'Twas Lovely

Home Again

The anniversary is celebrated, memories made, refreshment gained, and lots of pictures taken. Behold the first:

The destination of our anniversary trip was unknown to me, but we drove  toward the canton of Bern. Then I hear that we are by the "Kambly Store" to which the motorcyclists of my family often take guests on a very scenic drive. I had never been there, so we stopped. We resolved to be tough and not leave with the usual vast quantities that normally go home from such a stop.

This is a factory outlet store to sell large packages of "leftover" cookies and crackers at special prices. The  hook is that bowls of  free samples of each kind are sitting there to tempt you. They are all good. We started picking up a few, more, a bunch.

They also make and decorate pretty chocolates.

And they have a well-stocked table for children to decorate their own.
Well, we left with the usual - a lot. Then onward...

In a nearby unused train station was a serve-yourself farmers market, from local producers. The word HOF is here a pun: it stands both for the Bahnhof (train station) and the Bauernhof (farmyard).

Inside, in one small room, were arrays of various products amid Easter decorations.

Sauces, pestos, granola bars, soup and rice mixes, etc.

Knitted socks

All on the honour system: write down which items you buy and put the stated amount of cash in the slot. Simple. Products shown here include heirloom seeds, handmade cosmetics, photo cards, fruit leathers, and Easter wreaths.

The mountain cheese and the farm sausages were delicious.

Fruit leathers in decorated packages.

Handwoven baskets

On the left are walnuts in honey with rum. We haven't tried them yet.  The recommended recipe suggests putting it over frozen jogurt and topping it with whipped cream. Yum.

An Easter tree. They are typical here all over. We saw many such trees in yards these past days, and usually try to have one at home, inside, but only from Holy Saturday to after Easter, not in Lent.

One of  the farms which supplies produce. Note the typical Bernese house architecture.  The farm has 18 hectares, is organic, the cows "are proud horn carriers," (this is a point of contention among farmers now, horns or no horns, for important reasons), and they have sheep, two Swiss horses,  a dog and cats, "bee folk," and two Dexter cows with calves. On the right is a picture of a bee house with coloured doors, so the bee families know which door to go in. Bees know colors.

Bernese architecture.

More to come.