Fun on the Farm

I never thought I'd spend a lovely summer afternoon at a farm, plucking fruits and veggies from the earth, but that's just what I did today. 

One of my best buds from grade school, Jessica, gave me the tip on Underwood Family Farms, so Will and I joined her and her little girl for some fun on the farm. As Jessica watched me bounding down the rows of carrots and candy stripe beets with the joy of a child on Christmas Day, she said the truest words that could ever be said about the farm: "It's a vegan's paradise."

It really was. I had so much fun picking my own food that I'm already trying to schedule my next trip back. How could it possibly be so fun, right? I'll try to explain. 

First of all, there's the pressure of trying to pick the very best veggies, which is quite challenging in the case of beets and carrots since they're submerged in the earth. That means you don't really know what you're getting until you've already uprooted them at which point, they're yours for better or worse. My first few carrot choices were less than stellar -- the tiny little nubs of orange were a bit underwhelming and threatened to shake my veggie-picking confidence. But then I hit my stride: nice sized and well-shaped carrots, then beautiful earthy beets in yellow and red, and then green handfuls of cilantro and spinach. Why do I turn everything into a competition? I don't know. But I was going for my personal best, and I think I got it by the end of that first round of picking. I'm happy to say that my chosen strawberries and squash are beyond criticism. They are simply gorgeous.

I also really loved the idea of getting my food directly from the source in the most literal sense. Getting my hands dirty while pulling a fat red beet from the soil, inspecting each strawberry in the sunlight before putting it in my crate, and twisting the green squash to wrench it from its base was so satisfying. Much more satisfying than grabbing them from the produce section at Whole Foods. 

And then there was the price. For all that organic produce picked straight from the soil, along with celery and jicama from the market there, we paid a grand total of $14.80. Seriously? I thought the cash register was broken. A vegan's paradise indeed.

Let me know if you want to come with me next time. Potatoes and tomatoes will be in season by the end of the month.