a tribute to the common cow

I was thinking yesterday, while I was making my famous (to me) cheese and tomato sandwich that I eat a lot of cheese. I do love cheese quite a lot, and in my estimation, I've had at least 12 pounds of the stuff since arriving in Washington; not that I eat a terrible amount, but I usually have a few slices a day. Can you imagine that put in front of you? Twelve pounds of cheese. That is utterly terrifying.

So, this is my tribute to cows for the work they do. I can't begin to think of a life as a female cow; getting shoved in line looking at Nanny's fanny twice a day for an hour, or more, waiting to get hooked up to a pump that sucks the milk right out of her so that a typical grocery shopper will take it for granted that milk, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, hundreds of varieties of cheese products, and other unassuming milk-fortified goods are at arms length on any given food store shelf. Not only does she give up her milk, but she is a surrogate mother to future milk-production and our beef cattle industry. (Incidentally, the cow pictured is named Andrea).

So, "thank you" to the common cow.

In blackberry picking news, I had my first casualties; a few thorns to the fingers while I was pulling out a branch that was prohibiting my reach to the very best berries. Was it worth it? Absolutely; there is nothing like going where no other blackberry picker has gone this summer!

I will soon be black-berried out, though. In addition to the 12 pounds of cheese, I estimate I've eaten three pounds of free blackberries so far this summer (and that has been in the last five days). They are great fresh, over vanilla yogurt, or in the cobbler that I'm still grazing off of. Today I made blackberry pancakes for lunch.