Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Farmer and I went on a plum scouting trip. Really we were just going on a walk but I always have to have a purpose or...&*$#^%$!* ensues (the bad word is "boredom").

Farmer has different styles of taking walks. With O'lover, the dog whisperer, he's a perfect heeler. with me farmer checks out every nook and cranny ad nauseum...which gives me plenty of time to scrutinize the hodgepodge architecture in the neighborhood....and dream of blowing things up because i want to be just like RH who read the Monkey Wrench Gang when she was too young and now daydreams of blowing up strip malls and cheapo mc mansions. And how i think that's the best OCD ever AND THEN I remember magnus....who taught me how to think all the things i think are ugly are really actually beautiful. so then...what can i blow up?

BYU's south hill would have made the perfect destination because Farmer likes chillin with the ducks and it has many plums...one summer those luscious plums were my main staple. But then, after I had already eaten thousands of delectable plums, my friend Ryan was stopped by the head forester guy and told that the plums are heavily sprayed...with chemicals NOT suitable for ingestion. Ohhh...well, not BYU today.

So now we hunt for our fruit in trustworthy places like abandoned lots or rentals with dead grass. (There's a great apricot tree by an abandoned pioneer house on 400 West and 600 South. it thrives without any care...that tree is my HERO.)

We looked by the church on 7th north- there's a rental with a plum tree...but this year all the fruit has been picked! Sooo impressed.

But no worries, our neighbors the Ramsey's have a plum tree on the alley. And they are decidedly against spraying. They like their food...safe. and they share. but we still ask repeatedly 'cause they are very cool and we don't miss any opportunity to have a chat.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a produce scouter also.

Anonymous said...

Wonder how long they've been using those chemicals on those south hill plums. Kind of scary. I've eaten many in my lifetime. One year when I was a kid my family even bottled homemade syrup from Potawatomi plums we scouted from there. How well I remember the tart flavor of that stuff on waffles.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary and Shannon,
I want to go fruit scouting with y'all. and then make syrup! And you can teach me the proper names of fruit. Right now i call things "yum yum plum", etc.