Some days I feel really old!
I have committed to myself to find a good butcher shop and another green grocer near home--so today was devoted to that end.
There are still a few butchers in the area and I tried the first one this morning---the jury is still out on him but there is promise. The need to do that is the closing of our butcher up at the cottage---who had supplied virtually all of our meat (beef, pork, and poultry). I am still sad about that. The business was 102 years old, all in the same family and it just seemed like the current owner (about 40) got tired of it:dunno:
The search for a local green grocer took me west toward Lancaster. In 1972, I was doing a project for M&M/Mars north of Lancaster and I found an excellent Old Order Mennonite family along my route that had a stand out front. I stopped there at least once a week in summer and fall. I not only got all of our vegetables I got our bread and on occasion a pie or cookies---baked in the wood fired stove/oven.
The stand was always tended by one of the daughters who was maybe 15, cute as could be, with blond pigtails and always a warm smile. She would run out of the house, in bare feet, when a customer stopped. It seems strange to me, but today her replacement would more likely be wearing flip flops!
As I was thinking about this trip last night, I thought of her---and realized that she would now be 62---and her grandchildren could well be tending the stand:jawdrop:
So---today the former stand is still there---but empty. It has been replaced by a pole building behind the barn of probably 40' x 40'---and has a variety of fruits and vegetables far beyond that of 1972. Today's buys included jalapenos, Cheyennes, and habaneros (I bought four pint boxes at $1 ea., which was all they had out). Green beans, bell peppers, cantaloupes, peaches, corn, tomatoes---including heirloom varieties, candy onions--and a flower for the bride:smokin:
At the counter were two young girls--about 15 but they were not daughters of the owners---I did tell them the story. Another change, one of the girls had braces on her teeth---something that would never have happened when I was young. That would be seen as far too vain.
So---the peppers are mostly in the dehydrator, and for dinner will be a nice looking steak, corn on the cob and sliced heirloom tomato :smokin:
All in all--it was a productive day:getdown:
