Eat locally

Today was mind-meltingly hot. I mowed the lawn in the morning while it was only a mere 80 degrees out. Then I escaped to the air conditioned comfort of home depot where I purchased two gallons of paint (finally, the special Craft Room Blue!), three packages of mole death, and nine bags of dirt. Yesterday I worked on the last bit of driveway work that needs to get done: the conversion of the triangle of driveway now turned into a planting bed. Many hours of a woman and her pickaxe, sweaty and tired. I stripped the stubborn gravel out of the bed and today realized that Nine Bags of topsoil is not nearly enough. I will take the wheelbarrow out into the woods tomorrow and dig up more dirt to hopefully top things off.

The moles are totally out of control. Our backyard looks like a scene from Caddyshack. Soon I will start crafting small woodland creatures out of C4. Since we moved in, I have progressed from an all-natural hot pepper deterrent, to a buried buzzer thing that supposedly made the area too unpleasant to live in, and finally to The Gas. Yes, I know that it only makes the moles go away for a while and then new ones come, but at least it does *something.* None of my natural remedies made a whit of difference. So whenever I see a new freshly dug mound I tramp back there with my stick of death and my lighter and try to win one for the humans.

backyard section, june

backyard section, yesterday

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Late this afternoon I met up with Kristie and we went to the Duvall farmer's market. One booth had wonderful tiny local strawberries. They taste great but it's the smell that is almost overwhelming-- so purely strawberry-ish that it hovers on the cusp of being fake. My kitchen smells like Strawberry Shortcake-doll factory. As I was twisting the stems off they got a bit juicy and it was the consistency of nectar. Sticky sweet. They are now in the fridge macerating with sugar and lemon juice in preparation for jam making. Too hot to do that now!

The first part of my dinner came from a produce booth. One head of butter lettuce, tightly furled and just the size of my fist. I cut the bottom core off and put the whole thing in a bowl for a salad. The rest of my dinner was one of the joys of the farmer's market. The unexpected! There was a woman there with coolers of fresh oysters, caught yesterday in the Hood Canal and ridiculously cheap (though I had to buy a whole bag of 24, they were only 50 cents apiece!). On such a hot day a plate of icy cold and sweet fresh oysters sounded just perfect. I shucked sevenof them and mixed up some cocktail sauce and had an elegant dinner all by myself. There are still 17 oysters mumbling quietly in the refrigerator under a wet cloth. Oysters rockefeller tomorrow, perhaps?

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Eggs laid in the coop today: 2
Eggs found in the woods today: 0