Adventures in Local Eating Part 1

For some time now, I've been on what some might call a "local kick."  I think the economy is in shambles, our food system is a wreck, and the world just might be going to hell in a hand basket...as my mother would say;-)  You can't go shopping anywhere without buying something made of plastic, from china, and in poor quality.  Even foods that we have no problems growing here in the US are being imported from places as close as Canada and as far away as New Zealand!!  It just doesn't feel like our country is operating under the values that we were founded.  Everyone is out to make the almighty dollar, and as many as they can...all while sacrificing quality and customer service. 

It's time for a change...and for me, the change started like this:  buy as much as I can in my "local" community.  Now, what is local?  Some define it as their community/town, some as their state, some 100 miles or less, and in some cases an entire region can be described as local.  In New England, we are super fortunate to have lots of smaller states compacted together, and therefore I've considered my local to encompass all of the New England states and parts of New York.  If that doesn't work, I'm at least satisfied with somewhere in the U.S.A.  It's of course easy to do this with food, and during the spring/summer/fall growing seasons.  My shopping trips will become struggles once winter comes I'm sure, but I'm flirting with the idea of canning (stay tuned...I'm sure dysfunction will follow:) and am already researching farms with green houses.

The past few weekends Adam and I have ventured a mere 13 miles from our house in Worcester to the small town of Charlton, MA for some local produce, meat, eggs, and wine.  Charlton Orchards Farm was founded in 1773 and was the first settlement in the South County area.  The 94-acre farm (it once was 300 acres!!) has animals, pick your own fruits, a winery, and a farm stand.  Adam and I are hooked!  The staff is so pleasant and helpful, especially for wine tasting on the weekends.  While the acreage is not the prettiest farm I've encountered, it doesn't matter...it's a working farm so it's functional and efficient! 

Our very first haul:

Handpicked blueberries and raspberries, farm fresh eggs, tomatoes, and wine

Stuff No One Told Me...

But I Learned Anyway.

I stumbled on this blog, Stuff No One Told Me..., by Alex Noriega who describes himself as "an illustrater from Barcelona with poor spelling and grammar skills."  I'm very much in love with his drawings and the lessons that go with each one; it's ok to be different, it's ok to not know what to do with your life, and it's ok to fail...as long as you keep trying.  What do you wish you had known, but found out the hard way??

The Weekend the Woods Tried to Kill Me

I love being outside.  While I'm not the easiest person to be outside with, my husband amuses himself and takes me camping, hiking, biking, etc.  I probably whine more than I should, but in the end I love it, and have the time of my life.  I take pictures, I discover things about nature, (and myself most of the time), I sweat, I push myself, I laugh, I make memories with the man I love and the dogs I cherish.  But this particular weekend I did more than all of the things listed above....this weekend I cried...I vomited...I thought I might die.  I'm pretty sure the woods tried to kill me.  I have a lot of circumstantial evidence to try and prove this crime, but as you will read, any jury would have convicted.  Here's the story:

Friday, June 25: Adam and I load the dogs, the car, and ourselves and start driving north.  Our destination was Northern New Hampshire...quite possibly our favorite place in the world.  We had every intention of making it to Gorham, NH and setting up at the Dolly Copp Campground.  It sits right in the middle of the White Mountain National Forest, and has a wonderful river running through it.  As we neared the Great North Woods we had a sudden change of heart.  We were driving down the Kancamagus Scenic Byway, towards North Conway and we started passing lots and lots of campgrounds.  I had read about many of them in a book we had, so we pulled over and decided on a change of venue.  We found The Covered Bridge Campground which sits right on the Swift River.  We pulled in and fell in love.  We found a spot, paid our fee, and set up our tent.  After picking up some camping chairs from a local EMS, and sandwiches from the Lil Store on the Kanc, we were ready for some fun in the sun down by the river.  We packed a small bag with some delightful beverages and towels, grabbed the dogs, and were off.  It was amazing, and such a great start to our weekend.

Maggie enjoying the water

View from our sun bathing rock

The Covered Bridge in Albany (where our campground got it's name)

See how much fun we're having?!

But it didn't stay this way...oh no, it took a turn for the worst.  Behind us sits a shrub of sorts...it's an Alder Bush...Marsh Alder to be exact.  As it turns out, I'm allergic to this shrub.  I knew that, but thought nothing of it.  It wasn't pollinating or anything, so it really shouldn't matter. We continued with our fun and then headed back to our campsite.  We had hot dogs and s'mores awaiting us...what could possibly go wrong and ruin this perfect moment!  Oh, it suddenly mattered.  First came the chills, which I thought was a result of my light sun burn.  Then came the pressure in my head, nose, and ears...basically my entire face was about to explode.  Next I couldn't hear out of one ear, which followed agonizing pain from that same ear.  By the time I went to bed (just about 6 hours after the river fun) my throat was on fire.  Making everything much worst was the fact that the only bathroom was a pit toilet...no running water at all.  Normally this wouldn't bother me, but when you're sick, downing fluids and using the pit toilet every 30 mins, you want to wash your hands...and hand sanitizer is NOT the same as good old soap and water!!!

Saturday, June 26:  Adam tried to take care of me, but when you're in the middle of the woods, nothing helps.  He took me to get allergy medicine, and a fleece.  He let me sleep while he hiked with the dogs.  He made me stuffing, which I couldn't end up eating.  And for what it's worth, I tried to pretend I was ok.  We stayed Saturday night hoping that maybe I'd awake and feel better, then we could get in some hiking.  That night I threw up every last fluid in my body.

This is me trying to have fun:(

At least I'm smiling, right?!

Sunday, June 27: As soon as the sun was up, we were headed home.  Usually we linger at the sight for a while, do some hiking and shopping at the outlets.  Not this time....I didn't even look for Moose.  I'm not so sure I would have noticed one if it ran out in front of me.  I drank orange juice and tried sleeping.  When we arrived home I immediately took a shower and proceeded to throw up again.  A check of my vitals showed a very high fever and swollen glands and throat.  I slept most of the day, and prepared for a trip to the Urgent Care for Monday.

Monday, June 28: A visit to a Dr. produces these results: Sinus Infection, Ear Infection, and Strep Throat.  Here's some serious meds, take a few days off and get better. 

And that my friends, is a recap of the most horrific outdoor weekend I've ever had.  Ever.

The Adventures Begin Again

Oh the time just seems to fly when the weather starts to warm!!  Where have I been for the past 2 months you ask??  Not blogging apparently!!  Well the excuse is that I just wasn't really able to find the time, or make the time.  Adam was working CRAZY overtime hours, so I was picking up a lot of slack around the house.  Then I got sick and was making up a lot of time at work, then I got sick again (more of that to come in a later post!), and then I started rethinking what I wanted out of this blog...out of life in general.  And then I realized how much I miss my blog and blog world and all of the people in it!!!  And so I'm back, and ready to let all of you in on my latest Adventures in Life!