I did not realize I would be posting a picture of this, but I am and you will have to read through the post until you get to the story of this.
I am sorry I had to start out this post in such an awful yet hilarious way but I thought this would be the best way to start it!
Mama and I went to Market today. I think alot of people were buying gifts to give to others, so we did really well. I am not saying this is a boastful way at all. I think God is blessing Mama's efforts very much so. She had made up some little felting kits and some felt canvas's. Those sold out and now she is busily making more! I think this is such a nice winter pastime for us to do together.
This here is only a section of the massive building the market is in. I don't have a picture of the whole building... I don't know how I could get the whole thing! Anyways, this building is very old and it used to be used for people who needed special care. There are barns on the property so that way the people could do hands on things. The would milk cows and the milk they got was the milk they drank. Same with chickens- they raised their own eggs. Of coarse there were other people who ran the place too. Well after awhile the state shut them down. The buildings were not kept up and the windows were broken in the buildings. Basically, the building were in really bad shape. Now, about five years ago some Italian people invested in the whole thing and they are fixing it up. They are doing an amazing job! Alot of the buildings are fixed but some of them are still needing repair. They have businesses within The Village (as it is called). There is alot of very nice businesses. They also have residents living within the village. And everyone there is supporting sustainable agriculture, local, and organic. I don't mean organic like what most Americans think of organic. No, organic means from the earth (or ground). So it means that the food, and whatever else is directly from the earth without any chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and all that terrible stuff to hinder it's growth and go right into it and hinder your growth and systems when you eat the stuff! I don't want to go on and on about this although I think I very well could! So I think you may get an idea of the place we are in. They are encouraging us small farmers in what we are doing in sustainable agriculture. And they have hosted a year round farmer's market which is very nice.
This is one of the peeks...
Here is the market from the view of our table. If you were to look to the left there would be another hall which leads to more venders. If you also keep walking strait to the end of the hall pictured below and hang a right, you will find even more venders!
Mama's table...
Among the venders we don't have names. We are known by our products! There is the emu lady, the wool lady, Gerard's stand, Anna the soap lady, the pie man... there are many more!!
This here is "The peanut butter lady" This is the lady who started "Naturally Nutty gourmet nut butters". I believe she ships to 40 states so some you may have tried her delectable nut butters!
Does her nut butters sound familiar to you at all? If you have tried her butters, let me know! And also if you have tried her butters, and have never met her, this is a picture of her and her display...
This here is Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery. They are serving hot natural leavened pizzas! They looked SO yummy, bit we did not get any today. Their bread similar to ours but their method is different than what we do and of corse every baker has their own unique bread with the exception of Aunt Millies and the bread that is that strain because those don't really fall with in he category of "a baker" they should be considered a factory. To see their bakery in progress on a video click HERE. I don't care for the music in the background, so you can turn your sound off as there is not really anyone talking about what they are doing.
This is a lady who really liked the wool headband. You can see it under her hat. It is gray tones.
This is about how much snow we have at this point. It was snowing beautifully all day today!
This is part of the big hill that goes up into the Marilla Heights where we live. It is SO lovely. Don't you think?
The pie story:
Remember I said I made a vanilla cream pie yesterday? Well, I made meringue to go on top and I put it in the oven to brown. After it baked for 15 min. I thought I'd but it under the broiler to darken the tips of the meringue a little. When it was in there, I ran into the back room to grab some potholders and the camera as I ran back I called Grace who was upstairs to come down and take a picture of me holding the pie. I ran in the kitchen opened the oven and said "never mind, Grace I don't need a picture of me holding it, it burned" But I took a picture anyways... for you and I to laugh over so go ahead and laugh all you want! :)
"HA! HA! HA! HA!" (that's me)
I peeled of the burnt meringue which tasted terrible and what my brothers and Daddy thought...
...was good, until they had a few licks and then pronounced it disgusting with a bad burnt flavor!
I made more meringue... yes! I did! I did, even though my brother said "Hannah let's just have it with no meringue!"
Nope! I made it over again! No broiler, no nothin' other than what the recipe said!
