Archive for July, 2009

Photo365: July 31, 2009 – Farm Share 8

Friday, July 31st, 2009

I love going over to the organic farm on Friday mornings. There’s a bit of a sense of adventure — you never really know what the farm share will be this week — and even in the midst of all the neat orderly rows of garden, there’s always room for a few wonderfully colorful wildflowers.

Wildflower

Wildflower

This week’s share was a very far cry from those first couple of shares where the students spent some time apologizing for the fact that the weather had affected what could be planted and sowed. As I walked over towards the shed this week, there were great bins set out for squash and onions, and a sign saying to take FIVE squash and three onions.

Squash and onions

Squash and onions

I decided to be as adventurous as possible and picked five different types.

Five squashes

Five squashes

With the helps of some friends online, I was able to identify them as five types of zucchini: top light green is a Magda zucchini, middle left is a Floridor zucchini, on top (yellow with green tip) is a Zephyr zucchini, middle dark green one is a Raven zucchini, and the lighter green one at the bottom is a Revenue zucchini.

Next to the table with all the squash was a table with large baskets of greens.

Greens table

Greens table

They had two from the brassica rapa family — basically non-heading Chinese cabbages — that can be added to salads or sauteed in olive oil and garlic, called Vitamin Greens (or Vitaminna) and Tokyo bekana .

Vitamin greens

Vitamin greens

Tokyo bekana

Tokyo bekana

Plus there was what the label said was mustard greens, but I hafta say — they don’t look like ANY of the photos of mustard greens I can find online. Instead they were exactly the same size, shape and texture as the bristly greens we’ve gotten in weeks past called spectrum greens or stir-fry greens. (Since those appear to be generic names for a variety of greens, that’s not necessarily inconsistent, but…)

Mustard greens?

Mustard greens?

And as if three big baskets of greens weren’t enough, the sign said to take TWO baskets of EACH type of greens!!

And that was just outside. Inside there was yet another head of cabbage, more bunches of leaf lettuce and more leeks.

Leaf lettuce

Leaf lettuce

Leeks

Leeks

So, here in week 8, we are a far cry from where we were in, say, week 1 — and rather than having to buy more veggies to get through the week, I am now looking everywhere for ways to freeze and preserve these goodies rather than have them go to waste!

Photo365: July 30, 2009

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

It struck me as supremely ironic, as I was driving home tonight. There on a street corner in a Union County town was this gas station, flying as many American flags as it could reasonably find room for.

And it was Citgo. Owned by Venezuela. And Hugo Chavez…

Irony is...

Irony is...

Photo365: July 29, 2009

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Rain and storms. Storms and rain. We broke the record for most rainfall in a single day today, in the midst of storms that carried high winds and hail and, perhaps, even a tornado out in Sussex County. And I am sooooo tired of wet nasty weather. It drives you indoors, makes you stir crazy, stops you from going out to see what there may be to photograph. All you can do is improvise… like maybe try to capture the rainy commute home…

Through the windshield

Through the windshield

Side view mirror

Side view mirror

Photo365: July 28, 2009

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Sigh… I hired a cleaning service because I finally realized that my time was much much more valuable to me than the money I spend for the cleaners. I have them come in once every two weeks and do the kind of cleaning job that I am just plain flat out not interested in doing. So what happens just before that every-two-weeks cleaning? You’re right… I have some chores to do. I have to gather up all the papers and catalogs and magazines I’ve strewn all over the place during the preceding two weeks, gather up the cat toys so they don’t ALL end up under the sofa and the refrigerator, make sure the cat boxes are freshly changed and not just scooped… and, of course, the laundry has to be done so that there are clean sheets to put on the beds…

Chores

Chores

Photo365: July 27, 2009

Monday, July 27th, 2009

I work in an ordinary run-of-the-mill commercial office building in Newark, New Jersey. There’s nothing special, or even particularly photogenic about it, but what with this photo-a-day project, I’ve shot my share of images there. In January, I grabbed a shot of the old Firemen’s Fund building from the parking lot. In February and in April, I shot a number of images from my 15th floor office window. In June, I got what I thought was a pretty good shot of a nearby building reflected in a puddle in the parking lot. I’ve taken a lot of shots that didn’t turn out well enough to be included in this project. And nobody has ever said a word about my photographing in and around the building… until today.

I was a little late getting out of the office, the light was fading badly, there didn’t seem to be much around to shoot, so I grabbed a quick couple of shots of the building itself while standing next to my car in the parking lot. Put the camera away, started to walk around to get into the driver’s seat, and a voice rang out: “Ma’am, would you hold up a minute please?” Sure enough, a police officer wanted to know who I was, whether I worked there and why I was taking pictures, took my name, the floor that I worked on… A substitute security guard for the building (not the regular, who knows me by name and I her by name) came out, and I still can’t figure out whether he was the one who called the police, or whether he just wanted to know why the police officer was talking to me, but he certainly didn’t vouch for me as a long-time building tenant (long time as in more than 10 years!).

