Last week, not long after my brother arrived for a visit, we drove up to Barry and Laura Rubenstein’s farm. The plan was to trade some of Leslie’s healing salve for some plants. Barry and Laura are exceptional farmers and produce a variety of plants and vegetables that they have sold at tailgate markets in Asheville for decades.
As we arrived Barry approached our car and said loudly, “Hope no one is scared of snakes,” as he carried a five foot long black snake. “I’m moving this guy up to the greenhouse because of the mice problem.”
“Barry,” I said. “I just got this new camera and how about if the first picture I make with it is of you with the snake?”
Barry with black snake, Chandler Creek, Madison County, 2022.
Laura Rubenstein, 2022
We hung out. Talked about all manner of things and people. We ate muffins and Sicilian orange cake and drank coffee. We looked at plants, and their pet pigs, and went on a thrill 4-wheeler ride up the mountain to see their fields with beginnings of potatoes, garlic, and tomatoes. It was altogether a delightful time.
Barry and Laura’s upper field, Chandler Creek, 2022.
My brother Mark likes to fish so we spoke with our neighbors, Anna and Marco, about coming over to their pond for a couple of hours one day. Mark caught a couple of small fish that he threw back and both of us tried unsuccessfully to hook a gigantic carp that was roaming the pond. Mostly we visited with Anna and the three young boys in her charge, two of hers and a neighbor. They were all most interested in Mark’s fishing gear while we concerned ourselves with keeping them out of the pond.
And the new camera? I love it, so quick and precise, comfortable in my hand, and the color, lovely.
Mark showing Zeno a fishing lure, Little Pine, 2022.
Anna with Ziggy, Waylon, and Zeno, Little Pine, 2022.