yesterday i visited henry's farm, the organic farm that i volunteer for, occasionally, at the evanston farmer's market. we had a potluck lunch so i contributed plum cake, a recipe i have now fully appropriated from sara, who got it from her grandmother. sara brought homemade sourdough bread. i had her springform pan at my house, so she couldn't have made the plum cake even if she'd wanted to. ha ha! although sunday was supposed to be overcast and rainy, the clouds cleared and it ended up being one of those fantastic brisk fall days. perfect for a day at the farm.

lunch blew me away. it included: baked lima beans, boston baked beans, stirfried chard, baked zucchini, veggie chili, chile with organic pork, garlicky eggplant dip, moussaka, baked eggplant, thai curry stew, bean barley salad, squash cookies, turkey, stirfried other veggies, bagles and homemade creamcheese, salmon, cornbread, spanish tortilla, quiche, chunky pesto spread and then there was dessert: zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, plum cake, plum peach walnut cake, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate cake, caramel custard pie and more i'm forgetting. wow. i'm still feeling a little full from the meal. even one spoonful of each dish is about two huge platefuls of food. that's the way a meal should be! i love potlucks!

after the meal, eaten overlooking the beautiful fields, we were sent on a plant-identification hunt. i collaborated with sara and michelle, meaning that i walked around with them and watched as they identified the different plants henry was growing in his fields. i contributed almost nothing, but was more than happy to sample a small bit of everything we were asked to identify. it was the least i could do. the quiz was tricky...arugula was on there three times! needless to say, we came in third place with a remarkable 5 1/2 out of 10 correct! woo hoo! had we stayed away from adjectives (just arugula, not 'wild' arugula, and parsley instead of 'italian flat leaf parsely') we would've scored a whopping 7 1/2 and gone home with three dozen fresh organic eggs, but, alas, our cockiness led to our downfall. or rather, sara's cockiness led to her downfall...i was anything but cocky since i couldn't help at all.

and, really, there is nothing more amazing than a small organic farm that produces so many different types of veggies. but, its 5:06pm and i have to go buy ingredients to make soup for tonight.

more tomorrow.