so ... ever since i discovered this ol' farm lady & her fruit/veggie stand, i been goin' back there on a regular basis & buyin' whatever she's brought that day. today i was makin' this *farmer's salad* and i bought some fresh garden growed cucumbers, cantalope, green peppers, onions, homegrowed t'maters and some dill weed. this ol' farm lady is about the most beautiful thing i've laid mah weary eyes on ~ she is 70 years old if she's a day, tanned as leather, wears an old tattered straw hat and a bandanna around her neck, men's khaki work pants and an old pair of wellington boots looked to be about as old as she is.she sets up her veggie stand every morning in the parking lot of an old gas station, got a couple hand painted signs (painted on a sheet of plywood) that she props up against the side her old chevy pickup truck ... and commences to do business out the tailgate dat ol' truck. she says she has several gardens on her farm a few miles outside topeka, where she was born & raised ... and still lives wit her dogs & cats. today i noticed an old dog was layin' in the shade under her truck ... dog looked pretty mangy, but i have no doubt that if i'd so much as looked cross-eyed at that ol' gal, that dog woulda come out from under that truck & ripped me to shreds lickety-split. i asked her if she did any canning & preserving, and she told me she did some ... but says at the end of the day, if she's got any veggies left, she drops them off at a local homeless shelter on her way home.
she says she been selling her veggies on that corner for about 35 years, since long before the gas station was there ... and i can only hope she's still there 35 years from now ... long after dat gas station is gone.
~~~**~~~**~~~
Michael Martin Murphy ~ Old Desert Rat
She sits on the front porch of the old house that stands scorched
Under the sunstroke of the desert day that choked
Her old man who fell in the sun
With rattlesnakes and keepsakes, old boxes of cornflakes
Grammaphones and gemstones, and three unclaimed doorframes
And bleached bones and rocks by the ton
Goodbye old desert rat, you half crazy wildcat
You knew where it was at, what life's all about
You saver of catalogs, king of the prairie dogs
Success is survival and you toughed it out
You toughed it out...
You old loudmouth rockhound, you kept the kids spellbound
Half crazy and sunbaked, you earned your own grubstake
By breakin' your back all day long
With junk art and dump carts, old Model-T parts
Frustrated, outdated and uneducated
At eighty you still wrote good songs
Goodbye old desert rat, you half crazy wildcat
You knew where it was at, what life's all about
You saver of catalogs, king of the prairie dogs
Success is survival and you toughed it out
You toughed it out...
She sits on the front porch of the old house that stands scorched
Under the sunstroke of the desert day that choked
Her old man who fell in the sun
With rattlesnakes and keepsakes, old boxes of cornflakes
Grammaphones and gemstones, and three unclaimed doorframes
And bleached bones and rocks by the ton
Goodbye old desert rat, you half crazy wildcat
You knew where it was at, what life's all about
You saver of catalogs, king of the prairie dogs
Success is survival and you toughed it out
You toughed it out...
You old loudmouth rockhound, you kept the kids spellbound
Half crazy and sunbaked, you earned your own grubstake
By breakin' your back all day long
With junk art and dump carts, old Model-T parts
Frustrated, outdated and uneducated
At eighty you still wrote good songs
Goodbye old desert rat, you half crazy wildcat
You knew where it was at, what life's all about
You saver of catalogs, king of the prairie dogs
Success is survival and you toughed it out
You toughed it out...
I love the vid chez. Does not get much better then Gillian and David with Old Crow doing the Band covers. In fact, in my current playlist i am listening too, i have Gillian Welch, and OCMS, and Levon Helm. Thems good music!!
ReplyDeletewelch and rawlings are in a class by themselves ~ pity more people don't appreciate this kind of music. gillian's song "barroom girls" is a classic ... and her video with david rawlings "red clay halo" is nothing short of amazing. an honorable endeavor, keeping the old music alive. tru dat.
ReplyDeleteI hear you. "By the Mark" is my fav welch tune. I have heard about 8 versions of the song. But Gillian and her version is hands down the best. Cannot remember which of her 3 albums its on, Rawlings might be playing with her. But that song is in EVERY set i make on my MP3 player.
ReplyDeleteyep, "by the mark" is a great tune ~ gillian does a good cover, but my favorite cover of this ol' gospel tune is by the dailey/vincent band. jamie dailey sang with the doyle lawson band for years, before recently going out on his own. i listen to this tune about a hundred times every year, around easter.
ReplyDeleteIts funny you said that. I just got the DV band on my MP3. It was a recommended band on Napster. I have only had a chance to hear it a few times, but for me anyway, Gillian still wins this battle. Maybe things will change after a few years of DV. Hard to tell.
ReplyDelete