anne's Lace is one of my favorite flowers. It is wonderful in Southern Wisconsin. Living in the country we get to drive through bouquets of flowers. The roads are lined with QAL, Bachelor Buttons (Chickory), and wild day lilies. Life is good!
ReplyDeleteCommonly heard in our car leaving "town", "Hey kids, I have to get gas. If you see a cow without stopping for gas, remind me to turn around and get some".
flowering plum blossoms also smell like flour tortillas!
ReplyDeleteSo funny that you would mention the Queen Anne's Lace! I hadn't seen it (or noticed it, really) since my childhood in NJ. But just this year a very tall an elegant (if slightly top heavy) plant has lodged itself in my tomato bed. When it first sprouted I thought it was a carrot. When I realized it was not, I almost pulled it but decided to wait and see what I'd get. I'm loving the blossoms!
ReplyDeleteYou are like Pioneer Woman, only authentic :) REALLY keepin' it real-- (even her motto is annoying).
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