Saturday, April 01, 2006

To market, to market, jigetty jig!


A lovely Cascadia kind of day for the big farmer's market opener. The rain wasn't keeping people from showing up, but it did seem to take longer to get going. It's fun to go in mid-season when all the vendors are there, and booths are full of produce and crafts and plants. It's fun to go back after a winter hiatus and see familiar faces, buy yummies we've been looking forward to for months. Today we got some dark fireweed honey that will go into my latest brewing experiment, and a bunch of fresh-picked nettles we'll steam tonight and top with butter, salt & pepper. Also some beautiful green onions, some dog cookies from our former landlords' bakery, and a big bag of kettle corn.

We also scoped out the outdoor furniture set we need for under the firs. This nice older guy makes really attractive stuff from recycled wood. Last year we got a storage bench from him made from old fenceboards. He planes the wood and gives it a light finish and it's just well-made and nice to look at. The set we saw today is new cedar fenceboards, made into a modified Adirondack style. There is a settee, coffee table, 2 arm chairs and a side table, all for $250! He also makes pieces out of salvaged hardwood pallets. He said lots of shipments come in on mahogany, oak and other hardwoods that just need some TLC before looking like furniture-grade wood. There goes the bank account!

Too rainy for outdoor work today, but that didn't stop one of the hens from laying another nice egg in the coop. I can't wait to build them new nest boxes that they like well enough to use. Right now they lay on the coop floor, in the goat hut, and sometimes...in a nest box.

The hummingbirds are in full pig out mode. I put a 2nd feeder up front, but it wasn't very popular last year. Maybe they don't like the big flowers painted on it, or maybe the east side of the house just isn't the "cool" place to hang out....oh well.

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