Silent Month

In my race to keep up and catch up with all that I am hoping to do (which of course, will never happen) I have neglected the computer. The christmas holiday was fun this year, being at home and quite mellow-- even with the kids and the many presents. My favorite part is the stockings. If we could somehow just have stockings that would be perfect for me.

I got a really nice pair of clippers from Santa George AND my very own compost turner, retrofitted with an extra long handle. One lucky gal I am, and that wouldn't have fit in my stocking, so I take it back.

My best present? George sitting across from me at the table with drawings and lumber take-offs for the new compost bin he's building.

Which brings me to my rave of the day.... DENVER! We are the lucky members of the City of Denver's new compost pilot. They come and take so much stuff, it's silly. ALL food scraps (yes, meat, cheese, etc), takeout boxes, takeout coffee cups, tissues (no, not toilet paper), all kind of yard scraps... I'm in heaven. Now if they would just recycle all the kinds of plastic things, not just many of them, our trash bin would go even much longer.

Go denver. Now, if we could get that lady across the street to stop throwing her newspaper IN the plastic bag into the dumpster, I would feel a whole lot better about the state of the world.

Once again, we felt amazingly blessed by this season. We have a warm and cozy house, we can pay our bills, we have good food to eat and we aren't being bombed by anyone, which I'm thinking that many in Gaza can't say ANY of those.

I managed to compress my usual writing for our yearly letter into the back of a postcard, (using every single character, thank you) and if you didn't get one, just write me a note, and I'll send it to you. No offense-I'm just always barely holding it together here. ... Don't write me a note yet- I just ordered the cards, slipping in just before the very end of 2008(so give me a few weeks to address them and get them in the mail). I think most will say good riddance to 2008, but I will reserve good riddance for W. January 20 can't get here fast enough for me, and no-I don't think that Obama is going to work magic, but he can (at the very least) speak in complete sentences, and can chew and think at the same time. I think that should be the bare minimum required in a president.
I'm hopeful for the new year, I'm hopeful for our future, and I'm hoping that I make it another year and a half to graduate!!!!! We hold those hurting and struggling close to our hearts, and send our love and care for comfort.

I'm off to plan my garden plots. Are you doing this already too? I got my first Seeds of Change catalog, and I'm dreaming dreaming of lots of land, and much food being brought forth from our little patch of dirt.

Seriously, folks

Do I need to say more? This greeted us Saturday when we returned from our lovely (and shopping free) trip to Seattle. The story about the worker who got killed by a WalMart throng? I mean. Really.
And that horrible picture on the cover of RMN/Denver Post of people heaving flat screen TVs out into a crowd? It's truly embarassing. I can't tell what bothers me more? All of the coverage of our "recession" where this kind of shit happens, or the suits from Michigan rolling into DC on their private jets to beg for millions of our money. AFTER debuting a freaking HUMMER the year that the Mini Cooper was introduced. Think there might be something wrong with that take on what's happening around the world?
And what a terrible place to be in for politicians... let them fail, and see the fallout of the thousands of workers, or encourage the ridiculous practices that they employ. Shitty, I tell you.
But at least Bush is going away, and to celebrate, we have gotten a subscription to the NYT since even though it's mostly bad news, it is not the worst news you can find every day. There is a small ray of hope. On our first day with the paper, we actually looked up a word in the dictionary. How often does this happen with the good old Denver Post? Exactly never in our years of reluctant subscriptions.

My favorite day is coming up

No, not thanksgiving! (Although i like that quite a lot too.)

It's BUY NOTHING DAY!!!!!
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

Take a look at the fun video spots they have, especially the pig.

I love the day after Thanksgiving because it is always spent lounging around, hopefully playing outside, and generally completely avoiding the need to go to a store. Join me this year in celebrating Buy Nothing Day. I try and make it the whole weekend actually.

And BND always brings me to thinking about Christmas, and how I'm going to deal with it this year.

I read a bunch of ideas in Wondertime, (I'm really surprised that Disney is letting them talk about anything besides buying more) and some of them were really good. My favorite I think is a little ryhme. "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read."
I don't' know if my family will ever let me dictate how the presents get given, but I am bound to keep trying. One of the ways I am doing this for my self, is I'm creating a list of which organizations I want to support and trying to decide if I should split the amount of money I can donate among them, or choose two and send them bigger chunks.
Here is my current list, but I know I'm forgetting some. It feels good to know that I can spend money and time thinking about other causes besides our very very lucky family.

American Farmland Trust
Obama
Southern Poverty Law center
NARAL
Access Fund
Simple Living
Planned Parenthood

I'll add yours if you comment on this post! ;)

Survey

You're welcome to chime in, but my readership (all four of you) is AWFULLY quiet in the comments section, so i'm okay to just survey myself.
Question: How much is the change in the global financial market affecting your decisions surrounding the holidays?
Answer: Not that much.
We already had our plane tickets, and reservations for where we're going for Thanksgiving, and I make all sorts of desperate appeals to my family to limit the number of gifts and stuff every year. Every year I exasperate my sister to no end, as I propose new gifting rules, and in the end, the only people I really truly can buy/get things for with absolute certainty that they will love them are the three and ahalf year old and one year old men in my life. George? never quite sure what will make him thrilled. But maybe that's just because I can't give him a big bike ride in the middle of a workday as a present! Oh by the way, his BIRTHDAY is tomorrow!

Oh yeah,

I did forget my other passion, language, which was all but slaughtered by the lady with my name (ugh) check out this post about the Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla . I thought she was the most horrifying part of the last three months, and I have this picture from the Obama gathering in October that I thought summed it up.

And for those of you who werent utterly beside themselves watching this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbQwAFobQxQ well. I just don't know what to say.

In other better news, the boys got BUNK BEDS!!!

and I'm done with school until January!

Birth

Since I've been covering food and politics, I'd like to take a turn with my other favorite topic, home birth.
Here's an article that my midwife sent me from the good old NYT.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/garden/13birth.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin

It's been kind of hard to transition to the new time here at our house. Five is too damn early for it to be dark. It reminds me all too often about just how many places the boys can play inside, and no... it's not generally their room.
We got our first motherlode of winter share from Monroe Farms, and I've been making lots of soup. Curried winter squash and mushroom soup, Santa Fe sweet potato soup, Cream of celery, and today I made the most gorgeous carrot cake with poppy seeds on the outside. I never knew how people made cakes look good, but it turns out all you have to do is buy one of those tube pans. It looks fancy, and stands on its own. what an easy way to do it.

This weekend, I hope that george will make a little loft for Rowan's bed, so we can put milo's underneath. and I'm going to recover the chair cushions that have given up and are splitting to show their insides.

What he said

Then I found this : http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/obama-cites-michael-pollan.php He actually read it!
I'm looking for the White House Farmer. That's what I'm hoping for.

