Dreams, Moments, Travels
Yesterday before stopping at Chile Acres we did some veggie collecting at Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm. Had to get there early as stuff flies off the stand. Bought the last of the mizuna greens, got two large bunches of collard greens, a big bag of heirloom spinach, a few pounds of beets, blue potatoes, some bell peppers, various Choy greens, and a whole lot of these beautiful carrots.
Special days require special events and on this, the 14th anniversary of the day we exchanged our marriage vows, Caroline and I hung out with the old goats. The alarm shook us from our slumber before daybreak so we could drive southwest watching the sun creep over the horizon on our way to Tonopah, Arizona for a visit to Chile Acres. Celia and Jimmie are the proprietors of Chile Acres; they invited us to stop by to meet the chickens, the Saluki dogs they raise, a small herd of horses including some very cuddly foals, a dozen cats and various dogs hanging out on the porch, a rooster, and the goats. Caroline is seen here giving a scratch to Bubbles – these have to be the friendliest goats we have ever met.
On Saturdays, when Tonopah Rob is not selling vegetables at the Phoenix Public Market you can find him manning his farm stand out in Tonopah, Arizona. Caroline and I paid him a visit and brought home salad greens, arugula, jalapenos, purple bell peppers, eggs from his chickens, and some Asian eggplant. Rob gave us a thorough tour of the grounds where we eyed some fantastic-looking veggies growing out in the desert. Sometime in the not too distant future, I will be making a very early morning trip to the farm to grab some more photos and see if I can’t pull together a story about Rob’s natural farming techniques to post on my other website – HappyBumbleBee.
After years of eating horrible peaches from the big grocers and the occasional sweet but expensive organic peaches from Whole Foods, I would have never guessed that great-tasting peaches were growing here in the desert. Thanks to Apple Annie’s for the wonderful treats.
Headed down south with my mom Karen and sister Amanda for some apple picking at Apple Annie’s in Willcox. Willcox is about 85 miles east of Tucson in the southeast of our state of Arizona. We picked about 45 pounds of apples that will be made into dehydrated apple rings over the next week or so. Asian pears, red bartlett, and peaches were also ripe for the picking, so a few pounds of those came with. From the orchard, we made our way to the vegetable farm for some tomato picking, along with some peppers. The 28 pounds of tomatoes will be made into tomato sauce and ketchup, the peppers will be pickled and canned.
Attention: Some images had to be moved around, and additional information needed to be added to these 4-days as when I first blogged about this trip, it wasn’t in my head that exacting placement of details should be very precise as long as we had an idea of what was what. Well, here I am in November 2022 with COVID-19, repairing those bungles because I’ve got nothing better to do.
A lot happened between yesterday afternoon’s last photo and this photo of four jars of raspberry lavender jam and four jars of raspberry mango jam. Caroline and I are spending a long weekend at Lavender Spring Ranch in Arabela, New Mexico, as the guests of Cliff and Bess Crouch – who turned out to be wonderful hosts. Our lodgings are in a converted barn featuring a two-story custom-made apartment with two big bedrooms and an equally big living room and kitchen – each room is 25 by 25 feet. It being monsoon season, and with a chance for storms, we went directly to work yesterday after we got in. With no time to waste, there was no time to document things. But from my old itinerary, I can share that dinner last night was a hot vegetable curry with spiced noodles using veggies from the Crouch’s garden. Breakfast this morning was fried tomatoes with marinated halloumi cheese; maybe you can tell that Caroline was still a vegetarian at this time.
Done with those things, the geese arrived to bring us out for more veggie picking
Cliff and Bess live in the puny two-story house on the right, while our apartment of gargantuan proportions is over in the red barn on the left.
We are here for raspberries, lavender, beans, corn, and squash, along with some rest and relaxation. The former was easy to get, although hard on the back; the latter never came as work was the order of the day.
Once the raspberries and lavender were had, the cooking, canning, and freezing began. Caroline helped with the occasional washing of something or other but had brought her homework along that required her attention. Meanwhile, I made jams and sauces, cleaned, prepped, froze, cleaned some more, and then made dinner. Nine pounds of raspberries were far more work than I anticipated, and I will sorely need a short vacation following this short vacation.
While staying at Lavender Spring Ranch, we had some time away from cooking and homework to smell the flowers and talk at the various creatures roaming the farm. Not much was said to this butterfly, well except maybe a thank you for letting me take this photo before it fluttered away. The farm, not far from Ruidoso and the historic village of Lincoln, is situated at the eastern foot of the Capitan Mountains, with its peak stretching up to 10,083 feet. Bees were abuzz throughout the raspberry patch but paid us no attention as they flew about intoxicated by the sugary sweet juice of the nectar they had been munching on. Lizards, birds, an occasional mosquito, geese, Patches the dog, catfish, deer, turkey, ducks, and weekend visitors picking berries and veggies were all part of our stay. If you would like to see the farm from a satellite view, click here.
Hmm, maybe Caroline helped more than I first said as I do believe she organized all of these berries so they weren’t touching each other so we could freeze them before bagging them up.
A rafter of turkeys skittishly makes its way from the pond after feasting on corn that had been put out for the resident ducks. The nearly dozen flightless wild birds were just outside the window of the kitchen as I spotted them pecking away at the corn. Quietly, I crept around the outside corner to snap a photo, but that was enough commotion to send them the other way. What did I do? Well, I went around the other way to cut them off and get another photo, but there was fencing and no escape for the turkeys. By the time I returned to my original location, they, too, had found there was no outlet and were headed back my way. With nowhere else to go besides the pond, the turkeys glided right by me, returning to the hills behind the farm.
And off we went, this time to collect some of the ingredients for dinner and obviously some that would be coming home with us.
Corn, green beans, and…
…squash was all part of my dinner plans.
Homemade roasted vegetable stew with course rye bread we brought from Phoenix was on the menu tonight. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a hearty stew recipe that used lavender so that wasn’t part of the flavors on offer this evening.