How Farms Are Born

This past Monday was a hot, clear, bright day; just ripe for taking an adventure. My dear friend Chimene and her husband purchased land in Chautauqua County last year, not far from the lake. Chautauqua, in Iroquois, means 'where the fish jump' and the lake's large striped perch show how aptly it was named.

Part of the land is being prepared for a store. The building is being framed and the roadway cleared and leveled and soon she will have it open for business, with soaps to items made from alpaca wool, to preserves and produce and more.

This bit of land has all sorts of charm to it. From it's rustic shed to....

...it's far reaching tree line, barn frame, and bee hives, to it's...

...friendly blue house that sits squat across the top of the slope.

Swaths of bushy chamomile peer sunnily out of raised beds.

Juicy cabbages line up neat and orderly.

I had never seen these squash before. Similar to the patty pan, the Yugoslavian Finger Fruit Squash's disk shape has finger-like protrusions and has a rather nondescript summer squash flavor, though there is some mention that it can have a coconut flavor when picked young.

Here is Chimene, plucking up the largest one off the vines. Apparently they grow very large quite quickly.

Speaking of patty pan, here is a small one just budding under it's floral crown. These have been my favorite since childhood.

Plump tomatillos droop under the brilliant sun. These fruits are the base ingredient in Salsa Verde, a scrumptious pale green sauce used as a garnish on many Mexican dishes.

The land is edged with wild herbs like echinacea and blackberries and raspberries. It really is quite the loveliest bit of land I have seen in a long time.