Who knew you could do that with a deep-fryer?

This afternoon Beardsley played host to a handful of local farmers and chefs as they rubbed elbows and had a free-for-all cookout with farm fresh local produce. Every once and awhile this kind of workplace benefit crops up, and I'm just lucky to have been present. Ryan and Jessica from Organacism Farms put the whole thing together, and even though Mother Nature didn't cooperate, there was a great turnout of representatives from farms and restaurants around Knoxville.

Imagine (you have to imagine since I didn't get any pictures) a throng of salivating foodies huddled under pop-up tents, waiting to get a bite of deep-fried cornish game hen, doused in fiery Aji Dulce hotsauce. Or sauteed sweet potato greens picked minuted earlier from one of Beardsley's raised beds. Or roasted fig leaf wrapped lamb belly, beer-battered white eggplant, oyster mushroom powder-coated deep-fried hard-boiled quail eggs...

Basically these guys were just going crazy with an array of meat, produce, and a deep-fryer. Lucky me.

In other news, here are some tunes I've been frequenting lately:

I say "I think" 6 times in this post.

I've come to realize that this blog has become 90% about things I do, and 10% about things I think. This is strange, because I feel like in my life, I only do about 10% of the things that I think about. For every human interaction I engage in, I've probably simulated 10 interactions. Some people would probably write that off as introversion, but I don't really think that's what the whole introversion/extroversion identity is about. I tell myself and others that I'm not an introvert because I start getting loopy without other people around. Being an extrovert and being gregarious aren't synonymous. Not in my book at least.

So yeah, back to the whole "doing vs. thinking" thing. I think I can chalk up the discord to my perceived reception of the various blog posts. It's easy to throw together a write-up of my latest project and say, "Hey, look at this thing I did!" and post it on Facebook, because I imagine those posts have a more universal appeal than a "I feel like/I think that/I believe in" post. When it comes down to it, I think my primary motivation is to entertain viewers, or just pique their interest and rack up those precious pageviews. I think I can pretty confidently say that little views-over-time graph on the blog stats page doesn't directly correspond to my self-esteem level, but the influence is definitely noticeable.

Man. Even just two paragraphs of this actionless character development is pushing the limits of what I perceive to be the interest level of my audience. Then again, most of the people that actually read these either have a familial obligation to love me or just choose to do so of their own volition, and so they're probably in for the long haul.

I read my friends (I say this, even though "our friends" is probably more accurate for most of you) Levon and Ashley's blog pretty religiously, even though it intimidates me a little bit. He's found that perfect blend of doing/thinking content, and it probably doesn't hurt that he's just a good writer. Also, I would think that his life is just a more colorful story and lends itself to being told easily than my day-to-day goings-on. Of course that probably has a lot to do with attitude and perspective. At any rate, I imagine he has to cut details out of his posts, while I usually have to embellish mine to make them substantial.

So I guess instead of desiring a more interesting blog I should work on having a more interesting life. Or at the very least recognizing that my life is interesting. I mean, you did read this whole thing didn't you? You deserve a picture.

My dad (on the right) was a hipster before you.

A photographic history of a September day at the Farm.

Well, radishes actually. They make good place-setters
for the slow-germinating carrots, and open up the soil .

We seem to have a propensity for phallic vegetables.

Catface.

Shitake mushrooms from our mushroom logs!

Dirty fingernails

Today was a preparation day. An expectation day.

Amending beds with a boost of rotting organic matter. Mushroom compost looks SO good after a rain. The farm looks better after a soaking too. It looks like possibility and life instead of sweat and wilt.

It still surprises me how easily my soul takes to these mundane and repetitive tasks. Sinking a pitchfork into the compacted soil, prying up the malnourished clay, sifting it through the rich compost. Step back, repeat.

No bushy-tailed volunteers begging for direction. The dreary sky drove them away. My fellow farm-hands off somewhere else, immersed in their own task. Fall is coming, there's a lot to do.

The beds are ready for seed, if they aren't already lined with promising sprouts. Harvesting gets all the glory, but planting holds its own in my book.

Today could've gone on another week. It was good.

BBQ or original flavored?

Been saving a lot of seeds at the farm lately. Might as well, right? It's pretty easy with most annuals, and you don't have to buy seeds again next year just to let half the bag spill and fall between the seat in your car. Also, seed-swaps are pretty nifty. So far this season at Beardsley we've saved seeds from tomatoes, zuchini, okra, sunflower, marigolds, purple coneflower (echinacea), and luffa (the dried-out squash-like fruits can be used as sponges). For a more detailed account of seed saving, check out Kat's blog here. Here's some photos from the sunflowers:

"Russian Mammoth Sunflower" next to "Russian (kinda) Average-height Farmer"

We got over 2lbs of seeds from a couple of heads

I made another thing.

1. When Knox and I found those hardwood pallets, I knew I was gonna have to make something out of all those oak slats.

2. I hadn't really broken in my new Mora Craftline yet, besides batoning a couple potatoes with it in the kitchen.

3. The stack of books on our coffee table stood up about as well as your girlfriend at a kegger.

Hence:

That'll do

The legs are notched for easy assembly/disassembly 

Hand-carved pegs secure the (unintentionally spacious) half-lap joint

Can't have that shabby-chic look without rusty nail holes

Next?