My project is almost done. I'm going to post the whole damn thing in here so that you can check it out. The very last item is the coolest, it's a custom search window that I chose the sites for, and you can do your terms... obviously related to local/organic food... and see what inspiration you get. My favorite finds from this whole excersize are ethicurean.com and homegrowncolorado.blogspot.com but you have to decide on your own.

Oh, and I'm sure to have errors. If you could point these out to me by tomorrow, it'll save me the embarassment of a half-written entry or something that I'm turning in for a grade. ;) It looks like all my cool formatting was erased when I copied it in.

Local Food Pathfinder

Why Local Food?
When you feel like having strawberries, chances are good that you'll find some in your neighborhood grocery store, even if it just happens to be a cold day in February, and a producing strawberry plant couldn't be found within an eight hour drive of your house. The only part of its life story you may know is the country it arrived from.
But how many gallons of fuel helped plant that food with what kind of machinery, and if it's not organic, how many more gallons of fuel helped spread the pesticides, insecticides and fungicides on the plants to give them a chance at producing your strawberry in February? And then the drive to the airplane to the next building to the store, and finally the trip home probably in your car. This food is soaked in fossil fuels. Worse yet, chances are very good that if you were to take a strawberry, grown in season, off of the plant and put it in your mouth, it would bear very little resemblance to the pinkish-red berry that is beckoning from behind that plastic container (ack, more fossil fuel!).
At this moment in history, daily news reports disasters and tragedy around the globe and yet we are practically powerless to change the outcome of the events transpiring. However, the opportunity comes for us to take action at least three times a day when we select something that we will eat. Becoming curious about why our food has to travel so far, and what people did even 75 years ago to feed themselves is the beginning of an amazing transformation in the way you view your food.
For some, that curiosity gets piqued by a book they read, or from an article they glanced at. Or for others it may be weariness of eating from boxes, in cars, or without actually tasting any identifiable ingredient meal after meal.
Searching out food that has a story, an actual person who grows it-who you can meet, and a place that you can drive to within a couple of hours is the antidote for fuel-soaked-food blahs. See if you find any compelling reason to search out a carrot that was grown just down the road from you… it may surprise you just how good it tastes too!

What is local food?

Local Harvest
http://www.localharvest.org/
This website is a locus for the local food movement. It is a place for small family farms to communicate with the larger community and show what they have available. There is a locator for many facets of small farming, including farmers markets, farm stands and CSAs or Community Supported Agriculture farms.

Locavores
http://www.locavores.com/
This is one of the original groups that brought awareness to the local food movement, and its very own term. LOCAVORE was the 2007 Word of the Year for the Oxford American Dictionary and has been instrumental in connecting people interested in eating food grown close to home with the resources they need in this area. This effort has been duplicated throughout the country, and has been a way to connect farmers who are outside of the public eye in grocery stores and restaurants directly with their consumers. This is one of the main tenets of eating locally, being able to visit the place where the food you eat is growing and see with your own eyes who takes care of the details.

American Farmland Trust
http://www.farmland.org/
The three main features on the front page include Local Farms and Food, Protecting the Environment and the Farm Bill. This organization is the place to find out about anything related to food. Under Local Farms and Food, a complete list of resources, analysis and information give compelling reasons for us to vote with our food dollars.

Eat Local Challenge
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/
This site is a group blog, and has contributors that highlight news, events and ideas from across the United States. Important collections of information are here, including posts about the best local food cookbooks, and numerous discussions about the practicalities and details of eating food close to home. In the Featured Posts section, there is a post called "10 Reasons to Eat Local." This lively and inspiring site will reveal some of the main draws of local eating.

100 Mile Diet
http://100milediet.org/
The authors of two books host and contribute to this site, and their books are testament to their commitment and well-researched approach to eating locally. This site also has some great resources that include state- and region-specific websites in Canada and the United States. While new content isn't being generated here, the stories of people searching out local food Thanksgivings and a blog chronicling the 100 day 100 Mile Diet Challenge is a lesson in how it can be done.


Food Policy-and the next President
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html
Michael Pollan, has become a voice of the local food movement, first with his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, and then In Defense of Food, both explorations into where our food comes from, what we eat, and how it affects us. This six thousand word letter to the next president is also clearly lays out the multifaceted food issue, with a clear statement of how our eating habits affect almost all other facets of life.

New York times Local Food Navigator
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/l/local_food/
The sidebar has many of the same resources I offer in this pathfinder, but the collection of archived articles and content related to local food that has been published from the NYT is bound to provide a good taste of the coverage that the local food movement is getting.
Related:
October 12 Food Issue of the Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2008/10/12/magazine/index.html
The letter to the next president comes from this issue, but the entire issue is devoted to issues surrounding food, and can be a good primer about what

The Nation: Food Issue
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060911
In 2006, The Nation published an important issue on Food, with a collection of articles and discussions by those most influential in reviving the discussion about what Americans eat. Find Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, Anna Lappe, daughter of the author of Diet for a Small Planet, Alice Waters, a famous chef and local food advocate, Michael Pollan, and many others giving context for this important topic.

Biodelice
http://www.biodelice.com/
While the ads at the top of each page are a little annoying, the site is well organized and there is a wealth of information about organic food, farming, gardening, sustainable agriculture and sub menus that cover most of the important issues. This is a great site to comb through to get an overview of basic questions with clear answers.

WHY BOTHER?
While many of the above resources give introductions and compelling reasons for examining the way you feed yourself each day, these sites can provide more information about the specifics.

True Food
http://truefoodnow.org/
A project of the Center for Food Safety, http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/, each of the issues and causes they champion are at the root of many people's search for local food. The main tabs are genetically engineered food, cloning, rGBH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), irradiation, factory farms (also known as CAFOs or concentrated animal feeding operations), and organics. By following this site, and the Ethicurean blog (See below) a different picture of the food landscape emerges. This information will directly affect how you decide what to eat for your next meal.

Ethicurean
http://www.ethicurean.com/
With 20 contributors across the United States, and a couple across the ocean, this blog stands as an amazing collective work that focuses on Sustainable, Organic, Local and/or Ethical foods (SOLE foods). An incredible source for inspiration and clear-headed analysis of the Farm Bill, food legislation, recipes and a discussion of ethics as it relates to food and food production. Subscribe to the feed, you'll be in touch with the local food movement, and glean an understanding of how food issues are discussed.

Food Routes
http://www.foodroutes.org/
Food Routes advocates for local food consumption, and has a helpful and extensive "learn more" Section, especially the Hot Topics tab. This organization also has developed tools to educate people about why choosing to spend food dollars locally can be of benefit.

Slow Food USA
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ , http://www.slowfood.com/
Slow Food USA is part of the international Slow Food movement that began in Italy. Clearly a reaction to the fast food phenomenon and all the parts of life that it affects, Slow Food intends to support the enjoyment of food and re-educate about taste and genetic biodiversity of foods. It also reframes consumers of food as co-producers who are partners in the food production process.

