I Heart Saturdays!

Today has been a busy, yet relaxing day.  We started by arriving at the cinema parking lot in The Village to pick up our produce co-op haul. We are members Bountiful Baskets, which operates in three states in this region. Each week that you want to participate, you contribute $15 for a share of the produce. There are also often optional purchases, such as bread loves, special produce packs (like ethnic ingredients), or deals on large quantities of one particular item (like strawberries or mangoes).  The produce comes from small farms in the region and in Mexico. While it's not always organic, it's definitely better than the crap sold in the regular grocery stores, and the price is AMAZING! The quantity of the week's share is always huge, and we often share with Mrs. Igor (she is also a member, so sometimes just one of us gets a basket to split) or with GolfDad.  Here's a picture of this week's bounty:

There were two butternut squash, a small seedless watermelon, about 3 pounds of bananas, three pounds of apples,  about 2 pounds of peaches, about 10 small limes (great for poking into water bottles!), a pound or so of Brussels sprouts, 6 ears of corn, a bag of baby carrots,  around 2 pounds of tomatoes, a pound or more of mangoes, and a head of green leaf lettuce.  ALL for only $15!!!

I love the community aspect of the co-op - in the few minutes it took us to pick up our basket, we saw our neighbor from across the street and two teachers I know.  I also like that my money is working with my neighbors' to support smaller farms, and that the big companies are cut out of this process. LOCAL ECONOMY!

After picking up our basket we headed to the Big Town to the Ancestor's Square Farmers' Market.  We bought two kinds of fabulous raw milk cheese - Desert Heat and Gruyere - from a local farmer/cheesemaker (love him and his wife!), a pint of precious baby strawberries, a loaf of asiago sourdough bread, and a dozen fresh eggs in varying shades of brown, cream, white, and light green.  

Farmers' Market purchases

After that it was off to Costco for a few staples, including gas for the car. Gas is up to $3.05/gallon for 87 octane now in our area. Boo.  The most exciting purchase at Costco was three pounds of organic ground beef for a little over $12.  The beef comes from South Dakota. I wish it didn't travel so far, but local organic beef is not really available here.  I've found one source, but the ranch won't have any available until at least mid-June, and you have to buy a really large quantity. Not sure of that's in the cards for us.

After Costco we came home to put everything away and regroup before heading to GolfDad's to do some chores. Niece showed up before we headed out again, and she insisted that we had to IMMEDIATELY have a funeral for the dead mouse she'd found in the gutter the day before. She had made a beautiful, sparkly gravestone and everything... Ooooookay... Mr. Mamie fetched a shovel, while I got the camera for documentation purposes.

Digging the mousie grave.

Niece shows the sparkly headstone she made for the mouse.

GolfDad is gone on his big driving tour of the USA, so we have to go over daily to "sit on the cats"... well, not literally cat-sit, but rather, feed and water them and clean out the litter boxes. There are also tomatoes to water daily, and grass to mow weekly. Today while Mr. Mamie mowed Niece and I got out all the summer-colored candles, coasters, Kleenex cozies, bath towels, table runners, etc. that Wombat has made and collected over the years. I have to say that the house looked much fresher and nicer when we were finished!  We decided that next weekend, just before GolfDad returns, we'll re-plant the big pots on the back patio (which currently hold wilting pansies) with some summer flowers. The experience ended happily, as no one was clawed (today, at least) by CrankyPants aka Mom's cat, Snickers... he's gotten exponentially meaner since she's been gone, and he's not happy about GolfDad's temporary absence, either.

A brief mention here of our trip to The Walmartz - we needed a couple of hardware-ish items and a can of olives and pineapple tidbits for our pizza dinner. Walking back to the car, Niece was carrying the bag with the can of pineapple... and klutzy Mamie kicked it while wearing flip-flops... and now I have a pineapple injury on my toe. Wah.

After getting home again, it was relaxation time. Mr. Mamie took a big, long nap while Niece and I headed out to the patio. if you're wondering, Nephew was zoning out in front of the TV, having just returned from a Scout camp-out.

Niece played in the pool with her coconut shell turtles...

 ...while Beagle lounged under the table...

 ...and GrandmaT knitted...

 ...and Mamie read (using the Kindle app on my iPod Touch).

We ended a nice Saturday with pizza and movie night: Create-your-own for GrandmaT and the kids; Mexican Pizza for us; and a showing of The Goonies! YAY, SATURDAYS - I heart you!

Mexican Pizza, YUM!