Settling Down in My New Town

So...it dawns on me that since my move, not only am I Boymom, I am also now a Boise Mom! It's been great getting to know the city and while I miss Surprise, Arizona and my wonderful friends and neighbors, I honestly have no desire at this particular moment to EVER return to the desert heat that I have endured for years now.  One of these days I'll have to tell you about our ridiculous trip, but I just don't feel like backtracking and reliving the whole thing at this moment.  But there are some really painful hilarious moments I should probably chronicle for future generations, so I promise, I will do my trip post in the nest few days.  I would rather spend my blog time today telling and showing you guys some of the things I love about our new place of residence.

One of the first places we found to eat when we got here is Hugo's Deli.  Hugo's is yummy and the customer service there is awesome. They were very patient with Little Man, who always takes just under a decade to make any kind of food selection and they made sure he had extra pickles, just like he asked.  The owner was there and he was gracious enough to meet and talk to us when we mentioned that we were new in town.  Who does that anymore?  I have a confession to make here:  I forgot the guy's name.  It's not Hugo.  Or else I would have remembered.  How sad is it that he went out of his way to show us some kindness and I can't even remember his name?  I'm blaming it on menopause the stress of the relocation. So yeah...Hugo's and the guy who owns Hugo's rock.  Great sandwiches, nice employees, clean and inviting store.

Another thing I love about Boise? The amazing gardens and farms here! Everybody grows stuff! My granddad's caretaker, Darlene and her brother own a farm. Darlene has a kick-butt garden and everytime I go visit her and Grandpa she loads me up with cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, greenbeans, corn and watermelon.

My sister's sister-in-law (did you follow that?)  went from being a major corporate star in San Francisco to being a major Mommy star and Master Gardener in Idaho.  She sent home some amazing jalapenos, green chilis and tomatoes, from which we made some kickin' salsa!!  We made a huge batch that filled a huge bowl and this is all that is left 3 days later.

I think my body is in shock from all of the freshly grown, nutrient rich fruits and veggies I have consumed in the last 4 weeks.  Seriously, I have probably eaten more produce in the last 4 weeks than I did in the 8 months previous to my my move.  Consequently, even though I feel a little healthlier and more energetic, my gut doth protest at times.  I'll spare you the gory details.  Suffice it to say that I have definitely shown the menfolk in my family that having someone lock the windows so they can't be unrolled after I "release" ain't so funny when it happens to them!  I can't tell you how many times I have fallen victim to this little prank.  I would like to thank all those who have contributed to my recent bout of retribution.  Revenge is...well it's stinky.  But also pretty hilarious.

When I said everybody grows stuff here?  I mean stuff just grows.  Like you are walking down by the river and you see this:

Yeah.  Blackberry bushes just growing by the river.  I love that I can pick a berry and eat it while I am checking out the river and walking the trails.  The river area is getting pretty picked over though, so today we went to The Berry Ranch to pick our own berries. 

Little Man threw a major fit, the likes of which I have not seen since he was about 2.  I have NO idea what he thought we would be doing, but apparently he envisioned something akin to a prison labor camp.  So we pretended to ignore his meltdown, even though secretly I was  plotting a chore agenda that would make his prison labor camp look like a day at the fair.  He finally pulled it together when we pulled into the dirt lot at The Berry Ranch.   We spent about an hour picking blackberries and raspberries and ate a few along the way.  Of course I forgot my camera, so no pics this time in the fields, but here are the pics of our harvest:

Little Man apologized for his behavior and talked the whole way home about how he wants to have a farm so he can grow stuff too.  He talked and talked and TALKED about it.  I know, Little Man.  That would be the goal.  Because then I wouldn't be paying someone else $3.00/lb for berries that I had to pick myself!  Dang!   I think I could have bought them at the grocery store for half that!  But...we had a wonderful day together.  And we supported local farmers who work hard to grow good food for us.  And that?  Was Priceless. 