Our neighbor unexpectedly stopped by and we all enjoyed the pie (which everyone said turned out very well :) with lemongrass tea!
Ta Da!
By the way, I'd like to know your thoughts on organic and sustainable agriculture!
We have to focus on Jesus and not get caught up in it all and let it be our life though!
Jesus is our LIFE! Hallelujah!
5 comments:
What a wonderfully interesting post Hannah!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your market! It helped so much to be able to picture it in my mind. See, several years ago, we went to the farmer's market in Napoleon every week (year around) to sell our cream, herbal salve, and home-baked bread. The market is all out doors though, so in the Winter we had to sit in the van and keep it running the whole day. I was trying to imagine what your market was like, but now I see it is quite nice!
What a funny pie story!!! I'm glad you said you didn't mind if people laughed, because I was laughing whole heartedly at the way you wrote about your poor pie (and the picture of it). :) Those things happen.....
As I think you already know, our family farms Organically and believe in truly organic foods! We attend the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society's annual convention and learn so much there every year... Have you ever heard of Azure Standard (out of Oregon)? Well, they sell mostly organic products and there's a trucking route that comes our way once a month. We try to get a lot of the foods we can't grow through them and now we have several other friends that do the same. I'm not sure if they deliver out your way or not, but you could check on their website if you liked: http://www.azurestandard.com/.
I'd best get my day started!
Before I go though, I'd just like to thank you for all the times you leave encouraging comments on my blog!!! You're and Grace are such a blessing to me!
Love,
Cora
PS. The pictures of the snow on the way up to your place were truly lovely!!!
Great post! That pie story was really funny. I've never made meringue before, but it sure is delicious.
Well, I'm not really the most knowledgable person when it comes to raising your own organic food and all... but my family and I have been doing our best to eat only organic foods since my Dad started having major health issues in May. We raise our own chickens and eat their eggs. We also want to eat some of the chickens themselves, but we haven't done that yet! As I think you already know, we're also raising a bull calf to butcher for beef. We've tried growing a garden twice out here, but it's never worked out very well. So we gave up on that idea! :D Instead, we just buy organic fruits and veges from the grocery store. We also use organic sugar, whole wheat non-enriched flour, etc. We've just read up on and heard a lot about how terrible processed foods are. It's shocking when you realize what all is actually being put in them. We feel like one of the biggest reasons for cancer and major health problems is because of the bad stuff we put into our bodies. In August was when we actually started doing this... and honestly, we haven't been doing very well lately. We've been eating a lot of sweets and going out to eat occasionally. So this reminds me that we need to do better again! Oh, and we also only drink water. (That was one of the hardest things to change because I hate water and I love soda! lol)
Anyway... sorry for such a LONG comment! Hopefully you'll be able to make some sense out of it. :)
Blessings,
~Taylor
PS, we also went on a Candida diet for 6 weeks in August! (I don't know if you know what that is.) My Dad's doctor suggested that we do that to get rid of the extra yeast in his body. So we did it... and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done!! Even after the diet was over the doctor said we should still avoid eating sugar, potatoes, and dairy products. (We haven't really been sticking to that very well lately!) :( We really, really need to start doing better! :)
I hate driving down that hill in the winter. ::shivers::.
Fun post, Hannah!
I was scared of it too when we first moved here, but now I like it! It is really fun to go down riding in the back of my bro in law's duce 1/2! We even would go down it in the winter in the duce too!
Thanks for commenting!
A very fun and interesting post Hannah! We would love to be able to live totally organically, but at this point, it's just not possible for us - we don't have the land or means for it. We do try to raise a small garden every year, and lots of folks around here do big gardens, and give us produce! We have a few peach, pear, apple, and pecan trees around and try to take full advantage of them. We also have some chickens, but they are getting old so we don't get as many eggs as we used to. We need to get a new batch - home-grown eggs are so much better! We do alot of our own baking, seldom go "out" to eat, and drink only milk, water, juice, and tea except on very rare an 'special' occasions when we'll have soda :/ yea, I know... terrible ;)
I love your new blog look!
Hope you are having a blessed Sunday!
SOLI DEO GLORIA!
-Kyrie<><
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