Mail Call: November-December 2008
You Married a Farmer; Babydoll Correction; Garlic Puree Response; All Grown Up; Returning the Favor; and more.
November/December 2008
GRIT staff
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Erin Neufeld humored her nephew by playfully mistaking combines for bumble bees.
courtesy New Holland
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You Married a Farmer?!?
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"You married a farmer? You!?" an old friend recently asked incredulously.
This is Year Three on the farm for this former city-dweller, actress and globe-trotter. The adjustments have been … interesting.
About a month after arriving at the farm, my mother-in-law asked if I wanted help with my flowerbeds. My response was, "I have flowerbeds?" Later, while she worked those newly discovered beds, I decided to tackle using the lawn mower – giving myself whiplash and my mother-in-law a good laugh in the process. It may still be a while before I attempt to master any of the larger farm equipment.
In the beginning, I found it difficult to remember the names of various pieces of farm equipment and buildings. When my husband would tell me he’d be in the Quonset, I’d spend at least 20 minutes looking for him on the tractor, in the workshop, or in the field, wondering the whole time what exactly a Quonset was. Now I know it’s that rounded building down by the tractors.
My 2-year-old nephew and I were walking around the yard one day, and he started asking me the names of various machines. I entertained him by making up names for them: a giraffe pole (auger), mini-castle (grain bin), etc. However, when I referred to one machine as a giant bumblebee, my nephew looked at me and solemnly stated, "No, Aunty Erin. That’s a combine."
The proudest moment of the first year came with planting my garden. Only the carrots grew, but I was thrilled nonetheless. I did a spontaneous carrot-growing dance and started talking excitedly to my husband. "Isn’t it amazing?! I put these little seeds in the ground, and they grew into something totally different. Just like magic!" My husband just nodded and smiled. Only then did it dawn on me that my small feat was, in fact, what he had been doing on a huge scale for years.
Life out here can have a steep learning curve. However, its beauty, challenges and simplicity all captivate me. Though hard at times, there is always something to laugh about or bring a small measure of joy.
My answer to those incredulous old friends is simply to tell them that life on the farm is far more wonderful than anything I could have envisioned before experiencing it.
Erin Neufeld
Killarney, Manitoba, Canada
Garlic Puree Response
In Mail Call of the September/October issue of Grit, Diane Friel submitted a query about making chopped garlic in olive oil. Joe Cummins from Texas responded to the query and the following is his recipe for Garlic Puree.
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