The Wild Ramp

Today, I volunteered at a place in Huntington called The Wild Ramp. The Wild Ramp is a non-profit, local-food store in Heritage Station that carries food and goods produced by local farmers, most of which are within a 100 mile radius. It is similar to a farmers' market, but it has volunteers to work the shop so that farmers don't have to stick around to sell their goods, and it is open year round, 5 days a week. Farmers keep 90% of the profits from their sales, and The Wild Ramp has already given back $100,000 to local farmers and other small scale producers!

Locally grown ramps

It is a really cute, wholesome, little shop in a secluded part of Huntington near Pullman Square. I say secluded because, if you've never been to Heritage Station, it's off the main road a bit, facing the train tracks, and it's located in the lower level of the plaza – kind of a deeply set alleyway, like a....basement without walls.

While I was there, my friend and I were mainly in charge of handing out free samples. It was pretty fun, and all of the samples were sooooo good – we had “Rapunzel Bread”, which was a delicious ramp bread, some ham and ramp sandwiches from the new restaurant (Let's Eat) upstairs, salsa, chocolate milk, a couple types of BBQ Sauce, two types of honey, and coffee. They also had farmers with some plants/seedlings for sale today, a small gardening class (I think?), and the unveiling of a GORGEOUS new tile sign...wall, thing, for behind the register, which was made by an extremely talented local artist.

I had a great time, and can't wait to go back. It has a great atmosphere, and all of the people are so nice and considerate. I also learned a lot... I had no idea that fresh eggs could look that green, naturally. I mean, I knew that there were lots of different shades, and they could be a little green or blue, and even rather pink or brown, but these looked like a pastel little easter egg! It was so neat.

And there was so much great stuff, I just couldn't decide what to buy! In addition to all the delicious and interesting local food, they also had refillable jars of chemical free/locally made detergent, local handspun yarn/wool, and handmade mugs (that, coincidentally, were made by a guy in class with my friend that was also there, Ashley).

Before I left, I got two bars of handmade soap, and some absolutely delicious Wildberry Lavender ice cream....speaking of ice cream, they had lots of really unique and yummy sounding ice creams and frozen yogurts. Most of them were neat, but still pretty understandable, such as my Wildberry Lavender. But there was one that was apparently Sweet Corn and Blackberries. I'm sure it's just as delicious as what I tried, but who comes up with these combinations? That just would never even cross my mind.

I need to go back to get more, ASAP.  

Bask in his glory.

Adventures in Fast Food and the Underbelly of Society

Last night, I witnessed something both horrifying, and strangely humorous. It was like some sort of wreck – it was terrible, but I just couldn't look away. I was at a late night Taco Bell run with some friends, and during this time, what began as simple curiosity quickly developed into a full blown social observation. 

From where I was sitting with my friends, I could see around the counter and registers, and directly into a realm no human should ever have to see – the main part of a Taco Bell kitchen. On the left was a little cubby for the drive through window, behind it some horizontal cooking stations. On the right, separated by a small walkway were some prep counters and a fridge/freezer lining the wall, complete with sour cream guns. Above these counters were some shelves holding stacks of tray liners, condiments, and boxes.

Apparently, these were some cumbersome, and not-very-well liked clamshell boxes.

RA Interviews, And Getting The Hang of Things

Well, I guess I'm going to attempt to write one of these “diary” “blog” “things”. This should be interesting....

Well, yesterday I had my (3 hour long!) RA interview process. Which sounds ridiculously long, and it was pretty lengthy, but it was actually broken up into 3 parts – an ice breaker, then an individual, small group, and large group – so it actually wasn't that bad. All I knew was that it was going to be a “group RA selection process”, so I had been picturing us sitting in a big circle doing interviewy things from 4:30 – 7:45. So overall it was actually a pretty painless experience, with not too much sitting and waiting while 35 other people answer questions about themselves. Plus, they gave us candy, so there's that.

Now, while that all sounds well and good, I have not yet explained the primary issue, the foremost obstacle, the greatest causer of stress, of this interview business:

                                                                   The universe was conspiring against me.