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Farmers’ Markets and Photography

July 29, 2012 By Laura 16 Comments

000

There is just so very much, that I love about this time of the year.  One of those things for sure, is going to the farmer’s markets!  We have them at a few different locations here in our hometown of Plymouth (MA), and they run from June through October, on Thursdays and Saturdays of every week.  One of the original ones has made a new home starting this year, at the Plimoth Plantation.

001_farmers-market To begin with, it matters to our family, to support our local farmers and the small business people in our community.  We are small business people ourselves, and knowing these vendors have families they are trying to support just like we are, makes us truly appreciate all they are trying to do.  Though our specific businesses may be different, we understand the hard work involved in marketing one’s self, producing high quality work, feeling love for what you create, and having little dreams for the success of it all.

And what’s not to love, about fresh and locally grown organic food, and handmade goods anyway?

002_farm-stand-vegetables-baskets

It’s just enjoyable to walk around with my kids and see what freshness is available week to week, to purchase and bring home for some good old fashioned home cooked, healthy meals.  There is always great music to listen to as we stroll around, some handmade goods here and there to check out, and tasty samples offered from various vendors, hoping you’ll buy from them.  We love every bit of all of it.

Then for me, is also the opportunity to just have fun, photographing all of the beauty and interest that farmers’ markets display.  I often have with me my classic Canon 5D, with my 24-70 mm 1:2.8 L lens.  Just loving taking photos of everything and anything, is one of the things that has encouraged me to keep on blogging! It’s an outlet to share some of my favorite photos I’ve taken, for no reason or need for them, other than the joy it brings me just taking them.  And so here in this post, is some I took from our last couple of farmers’ market trips.  I like to think (and sure hope!), that our readers enjoy the photos of posts as much a I do, when visiting other blogs.  Whether it be for the sake of being interested in photography, or for a sense of visualization to the stories being shared.

003_dozen-organic-eggs A dozen organic eggs.  Have I told you I want chickens, this week?

I want chickens.  This week.

004_farm-vegetables  This farmers’ big white truck was parked right behind his stand on the street there. It was the perfect backdrop for my shot.

But I did buy some produce from him, such as corn on the cob, the dozen eggs . . . . . .

005_quarts-blueberries  . . . . . . and a quart of these blueberries.

006_fresh-flowers-crates  How pretty are these mixed arrangements?

007_pink-cosmo A pink cosmo.
Honestly, I think this shot was taken in my own garden, in between farmers’ market trips.  But I knew you woudn’t know the difference.

Especially if I’m not even sure.

008_unhusked-corn-cobs  I can’t tell you how much fresh, locally grown corn on the cob we eat in the summer.  We lo-oooove it.  And, we’ve been cooking it a whole new and easy way, lately!

I’m going to share that with you all just how, very soon, in an upcoming post.

009_sunflowers-collage  Sunflowers. Gorgeousness.

010_sunflowers-in-bucket
I really wanted to buy some. But it wasn’t a need, it was a want. And I need to not buy things we don’t need, right now. Even though I want to.

Olivia is growing a great big tall one in her garden right now anyway. We can’t wait until it blooms.

011_violinist
This young girl, is a talented violinist. Her mom and dad are back-up musicians for her. Her dad was playing guitar, and her mom was playing some kind of drum thing, I believe. The kids and I talked to her for awhile. She goes to college right near where I grew up, and comes home on weekends. Watching her made my son, who plays piano, want to play violin now too.

012_clay-oven-fired-pizza
This guy was firing pizza, and selling it to buyers right there on the green. I bet you anything, he and his family made this clay oven. I thought it was pretty cool to be making pizza right there.  Also a little crazy, for the hottest of days.

013_beeswax-candles  Homemade beeswax candles. *Matches included!

; ) I don’t know why I thought that was kind of funny marketing.

014_edamame Edamame.

No, it’s not the same as sugar snap peas, or snow peas.

015_organic-carrots
Carrots.

I’ve never eaten a carrot, that wasn’t orange. Have you? Do they taste the same?

016_ray-papile
This guy . . . . . this guy’s name is Ray Papile. He has such a great sound, such a great style about him, he sings a great choice of songs, and I just love his voice.  Easy listening, for sure. Made me wish I brought a blanket, and a big bottle of wine.  I was driving one of my boys crazy, because I was so lost in his music as we strolled around, and I guess I kept saying out loud, “Oh my gosh, I love this guy!”  I was having a hard time leaving the market when we were done, because of Ray, here.  Can’t wait to here him again. Think I’ll be sure to have that blanket, and bottle of wine next time.  Do you think the other market visitors would mind walking around me much?