Organic Consumers Association
http://www.organicconsumers.org/
The mission of this organization is no small goal; they are "campaigning for health, justice, sustainability, peace and democracy." These themes do run through the local food movement, because of the emphasis on the interrelatedness of each of these topics. The section on Organic foods provides articles posted, and addresses some of the actions, struggles and changes in the organic food market over time.

Factory Farms
http://factoryfarming.com/
One of the most looming and environmentally detrimental food practices is the proliferation of CAFOs or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. This site has pictures of where our food is grown, and quickly dispels the notion that cows that we consume are lazily wandering fields of green, and have a good life until they are processed. The nightmarish conditions extend to all major issues of our time, including environmental pollution, loss of land fertility on farms, humane treatment of animals and the workers who attend them, and the possible consequences of these closed systems diminishing food safety for the consumer. Local food consumers can avoid these circumstances by visiting the place where their food is grown, including the animals, and regain a place of understanding and acceptance.

Organic Milk
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Organic/dairy2.cfm
This opens to a story quoted from the New York Times on organic milk that is a good introduction to why organic and local foods are related. The site itself is referenced above.

Organic Dairy Survey
http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html
Take a look and see if you can find the dairy you rely on for your milk products. This survey was done by the Cornucopia Institute, which advocates for family-scale farming, and the entire report about milk integrity and how they evaluated the participants is here: http://www.cornucopia.org/2008/01/dairy-report-and-scorecard/. What you will find is an internal conversation about what "organic" means, and how that is interpreted in the size of the dairy operations. What are the benefits of "organic" if the practices are for large-scale farming?

Where can you find local food?
Local Harvest
http://www.localharvest.org/
Already cited above, it is worth mentioning again. The finder box on the front page gives you the option to search in your zip code, city or state for a variety of items, including farms, co-ops, CSAs, Farmer's Markets or even restaurants. This resource can point you to where you want to find food grown locally.

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/localfood_dir.php
Directories for the whole country are gathered here, the listings are searched by state, and then contain groupings of local food resources. Included here is the Colorado food and agricultural directory online: http://www.ag.state.co.us/FoodAgDirectory/

Homegrown Colorado
http://homegrowncolorado.blogspot.com/
Homegrown Colorado Girl, the author of this blog, must also be a librarian. She has a wealth of information, links and a great beginning library hosted through Amazon.com. A Denverite, she is passionately involved in the pursuit of local food, and shares her discoveries through this blog. An easy way to keep up with the local food scene in Denver is to subscribe to this blog on your reader. She highlights events and opportunities related to food grown close by, organically and on a small scale.

Colorado Local Harvest
http://www.localsustainability.net/
The main claim to fame of this organization is the Rocky Mountain Growers Directory, which is a tremendous resource for finding local food outside of the farmers market. It is in print, and there is an online version here.

The HOW and WHO of the dirt work
At a farmer's market, the best way to make sure that you are buying from a local producer is to ask the person standing behind the food. There are stands that truck food in from wherever it grows. This happens at the Cherry Creek Farmers Market, so customers may think that they are supporting a local farmer, when instead the stand is getting their food from the same sources as the grocery store down the street.

Farmers Markets

Farmer's Markets
www.ams.usda.gov/FARMERSMARKETS/
The direct source for finding out about farmers markets, the USDA has information here about the growth trends in this part of the food industry and facts about farmers markets. There are also search tools, and related topics including presentations and the Farmers Market Proclamation. This site has current data and useful statistics, as well as a farmers market locator.

Local Harvest
http://www.localharvest.org/
Local harvest has got to be the most cited source of information about local food, (this is its third appearance in this pathfinder!) but for good reason. It contains links and finders for farmers markets, CSAs and of course the farms themselves. Go to their map, and you'll find a nice listing of markets in your area.

Boulder Farmer's Market
http://www.boulderfarmers.org/
If you are close enough on a Wednesday afternoon or a Saturday morning, stop by this farmer's market. It is a truly wonderful market that is always crowded and you can shake hands with the people who grow your food. Many of these producers also run CSAs (or community supported agriculture). At this market, many of the products must have been grown or harvested from Boulder County, with the exception of the prepared food vendors and the western slope vendors. No boxes shipped from California at this market.

How to Save Money at a Farmers' Market
http://www.wikihow.com/Save-Money-at-a-Farmers'-Market
Addressing the disparity in price between organic and non-organic food, this article gives tips about how to get the best of both worlds. There is a caveat at the end of this article, but the spirit of thriftiness and the hints about navigating the farmer's market make it worth a read.

Community Supported Agriculture or CSAs

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml
Published from the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center at the USDA, there is a tremendous amount of information here, and it is well organized. Many publications from the USDA are linked here as well as some articles on the history of CSAs. The sections called Eating Seasonally and Regionally, and Community Food Systems are noteworthy for their links, as well as the Sustainable/Organic Agriculture connection.

Your Own Yard (but someone else takes care of it for you)

Spin Farming
http://www.spinfarming.com/
SPIN farming stands for Small Plot Intensive Gardening, and the key is that members offer their own yards to be cultivated and harvested, and then receive a portion of the proceeds in weekly boxes similar to a CSA. That means that the biggest barrier to growing food, the land, is provided by the members, in addition to the water and watering systems. This is as local as you can get, without dirt under your fingernails.

Community Roots
http://www.communityrootsboulder.com/
Practicing the SPIN farming model, Kipp Nash is growing food in his own neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado. There are three new farms starting, see this article about him in Edible Front Range, http://www.ediblefrontrange.com/pages/issues/summer08/localHero.pdf


Community Gardens (Your little portion of a plot of land, somewhere in your community)

Community Gardens
http://communitygarden.org/
For all things community garden related, this site is created to bring people together and nourish their lives by creating community gardens. There is also a search function to find the community garden closest to your home. There are tools here for starting your own community garden, as well as the resource of connecting with others who can share experience and ideas. The LEARN tab has a series of ten tips, as well as many other helpful resources.

Denver Urban Gardens
http://www.dug.org/
DUG or Denver Urban Gardens is the local initiative that is being supported by LiveWell Colorado, a statewide initiative to create community and promote health primarily in lower income areas. Over 20 years old now, they are organized and ambitious and can provide knowledge and education to new gardeners through their free education programs.

In Your Own Yard (your effort, your reward)

Urban Food Gardening
http://growyourownfood.blogspot.com/
Blogging about urban gardening, with the specific intent to inspire and encourage others to do the same, you'll find some great ideas from this author. Current, informative, with great pictures of specific veggies, you won't necessarily be able to duplicate her garden, she's in Ireland.


Square Foot Gardening
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/sqfoot/
One type of urban farming is called Square Foot Gardening, it relies on various different preparations of the soil and the area you plant. Here you can find people discussing the questions and issues that come up in day to day gardening with this method. One of the keys to learning how to make your garden the most productive and problem free is to find out what has worked for others, and this is a good place to get that information. It can also be a great place to trouble-shoot issues in your garden.

Growing Taste
http://growingtaste.com/
Growing taste is a peculiarity among gardening sites. While it may seem obvious that taste is why anyone is growing vegetables, there are other pressing concerns including the ability for the plants to survive in your particular plot of dirt. A good deal of research has gone into comparing individual types of plants that produce the tastiest offerings, but this site is also a rich source of seed catalog information and many customer reviews. It doesn't appear that this site is the most current, yet the amount of helpful information offered outweighs the negative currency.

Seed Savers
http://www.seedsavers.org/
This site is for when you get really into preserving and continuing the legacy of the innumerable heritage breeds that are ignored by the food industry. If genetic diversity preservation becomes part of your value system, which it just may after delving into this pathfinder, Seed Savers is a way to enter the world of seed trading, and helping maintain genetic diversity in your food.

Colorado State University Extension
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/menu_garden.html
This is not a glamorous site, yet there is valuable information to be found here, specific to gardening in Colorado. The Fact Sheets can be particularly useful, depending on the types of questions or problems you are having with your garden.
The Garden Notes are the most helpful, here is a link to the Vegetable Planting Guide for Colorado: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/files/gardennotes/720-Planting.html

Colorado State University Extension (Too)
http://www.extension.org/horticulture
More sleek-looking, this site contains tag clouds and an "Answers from our Experts section". It seems that some of the responses are short, but the hyperlinked text will bring you to some amazing resources, including the garden notes link above. This was difficult to locate by searching, yet is cited in the information on planting vegetables on this site.

How to Start Composting
http://www.grist.org/advice/how/2008/08/19/
This humorous and graphic article on how to begin composting would have gotten me rolling with composting long ago, had I read it. Lucky for you, you can start here, because it will seem very silly for you to cull vegetables from your land, or the land of someone you know, and then throw that in the landfill instead of letting it turn back into soil amendments that are free and the best thing for your garden. This article will tell you how to get it going.

More Information (Databases and the Law)

Agricola - National Agricultural Library
http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/
This enormous catalog is organized into two separate types of data. The article citation database can be searched on any of the above topics mentioned, from genetically modified foods, cloning, hormones in milk, and antibiotics in meat to organic practices and alternative farming systems. There are links to some full text articles, or records that contain the source of a particular study. This is in addition to the Online Public Access Catalog, which catalogs all books and other materials that can be searched as well.

PubMed
www.pubmed.gov
PubMed is a massive, comprehensive, free public database of medicine. While many of the articles may only have their abstracts, there are full text links available for some articles. Use search terms such as Organic Food, genetically modified foods, fresh vegetables, pesticides, fungicides or insecticides and there will be studies that explore these topics.

Food and the Law
http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/crs/
The National Agricultural Law Center has the Congressional Research Service reports organized by topic and then identified by title, in this section of their website. They are written to provide information for law makers, and can be helpful in understanding complex issues, and their parts.

Google Custom Search Tool
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=000982846150528943910%3Al09zlyinayu
Many of the above resources were included in this search tool, though not all. Each of the databases must be entered individually, and a few of the organizations were not included. Taking a few search terms and entering them here will give you an idea of which resources may be the best place for you to look further.

ENJOY

MP's letter to the pres-elect

Hey, during my research, I found this absolutely incredible letter to the president elect. it's from the week of October 12, and addresses my deepest hopes for this country. I opened a new post about two weeks ago to post it, and had to cancel it because I didn't have time to actually write anything. Then, I saw it posted on one of the blogs I follow. How cool is that?
Here it is.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html
Written by Michael Pollan, it's a weighty 6000 words or so, and worth every minute it takes to read it.
I guess I can start getting the NYT again, now that Bush is going away. The news just got too sad for me, and I quit, but maybe I'll be able to read about what's happening. I tried last Sunday and this to get the paper, and it turned into the NYT Quest, which was repeated this weekend... so I'm getting it delivered.
My friend Stephanie told me that her dad had to set his alarm to get up and get his paper in the morning, because if he didn't-- his NEIGHBORS stole it!!!! and the time is getting earlier. now it's 20 to seven if I remember correctly. In any case, neighbors of mine-please don't steal my Sunday NYT... once I start getting it!!!
Only two more classes, and then I get the big break of the year, til the first of the year. I have enough projects planned for the next month to fill a good season, so we'll see what actually transpires.
I can't believe how much better I'm sleeping since Tuesday. Despite my children! :D

New President

we got one! President Obama.
Astonishing and wonderful.
Congratulations America.

Bossy me

Okay, I couldn't watch/listen to the whole thing, but I regretted it immediately and went to their site where you can watch the whole thing. And what do you know? they have their very own myspace page!!! type in Mydebates.org and you get sent to mySpace! (but you don't have to join or have an account)
You can also compare your beliefs about massive complex topics packaged in less than 15 words with those of the candidates. And there's video of all the debates. Even the Say it ain't so Joe one.
Anyway, I did survive the last debate and now can we please just have a new president? Please? Since we're huddled up with NPR often, you know, like every day, I did the deed. In the midst of the plunging economy and the normal bills, I gave some money to Colorado Public Radio, since after all-- they're telling me what's happening. I now have a clear conscience.
Now go give to public radio, you know it's your turn.
And then go to the damn library and check out how cool that place is.
And THEN visit your local farmer's market this weekend before it ends for the season.
I'll stop telling you what to do now. But really, are any of those things terrible? I think not.

may I state for the record

That John McCain is not my friend. I am not his friend.
Thank you.
The misery of the debates may continue.

My dear sweet boys

I only have a one and three year old, but I can already see it coming down the pike. Through my tears that is. This woman is such a great writer, (the Dalai Mama) and I went to Wondertime online to complain about the HFCS and couldn't find a contact email...(does that seem crazy to you? oh, and by the way, it's owned by Disney, which explains why there are a minimum of 20-25 pages of Disney ads in every issue--and why they have the money to put out the very cool things they do in this mag.)
Like HER! http://wondertime.go.com/parent-to-parent/blogs/catherine-newman-blog/09152008.html what a great writer. If someday I can capture a feeling like she did in this entry, well, then i'll be damn proud.

Tonight I actually took notes when Rowan was talking, and I wanted to remember what he said. He is just as fascinating as every other child to their mother, but I cannot for the life of me reproduce almost anything cool that he says or does, unless I write it down the very moment it comes out.
One of his sayings that I love is this: "Did you never do that?" or "Did you never see that before?"

Today we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. How typical is that of american fare?! Damn it was good too.
But this conversation happened before dinner. And since I just went through the ritual of pulling out the clothes that Milo and Rowan have outgrown, and put in all the new ones (more on this later), Milo was wearing a little pair of training underpants that I had for Rowan at this age.

