Fried Catfish, Jell-O Molds and a Sunset

There was a big par-tay at the farm on Saturday and all plot-owners and plot-owners' families were invited. Attendance was roughly 150!

A local catfish restaurant supplied the fried fish, chicken, beans, coleslaw and hush puppies while dessert was potluck.

Here's the thing. Despite the fact that I was born in Arkansas, have a very strong southern accent when I drink and have been known to belt out the lyrics to country music songs, I have never in my life been more southern than I was at this party.

For dessert, I brought a Jell-O mold.

In my defense, it wasn't really a mold. It was just a cake pan. But it was Jell-O. With fruit in it. And, if you took a poll of the people in attendance, they would say it was actually a "salad" and not a "dessert."

On account of the fruit, of course.

But it was good. And I don't even like Jell-O.

And farmers sure know how to party. I think we were the only people there who did not bring a cooler full of beer, wine, liquor or a mixture of the three. And that was only because we don't have a cooler.

I lamented with the man next to me about weeds - crab grass in particular. I saw some enormous hats on the more genteel-looking women. A man behind me had a corncob pipe. We talked about the bandits who had attacked some plots earlier in the week (a jar of twist ties, a watering can and our citronella candle were among the missing.)

Needless to say, Adam and I were the youngest people there by half (not counting the kids of some of the plot owners) but we had a good time.

We took a quick walking tour of the farm after the party. It is interesting to see the trends that take hold in certain sections. One section of the farm is all about black plastic as a weed deterrent. In that same section, farmers use a substance called Sevin heavily on all of their plants.

In another section, plot-owners have doubled-up on the fencing in order to make it extra high. This section is closest to the surrounding forest and, according to rumors, has a higher deer population.

And, I'm proud to say that in our section several plot-owners have used bamboo poles intermittently throughout their fence to add strength. (And, as it turns out, a roosting point for red-wing black birds.)

After the party and farm tour, we were reluctant to go back to our un-air-conditioned apartment so we went to nearby Pinnacle Mountain instead.

And got there just in time to see the sun setting over Lake Maumelle and the Ouachita Mountains.