What I am good at

Schönbrunn Gardens, Vienna, autumn season 2013

Photo calendars need time and should not be started 3 nights before Christmas. Yep, I have learned my lesson the hard way, so to say the sleepless way, last year.

Back to the title: I am good at taking photos.
Not even a cognac coloured mini-skirt with Wolford Velvet de Luxe tights in "marlin" (blue) can hinder me from training my thighs. Squats are fine for me. The photo above simply would not work from a top-down angle.

The original photo is larger than the picture above. The quality of the photos is so excellent, it allows me to crop the original down to 30% or even less - and still end up with prints which are large enough for any calendar.

Now I am sitting here, smiling. I really like the photo I have taken.
I smile, because I can see my father smiling on Christmas eve, the moment he unwraps the gift December 24. Everyone in our family knows how much he loves squirrels. Like father, like daughter it seems.
Oh, and the bokeh of this lovely camera makes me smile, too.

What are you good at? You know you are got at it, when you can't help but ... smile.

Happy evening!
Paula

More thoughts on harvesting

Hello!

Friend R. was out on the field, harvesting the final crops before the farmer comes and ends the season with his plough.

It was raining and a cold wind was blowing. Let alone the thought of being out there - in the wet, cold dirt - made me shiver. I was lucky and spent 3 hours in the kitchen. Processing carrots.

Carrot muffins, carrot cake and vegetable soup. The red beets are in the oven, the smashed potaoes with celery and parsley are already in my stomach.

 vegan carrot muffins before baking (cinnamon nutmeg crumble on top)

same muffins, after baking

Peeling, washing, chopping and cutting vegetables that you lifted with your own hands is comforting. Dealing with the crop somehow ... warms you. I honour the crop and the crop feeds me. We are independent, a straight process, from the field straight to the pots. No supermarket nor logistics needed.

 creative chaos

But after all, it also means work. The peeling, washing, chopping and cutting. Without the crop I might have opted for pasta, aglio e olio.

 more carrots, on their way to the spring form

There was a hamster sitting on a little heap amidst the plants, looking at me with his shiny fur. He must have had a good time, nibbling roots all summer long. I like the concept of sharing.

 ta-dah

Something to balance the sugar intake

While I was cutting off those nibbled parts of the roots I smiled and thought of that hamster, how content he was, sitting on his heap. I might bring my niece to that field next summer. This field teaches us a lot.

Are you still in the kitchen or does your kitchen stay cold on sundays?

Overwhelmed by today's harvest

Hello!

I am back from the farm and I am overwhelmed by today's harvest - in a good way. So many intense impressions, so much dirt on our hands, thank you, dear friend R., for inviting me to joind you today!

Yes, I actually did bring home all these goodies with this modest vehicle:

Many people visit the farm with their car. I would say 90% if not more. Going there by car, with all the traffic on the way home, would not be the same experience as going there by train/bike. The bike/train-trip might read as a challenge but as long as you have a basket on your front handle and/or a backbag on your back, it is really easy to handle the harvest. On the train back home we let our thoughts drift away, probably the best thing you can do after harvesting.

There is a train station nearby the farm is not far from the place where I live, which is funny, since I live close to the city centre and felt nowhere close to this:

The farm is ... not quite what I had expected. It is majestetic and nice at the same time.
See for yourself:

 The owner takes care of everything, you simply come and ... harvest!
It is a tidy farm, as much as you can call a farm tidy.

On our way to the rented field we picked up some neglected vegetables. That's when vegans become"fruitarians" ;-)

Later on I did sense mutual understanding why people would choose to live as fruitarians and not harm plants: it IS a tough one, digging out those roots and beets, onions and beets. They are stuck to the ground, strongly connected with their roots. Of course I did know how those plants grow. But I have forgotten or not cared about it until R. asked me to pull some carrots and onions. Harvesting is hard work.

 The farmer is very well organized. This place is heaven for ascendants virgo.

You can rent 1 lot (about 3 feet wide and 50 feet long) or 2 lots or 3 or 4 ... R. and her friends rent 3 lots. Many people strain strings to mark the limits of their "property"

As you walk down the lot, you come by numerous "departmens". Every lot provides the same vegetables, so when you rent 3 lots you have 3 times as many carrots.
Every lot starts with tomatoes and ends with potatoes.

 You don't really make contact with the neighbours. Everyone is working.
Harvesting vegetables is work. Can be tough. Shopping groceries is easy.

[Here the 1 hour photo-break takes place. I had too much dirt on my hands.]

Leek leaking out of the basked on my handle bar.

 I arrived back home with THIS: (excitement)

Mangel, carrots, onions (red, white, green), parsley, potatoes, beetroot, red cabbage, yellow carrots, turnips, parsnip, leek and celery ...  overwhelming!

Yes, I put everything in order. I just had to wash the green onions, but I left the dirt on the carrots. For the moment. ;-)

I enjoyed everything about this trip to the south of Vienna. R., who rents the field, loves to harvest. She loves the plants, the soil, being outside and she also loves to workout.

Do you harvest? What do you think is more fun: shopping of harvesting?

xo Paula

EDIT - sort of a footnote: 
I did some research on the owner of this farm and found articles that go back to 2007. Back then Frank Stronach got a deal with Vienna's mayor, to build a stadion and a shopping centre in this area. The contract runs until 2015 and it seems Frank is still undecided. Journalists wrote how the mayor must have been drunk when signing the contract, because there is no other logical explanation to think of why the mayor would allow anyone to ruin a large part of the usually protected so called "green belt" that encircles Vienna. Later on the city began to project new stations of the underground-network in this area. This can (must) be read as a signal that those farms will be gone within a few years.
Those who don't know Frank Stronach: Frank "was" MAGNA". He had left Austria long ago came back with a peculiar accent and founded a party - Team Frank. He has spent millions on his campaign but was disappointd in the end, because his party did not succeed as expected.  They did pass the 4%-barrier but due to his disappointment and fights inside the party he might leave politics soon. To build a stadion and a mall?