We had the green beans to snap, and Rowan loves doing it, and is VERY good at it too! But now Milo wants to pretty much anything Rowan does, so I had him perched up there on the edge of the chair (yes the little one) while Rowan did sort of a balancing dance move up there too, leaning on the counter. (yes, I was standing behind him so that he wouldn't fall three feet) and we were snapping the green beans to freeze or cook in something. Rowan is half singing a little mini haiku. "Bean juice, splashing in my face" and I know exactly what he's saying, as they snap, the mist of these delicious beans is hitting him in the face! So I listen, but pretend to not hear (otherwise he stops doing whatever I love) and then the verse changes to "grape juice, splashing in my face" to "Ice cream, splashing in my face."
Milo has a green bean in his mouth, and is organizing everything. He is awesome at moving the laundry, imitating any motion that I make while talking, and doing almost any nasty thing that Rowan does to him BACK at him! He's been thwacking Rowan on the head, and hitting, poking and generally letting him know that the field is getting more even, as we speak!
They are awesome together, a lot. They play, are happy, and peaceful most of the time, thank the parenting godesses and gods out there for that.
And of course, I feel extra attentive and sentimental because George and I got a whole night off, got a group tango lesson and a little party, and to sleep in... by our selves!! My parents watched the boys, and they rewarded them with sleeping all night (an almost unrepeated event when I am near) and then waking promptly at six to torture my parents who were trying/hoping that they might get a couple more minutes of shuteye with them all snuggled in the bed. (ha. ha.)
Add the fact that I am neglecting my homework, and you have me, feeling lovey and thrilled to be the mom of these two lovelies. I'm sure it's also because they're sleeping. ! :) But some of that is because you can actually think about them, without continually attending to them when they are motionless and adorable in bed.

New tooth

Yesterday Milo's first tooth poked through his little gums! wait, you think... how old is he? 14 months! He has definitely taken his time with this. :)
I got to see Anne Lamott last night with my book club and a couple of other friends, it was great- she's one funny lady. We got free tickets through Jefferson County Public Library (so did everyone else there). They host an author event every year, and it's such a great place to put money. I got to see Sue Monk Kidd two years ago with my mom, and I guess I just missed the whole event last year due to unprecedented other commitments.
I wanted to pass along these two gems that I found after being totally incensed by an ad in Wondertime. As you've read in the past, I like quite a bit about this mag, except for the advertising which borders on ridiculous. The last issue however, had a full page ad from the corn refiners association. Who They? Our friends responsible for High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS. Here's a couple of the video ads they're running to attempt to change the image of the aforementioned substance:
http://www.foodfacts.info/blog/labels/HFCS.html
And this blogpost that talks a bit about the issue differently:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=the_problem_with_corn_syrup
These are variations of what was in the magazine, directed specifically towards parents of young children. Look in the next 50 things you buy, and if you haven't searched before then you'll find it in just about everything except milk and eggs. Oh, they don't have ingredient lists. but maybe they should....

Rainy September brings square footage dreams

First off, apologies about the sideways pictures. They either get in there sideways, or they don't get in there. I can't change them when I'm selecting them, and I dont want to change the format if I want to print them... so sorry.
Yesterday, George set up our tent to camp in the backyard, and then it started raining. Hard. Rowan didn't care, he wanted to sleep out there, so they did. The benefit of the rain? That the constantly barking dogs in the neighborhood on any normal night were silent and dry INSIDE their houses.
Milo and I did our usual night visiting. He really wants to keep close tabs on us, so he makes sure we're still around when he should be sleeping.
I don't know what's gotten in to me, but I'm back sketching plans of our upstairs, thinking constantly about where we can get ourselves an extra hundred thousand, and wishing for construction to start any minute on our second floor. Oh, it must be rainy and getting cooler. Now for all the months when I feverishly wish for more than one room to be in.
Yes I know that makes me sound snotty and priveleged, considering how much we have, and how insanely lucky we are to be dry and well fed, and not evacuating our flooded home. All the rest of me is very embarassed, but I can't be completely zen about our little houseall of the time, can I? Whether I can or can't, I'm certainly NOT. Yet it serves us just fine. If only it were paid for and we didn't have a mortgage like the rest of the US. Then the whole freddy fanny fiasco wouldn't really creep me out.
And speaking of creeping me out, I just looked at the polls for the first time today, and McCain was ahead. This is the first day I did this, and the last, because I need at least the next fifty days to hope that something will be different in January when our current fearless leader gets the hell out of town.
Maybe you already saw this, but it's worth a view http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

school's in

Rowan and I are both back in school. I didn't take a picture of me like last year, but it was a different scene altogether. Today I had the syllabus and notes printed out before class, and zoomed there on my scooter.

Last year, I had a six-week-old, and I took the light rail and was pumping. I had no idea what to expect and I stacked my classes so I was gone for so long. I had my parents coming to help out, and no plan for when I'd get homework done. It was very stressful.

That was really hard. I'm very glad we're all a bit older and wiser, and that my little boys seem mostly unaffected by my craziness. This morning, thanks to not having homework (yet) and our babysitter Danielle, I was able to can the pear apricot butter I made, and actually do all of the dishes. For the first time (and hopefully only) One of my jars broke when I set it in the canner. It sounded like a little pop.

And then there was goop all over in the water, and I had to wash it all out and start the water boiling again.

G is doing a lot of traveling this month, so i'll have to be a bit more disciplined going to bed. it is so much easier for me to stay up late than get up early. But I'd better, because the boys like getting up all night long.

Must be harvest time

First, a picture of REAL food. Okay, I know it's an ugly picure, but it tasted like heaven. Believe me. This is a tomato grown from Monroe farms, smeared Seville-style on Bread from the Denver Bread company. drizzle with Olive oil. sprinkle with salt. Y-u-m.

So the tomatoes are in, and I got to go out to Monroe Farms and pick a couple of boxes to put up for the winter. When I got there, I realized they were also letting us pick green chiles, and then firing up the roaster to roast them. So of course, I picked a huge flat of those, then they were roasted and then sealed in a huge plastic bag to sweat and cool (I think this is the trick if you have some you're trying at home--let them sit sealed in the plastic bag until they are cool, then you can peel them easily).

Very satisfied with all this bounty, I returned home, to the work part!!! I was already canning apple sauce and apple butter because our next door neighbors' trees are busting this year and you can't beat the price or the commute!

We started up all the burners between cooking down the tomatoes for sauce [pizza night!] and peeling the whole tomatoes for use in many crock pot recipes. That, and all the canning stuff.... our house was roasting.

