Local Flavor

We've spent many hours at our desks, building our business, building our vocabulary.  The sunny sky and fragrant life outside became irresistible.  This week in our area, the jasmine is in bloom and the strawberries are in peak season.  It was time for a field trip to Rudd farm.

So we headed off on a whim.  We didn't even make time to pack a lunch at home, but bought some chicken wings and chips at the grocery store on our way out.

We made sure not to eat too much, anticipating what we'd be dining on later in the afternoon.

We were like bears in the woods...

Foraging for fruit in its prime.

The fragrance of strawberries was something that helped me to quit smoking several years ago.  As I worked in the field today, a silent celebration was going on in my heart.  How wonderful to be here, in this moment with my son, sharing an activity that I used to do for my first paid job.

While we picked, we listened to the other gatherers, and tasted another local flavor.  The flavor of a regional dialect, spoken between a farmer and his customers.  Spoken between people sharing recipes and weather predictions.

After our time in the strawberry fields, we took a peek inside the greenhouse.  We learned about the impact that the declining number of bees has on our farms.  Without bees to pollinate the crops, the growers at Rudd Farm used electric toothbrushes to do the work of bees.  I thought this was a genius adaptation.