017_farmers-market-stands Yup, farmers’ markets just ring my bell, but good.  OH! That’s another thing I love about these markets! They open with the ring of a cowbell! Anyway, it must be the real country girl in me. The one who loves country fairs, and such. I grew up around a lot of this kind of thing. I have so many flash memories of being a kid and running around barefoot at fiddle and banjo, bluegrass kind of festivals.  Farmers’ Markets have that kind of feel to me, when there there is some good music playing too. There’s just something about them, that makes me feel right at home.

Thanks for swinging by, listening to me chat, and looking at my photos.  It’s nice to have someone to show them to, at least.

Are there any farmers’ markets in your neck of the woods? Do you go to them much, and what are your favorite things to pick up? I’d love to hear all about what yours are like, and what you love most about them.

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Filed Under: Life In General, Photography, Photography & Lettering, Recipes, The Big Picture Tagged With: farm-stands, farmers-market-photos, farmers-markets, flower photos, organic-produce, photography, plimoth-plantation, Plymouth-MA-farmers-markets, ray-papile, support-local-small-business, vegetable photos, vegetable-photography

Garden Peek!> Early Summer 2011

July 20, 2011 By Laura 1 Comment

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-12

I believe we’ve been both gardening and blogging, for about 3 years.  Our life is filled with so many various passions, there is more than we are actually able to get to blogging.  I sure try to get it all in though!  But one area that is especially hard to keep you all updated with, is the gardening!  Good gosh. Things grow and change SO fast, by the time I photograph what I want, edit the photos, and start putting a post together (while you know, living my life and doing 1,000 other things in the midst of it all), the post report, explaining the photos I took, don’t seem very current by the time I get to typing it out! But my intent today, is really just to share with you all what we’ve got growing this year.

In that light, after the first photo, the photos in this post were taken in early July. As I type, it is the 20th of July. Still, while reporting with photos is unavoidably a little delayed, we like to try and give you the picture of the process as a whole, even if the photos are a little behind the 8-ball of the gardens in the moment.  I imagine it is all still relate-able for the interested gardeners (or wannabes) reading, and perhaps it opens a door for conversation, as you reflect back on the few weeks prior to your own gardening-status, and the subsequent changes.  So we’re going to roll with this delay-thing we have going on in the gardening blog-shares, and hope you all can too.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos

One thing we did differently this year, that we have not done in the past 2 years, is start our vegetable plants from seed!  Our experience with gardening has been that we learn a little more every year.  While we were somewhat successful in growing the plants from seed indoors, to transplant to the garden beds come Memorial Day weekend, I’m not sure our timing was right with everything. (?) For example, our pepper plants started out so tiny in the beds, that I couldn’t imagine them ever producing fruit this season!  But in sharing this with my Mother-in-law when she visited in early June, she mentioned those seeds probably should be planted in February or so.  She and my Father-in-law kept a beautiful yard full of gardens when they lived in this area. In the course of our conversation, I could not even remember the month we actually did start the seeds. But I was sure it was not that early!  The packaging of the seeds did not say, that I could tell, how long prior to replanting, that the seeds should be started. It only seemed to say how many weeks before they should bare their first fruits. So….I was winging it all. All of the seeds did sprout, grow plants, and were transplantable. In fact,  some grew too tall to keep the clear cover on, for the greenhouse effect.  What to do about that? And as I said, maybe different seeds should have started at different times. But when, for each variety, is my question. So, more researching to be done, and more lessons to be learned.  But as I have said all along, the learning as we go is half the fun!  Next year , also, I’ll keep a record of when the seeds were put in the soil. At least write the date on the containers!

Here is just a couple of other small points to note:  1)  As a reference, these photos were taken in early July. Things have grown and changed a lot since then.  So we plan to update you soon, but a little after the facts of course. : )  2) Please pay no mind to the very patchy crabgrass, in our sand-dirt, that needed mowing badly. It was done that evening.  But I am working on not procrastinating photos or a post, due to a likely irrelevant detail, so don’t call me out on that, or I may have a relapse with my self-therapy. ; )  Alrighty?

