Barr Street Market to open soon!

The Barr Street Market is a farmers market with a great variety of locally grown fruits, vegetables, honey, beeswax products, baked goods, organic produce, fresh-cut flowers, live music, a kid craft table, and more! And it's kicking off Saturday, July 12th at 9:00 a.m.-- just in time for Three Rivers Festival. The market will be on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m. at the corner of Barr and East Wayne Street.

We can also pick up a Green Guide by Grassroots Green that contains money-saving coupons as well as articles about green living. They cost $15-- a cost that can be partially recouped right at the Barr St. Market (some of the vendors are right there at the market and have coupons in the book). Proceeds benefit Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana, who put on the market each year.

There are even more local food choices available this year-- let's check it out!

Side Yard Eats

This is a photo of the herb patch that sits outside of our kitchen door. It is my favorite part of our garden - it is so easy to grow herbs. I had no idea. And it is rewarding to step outside and snip something to flavor dinner. We are still using basil that we dried last summer.
We purchased most of our plants at the Botanical Conservatory plant sale in May, but they have plants for sale year-round at the Conservatory. Give them a call to see what they have available. I have also picked up herb plants at Schmucker's Produce Market (12815 Doty Road- 46774)

More people saying no to high food prices

While researching rain barrels online lately I came across yet another article describing a family that decided to rip out a huge portion of yard to garden in reaction to high food prices. The Wall Street Journal blog post is a couple weeks old now, but the sentiment is completely salient. More and more people are discovering gardening, and for more and more reasons.

As first-year gardeners, we've already made a lot of mistakes with our three raised beds. We started far too late for many things. But this week our family rejoiced over spinach, bronze lettuce, a new crown of broccoli, three green cherry tomatoes, a tiny patty pan squash, three lil green peppers, bean blossoms, and sweet peas. We knew it would probably happen, and yet it is still amazing and slightly surprising. We sit back and laugh in wonder at how it all works, and creep back out to see what has changed by the end of the day. Our eldest child is convinced that her singing is helping, a la one of her favorite stories, The Giant Carrot. (There isn't room for her to dance like the character Isabelle). And who's to say? Even with our late start, things seem to be going well enough, so the singing might be just the thing.

Co-op update

OK, Kat has her own blog going now, and will have updates going soon. You can find it here. Check it out if you're interested in joining a food co-op where you'll have one place to go for fresh local produce, eggs, meats, and other products you've ordered.

You will be the pick-up person from time to time as well, but only occasionally-- as opposed to near-constantly (as the person who is not currently producing everything needed for sustainable living in their own backyard might be doing now).

I'm feeling great about a new way to feed our bellies with healthy, fresh, local foods, boost local economy, utilize the possible cost-savings of a co-op, and reduce my carbon footprint by not driving to five places to get the items I want for our family. Way to go, Kat! This project will assist many people in many, many ways.

Think global, eat local!

Kathleen Hickey, TD(DONA), mother of four and a birth doula, is presenting information about thinking globally and eating locally at our local Holisitic Moms Network meeting today. Kat's also the coordinator for a local farm-to-consumer food co-operative. The mission of the co-op is to help connect families with the resources to eat locally. I'm headed to the meeting in order to learn more about how to eat more healthfully, economically, and locally. It's better for our family, for local farmers, and for the environment.

Interested? I'll keep you posted here.

Egg hunt in June

We found a local source for eggs and not only went to pick them up with a friend-- we got to pick them out, too! Chickens, as it turns out, don't lay eggs in wholly expected places. It requires a careful collector to find all of them. Fortunately, our kids had a patient teacher to show them all the likely hidey holes.

They also got to see pear trees, plum trees, apple trees, two large vegetable gardens, and a shade garden, one renegade cat and two happy dogs along the way. It was quite a fun farm trip! We learned about the benefits of the color red for tomatoes, about "June drop" in fruit trees, and why some plants had netting over their tops. We also virtually watched sweet peas growing on the vine. They're fast!

Our garden has a long way to go, but it does give us an appreciation for the way things grow to visit such a large and thriving farm. Thanks! We're looking forward to visiting again!