Farm Girl

Just this and that stuff--Acme and other chores early on, my major task being to e-mail members of the Ad Hoc Players and try to line them all up for the performance at Shalom House.  We still don't have a firm date, as one will be away all of October, another two weeks in November, and so on and so forth. 
Left for my friend's at 3:00.  Got there and we drove to the co-op farm.  Luckily, it wasn't muddy this time and I helped by packing already-picked produce into our containers. This included Swiss chard, kale, broccoli, and summer squash.  There were other things which my friend handled. 
We then went over to the herb garden and picked dill, chives, sage, and Rosemary.  There were more exotic items, such as lemon verbena, but since neither of us knew what to use it for, we left it there.  Our last stop was the raspberry patch, a little distance on the far side of the farm.
I'm not a city girl, but a small-town one; harvesting raspberries, though, I felt like a denizen of deepest Manhattan.  I never before realized they grow on bushes with stiff and spiky stems and are so difficult to pick.  There were just a few here and there on each bush and unless they separate readily from the plant, aren't ripe.  It took both of us picking, a good half hour to get a quart, which was the portion allowed for the day.
We drove back to my friend's, unpacked our goodies, and I was the happy recipient of all kinds of largess, including Swiss chard and kale, garlic, and leeks.  I have a package of lentils and want to make either stew or soup with them and the veggies and herbs I was lucky enough to be given.
My friend served a good dinner of one of her signature salads (arugula, veggies, olives, Italian dressing), homemade tomato soup (delish!), and fresh shrimp just sautéed quickly in oil. 
I left just before 7:00, dismayed to see it was already dusk, but got home without incident, after a pleasant day and fun on the farm.