At Andy's promotion ceremony, Colonel Fransisco joked that it's always nice to "bring your own platoon!" Apparently some of the troops in the Roman Company were more at ease than others. Perhaps some more formation drills are in order? We celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on the 5th of May, kicking off year seven with Andy's recognition of honors on the 6th of May and we've been rolling along ever since! (In case you all are wondering why you have never seen a photo of me on the site, it's because I'm the only one in the family who even uses a camera at all, so I'm always behind the lens. But this time, you can see my hot pink Hanna Anderssen clogs off to the side! Yep, I really DO exist!)
This past weekend we held the first of our Farmer's Markets for the summer. It was a resounding success! The fact that the weather was wonderful alone made it a completely perfect event, even if everything else had fallen apart. But we didn't have any major mishaps, and the vendors did VERY well in sales, while the community came out in full force to enjoy it all. We had a musician, Ben Hassenger of the local group "Blue Jello" playing in the middle of the block, and he is wonderful I tell you. I can't wait for "Life Is Good" to be released soon! Great music.... Since the weather has been such a bugger around here this spring, there's not much yet available in the way of produce, but our vendors with annuals and perennials sold out and had to send for more stock twice! And our favorite berry farmers, Felzke's, brought an extra special surprise this year for us: eggs! Fresh from under the hens! They have 200 laying right now and another 200 that will be laying by the fall markets. HEAVENLY! Fresh eggs are a true treat, and we are so excited to have them at the market finally. Since we will always have the first market be the same weekend as Mother's Day, we are going to do something special for moms every year. This year we gave away free annuals to every mom who stopped by the information booth. This is the scene on a table in my garage the night before at 11 pm:
Stuffing lobelia, pansies, petunias, marigolds, and impatiens into pastel colored cups with potting soil and tying them with ribbons.... The next day they were all lined up in our wagon and on the info booth table just waiting to go home with some lovely woman to be planted and cared for. We didn't want to hand out carnations that would die in a vase in a week. We thought it would be nice to have a more lasting bloom for Mom! It was a big hit--everyone loved the idea, and we had just enough for everyone! Thank you so much, Enchanting Farms! We purchased the annuals from them, and they were very hardy and full of blooms already.
I have tons of photos to show from the market, but I think I'm going to just upload all of them to a flickr group and post a link when I have more time. I am also going to get busy on the market website, too, getting it updated with more current photos and hopefully adding a few more features, but that too takes time and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day anymore!
In the meantime, we have also planted our gardens. FINALLY! I put flowers in one of the front beds, the other has a couple flats waiting to go in yet. The veggie patch out back is planted! We have cucumbers, green bell peppers, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, and watermelon in the main garden, and I have tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers and lavender in containers on the deck. It's an experiment; we'll see if it works or not! 
In related yet not related news: Vermont Organics makes a line of yarns called O-Wool. It's wonderful, by the way. 100% organic, and affordable. In the shop I have the Balance line, and it's a 50-50 cotton and wool blend that has a heathered look to it. Gorgeous, and so soft. Perfect for summer and fall knits. Anyway.... I spoke with Angela at the company the other day about a missing skein and some informational materials, and we got to talking about how it fits into the farmers market season. I told her I even went so far as to put together a display in the shop for the market that included organic gardening books, organic cookbooks, kids' books, berry baskets, and the Balance yarns. She was intrigued, and asked me to send her a photo of the display. So, I did, and she has since emailed back that they are working on compiling these types of ideas to find a new way to market the yarns and that they loved the photo! SO, our little market display may possibly go on to bigger and better things. At least photographically, anyway. I'm actually quite proud of that -- it means I'm actually starting to network with people and companies that are already making a difference but are also trying to find better ways to facilitate change. This was never a written green promise or goal for me, but was always in the back of my mind. I've been continually trying to think of a way to get a dialogue started with an established entity that has clout in order to perhaps do a little good on a larger scale. I know this is only a photo that they asked for, but it's a small start and it gives me big hopes that someday I might be able to be one of those pioneers that really makes a difference. Here's hoping!
Although, along those lines, and in keeping with my green promises and commitment to the farmers market, Kellie and I went to the kickoff meeting for the Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA). At that meeting, I registered not only the market, but myself as a market vendor, as charter members of the organization. Dru Montri is heading up the project and is currently in France studying this very type of thing for her graduate program, but when she returns we are going to meet to discuss ways to get involved and make this organization a real source of strength and support for small farmers, vendors, and organics in Michigan. So much was done to get it started, and now it will depend on that continued zest of the volunteers to keep it going and growing. It's an amazing concept, and one that I am so excited to be a part of! I know, I didn't need anything else on my plate, but this is something I am very passionate about and I'll gladly dump a few other projects just to have the privelege and honor of working with this group of dedicated and wonderful people.
So, that's most of the events of the last couple of weeks. There are others, but let's face it: you can only post so much info at one time before your eyes go blurry! My next post will hopefully have some pictures of the Roman Empire for a change, and get back on topic for a little while. But then again, with the end of the school year coming up next week, it could be a bit before I get a chance to even post! If I don't, at least you already know you will be seeing photos from the school picnic if nothing else...
We have quite the little veggie patch again this summer. I'm known for killing every houseplant I've ever had, but for some reason my little garden does spectacularly. I don't get it! We could feed half of the state of Michigan with what comes out of here it seems like, and I neglect it for the most part. Every couple of weeks or so I go through and do a really thorough weeding job, but other than watering it once in a while I pretty much ignore it. It's getting close to needing a good weeding again. Here is a view from above on the deck, and this is AFTER I picked a bunch of lettuce, jalapenos, cucumbers and green onions to take to the Farmers Market this past weekend! All of it is 100% Organic - not even any miracle grow on this produce. Just compost from last year's produce overabundance, fresh air, clean water, and sunshine. That's it! And check out the tomato plants (from 10 feet up, mind you, that's why the fruit looks a little small. It's actually much bigger). These plants all self-seeded from last year!
This year I tried a little container gardening. Not realizing that the tomato plants would appear out of nowhere, I put some seeds for "Sweeties" tomatoes in pots on the deck. Yeah, we'll be making a lot of marinara and salsa around here! But the plants really add to the atmosphere out here. I love sitting out here in the morning with a fresh hot cup of Beaners Fair Trade Organic French Roast and the sound of the birds singing. We've never really been able to enjoy the deck since we built it since we always had to be up and running around after toddlers. But now that they are getting to be more capable of playing without injury, we can sit out here and watch them on the swingset/sandbox hut without dashing out there every 3 seconds. It's been really nice. So this year we made some additions to the furniture to make it more like an outdoor family room. Just a couple of solar table lamps and side tables that were on clearance sale to go with the other chairs and table/chair set we already had. I mean really inexpensive. $17 tables and $15 lamps. Seriously. It's sitting outside in the elements -- I'm not spending the big bucks at Pottery Barn for that! Add in the geraniums from the garden club fundraiser and the other misc flowers and veggie plants, and it feels like I have an outdoor oasis. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am outdoor kind of gal! May as well enjoy what Mother Nature gave us...
