Thursday, November 19, 2009

delivery truck

I love old farm wagons and trucks, especially delivery vehicles. You don't see them very often, at least not in our neck of the woods, but every once in a while they show up at farm fairs. There is a wonderfully unique example at the George Washington Carver exhibit: a wagon he took around to local farmers in the south to explain good farming practices, such as the use of manure and legumes to replenish the soil -- I didn't know he was a father of organic farming practices. Scroll down a little on the link above and you can see a picture of it.

Today I transformed my plain-jane minivan into a farm delivery truck. One of our lamb customers, who is also a dear friend from our days in Pennsylvania, buys a whole lamb's worth of meat every year from us. Several members of her family are allergic to poultry and so no turkey for them! Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the crown roast they will be eating for Thanksgiving -- it was truly a thing of beauty; my kids were hugely disappointed in me; you know your kids have a very different frame of mind when they complain that you neglected to show them a particular cut of meat -- before I packed all the various butcher-paper packages up into boxes lined with ice packs, wrapped them all in a comforter, and drove with the AC on to meet her halfway between our house and hers.

Besides her invaluable support of our little farming venture, I also appreciate the fact that this arrangement gives us at least one chance every year to see each other in person and have a cup of coffee together. The same function had to have been served by the old delivery vehicles as well -- a chance to get off the farm and visit with other people, not to mention the deep satisfaction produced by seeing the fruits of your labor provide sustenance to others.

2 comments:

  1. This year's met up was close to perfection Kris. By next year we should have it down. Seeing the boy was an added bonus! Made it back in record time and only had to wait twice for school traffic.

    Mrs. C

    p.s. got the message about the photos, will do!

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  2. Here's a link to two pics of our transformed mini-van:

    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/45/176107700_adc967ba46_b.jpg

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3601535111_a6fc5839f6.jpg

    I can't imagine ever getting a new car with all we put into it!

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