"Hey Mom, take a picture of this!"

Life through the eyes of a child is such a gift. Kai was washing apples this morning and yelled at me that I needed to take a picture. (Tea woke up and saw a moth outside and wanted me to take a picture of that--I guess they see me taking a lot of pictures). Anyway, what a great shot! The most exciting part is that I am finally figuring out how to use the manual settings on my camera and this is especially helpful when I'm taking shots indoors and don't want the flash to go off.
Tea's clothes didn't stay dry for long.... I love the shot with just her arm and the apple in the faucet. There's probably something artistically wrong with a photo with just an arm, but to my amateur photographic eye, it looks cool.

I don't know if I can ever move back to South Dakota after living here. The growing season is almost six months long and the amount and types of food you can grow here is amazing. The Farmer's Market is a feast for the eyes! We've been picking hickory nuts from our backyard, black walnuts from the park, and I've been drying lemon balm and making lemon balm, echinacea, and thyme tinctures in addition to the apple juice and apple pies we made today. We went to a Chestnut Festival last weekend where there were local trees and plants, pecans, chestnuts, black walnuts, elderberry concentrates, goat cheese and wine and beer. We brought home 3 pounds of pecans, some blackberry wine and muscati wine, and elderberry extract. We're going apple picking at a place about a mile away on Thursday and I'm picking up 50 pounds of locally grown sweet and white potatoes as well as a turkey from a friend tomorrow. Ah, I just love this place and I love the feeling of knowing I have a bounty of locally grown food in my cellar and freezer for the winter. It's just too depressing to shop at Hy-Vee and eat that lackluster produce in the winter!