early Friday morning

   Thursday afternoon proved to be the perfect time to pick blueberries. I had worked a morning shift at the thrift store and the sun was shining. I looked back on our records from last year to see how many quarts I would pick. I froze nine quarts of blueberries and still had three left in our freezer. (We really like blueberry pancakes...) I decided to pick three quarts and picked at a patch near our church, less than ten minutes away from our house.
   After dinner was eaten and dishes cleaned, I began sorting and cleaning the ripe berries. I had remembered a recipe a friend posted on facebook for Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake and kept two cups of blueberries aside. My plan was to surprise my husband with this breakfast cake for, you guessed it, breakfast the next day. I told him, "There's a cake I want to make and it calls for two cups of fresh berries." "Oh, that sounds good!" he replied. Little did I know that my plan would be foiled due to the fact that when I wrote down the recipe of said cake, it was still on the kitchen table. "Breakfast cake? You are not making this tomorrow." Friday mornings are Farmers' Market mornings. All the greens we bring in and sell are picked fresh (plus, we don't have the 'frige space.) We were also picking beets for the first time this season. I'm not a quick mover in the morning either, so my breakfast cake surprise was not looking good... "You'll have to get up at 5:30 if you want to do all that." "I was planning on getting up early!" I replied. "Well, maybe 6:00 would work, " my husband finally said.
    I took a stick of butter out of the 'frige, programmed the coffeemaker for 5:15, set my alarm for 5:30 am and went to bed.
   As per usual, I groaned as I rolled over when I heard my alarm chirp and 5:30. Snooze... (times three) and I was up.
   I mixed up the cake, put it in the oven and trucked it up to our garden to harvest beets. I had all my beets picked, bunched and washed before my husband came in from the barn. He and I picked and bunched green curly kale, rainbow swiss chard and then he harvested lettuce.
   The cake was so light and delicious! It is from Prego & Mommy Chat on facebook. (And no, I am not pregnant.) It is a keeper recipe, if you enjoy sweet, tender, blueberry goodness. Give it a look.

 

 

 

After our breakfast cake and coffee, I drove off to the Farmers' Market. It was a beautiful morning and many people stopped by our table. I am so thankful for all the people that came and visited with me.

 

 

It's so important to know where your food comes from. If you aren't able to have a garden, visiting your farmers' market is a great way to support local farms.

Earlier this week, when I nestled into bed, I had forgotten to put on some hand lotion. My hands have gotten scratchy and coarse from weeding. "Oh nuts! I was going to put something on my hands because they're cracking." My husband said, "Well, that's what happens when you're a farmer." It's official, I guess. I am a farmer. <3