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-1

Here in Bed #1 we have little pepper plants on the far right, behind the Marigolds.There is Green Peppers, and Jalapenos.  Aside from the Marigolds, we also have Cosmos, and a sweet single Sunflower that {O} grew.  I plant the Marigolds and Cosmos in ever bed, to attract bees and butterflies, for assistance in pollination. But also, because I love bees and butterflies.  : )   On the far left, we have Cucumbers growing.


early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-2

In Bed #2, we are growing Yellow Summer Squash and Zucchini.  We were adamant about the squash varieties growing in another bed this summer, after last year’s devastation!  Some of you may recall the sudden and devastating death of our squash bed last year, and eventual discovery of the culprit!  More on our remedy for this in just a bit.  But also in this garden bed is something new we are trying to grow Sugar Snap Peas! We had no idea what we were doing there at first, but I researched it and learned quickly. They started out ‘thin’, in my Mother-in-law’s word. That was her nice way of saying ‘puny’ I think. Made me giggle. But they are looking GOOD now. A closer look on that in just a minute as well. All else we have here, is the Marigolds, Cosmos, and still sitting there is our now-virtually-famous Coke Bottle Box and Candy-Cane Striped Petunias. There’s also a few Snap Dragon in that box.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-3 Promising buds of  squash.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-4

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-5 Squash Flowers.  No, we have not prepared them as a recipe in any way yet. Fried? Stuffed? It just sounds strange to me.  We’ll see who can convince me.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-6 We were pretty excited to see these 2 pods!  I have fond memories of picking & gobbling peas in my aunt’s garden, when I was little.  I want our kids to be able to do the same.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-7

So as I implied earlier, I wasn’t sure starting out, how we would do producing Sugar Snap Peas this first year. But regardless, I have loved watching them climb our wooden frame, and zig-zagging twine.  The hornets are ‘having at’ that wood frame, by the way.  I’ve found myself watching & studying their activity intently, both fascinated & irked at the same time.  I hope the frame holds up through the season anyway. It’s easy enough for Michael to whip another one up next year.  As an update, the peas are doing wonderfully, and I’ll show you more on that next garden post.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-8 Garden #3 is the Strawberry Bed.

You are welcome to check out the post prior to this one, for lots of photos and chat on our Strawberries this year.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-9 Another new learning experiment this year.  Since last year we learned that we planted our Pumpkin Patch too soon, this year we thought we’d try using the bed as a Watermelon Patch first!  The kids planted the seeds into this bed themselves. You can hardly see them well in this early photo, but let me point them out among the Marigold plants.  The Watermelon plants are in the upper far left, the one in the middle-ish, and far center-right.  There were just a couple others that the squirrels pulled out, before we got to spraying a Deer-Off border.  So I planted a row of 6 new Watermelon seeds in the soil vertically on the far right side. Updated photos of the plants will be coming up too.  We’re not sure if we’ll actually get Watermelons this year either, as my Mother-In-Law said those should have been planted earlier too.  But the plants are spreading like mad now, and I did catch a glimpse of a flower. So there’s a small chance we’ll get at least 1 melon. Heyyyy, we can split it!

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-10 Lastly, in Bed #4 we have 4 Varieties of Tomatoes:  Cherry, Early Girl, Big Boy & Beefsteak.

This is the bed that was our Squash Bed last year! First, we screened all of the soil, looking for any Vine Borers that were hibernated down into the soil, pupating, after the devastation they do in the year prior, waiting to reak new havoc again this year!  We learned that’s what they tend to do!  We didn’t really seem to find any, but we used a new bed for the squash this year just in case.  Besides, we try to rotate the beds every year or 2, so the soil is not depleted of any nutrients from one particular plant variety.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-11 Some Cherry Tomatoes on the vine.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-13 Marigolds.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-14 Cosmos.

And lastly, a quick look at how our Mailbox Garden Tub has filled in….

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-15 I love how the Calibrachoa spill over.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-16 And I have always loved Snap Dragons.

early-flower-vegetable-garden-photos-17 THIS, is not a photo from early July, but a more recent photo after some picking, last weekend. We have been enjoying Yellow Summer Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumbers, so far.

And that my friends, is your Late Garden Report!  Stay tuned for more Late Reporting, right here in the The Homestead ~Home & Gardens section, of Our House Of Joyful Noise.  Meanwhile, I’m open to some sharing and garden chat in the comments!

 


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Filed Under: Gardening, Photography, The Homestead Tagged With: cosmos, cucumbers, early-gardening-season, flower photography, flower photos, garden beds, garden photography, garden photos, Gardening, gardens, green peppers, jalapenos, peppers, snapdragons, squash, strawberries, sugar-snap-peas, vegetable-plants, watermelon-patch, yellow-summer, zucchini

Spring and Budding Promise

April 13, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

hostas breaking ground

I know it doesn’t look like much.  Yet.  But it will soon enough!  These are the buds of my hostas and tulips.  Spring and budding promise. I wait for them, in such anticipation, every early spring.  New England weather is so crazy, and everyone knows how much I despise the COLD.  So when I see these buds, it’s proof to me that maybe, perhaps, spring may truly be here. Even if it’s not quite acting like it yet.

