Over the river and through the woods

We headed out early this morning on a trek to Lancaster County, where we planned on shopping for meat and vegetables. It’s a chore that was becoming overdue, as we hadn’t been in several months.

Today we bought lots of chicken, a turkey breast, some Italian sausage and some pork chops. We also got acorn squash, yams, onions, broccoli, giant mushrooms, Stayman Winesaps, grapefruits and some homegrown hemp oil that I hear is quite potent.

Ok. I was totally lying about that last item. But the produce section at Shady Maple is huge. And I love the great variety of vegetables sold there.

I brought the camera with me today, attaching the 70-300 lens, in the hopes that maybe I’d get a couple of decent shots through the car windows. The main problem with shooting from a car window, besides the clarity, is the fact that you’re in a moving vehicle and there’s going to be some blur. Another problem is that oftentimes you see something, and then suddenly you’re already going past it. So for what it’s worth, here are some photos I took along the way this morning.

On the other side of the Welsh Mountain lies our destination: Shady Maple Farm Market in East Earl, PA.

It was wicked cold today and the wind was whipping into a fury with gusts as high as 50 mph. These buggies have blankets inside for heat.

I processed all of these photos using TRA’s Old Skool actions. Afterwards, for most of them, after flattening the image, I ran Pioneer Woman’s Fresh and Colorful action and lowered the opacity substantially.

This young boy was driving a team of draft horses to spread manure this morning.

I can really feel the cold looking at this one.

I stood next to an Amish man in the shoe department at Good’s Store. In his cart was a pale blue shower curtain, a pair of leather work gloves and two bright blue camp chairs. I didn’t have a cart or I would gladly tell you what was in mine.

I think the clothes are dry. Can you see them on the line?

I could smell the familiar scent of manure and it actually smelled like home, like all the horse farms we'd lived on over the years. I’m not saying manure smells good. I’m just saying that it’s an old familiar scent. The scent of wood smoke was also in the air and I love how that smells.

After shopping, we went next door to Good’s Store, a sort of department store with a nice household goods section and a decent section for men’s work clothes, featuring my husband’s favorite brand: Carhart. He bought me a women’s Carhart vest in brown and I now look quite the fashionable country woman. Oh, yes. I may even take photos later, but I highly doubt it.

This afternoon we sat in the sun on the little porch in front of the house. It’s in a protected area, away from the wind which had begun to die down. It was really good to feel the sun on my face and we tossed a new toy back and forth to George.

Hope your day is a good one. Hello to all the new faces who come to visit and welcome back to those who have been visiting here on a regular basis. Always good to have you stop by for a bit.

Until tomorrow, my friends.