Taking Advantage of Every Summer Solstice Minute

We were only at The Farm for two days and two nights, but it seems like we were there for at least a week.

Here are the highlights:

— Picked seven quarts of strawberries…brought home two (since the rest were eaten or sold out from under me).

— Swam with the kids.

— Collected eggs.

— Picked up the family’s CSA share from Victory Acres…the home of our key mentors and one of the best sustainable models I’ve seen. [Victory Acres is affiliated with Victory Inner-City Ministry, which in part, strives to bring farm-fresh produce to urban areas.]

— Scared deer out of hiding during walks to the river. Was very happy to be covered in bug spray when we inadvertently went on an old, no longer cleared trail through the wetland portion of the property. Almost lost a sandal in the mud.

— Visited with the iFarmer’s family and took a nostalgic supper/ice-cream trip to Ivanhoe’s in Upland.

— Watched “Hot Rod” and ate microwave smores when we were too tired and too bugged out to sit out by the bonfire.

— Sent Future Farmboy, Hoosier Outsider and the iFarmer on a canoe trip down the Mississinewa.

— Hand-cranked vanilla ice cream from an antique maker the iFarmer and I rescued from a neighbor’s garage.

— Took the girls to check out Carolee’s Lavender Days in Hartford City.

So what’s to do next trip? Maybe those broilers we saw plumping up will be ready for roasting.