After school this morning, we loaded up and headed out to a Mennonite farm in Kentucky that grows and sells THE best hydroponic tomatoes. After we left there (loaded with tomatoes...and okra, although I have NO idea what to do with it -- she gave it to me cheap because I told her I was experimenting with it, and SHE had no idea what to do with it either!), we stopped at another (absolutely BEAUTIFUL) farm's little produce stand and picked up some squash, eggplant, peppers, and sweet potatoes as well as the pickles the girls begged for -- how could I resist? I also got them some pickled beets. :)And then we went to the commissary. Talk about culture shock! We went from being closer to the immodestly dressed, liberal end of the spectrum to being closer to the oddly over-dressed, strangely conservative end of the spectrum in less than half an hour and about 10 miles.
It was a wonderful, thought-provoking adventure -- and we all learned a lot too! We learned about bees, horses, and a little about life as a farming family. We learned about vegetables, politeness, and the vast variety of southern accents. (Ever heard English spoken with a German accent strongly, well, accented with a southern drawl? It's an adventure in linguistics all on its own!) And last, but not least, we learned that we can live in Tennessee but still be close enough to "KEN-tuck" (there's a story behind that!) to go there, at least according to Anya, "any time we want to!"
