A Day at Sheep Pasture and an Interesting Read

The sun finally came out yesterday, and the Farmer's Market and the barn swallows returned to Sheep Pasture. Also the world didn't end at 6 so I'll finally have to mow my lawn today.

After several years of trying I think the Farmer's Market at Sheep Pasture is finally in the right place. This year it's under the pine trees to the east of the foundation. What we lose in visibility we gain in safety and prettiness. The turn out on opening day was very good because the farmers have helped with publicity. New vendors have been added this year including a pickle salesman, a full service bakery, and an organic cranberry operation. Four farms vie for your business with a surprising variety of early season offerings and Jordan's seafood is back again. Some thoughts:
1. You should never cook pea tendrils! I was told that the pea tendrils-the baby shoots of pea plants- could be eaten raw or cooked. Raw, even without a dressing, they are delicious with an earthier version of pea flavor. Quickly sauteed they lose quite a bit of flavor and get very stringy. Definitely worth a try raw, they are available, briefly, from Adam who was also offering heirloom tomatoes plants.
2. The A-1 Pickle Company has three all-natural varieties: a sweet dill, a full sour-The Pucker Pickle, and a hot version, Kickin Kukes, with jalapenos and habeneros. The super sour has no sugar added and really lives up to its name; it's excellent. The dill is tasty but too sweet for me. The hot pickle has that same sweetness followed by a quick hit of heat that quickly drifts away; it seems like a perfect pickle for hamburgers. Fans of kosher dills will have to "make do" with the delicious sour pickle because the natural ingredients used in the pickling process turn garlic, the main component in kosher dills, an ugly black.
3. The organic cranberry lady has craisins in three antioxidant varieties at five dollars a half pound-cheaper than Ocean Spray and plumper and juicier. One version is sweetened with apple juice making it a good snack choice for diabetics.
4. Spring is radish season, and there were lots on display. Adam had his colorful varieties with full radish flavor, Langwater Farms had perfect red salad radishes, and Marie had my favorite giant radishes with the mild, mild flavor. I hear Germans traditionally snack on radishes with beer which I discovered is an excellent idea.
5. O'Brien's Bakery is a full service bakery with everything from cakes and cookies to doughnuts and multiple types of bread. I bought a loaf of cheese bread and a multigrain loaf. A slice of the cheese bread tastes just like a toasted cheese sandwich. The multigrain bread includes herbs as well which gives the bread an interesting scent and a delicious taste.
6. Support your local musician. We're hoping to have more music at the farmer's market. The country fiddler yesterday afternoon was awesome. She and any other musicians at the market aren't being paid by the NRT so you can help by tossing some change into their instrument cases.

For many years barn swallows nested in the basement of the Stable Barn. Unfortunately English sparrows also moved in causing the staff at Sheep Pasture to close off the basement. Shelves under the eaves of the barn for the swallows never materialized, and the birds disappeared. They are back! I saw a pair building a nest in our Sheep Barn near the main entrance yesterday. The typical swallow seen at Sheep Pasture is the tree swallow like the one below:

These little birds are spectacular flyers who nest in our bluebird boxes. Unlike any other bird I know, immature females-with dark gray backs instead of shiny blue-often help a nesting pair with their brood. I don't think I've ever seen a tree swallow sitting on the ground.

Barn swallows can often be seen on the ground-the first one I noticed yesterday was gathering nesting materials. Here's a barn swallow:

Also excellent flyers, the barn swallow has an orange belly and a forked tail. The birds are related to the ones that make the nests used in Chinese cuisine, and like those birds they also use spit to hold the unmistakable nest together:

Keep your eyes open for these interesting birds.

The Globe's Ideas section is a welcome addition to my Sunday reading. It's a chance to look at  interesting things that normally don't make the news. Here's the Easton Curiosity Shop version of that Sunday supplement. It's an article from the June issue of National Geographic that's available online here. The story is about the dawn of religion at an unusual archaeological site called  Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. It not only details this site, but explores new explanations about the origins of civilization in the Fertile Crescent. Don't miss the excellent photos and the video on the construction of a site model-available in a side bar or at the top of the article.