Potato Salad

I want to tell you all a little story that I experienced while doing my Permaculture Design Course in Tennessee, about potato salad. I did this course in a little 'hippy commune' that had been created in the late 60s and early 70s. This commune is now one of the oldest of this kind in the US/world and goes under the name 'The Farm'. It had been after the Sunday evening classes led by a professor called Steven Gaskin which through his revolutionary thinking sparked a caravan of alternative minded people that wanted to create a space to live from and with the land. Now throughout the years people have come and gone to and from 'The Farm' which created a large family of 'farmies', people that have a close connection to this community. They started gathering every year to have a little festival/get-together with live music to reconnect with old friend and keep those bonds alive. This festival is called 'ragweed' and I happened to be there while it was happening. A very brief summary would be hordes of young and old long haired and bearded people coming together wearing tie-dyed shirts and creating a lovely atmosphere. One of these 'hippies' was Dennis, a long haired, bearded older man with a mischievous smile and a slight hunchback who reminded me somewhat of a hobbit. One evening during this festival I was trying to get a ride to a venue to listen to some live music so I walked by the side of the road and saw the lights of a car approach from behind. I stuck out my thumb and it was Dennis with his red and dented pickup truck who stopped just in front of me to let me into the drivers seat. We had talked numerous times beforehand so I was no stranger to him. "Hey Noah, nice to see you - where is you goin'?" He said with that slight southern accent wearing his tie die T-shirt. "Just looking for some nice music, you want to take me?" I answer as I open the door and climb in, there was only one main road on The Farm so he could only be going my way. "Sure thing, make yourself comfortable," he says as we take off "see that boy over there? Let's take him in the back!" We pick up another person and after a few more minutes of driving there are some more younger kids walking on the side of the road that we pick up. "Right Noah, let's have some fun now." Dennis says and a naughty smile forms on his face above his grey long beard as he steps on the gas pedal. The people on the back screech in loud excitement and now Dennis starts turning the steering wheel starkly from left to right. I laugh with him in 'Schadenfreude' as we hear the screams coming from the back every time he waves the car from left to right. As soon as we arrive the kids jump off the back and run towards the large tent which had a country band playing in it at that moment. We continue driving into one of the parking spaces on the grass, Dennis turns off the machine and tilts his head into my direction, again with that mischievous smile. "Noah I want to tell you a little story: about 2 months ago I was hanging with some friends at a party and I just started craving potato salad really badly. So I went around the entire party and asked everyone if they happened to have any potato salad with them. To make it short in the end every one at the party was craving potato salad, just because I kept asking." He tells me with a little laughter. I laugh in response to his story "You've got me craving my grandma's potato salad now, she always made the best!!" "So did mine! See that woman in the car next us putting her child to sleep? Go out and ask her if she has any potato salad with her." He says with a smirk on his face. I couldn't resist at this point so I get out of the car and walk towards the woman that had just managed to seat her son in the backseat and was now emerging from the car. "Excuse me, I know this might sound a little out of the ordinary but I was wondering: do you happen to have any potato salad on you?" I say with a little smile. "Haha, of course, I happen to have some just in my jacket pocket." She answers laughing. "But really, why?" "I don't know, I just started craving my grandmother's potato salad and you just look like someone who might have some." I reply jokingly. "Oh do I now? Well even if I would have some with me, do you even think you would like it? After all everyone makes their potato salads a little differently." This leads us to a long conversation about which would be the best ingredients to put into a potato salad. In the end we depart with her last words being: "I might not have any potato salad but you definitely got me wanting some now." As I walk away I giggle a little, Dennis was right, this would be the perfect way to start a weird and funny conversation about potato salad or into which ever direction the conversation might wander. So I now urge you to try this at least a couple of times in an unusual situation (well really any situation might do) and see what reactions you get. I hope you have as much fun with it as I have had so far. ;)