Harvest Time + Charlotte

Fall is the season where I always start romanticizing life on a farm. All of the animals make for the most envious visions, and then with my sort-of green thumb, the idea of growing things for a living seems fulfilling. Getting back to the land and all.

Then I remember it's vigorous work, all day every day, and I snap out of it. I'll take small scale gardening with my family any day.

Gardening has always been in my blood, as year round, my dad (the master gardener in the family) has the yard packed with all kinds of thriving trees or blooming buds. The summertime also means taking a swing at growing vegetables on top of everything else.

Not acres, but rather a large yard with raised beds was the setting for this summer's most victorious crop. Zucchini is still taking over every meal I eat and corn was feasted on for the entire month of August.

Over the weekend the Fall chill flew in and the growing season came to a close. The final crop picked consisted of two baskets of ripe tomatoes, and three boxes of those that are still ripening. The house is brimming over with recipes for salads, salsas, and sauces, which can also put the surviving basil plants to good use. Margarita pizza mmmm...

[The Haul]

Harvesting is no exception to forget about the movies, and this event reminded me of an old favorite.

For most of my childhood I refused to eat pig products. My first memory of catching someone in a lie is when my dad told me that it was turkey bacon, only to discover in horror, after eating a piece, the "Real Bacon" package in the garbage.

As was true for many other children, this was all due to the fact that I was obsessed with Charlotte's Web. It was E. B. White's fault for making a little piglet so loveable.

As I was picking tomatoes all of these lovely memories about the 70's cartoon movie came floating back to me: I wanted to live on a farm, rescue a pig from being our breakfast, take Wilbur on a swing, and then have him break into song with the rest of the barn yard gang!

This is definitely how my vision of life on a farm gets spun into some sort of fantasy land. I may view the world too much like Kenneth Ellen Parcell...

For your viewing pleasure, the theatrical trailer:



Those songs are still good! I'll sing along while a boil down some tomatoes for a sauce.


On a complete side tangent, I'll also be cooking and busting out the Peter Gabriel after catching a video for this epic night over the weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. I love Cusack for honoring his roots.