A confession: I have not posted recently due to an injury obtained during my regular morning dog walk. And it wasn’t even the dog’s fault!

At least once a year, I fall. It’s not due to any condition - honest- but, rather, uneven sidewalks.

It happened last week as a friend, who has quarantined the same as me, and I were walking for exercise while getting my dog, Java, out for her regular early morning jaunt. Everything was honestly going quite well until the toe of my shoe caught an upraised section of the sidewalk.

Why I went down like a ton of bricks!

I almost landed on the poor dog, but she managed a yelp and quickly moved. My friend was heard exclaiming, “Oh, Carol!!!!”

Trying to catch myself a bit, I put out my left hand (stupid move) and, with the forward motion, “kissed dirt.” In other words, I face planted between the ground and sidewalk.

“I’ve got the dog,” my friend said as I took a moment to collect myself. Why, what a good friend she is, she even grabbed the poop bag!

It took a few moments to collect myself, but soon I was up and we started walking to our homes. We were close to home anyways, but it was still a little slow going. The dog kept looking back at me concerned. I swear this dog, a rescue, must’ve been a service dog before we were graced with her presence in March. As I touched my face, I realized I was bleeding under my nose.

I didn’t hurt my knees, but my left hand, especially the pointer and middle finger, were sore. While my friend said she’d walk me home, I made the trek myself assuring her that I was really doing okay, except for some bumps and scrapes.

As I applied a cold wet rag to my face to clean it and quell swelling, the dog jumped on my lap, something she doesn’t usually do, and she put her head on my chest and paw on my shoulder.

What a dog.

Cutting to the chase here, I DID go to the doctor who took an x-ray of my left hand. No broken bones and no hairline fractures, he announced. That was good news indeed. But I did have a sprain and he advised taping my pointer and middle finger together to stabilize the pointer which received the worst of the fall.

But my right hand, which I can’t remember doing anything significant during my downward plunge, was throbbing the next day. What’s up with that, Doc?

Well, thanks to Arthur, as my mom would call it, or arthritis, as most would refer to it, my wrist and right hand were experiencing a flare up. The flare up happens, sometimes, when an “event” occurs. And I certainly had an event.

So what does this all have to do with local foods?

Well, it put a hold on my blog writing, for one thing.

I’ve been getting better each day and, by the weekend, my fingers were improving. And I was able to join my sister at our weekly outing to a farmers market!

Since we live in West Central Minnesota, there are two we frequent - one in Alexandria, MN and the other here in Fergus Falls, MN. We chose Fergus Falls and came away with a bounty of goodies!

My sister said she didn’t intend to get much, but once you see the wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables, well, it’s hard to resist!

My bag was full with a muskmelon, two pounds of new potatoes, Haralson apples, onions and lettuce. While it was great to gather it all, lifting the bag was a challenge! It was especially challenging with my injuries!

Already I have cut up a couple of the onions. I placed one onion, all were quite large, in a container set for the fridge. It was diced and is now ready to go in fried hamburger for a goulash or topping off a salad. (I love raw onion.) I added some in a chili I made over the weekend, too.

The other onion I sliced and put in a crock pot pot roast. I put a few cloves of the garlic I got the week before at the same market.

Lettuce salad, complete with farmers market cherry tomatoes, onions and cucumbers is a nice meal addition. And the muskmelon? Wowzers! What a great mid afternoon snack!

The Haralson apples are still on the counter. I am looking up some recipes to see what goodies I can make with those!

My sister contemplated helping me with my bag. Her’s was just as full and heavy. We trudged to her car and, I admit it, we took a break or two on our way!

It’s been a week since my fall, and I have improved. The finger is more limber now. That’s obvious from the fact that i am typing once more. Yay! And my face, which would curdle milk if you saw me right after the fall, now looks better. Why, it might merely sour milk instead of the full curdle.

With that said, I look forward to rebooting my writing. Of course the fall happened on a Wednesday. I focus most of my writing for Thursdays and Fridays. Sheesh. Talk about taking me out of commission!

But, as I said, here I am!

I look forward to telling the stories of more local growers including a local cafe by Sauk Centre, MN. The Tuitti Fruitti Kitchen Market Farm practices the farm-to-table concept as the owners, Kevin and Marlene Gwost, not only raise vegetables and fruits, selling them at their own on-site market stand, they also use some of the produce in the meals they prepare at the Tuitti Fruitti Kitchen!

Check them out at www.tuittifruittimarketfarm.com and look for thelocalgrowers.com story coming soon!

Right now, I have to feed the dog. She’s been monitoring my walks VERY closely ever since my spill. But, as my sister said, it could’ve been worse!