Slow Food, Fast Bike

Today was my favorite type of day.  I didn't have a particular agenda.  I had a general plan for a bicycle outing, but I let myself be open to whatever might happen.

Robert headed out uber early for the Georgia Games road race.  He would be gone most of the day, and so I planned my own fun.  It's blueberry picking season; therefore, I decided to ride to Hard Labor Creek Blueberry Farm, which I like to visit every year.

First on the schedule, however, was a visit to the Saturday morning farmers market on the Monticello square.  What beautiful bounty!

I got multicolored bell peppers and eggplant for Poulet a la Basquaise, a.k.a. Euskaltel Chicken, my French teacher sister's wonderful, rustic French chicken dish that I cook every year during the Tour.  I also got some tomatoes, homemade pesto, and okra.  The latter items became tonight's dinner:  tomato-pesto pizza and roasted okra.  I love planning my weekly menus around what I find at the farmers market.

After that, it was time to head toward Rutledge for blueberry picking.  It was a picture-perfect summer morning, warm but not scorching.  I realized that I have four P's on this type of ride: prayer, planning, pondering, and perceiving.  On my better days - like today - my prayer includes gratitude for fresh air, healthy lungs to breathe it, and muscles that let me pedal my bicycle freely.  I also remember those who desperately wish they had these things.  Additionally, I'm always planning something, whether it's menus for the farmers market stuff I bought or setting future goals.  I ponder things all the time, too - situations I'm facing, the meaning of life, etc.  As for perceiving, cycling is perfect for that.  It helps me live in the moment.  How thrilling to see a rabbit, a red-tailed hawk in flight, or a fawn that still has its spots.  A particular delight today was smelling kudzu blossoms.  I smelled them before I saw them, and it was rather a surprise.  I didn't expect kudzu to bloom for another couple of weeks.

Whoa!  I didn't know that a bridge on the road between Newborn and Rutledge was out.  I figured I still could manage with my bicycle, but it turned out to be a little trickier than I anticipated.  The bridge construction wasn't quite far enough along for me to get across.  So I had to ford the fairly large creek.  No problem, though.  I had put my randonneuring rack and bag on my bike and packed my river shoes to make it easier to walk around at the farmers market and the blueberry farm.  Those off-bike shoes were perfect for schlepping my bicycle on my back across the creek.  Not that it was easy - the embankment was steep - but I calmly assessed the situation and figured out a way to get across safely.

My favorite shoes

A few miles later, I passed a farm with this sign:

It reminded me of all the delicious, local food that was filling my day.  Juxtaposed with my cycling, it set the day's theme: Slow food, fast bike.  Good nutrition and plenty of exercise go a long way toward a healthy life.

I got to the blueberry farm at about 11:45.  They close at 1:00 PM, and so I figured I had plenty of time to pick a bucket of blueberries.  I guess I forgot that it's really not that quick of a process.  After a while, I checked the time, and an hour had already elapsed!  I picked about 2/3 of a bucket before the farm closed.  That was enough, really.  Robert and I will eat fresh blueberries for a few days, and I'll freeze the rest for oatmeal, pancakes, smoothies, and other favorites.

Shortly after I left the blueberry farm, I made a quick stop to take this picture:

It reminded me never to sit around waiting for death.  Life has more opportunities than we can ever take advantage of.

My plan included a lunch stop at The Caboose in Rutledge, just a few miles from the blueberry farm.  They have great sandwiches.  I ordered pimento cheese.  It was extra good on rye bread, slightly toasted, and served with lettuce, tomato, and alfalfa sprouts.  I was tempted to get the day's special, a turkey sandwich with cranberries.  However, because I had already planned to cook a pizza that night with the tomatoes and pesto from the farmers market, I decided to stay totally meatless for the day.  I try to do that at least once a week for health and environmental reasons.

I took a different route home because I didn't feel like fooling with the bridge that was out again.  My route home was only about three miles longer.  Just after I got back to the Monticello city limits, a brief shower fell.  It wasn't enough to interfere with my ride, but it did provide a nice bit of cooling.

It was definitely a slow food evening.  Because I hadn't decided to cook pizza until I went to the farmers market, I hadn't taken out a loaf of bread dough to thaw.  That's what I usually use for pizza crust.  It works great, but I have to take it out early in the morning for it to be ready by dinnertime.  Instead, I made my own pizza crust, which I hadn't done in years, in an attempt to do justice to the beautiful, fresh ingredients I had to top it.  There was a slight delay, however, because I had to do my weekly grocery shopping after my ride.  The one crust ingredient I was missing was yeast.  I got rapid rise yeast to speed the process.

My homemade pizza crusts aren't spectacular, which is why I usually rely on frozen bread dough, but it came out adequately tonight.  In fact, it was quite a tasty finish to an overall delectable day.  Expect adventure.