Hi friends!
I wanna chat some more about my fun Labor Day weekend, so please have some patience with me. This post will be more about the fun things we did around the local area. Maybe it’ll inspire you to hunt down cool experiences in your neighborhoods too!
So, the big thing we did: Fruit picking! We specifically we picked peaches, but we also came home with pluots, tomatoes, jams, grapes and some assorted berries! Plus, apple chips! We had so much fun picking from the trees, and our intention had been to just pick enough to eat and turn into a cobbler the next day (spoiler alert, we went overboard).
Honestly, I highly advise finding a “U-Pick” orchard and/or farm near you, especially if you have kids, because it’s such a fun, wholesome experience, it can be socially distanced, it can be educational, and then you get to eat the evidence! 110% recommend, I’ve been to the fruit stand a bunch before, but had never indulged in picking my own fruit! I wanna plant all sorts of fruit trees now! Somebody block the plant-start sites from the router please, I have no self-control!
We also stopped by so many of the little shops around my town and snuck into our closer mid-sized city for a little Bargain Center hunting too! I found a couple nostalgic games, had a ton fun hunting through everything, and made a friend of the cashier. I love second-hand stores in general, but I highly advise stopping by them when on vacation, because the “junk” is always different than the treasures you can find at home. We were briefly worried my friends finds wouldn’t fit in their carry-ons.
I think I’ve mentioned before that there was a magical little bookstore in town with a shop owner that knew every item in stock and shelves and piles so tightly packed you had to shimmy between them? I think I probably also mentioned that this last year he, unfortunately, passed away, and we all thought that was the end of that magic little store. BUT! Good news prevails! As we were having lunch at the candy shoppe (they sell… real food… there as well, don’t worry, we ate a lot of candy, but we also had substance), we noticed the open sign on the door, and it turns out his friend had taken up the reins! I was so happy! She hasn’t learned the stock yet, and the shelves meet safety codes now, but she has for sure added her own magic with some happy upbeat tunes playing and three cats who alternate between posing in their various cat trees for pets and hopping along the tops of the shelves judging your book choices. It’s a different cozy, but very effective. And we all know I am a big fan of cozy reading nooks. The new layout allowed for a couple little nooks that I will definitely be trying out in the near future.
I also bought two books, because I have legitimately no self-control. One was a Nancy Drew flashlight cover, because I have been slowly collecting antique Nancy Drew books since the plucky detective radically changed my life in the second grade (that’s a topic for another day, remind me), and one was a total impulse, Jimmy Buffett’s “Where is Joe Merchant?”, mostly because I didn’t know he wrote a book. Guys, I don’t even know. I wanna suggest this book, because I enjoyed it, but it’s so unlike anything I’ve read that I don’t know if anyone would love it like I did.
It’s a slightly older book, and definitely a product of its time, that is, be prepared for some political incorrectness, outright cringe moments, and if you are about my age, you’ll have to google at least two political conflicts that I don’t remember being covered in GenEd History. You should also be prepared for the craziness of a 90s action film mixed with a 60s acid trip (or at least what I would guess it’s like, since I am entirely referencing popular media for that opinion). It’s a ride. I’m a casual parrothead, and even Fruitcakes didn’t prepare me for the ride that is this book. Although some of the characters make appearances in both which was delightful.
After a full day of thrift hunting, we stayed in and chilled on Sunday, which allowed us to make some cobbler! It was so fun being in the kitchen with my friends again, we used to have monthly dinner and game nights where we’d cook and play boardgames, and we sorta got to re-create that. So much fun! We ate so much candy and cobbler and had a huge Sunday lunch and ended up crashed on the couches in the den by 7 pm, playing video games together while fighting off food comas. I’ll try to find the original cobbler recipe I used, although I’ll admit, it’s more of a guideline now because cobbler always has its own mind and plans. (Editing Amanda’s Note: Found it! https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/easy-peach-cobbler)
(Side note here to say, remember how I said we went way overboard picking peaches? I just made three more cobblers and after I finish writing this up and they have cooled, I’ll be taking off to deliver those to family members who need surprise cobbler. Always gotta have a plan B for leftovers haha)
The dry and the wet 
Peaches, sugar, and some lemon juice 
Making a mess chopping peaches 
Cobbler!
Overall, it was a jam-packed, super fun, crazy weekend and I started missing my friends before the plane even left. But that just sounds like a good excuse to go visit them and have them come back here! I’m so blessed to live in a place where I can have a little guest space, and there’s fun experiences to be had.
I better head out on my cobbler-based journeys now, but I hope you are all having a lovely day!
Until we chat again my friends!
The Farmer's Blogger 