Bikes &Food 06 Sep 2008 06:51 pm
Striking out at the Tilth fair
I hate to rag on one of my favorite institutions, but this was not one of the more successful Tilth Harvest Fairs I’ve gone to. We went up there hoping to get a case of the world’s best pickles from China Bend and some cranberry honey from PSBA. Mostly, though, we were going there to clean out the China Bend stall — they make these great salsas, good enchilada sauce, some killer dips… it’s all good. We brought the trailer so we could really stock up.
But China Bend wasn’t there (boo!) and the PSBA booth appeared much reduced. No cranberry honey for me. Shoot. Poor Josh looked a little shocked; he’d been looking forward to those pickles for weeks, and (so he tells me) he had plans for that salsa.
Maybe it’s been a rough year for China Bend, what with the fuel costs and the bad weather. Therefore we should mail-order extra pickles.
It wasn’t a total loss. We came home with a bag of keeper onions and some decent-looking plant starts. I picked up some kind of loom in a free pile on the way back. Most satisfyingly, we made it up the hill to Wallingford without feeling like we were seriously overdoing it, which was a big change from the last time we dragged ourselves up there.
The tandem gets a lot of attention with a trailer on the back. We’re practically a parade. One woman even went sprawling on the pavement because she was looking at our bike instead of at where she was going.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 10:39 pm 1.Mia said …
One woman even went sprawling on the pavement because she was looking at our bike instead of at where she was going.
Damn bicyclists! Always creating a nuisance!
on 06 Sep 2008 at 11:06 pm 2.Cam Sculpin said …
Yeah. Heh. Then she criticized me twice for having the temerity to ask, “Are you okay?” because how was she to know? Nobody knows how they are after falling! What a stupid question! I offered to give her a hand up — as one does — and she snapped at me again. Hoo-kay. I can appreciate that sprawling headlong is embarrassing, but still, looks to me like somebody went to the Rabid Attack Dog school of etiquette.
Why I ask people if they’re okay: if they can’t answer, “Yes,” in a clear voice, then something may well be very wrong. As in the person I picked up off the sidewalk last month, who was suffering from mild heatstroke. If someone falls in front of me, and I’m sure that their head has at least come very near the ground, then of course I am going to check them for lucidity. That communication has a reasonable purpose. I was not just twittering, thank you. Argh. Well, she was lucid, no doubt about that. Crabby, but lucid.
Oddly enough, Attack Lady was pretty friendly, in her bitchy way. But, jeez, I was feeling glad not to have to live with her. One crabby lady in the house is enough.
on 07 Sep 2008 at 7:25 pm 3.naomi said …
Sorry you had such a let down with the pickles. They truly are the best in the world. I was starting to regret missing the Harvest Fair in favor of camping, but I guess I made the right choice. I heard the tomato taste-off was canceled too. Bummer.
I know it’s rude to laugh at someone falling on the ground…but damn, that is funny.
on 08 Sep 2008 at 1:24 pm 4.Ted said …
(can I resist the pun? no, I can’t)
That’s so un-fair!