George and I are still trying to figure out how to be a canning family. It drives him crazy to have all these projects going on, all half finished of course. It takes over practically the whole house, and oh yeah, we still have two small children who demand most of our attention. :)

Between all of it, we put up about 15 quarts of tomatoes, 8 pints of sauce, and we've got all the tomatoes that weren't quite ripe yet and were set on the saw in the garage now calling our names. I know it was really normal very recently to can, but now I seem like the wierd one. The thing is, it's the most eco-friendly proposition ever (besides the diaper-less baby).

1. Stuff gets ripe, you pull out your jars from last year, maybe buy new lids (2 bucks)

2. Can all the food you can, pull it out throughout the year and remember your hot weekend in the kitchen. After use, clean the jar and put it back in the closet.

3. Repeat.

Almost no waste, because of course all the junk you cut off of or peel goes into the compost (to help feed your plants next year. Seriously cheap too. and way better if another farm grows the food for you, and you step in at the last minute, like I get to at Monroe!!

Check out that shot of Rowan cranking out the tomatoes for sauce, did you ever see a cuter shot?

So besides all that, i'm unsure of what i'll do with the 20 pounds of pears that are about to be ripe on the counter, but I'm pretty sure it'll end up in the slow cookers for pear sauce. The boys absolutely love it, and we can put it on their oatmeal every morning. one grain, one fruit. voila.

School started for Rowan this week, and next week, when it starts for me, then it'll get interesting. I'm always optimistic that I'll have "time" when i'm not in class, but what happens is that I run like a crazy woman trying to cram in fun and other stuff that i've ignored [like bills] and are falling by the wayside.

Today I took the luxury of going out on my road bike for the first time since I was pregnant with Milo. Yes folks, that would be just about two years... Our babysitter, Danielle was with the boys because this is when I'll normally be freaking out about school work and going to class. I felt like cheating cruising away from the house for a bike ride! I guess two years is long enough to wait.

Thankfully, my trusty gray bike has been pulling the boys around, but it's not the same I tell you. My beauty bike is far more tight and faster. George dusted her off yesterday, thank goodness. You can't be a fancy bike and dusty!

We had playgroup at our house yesterday, and that was really fun. It is surreal to watch these children growing and changing, and I feel so tender for them all. Having this group has been amazing. I should have taken pictures. I will bring the camera next time.

Still Summer

We have had so much fun after the PI ended. Me especially, not having to worry about figuring out how to finish my homework and arrange childcare. After a week of getting organized and recovering, we jumped on a plane to the east coast and got to play at the beach in Cape Cod. What unbelievable weather, and water, and fun sand and family! Rowan and Milo got to hang out with Gino, their cousin, and we got to see the grandparents without jetlag! It's been four days since we returned, and the first time both boys are sleeping at the same time. You wouldn't think this is such a big deal, but it makes such a difference in a day.

On Monday, after dinner, George and the boys were sitting in the front yard and I ran inside to get the phone, when we heard all of this crackling. Half of our crabapple tree in back fell down on the fence, and remarkably, very little damage was done... except of course to the tree! That event called for a little Monday evening chainsaw excitement after that, with George donning the traditional carhartt bib overalls, etc. and now we've got a nice little stash of apple wood to burn in the chiminea this winter. I am pushing for a second garden bed (when the rest of the tree dies) so that I can rotate our compost from bed to bed, and rotate the few crops we have, but George stubbornly doesn't want any more work. I just don't know what to do with him sometimes!!

We knew the tree was dying, but as they say, hope springs eternal, and so we just keep waiting for it to stop dying and return to its former glory. I think eventually we will get a peach tree or two, and another garden bed, especially if I promise to always let one go dormant. :)

I am just thrilled with the produce from our CSA, and we got a special treat to swing by Chubby Bunny farm (in CT) on the way to Cape Cod, and pick up a weeks worth of veg (as Tracy says) to feed our family. We even got a half gallon of milk from Patches, their cow!!! Talk about lucky. I'm not sure there is anything more earth mother than seeing Tracy (pregnant) milking (by hand) her very own cow!!
Of course, Rowan was thrilled to see the pigs, and he and Bea got to hide in the corn, which he thought was so fun. Truth be told, it's all amazing to us too. In their barn was vast quanitities of Garlic drying (or I'm not sure if you call it curing, or what) and all the food, it just feels so revolutionary to know someone who grows the food you eat. We never get to stay there long enough. We have seen approximately 7 minutes of Dan, the life of a farmer is no life of leisure folks, in case you didn't already know this.
Our vacations are too short. This is a national problem, for sure, but certainly we should be able to do something about it! George left work here, and just relaxed. It was nice to see him do that and the last two vacations for him mostly consist of submit-to-what-Rowan-wants-to-do time, and that usually involves sand, dirt, water or soccer balls. In other words, not too bad of a life!

i'm going to upload some pics, then I need to get back to making dinner.

Remembering one

Remembering back to when Rowan turned one, here's what it looked like. My parents, G's parents, us, all..... watching everything that Rowan was doing. We blew out the candle for him, and so is it really any different that he blew out Milo's? nope.

ahem, it's over now, so much for a weekly update

Here is a photo from Milo's birthday. Milo wasn't too sure about the whipping cream that I put as frosting on his zucchini cake (yay Monroe). Rowan was able to help him out by sticking his finger in it, shoving it in m's mouth, and showing him how tasty it was. That was all it took. I sometimes worry about Milo not getting his own gig, but truth be told, it was a much more joyous and fun occasion with Rowan there to spice it up, and bring his little bro up to speed. Not so many adults watching this single one year old. I also had the benefit of experience to recharge the camera batteries which I DIDN'T do for Rowan, and the camera died as the candle was lit on his first birthday... ah well.

Funnily enough, I haven't had another minute to post since the beginning of the course! To sum it up in a sentence or so... Tons of information on my favorite industry.

The sense I got was that all people know that books will change, they're not sure exactly how, but that the "end of the book" has been repeatedly been threatened and hasn't happened yet. I'm not really sure how I see it all, except that I predict that there will be some sort of split in the types of books..... Books that help with research or provide information are much more natural in digital format. As for cuddling up with a Kindle, or the future generation of the ebook, when reading some good tasty fiction-- I don't know that it's going to be a transition like that.

In other news... (I could write about the Dpi for days, but I will spare you all.) Milo is WALKING! I have never seen a cuter child besides my Rowan. Can you tell who the mom is? Seriously, what amazingly cute boys we have.

AND there's three more adorable babies in our life. Welcome Emerson (born on Milo's bday) and Mason, Aug 4 and Michelle sharing that day too! It will be so fun to watch them grow and change. Our mom's group is a total crazy miracle of babies and siblings now. It'll be so fun by next year this time-can our houses handle all these guys?!

I am finally actually sending out our Solstice (ahem, only 8 months late) cards with our picture, so now maybe we'll make it to your fridge if you forgive us for being so tardy. I'm amazed that it happened at all, but it was my single goal this summer besides the pi.

