Our underwater world

By NAN BROWN
As published Sept. 19, 2007

I think if you read this column on a regular basis you’re probably familiar with what you thought was the entire Brown family consisting of me, my husband Jack and our three four-legged kids, Shelby, Cody and Riley. In reality though, you don’t have the whole picture.

Actually we’re just the land dwellers of the clan. There’s an entirely different branch of our family lurking beneath the sometimes murky water of our backyard pond.

Jack has been a water gardening enthusiast for probably at least fifteen years now. We’ve progressed from our first pond in Mt. Airy which was the tiniest of the pre-formed variety, through two other progressively larger pre-fab ponds, to our current 1,000 gallon backyard paradise here in Lancaster County which was professionally installed last summer utilizing the Aquascape system.

How appropriate that as I’m writing this, I just heard one of our pond’s more prominent residents croak. No one died; it was just Jeremiah, the large green frog, who has decided to grace us with his presence this summer. He was sounding off as he does several times each day.

We don’t know if he’s looking for a mate or just exercising his lungs, or whatever it is frogs have. In any event, he’s pretty neat to have around.

His name was suggested by my 24-year-old goddaughter Stacey on her recent visit. She said it seemed appropriate to her, particularly in light of the old Three Dog Night song that began, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog.”

Jeremiah loves to sun himself by sitting on various rocks around our water garden. Sometimes it’s in close proximity to one of our blooming perennials putting him in a better position to catch a big fat bug of some sort. I’m more than okay with that as long as he doesn’t nab my favorites – the dragonflies.

Another of Jeremiah’s favorite activities involves sitting in the middle of the stream that leads from the big waterfall down to two smaller ones that eventually empty into the large pool where our fish dwell.

It looks so refreshing that I wouldn’t mind joining him to experience the coolness of the cascading water. It’s just not practical for me to do so, however, because I’d probably break my neck trying to navigate the rocks to get there. I can’t imagine explaining to the ambulance personnel that I fell while trying to sit with my frog.

Now I’ll tell you about our fish – all fourteen of them. Each one has a name that’s well suited to his or her looks or personality.

We have five Koi – three of which are domestic and the other two being Japanese. The three domestic Koi are named Old Blue Eyes (he is the largest of our fish, is yellow, and yes, his eyes are indeed blue), Dino (a smaller version of Old Blue Eyes but who has patches of blue on his skin), and Grady (who is black and gray and was so named because he resembled Fred Sanford’s friend on the old Sanford & Son show.)

The two Japanese Koi are named Buttercup (due to her yellow color) and Captain Jack who is a flamboyant shiny orange and black and reminds me of the Johnny Depp character from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Our oldest fish is Gretchen. She is a fancy variety of goldfish. She’s been with us since our Mt. Airy days, so we estimate she’s at least six or seven years old. Then there’s Calico, Marmalade, and Creamsicle, all of whom are either goldfish or comets and who were all aptly named due to their color.

The rest are goldfish named Matt, Miss Kitty, Doc, Festus and Newly. As for their names – what can I say other than I’m a big Gunsmoke fan. So that accounts for all fourteen.

They’re good buddies of mine and know my voice because they swim over and congregate at the edge of the pond when they hear me. Jack calls them my fan club, but actually I think he’s kind of jealous because they don’t respond to him in the same way.

I love to feed our fish and watch the ensuing frenzy once the food hits the water. They especially enjoy a treat of some Honeynut Cheerios from time to time. They also go crazy over juicy bits of watermelon.

Hey, I hear Jeremiah croaking again. He’s so cool. I just hope he decides to stay around a while because frogs are transient creatures – sometimes they’re literally here today and gone tomorrow. But if he ever chooses to leave I can fondly recall in the words of that old Three Dog Night song: “Jeremiah was a bullfrog. He was a good friend of mine.” Even if we never did share the stream.

Makin' the rounds

By NAN BROWN
As published Sept. 5, 2007

We have a new and thoroughly delightful weekly summer ritual that yields delicious results. It takes place every Saturday morning when our travels take us to farm stands and local specialty stores in search of the freshest produce imaginable.

We've done this from time to time in years past, but never on such a regular basis as we do now. Our trek takes us through the farmlands surrounding Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse in the heart of Lancaster County.

Our first stop is usually at Miller's Natural Foods in Bird-In-Hand because it's the closest in proximity to our house. Our "must have" items there are Michael Seasons' Unsalted Potato Chips (which, even though unsalted, are truly yummy) and organic cheese.

Miller's is Amish owned and operated and has the largest selection of organic foods we've ever seen as well as shelf after shelf of natural home remedies which are very popular among the Amish.

When we leave Miller's we exit via a narrow lane that winds past farmlands and Amish farmhouses. We can always count on a nod or a wave from the farmers, their wives or kids as someone is always out and about tending to chores at that hour of the morning.

Next we travel down Route 340 between Bird-In-Hand and Intercourse to Kauffman's Fruit Market - our source for the scrumptious peaches we've been enjoying since early August.

Our favorite varieties thus far have been Sun High and Red Haven. I'm not looking forward to the end of peach season, although I am eagerly anticipating the abundance of apples that will soon be available.

Speaking of apples, in addition to having a huge variety each year, Kauffman's has the absolute best apple cider which they call their "Bird-In-Hand Blend."

Our farm stand treks take us in search of seasonal fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupes and watermelons as well as sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash and onions.

As far as vegetables go, Jack grows everything just mentioned except for sweet corn, so we only buy those items either before our garden starts yielding them or after our harvest is finished.

While "makin' the rounds" we search for handmade signs directing us down farm lanes for fresh produce. It was in this manner that we found a nice stand this year which we were drawn to by a sign containing the words "sweet corn" scrawled on a board attached to the mailbox. We drove down the farm lane to the house where the stand is located.

We were greeted by three Amish kids with bright, smiling faces. The two girls appeared to be about 9 and 5 years old, and the little boy looked to be about age 7. Jack got out while I waited in the car, but I was still able to hear what transpired.

As it turned out, these children were quite inquisitive and not the least bit shy as is usually the case with Amish children. The ensuing conversation went as follows (note: the references to "girl" are to the 9-year-old):

Girl to Jack: "So, is it just you and your wife?"

Jack: "Yup, just me and my wife."

Girl: "How old are you?"

Jack" "53."

Girl: "How old is your wife?"

Me: "Now Jack, you're not supposed to tell a lady's age." Then after a split second I added, "Oh well, why not - I'm 50."

Girl to Jack: "Do you have kids?"

Jack: "No."

Boy: "Have you ever had kids?"

Jack: "No."

Girl: "If you'd get goats, then you'd have kids."

With that unexpected response, Jack and I started laughing like crazy - we couldn't help ourselves. Neither could the children's mother who by that time had come outside and had also been privy to the conversation. The kids (the non-goat kind) were even giggling.

We purchased some delicious freshly picked sweet corn called Ambrosia which is a mix of white and yellow kernels. We also wanted a seedless watermelon which they were out of at the stand so the Amish woman called to her older son who was out in the field to cut one from the vine - you can't get any fresher than that.

Needless to say, we've gone back to visit that stand time and again not only due to the fact they have the best corn and watermelon we've ever tasted, but also because we're always entertained by the kids.

Our favorite summertime lunch on weekends consists of a couple of ears of corn along with some sliced cheese and tomatoes, so when summer ends we sure are going to miss all these fresh goodies gathered while "makin' the rounds."