Time Out

I’ve been neglecting the blog lately. Fortunately Ann’s done more than her share at keeping things going, not just by writing but also by cooking some great meals so that she has something to write about.

We just take things as they come with the blog, not really planning any posts in advance, other than Ann needing to plan meals about a week out when she goes to the grocery store or farmers market. As for the writing, we just each write whenever we feel like it. At times it’s been pretty even, as I was writing about our outings to get the ingredients, and Ann was writing about the cooking end of things.

We don’t push or limit each other. Only once, in the beginning, I asked Ann to change a post about some nasty rice I made because I felt it gave our readers an inaccurate portrayal of my overall ability as a rice maker, and  a cook in general. And once Ann asked me to change a post, because as written it probably would have gotten our blog a Mature Content –Adults Only rating due to extreme graphic violence against squirrels. She had to remind me that women do read the blog.

But now I need to catch up. About three weeks ago we made a trip down to the farm, and although our time there was very short, we made time in the evening to go down to the pond and get out the little boat with both the boys. We weren’t out there long, but Ann brought in a really nice bass before it got dark.

 I cleaned it that night and put it in the fridge. The next day, Memorial Day, we headed down to Elephant Rocks. Henry had been there with a friend once, but it was Oliver’s first time. We then moved on to Johnson Shutins for some swimming. There was a big Memorial Day crowd there, but it was still fun, and we couldn’t drive past it without giving Oliver a chance to experience it. We finally ended up at Pulltite Campground, a National Park Service campground on the current river.

The next day we floated from Akers Ferry back to Pulltite. We had brought fishing gear with us, but with the four of us in one canoe we decided to keep it simple and not fish during the float trip. We did see several trout, hog mollies, and more small groups of gar than I had ever seen in my life. Not to mention a few families of baby ducks, muskrats, a mink, deer, turkey and just about anything else you can think of that you might see in the Ozarks.

Although the campout and float trip didn’t contribute anything to the Cooking Wild project, it was a great family outing, and something we look forward to doing more of.

Upon my return, I came down with a wicked summer cold that had me in shaking under multiple blankets on 85 degree days. It took a couple weeks to get over it, and during that time I was also in the middle of my busiest time of year at work.

But I’m all better now, and beginning to get caught up at work, so I’m looking forward to getting back at it. Our remaining to-do list for wild edibles is starting to get short.