Fresh Picked

Tonight, I pickled some beets.

Ha! I bet there's no way you could have expected that's what I was going to say. But it's true; I did. (And I've never uttered that sentence before in my life, so it's sort of a first for me too.)

By telling you about the beets, it's kind of like I'm giving away the end of the story - a story that begins with a trip to a farm, and insanely happy boys, and picking, picking, picking until we literally couldn't even carry any more in our very large wagon. But I mentioned the pickled beets first because I'm hoping that they will allow us to keep the memory of this unbelievably fun day for a long time.

So we drove out to the picking farm first thing in the morning yesterday. (Did we need to motivate the boys to get out the door? Of course not. They were dressed and raring to go as soon as they heard the words "farm" and "picking.")

At the farm, you have never seen such big grins on the boys' faces during the tractor ride. And then...there was row upon row of great stuff waiting to be picked. Tomatoes like you wouldn't believe; beets, fennel, cilantro, carrots, raspberries, blackberries, fava beans, squash, and every imaginable kind of pepper. Technically you're not supposed to eat as you pick; you have to weigh and pay for your produce. But how can you pick fresh raspberries or tomatoes and not pop one or two (OK, nine or ten) into your mouth? I'm afraid to say I want a little above my tasting allotment.

Note #1: It was right around the time I took this picture that Luke declared, "This is the best day ever!!!"

Note #2: Here's what the candy cane beets looked like after being peeled and sliced. They were so beautiful it's a pity that the color and delineation fades when they are roasted.

By the end of the morning, I think the boys went a little overboard on just about everything, especially the peppers. How many pounds altogether? When it came time to weigh it all, I couldn't bear to look. Safe to call it just "a lot."

And then today, the cooking began. Here's a list of what I made today: Gluten-free breakfast pizza (part of a Jolly Tomato project), homemade tomato sauce, roasted mixed vegetables (beets, fennel, carrots, onions), and pickled beets. Can you imagine the sheer amount of dish-washing that was involved? That's partly why I had to call it quits. I'm saving the peppers (pictured here, AFTER we already gave a bunch away) and my pepper project for another day.