Summer here has been really toasty warm. Tonight though, it's about 60 degrees, and steadily pouring rain... for more than an HOUR. This barely happens here! It is a huge blessing, and feels so cleansing.

We can't wait to get to the coast to be with the Messinas in a couple of weeks. George is beside himself waiting. I hope I can actually post some pics from it because we have come back from really fun trips or had great visits with friends, and then I realize that there's no record here.

For example, we got to visit Tracy and Dan at Chubby Bunny Farm (their CSA) and I never wrote about it, or posted the adorable pics of Rowan and Bea playing-- and that was in April!

And I also drug(dragged?) the kids to Kansas with me and we descended upon Kim and Blake in Manhattan, it was so fun, and I hardly took a picture there! They survived the nights with us, Milo doing an extra spectacular show for them. (sorry sorry sorry again)

And then the following week we got to actually see Jimmy and Marianne and their beautiful girls, got to bunk in their snazzy house far from them so that Milo wouldn't keep them awake, and lo and behold, he slept all night. *sigh* I am almost completely terrible at predicting what these boys will do. They constantly keep me guessing.

I can't wait for Saturday, I get to go meet Mason, and visit Megan and Scott. G is going to hold down the fort with the boys. Today my celebration began though, for the end of the Pi, because we got to go to the zoo with Cindie and the girls. What fun, to traipse around all morning. They were holding mock interviews, and tomorrow, the real ones for the pub industry, and I am in the peculiar place of actually wanting to get a job in the field, but having it be totally unrealistic!!!

School and boys 24/7 is enough right now. oh yeah, and my other four projects/responsibilities on the side.

I'll talk about them some day, maybe. I can't imagine you want to hear/read it.

:) Happy August. Does anyone have hope for the election this fall? Oh yeah, the DNC is here in a couple of weeks. I'll have to post a blog about it, or I'll be the only one who doesn't!!!

Publishing Institute, week 1

I'm almost a full week into the publishing institute, and for the first time today I wasn't sprinting out the door or anxiously (and compulsively) looking at my phone to see if there were any text messages. *big sigh* I never doubted that we would make it, I know it'll be fine, but it is a really big shift in my days.
Considering I almost never stop moving, from when I wake up until well past 9 pm, sitting still in a lecture seat for hours on end is proving to be a big adjustment itself. I have found out about some amazing people in this industry, and wish that I could work with them.
While I love many things in the library world, and enjoy library school, I wouldn't mind getting to meet the most dynamic, innovative people in the field and see if I could work for/with them!!! That's what the publishing institute is all about.
The owner and founder of Sourcebooks delivered the keynote on Monday and in addition to being utterly amazing, she turned me on to some of the coolest books... One "poetry speaks to children" and also the original adult version "Poetry Speaks" please go find these books and buy them. I want them to be in your life, and to support such an amazing person.
And since I'm doing shout-outs.... Ani Difranco did an interview with mindful mama magazine, and you should check this out as well as the mag. Did you see her interview in Mothering too? When I went to Oregon last year, Scott had a copy of this random architectural/design magazine and lo and behold...........! Ani! She is cooler at every turn.
I can't say that I can name quickly many living heroes/heroines in my life, but Ani Difranco jumps quickly from my tongue. And now Dominique Raccah has joined her. Along with the Head honcho lady at the Penrose Library, Nancy... um better find out her last name. She delivered an energizing and provocative speech last year at my orientation. I'd better thank her for that.
Three women! I know I can make a longer list. and this doesn't include my closer friends and family.
In biggest news of all, my baby is ONE!!!! Milo's birthday on July 14th was really celebrated over the weekend. I tell you, I felt so gleeful and happy and nostalgic and proud to have this baby boy. He is a real joy and we think he's going to be a big joker too. I could feel his birthday as a milestone in a way it didn't hit me with Rowan's first birthday, and I'm not sure I can explain why the difference. They are both just treasures, what a lucky mommy I am.

Adventures with the Chariot

To the slightly scary motorcycle guy who brought our flatted chariot, my bike, and the boys home with me in that pickup truck:

Thank you so much, I appreciate your kindness, and your willingness to leave your duties at the shop. I tried to fix the flat, after removing the large piece of glass from the tire. I would have replaced the tube, but I had the wrong replacement size, (for the stroller) and when I arrived home, we discovered about fifteen other slices in the tube, next to my one nice little patch.

I do however, disagree with one of your bumper stickers, which actually scared me much more than you did. The one that said: "Anti-war = Pro-terrorist"

I am decidedly anti-war, for many reasons, but in particular because I am a mother and cannot stand the thought of losing my children, as women all over our strife-ridden planet are, in large part because of war.

I don't think this makes me pro-terrorist. That's the problem with bumper stickers, they aren't open for conversation though. I did put one on our car though, with a decidedly more positive message.

SUMMER

For once, I have been busy having fun, and ignoring most of the things I "should" be doing. Summer arrived here well before the solstice did, and we have been eating it up. Me and the boys drove to Manhattan Kansas to visit our friends the Belangers and had a grand old time there, doing all the proper summer things... catching fireflies, swimming at the pool, going to see live music outside, checking out the garden (we even saw a train go by--literally next to the gardens) and of course, eating eating eating. preparing to eat, cleaning up from eating, planning to eat some more.

My child is hungry almost all of the time right now. It's always been pretty bad, but we go through these periods where he says he's hungry oh... three hundred times a day or so. And the only reason that Milo isn't saying it is because he can't talk yet.

Today we were eating peas from our garden !!!! :) and Rowan said. " I really love peas. They're delicious!" YES! I said, you're right, they are. He sits and opens up the pods, exclaiming with flourish how cute they are... and then eat them like candy. They are absolutely delicious, that's for sure. We also got a small bag from our first (FINALLY) pickup from our CSA. Now, he knows where our farmers live, and that this food was growing out there... and our coveted eggs from there too. yum, they are worth it all by themselves.

He also just figured out his nose. These are the kinds of things you don't normally notice, but on Tuesday, he blew out of his nose for the first time (on purpose) and was so excited about it. Now however, it's been days and he won't leave his nose alone! Including with the PEAS!!! if you know what I mean.

Milo has decided he is no longer a baby, and will eat sandwiches just like his big bro. Today he took the spoon from me, and fed himself. This was rare anyway, because mostly he just gets mad if I try to feed him with a spoon. He also is free standing now and then, trying it out, and i suppose my days are numbered before he is sprinting away from me.

I think Milo is going to be so funny, he may be the sense of humor in our family. He laughs easily and lets most things roll off of his back, including his brothers foot in his face, or any of the other things Rowan subjects him to. It's just that pesky hunger thing that will turn all of the males in our family into evil monsters.

I will try and get a pic or two up before my next class, wish me luck.

