A Fallon Woman

Kerry and I drove to Fallon today along with our neighbor Gretel to visit Carol who was just hired as the director of the Churchill County Library system.  She found this adorable house two blocks away and walks to work.  She still comes home on weekends.  It's 95 miles and an hour and three quarters one way.

I'm always amazed at the dynamic in their household.  Carol and Harry grew up with Kerry in the town of Rosetta, PA - if you read Malcolm Gladwell's book the Outliers, then you have a sense of the family loyalty here.  

She's certainly got her work cut out for her. It's a charming library, built in the 60s but it's plagued with an asbestos problem that's so pervasive that they're raising to money to build a new library and raze this one. These old IBM Selectric should give you some idea of the age of the building.

They have a fantastic Friends of the Library bookshop and we all brought books, but I loved this sign.  Someone has a sense of humor. 

We wanted to see Carol's house and her library but we also wanted to visit Lattin Farms. Kerry and Gretel wanted to pick raspberries for jam

They picked for a couple of hours while I lolled in the car, reading a book club book on my Kindle, me and the flies.  I'm not a canner and I knew what I came for - tomatoes.  I got 60 pounds of beautiful red orbs for $20.  I'll blanch and freeze them as two cup per freezer bags.  It's been a bumper crop for them this year.  Lattin Farms is where our CSA box comes from and Mike the delivery guy told me last Tuesday about this three-for-two deal.
This is how they get so much food in this inhospitable climate.  They use hoop houses that are Washoe Zephyr wind worthy.  The one on the right was filled with basil and other herbs.  The one straight ahead is all tomatoes.

I came across these ladies, shucking garlic.  I know they're grateful for the work, but the lady on the left told me that stench never leaves you.  It permeates your clothes and your skin.  She said her sister told that she makes her eyes water.  Nevertheless, they were cheerful.  All those boxes are filled with garlic.  This farm is completely organic on an impressively small footprint, contributing to their local economy and I love being a part of their enterprise.

You might think we were at just another fruit stand but the place was teeming with activity.  People popped in buy two melons and then were on their way.
They had many displays of Halloween pumpkins, gourds and squashes.  We learned last year these crazy things are delicious and seeing this, I assume we'll get squashes in our CSA box very soon.

Gretel's husbands has a large greenhouse and she cans about 200 jars of food each season.  She was along for the visit and the berries.  She's offered to loan me her dehydrator so I'll pick it up Sunday.  I bought six melons from the very ripe discount table and would love the dehydrate them.

Years ago when my parents lived in Fallon I had a dehydrator and would dry all the fantastic produce my folks brought to town.  Nothing was on the dehydrator shelves by the time the cycle was finished.  My kids kept "sneaking" it in advance.  They thought they pulling the wool over my eyes and I was thrilled to see them eating so much fruit.  I appreciate Gretel's offer and her advice.  I think I might need one.  Dehydrated minced onions??

So this post was done on the new blogger interface which I'm a long way from understanding.  I bought a new laptop on Tuesday and I simply couldn't find the old interface.  I can find it on my old laptop but that defeats the purpose entirely.  I hope I get better.