Now it turns out that Rutgers University has taken up space in floors 2-12. The officer was from the campus police and repeatedly told me she was asking me only because, after all, it’s now Rutgers and security is tighter now. (Really? I teach part-time at the law school, six blocks away, and have taken pictures there for years inside and outside the building with security watching and not so much as a whisper…)

I hate to tell the campus police this but… the Rutgers Graduate School of Business is not… repeat NOT… a terrorist target. And they certainly don’t need to be protected from the likes of an amateur photographer who happens to be a long-time tenant of the same commercial office building…  (I now officially want one of those t-shirts that reads: “I am a photographer, not a terrorist.”)

And worse… it isn’t even a very good photo.

NOT a terrorist target

NOT a terrorist target

Photo365: July 26, 2009

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

Spent some time today considering and researching some of the fresh herbs we’ve been given in the farm shares. What do you do with fresh oregano? Fresh mint? Fresh sorrel? Then I spent some time admiring the smells and textures of the herbs. That, of course, let to the camera and the macro lens and, among others, this leaf of sage…

Fresh sage

Fresh sage

Photo365: July 25, 2009

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Had to laugh at the antics of a juvenile red-bellied woodpecker who “flew” over to the suet feeder today. “Flew” in quotes because it really isn’t flying very well yet, nor is it very good at other minor skills, like landing, or moving around on a branch. But when the mourning doves and/or grackles got too close, it showed that it has mastered one useful skill: holding its own and not backing down.

Juvenile red-bellied woodpecker

Juvenile red-bellied woodpecker

Evoking summers past

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

I’ve found myself on more than one occasion lately surprised, simply surprised, at the degree to which the sight or smell of something can be so incredibly evocative of times past. This morning I was at the Cook Student Organic Farm where I am one of those who get a share of the produce, and right outside my car door as I got out was a whole bunch of wildflowers… simple Queen Anne’s Lace. And I was instantly transported to Central Virginia, to the farm where my grandparents lived and where I spent every summer from age 4 to 14 or 15. There are prettier wildflowers, for sure, and many many that are more colorful. But this one was (and is) everywhere along the country roads of my childhood, and was one of the few flowers it was perfectly okay to pick any time anywhere without getting scolded.

I didn’t particularly like those summers at the farm when I was a kid. I was the odd man out — declared to be too young to tag along after the older cousins and yet too much older than the next bunch to fit in there. (A 10-year-old doesn’t want to be limited to what the 6- or 7-year-olds are allowed to do, but if they did what I was allowed to do, I was in trouble for leading them into mischief.) But I sure find myself missing those days now.

My grandparents are gone now. My Uncle Billy, who owned the farm, gone. My parents, gone. My Aunt Marianne, my Uncle Monte, my Uncle Barrett, my Uncle Ray… gone, gone, gone, gone. The farm itself is as good as gone… it is to be sold as part of Uncle Bill’s estate. I miss them all, and I miss what we had back in those days.

I miss sitting out under the trees at night, with a campfire, and my aunts and uncles and cousins singing multi-part harmony to old songs and hymns. “In the Garden.” “Little Brown Church in the Vale.” “Goodnight, Irene.” I miss gathering up soda bottles — we’d take them to the general store, cash them in for the deposit and buy penny candy that really cost a penny. If the haul was really good, we’d get ice cream. I miss the long days at the Louisa County pool, where we knew the grownups would tell us it was time to go when my brother’s lips turned blue with cold and the loudspeaker blared out “Walk, Don’t Run,” and “Flying Purple People Eater.” I miss being sent to the drive-in to “chaperone” much older cousins on their dates, and being dumped out on a blanket with the speaker and strict instructions to ignore ANYTHING that happened inside the car (and watching the windows steam up…).

Above all else, I miss the humor and the laughter and the unconditional love with which we were all surrounded.

They were younger, simpler, sweeter days. Days when all seemed as good as a bouquet of Queen Anne’s Lace.

Queen Annes Lace

Queen Anne's Lace

Photo365: July 24, 2009 – Farm Share 7

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Hard to believe it’s already seven weeks of this farm share! The first couple of weeks it was easy to use everything up during the week. It’s getting a bit harder now…

This week we had some of the usual suspects… chives, oregano, onions, even more sorrel (still looking for sorrel recipes!). We also had lavender…

Lavender

Lavender

…and basil (mmmmm… looking for pesto recipes now…)

Basil

Basil

There was yet more kale (more to be blanched and frozen for the winter months!)…

Kale

Kale

…and more cabbage, albeit this week a different variety, a round head rather than cone-shaped head.

Cabbage

Cabbage

There was a smidgeon more broccoli — probably needs to be turned into soup, it’s a bit old, starting to flower.

Broccoli

Broccoli

And there was a whole bunch of lettuce, including green leaf, red leaf and a really flashy type called, not surprisingly, Flashy Trout Back Lettuce (well, it is a bit speckled, no?).

Flashy Trout Back Lettuce

Flashy Trout Back Lettuce

Photo365: July 23, 2009

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

The weather in July overall hasn’t been all that bad… not like it was in May and June when it wasn’t uncommon to have 10 straight days of rain followed by one cloudy day and another 10 straight days of rain. But it’s been mixed enough, given the horrible wet cold spring, to make everyone here look with jaundiced eye on anything remotely looking like precipitation could fall from the sky. As it did today… No ball game tonight in Newark Bears field, that’s for sure…

Rained out...

Rained out...