And since we're on the topic

Did I mention that I have a problem about food? Today, because I wasn't thinking clearly, I went on an outing without a single snack. Now, this was normal in my pre-child life but no longer. Usually I have a few things almost literally stuck up my sleeves or something because in addition to my darling husband who can lose it slightly upon being seized suddenly by hunger, now I have a three year old who does the three year old version of losing it when (frequently) being seized suddenly by hunger.
Soooo I went to Atlanta Bread Company. Not fast food, right? Makes bread, right? Well, I order him the peanut butter and jelly, (Can't be too bad can it?) with whole wheat instead of "french bread" (read White) and the lady who was so helpful, offered to give him oranges instead of chips... Aw, how nice of her to get my drift.
So I go pick up the plate, and there is a sizeable bowl of (canned in corn syrup mandarin) oranges!!! THATs the ALTERNATIVE "healthy" food there.

Should I say anything more about our meal there, or should I just move right along?

I think I'll go to the other end of the spectrum, so that you don't think I'm a raving lunatic. (Who am I fooling? No one, right?) After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I was convinced by the importance of Asparagus. This, being the first food to pop up in the spring, and ONLY in the spring, I signed up for a day at Monroe farms where they have exactly two pick yer own crops. I know this is different from other CSAs out there, but it is what it is, which is a full hour drive away.

I load up the boys, Milo had a fever, (yes I'm a bad mother too) and Rowan was a little under the weather. But dammit, three years at this CSA and I was going to make it out there to get my little penis shaped spears. I didn't even know what they looked like growing, but I remembered a carrying container, and the Ergo, so Milo would ride on my back.

Rowan brought his rain boots, wisely, and I unwisely brought my crocs, which fill immediately with dirt as soon as you step in it. And FYI, food is grown in dirt, even though the world of grocery stores would like you to forget that, and quick.

We got our assigned row after walking past the chickens that would be giving us eggs or becoming our dinner/stock soon, and Billy (yes, the Goat. har har). It stretched very far, and I looked down it, as Jacquie said, if you don't think you're going to pick the whole row, please go to the far end and pick this way. (Which is very wise with children anyway.) So we did, we sang and sang and I talked about my big strong boy who could walk ALLLL the way down there, and how it was a good thing he was three now, and was big enough to do this important work with me. (He wanted to see the piglets, they were the reward for finishing.)

So we did it, I bent and picked and Milo was a champ and Rowan was a champ and I was too, I picked that whole row and crowed to George (whose LEAST favorite food in the world... yup you guessed it-ASPARAGUS) Was going to come home in a big ol' laundry basket.

And then we went and saw the piggies. Who are so damn cute, I have to say. They run around and circle like puppies do, and their noses are adorable. very cute.

And then we came home, and I was so glad that Rowan met his farmer and saw this land and saw those animals, and if we can't do the growing ourselves then thank goodness that we can know the people who do.

But our peas are doing great, and there are flowers on the plants, so we're doing a bitty bit here in the backyard. And we have Radishes popping up, the easiest thing to do with kids, according to my friend kim and she is right, they came right up, very satisfying.

What do you have in your garden?

beware food science

I am less and less able to buy food at the grocery store. This is partially my problem, I got used to having our CSA decide what we were eating (and when) but then the end of February came... and the winter share is over, and the summer is just in planning... nothing growing yet.

So I warily re-entered the grocery store, which I don't like to do for meat, dairy, vegetables or fruit. (yes, that is pretty much everything except grains, isn't it. Oh yeah, and CRAP which is mostly what stores have--and what I also buy-- chocolate covered pretzels, etc., we all know the crap list.) But, we are still eating, even though our farm is done sending us food, so off to the store I go.

I read Joan Dye Gussow's book, and laughed at her, (it was before February) because she accurately describes going into the grocery store, buying a few things, wanting to ask if the fruit is local, etc, and realizing you are just the crazy lady. I just wish I could garden like her, then it wouldn't be as much of a problem.

ANYWAY. I know tomatoes aren't growing right now in CO and i've gotten very very picky about my tomatoes actually being real. (meaning taste and act like tomatoes do) And it didnt take long for that to happen, just one plant in the garden, and then i knew.

but, after a few months of going o the grocery store, and refusing to buy almost every vegetable in it for reasons like it was grown in chile, or isn't organic. or isn't in season, or or or... I saw these tomatoes. They weren't organic, but they kind of looked real. and they felt real too, kind of full and heavy, slightly soft, a slightly bit irregular. I went gonzo and bought two. At home I took some of my favorite sliced french bread from the freezer. (really fresh when toasted) and thought i'd make up some Pan con tomate, sevillano style. But minus the garlic.

There, you get toast, and if it's a really good place, some quarter chunks of tomato and a few cloves of garlic. you smear these on your bread-garlic first-which is hard and sort of tears the tomato and garlic apart and oozes them into the delicious bread, you usually just have the tomato skin left, the rest you get to eat. Then you top the whole thing with olive oil and salt and VOILA. heaven.

Well, I cut open the "tomato" and then toasted my bread, and then attempted to smear the "tomato" onto the bread. But this apparently ripe thing maintained its shape entirely. the seeds did come out, but no juice, it was an IMPOSTOR!!!!! It almost fooled me except then I tried to EAT it!@!!!!!!@

Bastards, who did that to food? who made that look so real? WHO bothered, when the taste is what is important?

catchup

First, I wanted to report that Rowan went to the cabinet where we keep recycling, opened the door by the handle, and shocked, said!!! I can reach the HANDLE! I opened it by the handle!!
My boy is growing, that's for sure.

Second, you know the kind of person i am, I keep hearing the phrase, "not so much" from professors, pretty much anywhere. I was certain it was well known because of someone on TV, and because we don't have one, I looked elsewhere to educate my ignorance. I did a little searching, and lo and behold, a language health advisory from the The New Yorker says:

Language Health Advisory No. 3
“Not so much”
This catchphrase has not yet fully crossed over into the hot zone, but the danger signs are mounting. Its Google Repetition Index of 9.1 million is misleadingly inflated by its orthodox uses, which are not so much common as ubiquitous. (A better metric might be its Google Blog Repetition Index, a relatively low but still ominous 1.12 million.)
Its precise origins have not yet been definitively pinned down, although one researcher has traced its popularity to its repeated employment by Jon Stewart and the writers of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” It is still fresh enough for Stewart to wring a few dozen more laughs out of it, but bloggers and feature writers should be wary, as it is beginning to smell a bit ripe, à la “Duh!” and “Not!!”

the_new_yorker:http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/hendrikhertzberg/2007/10/language-health.html

In my estimation, since this was written, it has only become more widespread, even appearing in my casual speech... I guess it's better than "like". Which I can't shake, despite my best intentions. I remember a linguist at CU studying the multi-use-ness of "like" when I was studying there. It is useful, but certainly I should be able to use something a little more descriptive, right?