State Fair!!!

Theresa and I literally went to the State Fair today (says Gillian) and we also picked State Fair, our massive Brandywine tomato! Here it is:
I don't know exactly how much it weighed because that scale is kind of funny. It went up to 16 ounces and around again to the 3, which you would think would be 19 ounces, but there is a big space after the 16 and before the 0, so I think it's really at least 20. I'm going to buy a loaf of really good white bread and have a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich for lunch tomorrow! Theresa asked for a BEAT--veggie bacon, egg, arugula, and tomato sandwich. We don't have any harvestable lettuce at this time of year, although the lettuce seeds I planted a few weeks ago are now one-inch-tall plants with tiny true leaves. But the rustic arugula we planted in February, although it has already gone to seed and we've even already collected dry seed for next year, is still healthy, alive, green, growing, and edible! Rustic arugula has a different leaf shape from the usual kind, more deeply lobed and lacy-looking, and it has a spicier flavor. I've heard that it naturalizes easily and I'm hoping it will become a weed in my garden.

Here is some real state fair food:


No, really--curly fries. It's not the State Fair without curly fries. And I should have taken a picture of the Oregon Dairy Women's red barn full of ice cream. Did you know that milk is Oregon's official state beverage?



And here is something else fun to do! See the Chapman Swifts. The real ones, not the band. They're performing live every night in September and it's an amazing show. Show up at Chapman Elementary School about half an hour before sunset. Take a picnic or get some food at Saint Honore or Food Front, bring something to sit on and a blanket to keep yourself warm, and watch a tornado of tiny birds swirl down a huge boiler chimney. If you're lucky, you will even see nature drama with a hawk swooping in to catch one of the little birds and all the swifts forming hundred-bird attack shapes and chasing the hawk away. We went tonight and yes, they are here! I plan to see the swifts at least a couple more times before they head south for the winter.

P.S. Pear Picking with Portland Fruit Tree Project on Monday in Hood River! Be there!