hi,
I felt like a city kid this past week. We have a celery field across the street from
the mission office here and i was fascinated watching the people chopping
away at the stalk of celery with one hand and then chopping off the tops with
the other. You can not really tell it is celery growing (unless you get close and
can smell the plants) since they are big bushes of greenery. The celery grows
on top of the ground of course so they chop it off at the bottom where the roots
grow into the ground and then grab is and throw it under their arm and then
chop off the greens or most of it and then put them in boxes ready to ship. I
always knew California grows so much of our fruits and vegetables but has
been fascinating to see it all in action. It takes a few days to get through and
harvest all the field. They have about 30 workers going up and down the fields
with a large truck close by to stack all the boxes in. They are there in the fields
early in the morning and still there when we leave the office about 5-6 pm. What
a back breaking job that is. But they fill hundreds of boxes every day!
Then the very next day some tractor is in the field plowing it, getting ready for
the next crop to be planted.
So different from Minn and Utah where when we are finished with most crops
we are done for the season. But they plant and grow all year. It will be interesting
to see what they have growing in the fall and "winter" here. but of course they put
in a new crop to add nutrients to the soil.
They only grow strawberries in the same field for 2 or 3 years and then plant
something else to add nutrients to the soil so they can plant strawberries again.
They had a strawberry festival here and was fun to see all the foods they add
strawberries to. We had funnel cake with strawberries and whipped cream, taco
salad and chips with strawberry salsa. I made strawberry salsa this weekend and
was so good. Of course strawberry lemonade with real lemons and strawberries
in the drinks. Lots of other fun foods too.
They grow sun flowers out here but they cut them when they are about 3 feet
tall and sell them in fruit stands. so beautiful to drive by the fields every morning
and see the pretty flowers. They seem to grow so quickly here. Seems one day
they are planting, a few days of watering them and then we can see them growing
and then a few weeks later harvesting them.
Oh not sure if i told you but they have bee hives out here but also put them in
the orange orchards and the honey is orange flavored naturally. Really yummy.
WE had a stake family fun run Monday for Memorial day. I am not a fast runner
or hardly called a runner at all, but I got first in my AGE category!! I was about
15 minutes slower than the winner. He was a teenager on the cross country
team!! smile But had a good time talking and running and walking! There were
about 260 of us there so a fun day with the stake and ward members here.
We had a zone activity last week. About 50 missionaries there and they were to
research a family member and come prepared to tell about that person. It did
not matter if they were a member or not but just to find a family member to talk
about then also they are to dress in that era of dress. It was so fun and the
missionaries came up with some creative clothing. Some really fascinating stories!
Some told of ancestors who came to Utah across the plains and others who came
from other countries.
One of the young elders talked about his great grandfather who know Butch Cassidy
and this elder was named after him.
Then another great story was a great grandfather sold eggs and butter and got
some money $5. They were expecting a baby so the lady wanted to purchase
some things for the new baby to come. But the dad had the prompting no, he
should not spend the $5. He received that prompting 3 times and they were
heading home when they came across Joseph Smith and others that were headed
to prison. Joseph Asked the dad if he had any money they could have and the dad
said yes and gave him the $5. Joseph turned to his friends and said see I told you
we would have some money to buy food. There were many very great stories.
and the missionaries came dressed in some great costumes.
I made a simple game where they had to find another missionary who... and
then they had 20 things.
"I am a convert,one of my parents served a mission, someone from Mexico,
Ancestors from Europe, we have ancestors family traditions, someone who
has done baptisms for the dead, been in the Salt Lake temple, know how to
speak 2 or more languages, has royalty in their lineage, has traveled to another
country, has great grandparents living, grandparents speak another language, 4 or
more sibling." it was really fun and got to know more about some of the missionaries.
Then another activity we had was a game I had never heard of, Kind of like
pictionary. There is one word on a note pad, I see it and then flip the page and
draw that. Then pass it to the person on the left. They look at my picture and
then they flip the page and write the word they think I drew. Then they pass it
to the next person and they draw that word. Hopefully the same word but most
times it is not the same. smile We had 8 people at the table so each one of us
had a notepad and just passed it around. Each of us had a different word. Anyway
it was really fun. Kind of hilarious to see how people drew the word or how they
guessed the word from the drawing.
Hope you are having a good week and enjoying the spring/summer!
love you and miss you!!
Diane
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