The Idaho Trip - Part 2

So where did we leave off on the Idaho thing? Oh yeah! Grandpa and Darlene (still waiting for a pic of Darlene form SOMEONE!). Cool elderly people.

Really there is nothing else to talk about that is really exciting, because we didn't do anything really exciting in Idaho. Okay...unless you call stealing some plums off a wayward tree exciting. Yeah...we did. The Big Plum Caper. Before you question my integrity, let me 'splain. First, I didn't take them, my mom did (how's that for shifting accountability?!). Second, the tree was so overgrown with plums that it had broken and the branch we snagged the plums from was hanging over the guys fence into the street. Kind of. It was very, very close to the street. If you kind of pulled over to the edge of the street, onto the gravel. Third...there were about 3000 plums on that tree going to waste because no one, and I mean NO ONE, was tending to the tree or the plums! And you know what? They were de.li.cious.

And I guess you could call our trip to the Golden Corral (mmmm...love their rolls!) somewhat exciting. Actually not so much exciting as educational, because we had a rockin' tour guide who drove us through Nampa to get to the restaurant. His name is Chad. He's Darlene's grandson. He's 26. He's a good kid who works with Fish and Game and knows ALOT about farming and nature and stuff. I asked him tons of questions, mostly because I didn't want him to be bored driving around a van full of ladies that were 20-40 years older than him. I figured if I kept him talking he wouldn't think about how he could bail and leave us stranded on some backroad in rural Nampa. But Chad would never do that. Like I said...he's a really nice guy. Chad's the one who told me about silage (google it)and farming and how they grow seed corn. To grow hyrbrid seed corn, only one row out of five is allowed to keep its tassels. That one row, called the bull row, provides pollen to the heifer rows to produce the hybrid seed. I found it all fascinating. Maybe you don't, so I'll move on. But I'm all about layin' down some knowledge now and again, when I can. So now you have a topic of conversation next time there's a lull..."Hey, do you know how seed corn is grown?" People will be amazed that you know about seed corn. Unless you're in Idaho. Or Iowa. Or Nebraska. So only talk seed corn in the big city, at like an art exhibit. Yeah - your welcome.

Chad and his Entourage

So...back to Idaho. It was not exciting because we did not want exciting. We wanted relaxed. Which is exactly what we did. We went there to see Grandpa. We went to visit him everyday. We looked at pictures and listended to stories about him and his life.

And we puttered around Darlene's garden and we went to Walmart a few times. I know, sounds extremely boring. But it was really just what the doctor ordered. It was sooooo nice to just slow down and enjoy what was around me.

Me and Uncle Max puttering in Darlene's Garden

This particular part of Idaho is farming country, so almost everywhere we went there were farms and the most spectacular old barns, of which I got no pictures. Why? Because my camera sucks. I think I've said that before and NO I have not remedied the situation yet because there is no disposable income for a camera. There is no disposable income for anything!

So I borrowed this picture from Jane Loughney @ travel.webshots.com:



Lots and lots of barns like thise everywhere. Beautiful and sad to see them disappearing.

So back to the farms and such. Everywhere we went someone was growing something! Corn fields were present in abundance, as were melons, tomatoes, squash, sugar beets, pumkins, grapes and onions. It seems like everyone there has a garden as part of their landscaping. They just all grow stuff! Then when we listened to them talk? It was like a live lesson in commodities and futures trading! "So and so down the street bought this field of corn and he's gonna harvest it next week, then sell the silage to the dairy over at Emmett. Then we got 3 contracts of feed corn that we gotta get in and get shipped over to so and so, they're gonna process it sell it to the feedlots in Kansas." It was amazing to see the wheeling and dealing going on and that was just with the corn!

I know...it sounds RIDONKULOUS that I am this enthralled with farming and produce. I just think it's cool. I guess maybe I really am a small town girl at heart. I would be absolutely at peace in a town where there is a Walmart or a Super Target and nothing but acres and acres of farms and fruit trees. As long as I have an internet connection. Hey...a girl's gotta stay connected, right?