More than the hope they give, I know all that they will flourish to be.  I’ve seen it!  These little pathetic buds are full of promise.  I’ve soaked up the joy they give me at every glance, year after year. I have faith, that it will happen once again.

The hostas actually hold a little family history for us.  My mother-in-law gave us this cluster of hosta, probably over 11 years ago.  She had transplanted some, and didn’t have anywhere to put this one she had left. She had a beautifully gardened yard. The kind you see in Better Home and Gardens.  Just lovely. I loved visiting and seeing it.  But gardening, plants, flowers,…it all just wasn’t my thing.  Seemed like a lot of work to me! So I wasn’t all THAT excited about taking the orphaned hosta.  : ) But my husband was kind of excited.  He broke it up into 5 plants, and planted them around the big pine tree we had on the side of the driveway there.  They never did so well there, I would imagine because of the excessive shade they were in, and the acidity of the pine needles falling.

Eventually we cut that pine tree down, and they did better with more sun. But they looked pretty silly around a stump. And that was getting pulled out.  So since the hostas had grown on me some (no pun intended : ), we decided to move them over the short wall, overlooking our yard.  They did well there, and as they grew a little more each year, so had I.  I began to have a more appreciation for what I call “those domestic kind of things”.  I rather enjoyed looking at my hostas popping up through the ground every year, and flourishing into full green hardy plants.  They are just beautiful every year now.  One might even see me out there raking up around them, keeping their beds clean.

Don’t get me wrong.   My yard still does not look like my in-law’s did. (They have since moved.)  In fact, my yard is a sore sight at the moment.  Where we live, the earth is extremely sandy. We had some major home construction about 2 years ago, for an addition to help accomodate our suddenly-bigger family, and my little green yard has not been the same since.  I will never forget seeing that excavator climb up the hill of my Junipers from the driveway, and gracefully crawl across my yard, completely unearthing everything in it’s path.  I think my mouth just hung open. That was just the beginning, and well, the yard has been secondary to finishing the inside of our home ourselves. But the hostas and tulips are a beautiful distraction from the mess of the rest.

Speaking of, the destruction of construction brings me back to the story of my tulips. I had planted some tulip bulbs over by the tree, around the same time of my half-hearted domestic efforts, many years ago.  I always loved tulips, enough that the thought of having some in my yard gave me enough ambition to actually plant some.  To my surprise, they eventually came up! But in the process of our construction, and the need to relocate lots of sandy grassed-earth, formerly know as our yard, the sandpiles were dumped on the location of my tulip bulbs!  Looking at the pile that was several feet high, I thought “Well, that’s the end of my tulips!  They are buried for good now!”

I was so very wrong.  Amazingly, to me anyway, those tulips made their way all the way up from the ground, through several feet of sand, and broke free into the air, to grow and flourish once again.  Their leaves are a little more tattered, but I can appreciate what they have gone through; their long and difficult journey, to get where they wanted to be.  They truly make me reflect on us, as a family.  We have been through a lot in our family life. Just difficult circumstances and the kind of struggles we wondered if we would ever get through.  But with what faith in God we had, and, well I won’t say patience, but perseverance, we always did make it through.  Just like many people and families in this world, who got through the difficult events that are all part of God’s greater plan, we prevailed. We’ve come out stronger, feeling all the more blessed, and have a bit more clearer perspective on life, than before. Like the sprouts of the tulip bulbs buried many, many yards below the surface, we looked UP.  We reached for the Light, looked to God for some strength and determination.  We believed, and persevered.  And eventually, we reveled in the reward that was ours.  Feeling, and living, and reveling in the glory of God.

So there is beauty in those tattered and nubby buds.  Spring and budding promise. As the photos below from last year testify, just LOOK what we have to look forward to…..

hostas

yellow and orange tulips

yellow and orange tulips

tulip close-up with water droplets

yellow and orange tulips

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to usb] and persevere in running the race that lies before us 2 while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12; 1-2

 

Filed Under: Faith, Life In General, Photography, The Big Picture, The Homestead Tagged With: buds, Christian-faith, Faith, flower photography, flower photos, flowers, Hebrews-12;1-2, hostas, photography, seasons, spring, thoughts-on-life, tulips

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