Turtles and Local Food (but not turtles as food)

On the way to the t-ball game this morning, I almost ran over a little turtle. John had me go back and get it and we brought it home. We realized it was bleeding a little from the bottom side of his shell. We think that a bird probably dropped it on the road trying to crack his shell. If he'd been hit by a car, he'd be smooshed by now. We warned the kids that he might not live, but as of this posting this 10 hours after rescuing, he's still alive. We put him in a cooler (don't worry, we'll sanitize before using it next) and left him under the tree. When we got home from t-ball, he had a few more battle scars from Smokey - a couple of scratches across his head. He's now inside so a raccoon (or Smokey) doesn't make a snack of him tonight. He may just live. We'll see. He's a little smaller than the palm of my hand. He's a size comparison.

He's fairly cute and looks like Sam, Alli's turtle at home. Possible names (if he lives) are Pants and Storm. The kids didn't seem disappointed by the prospect of a funeral either though. Kaity really likes him and keeps checking on him. Maybe he'll be alive in the morning.

For dinner tonight, I made something very different for us and with a lot of local ingredients. We had balsamic blueberry pork chops. The blueberries came fresh picked from the lakehouse. The thyme came from my garden. And, the pork chops came from the pig we fed out this spring. And, I actually had the ingredients for the rest of the sauce in my cabinet so I didn't have to make a trip to the store. Amazing. I liked the sauce okay, but would like to have it just a little sweeter. I might try a different recipe next time.

We also had fresh corn on the cob purchased from Brown's Produce Stand on the way to Melrose. We saw the guy delivering it straight from the field, so we know it's fresh.

Earlier in the day, I made zucchini nut bread with some of the zucchini from my garden (the huge, monster one!) I used a few of Henriettta's banty eggs in the mix (and had to borrow a few from Kathleen) and the pecans that Aunt Margaret gets for us from Altrusa. Along with a few recipe alterations from Kathleen and friends, it turned out great. They suggested adding a cup of apple sauce to keep it moist. Great suggestion. It worked like a charm. The bread is wonderful and the kids really like it. It's definitely a keeper recipe.

It was a great dinner and the kids ate most of it (no blueberry sauce for them, just ketchup).
PS - Mom, I'm almost out of pecans!

PPS - Georgia, don't you wish you'd come over now!  Turtles and local food!  It doesn't get better than this.  

Turtle Update - it didn't make it through the night, so we had a funeral for it this afternoon. Kaity prayed that God would give her a pet turtle.