A lot of lettuce

I was dreaming about lettuce last night, and maybe it was because I was looking at what you see above for about 2 hours yesterday...! It's beautiful, isn't it? Well, it darn well should be! I harvested it, rinsed it three times, each time picking out grass or weeds that may have come along, and finally drying it in a huge salad spinner, bagging it, and weighing it and storing it in the basement fridge. Forty bags, two hours...and then there was the arugula and the spinach! We were there for about 5 hours yesterday - too long for my wee ones to entertain themselves very happily.  I spread out a blanket next to the chicken tractor, gave them some feed to toss, some paper and pens, magnifying glasses and bug collecting boxes and access to a cooler of snacks...this kept them happy for about 1/2 hour. Ani was happy to come out and "help" me, asking me questions about the "crops" (I loved hearing her ask, "does this crop like shade or sun?"), and Eliza was really helpful with a naughty hose that wouldn't cooperate with me while filling the lettuce tub...but then they were hot, tired, cranky...bored.  So, I have to say - a bug documentary, a Magic School Bus and one Little House on the Prairie later...help!! I was working, so it wasn't an option to just drop what I was doing and just be with them, but I had this issue in our garden the other day - I could tell them they couldn't go outside, and they'd find a million interesting things they needed to do out there, in the yard or the garden, but once told they really needed to stay outside and find something to do...nada. It might be time to find a child-swap with a friend - it just didn't feel fair to ask them to hang around with so many limitations all afternoon.

So this was my bribe to get us through the hottest part of the day.  They were tickled - we don't get this kind of stuff very often! (And Eliza reminded me that we still had ice cream left over from Ani's birthday at home in the freezer and gave me that scowly, you-shouldn't-spend-the-money look, but I must say she downed her cone with gusto!) Dan was at a conference and so was later getting home, and we gave him enough time to put on shorts before we ran out to the park to let the girls splash as the sun went down...

Market was this morning, and it was really lovely to be there. I'll take my camera next time - today I was a little nervous, went and harvested cilantro before 8, and got to the market before 9 (it starts at 10!) to set up the tent, the tables, the baskets...I love the farmers that I'm next to - Amy is one of the choir directors for the homeschool choir, and her husband Ed is a funny, quiet, dry old farmer - he's been doing it since the 70's.  He saw me struggling with the tent and jumped right in to help me get it up and tethered it to his so it wouldn't blow away.  On my other side was someone I know from the neighborhood who was also doing market for the first time, so I helped with their tent, and the tent for the Amish ladies across the way - it works so nicely, vendors trading successes and advice and produce, all before the flood of customers arrives.  We got dumped on with a thunderstorm at the end, but it felt like a mini market test - it's raining, and not yet 1:00 - are you strong enough to stick it out?! Well, strong or foolish, I did. The cilantro and arugula and spinach sold well - I had too much lettuce left at the end, but the crowds were down in numbers - Willie Nelson is playing in Nelsonville, dontcha know, and it was the International Fair uptown.  It was nice to have people excited about produce I had harvested and prepared...

The rest of the day was pretty quiet - reading with the girls, dinner with Dan (and yes, we ate a lot of baby lettuce with our quesadillas!), and an early bedtime.  Good night...