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!

3-2-1- compost!

Today's a day we've been working toward for quite some time-- we built our compost bin! The neighbors, who have been studying gardening topics with us for quite some time, helped us put it in. We're really excited and are looking forward to using our leftovers in a new way as much as we're eagerly anticipating the rich, black soil we'll get for our Garden Experiment.

Square foot gardening

Bought the wood for square foot garden beds this weekend, and posts and poultry wire for a compost heap today. Now we're looking for someone who has a sledgehammer so we can get those posts down into the dirt. Anybody?

Must Read

I must now, before I am even done with it because it is THAT GOOD, recommend Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. If Animal, Vegetable, Miracle spoke to you, this one will too, but louder. Oh my, will it ever.

Helpful Books

I read quite a bit on gardening, farming, and the like, but only some of the titles I read are truly, wonderfully helpful.

Gardener to Gardener: Seed Starting Primer and Almanac was so wonderful, I tried to buy it. Alas, could not get it through Baker & Taylor. You can, however, borrow a copy from the library!

The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food is the other book I found that I actually used (as opposed to looking at the pictures and wishing my garden looked like that). This one I was able to buy, and I read it at night when I can't sleep. Amazing that I don't dream of strawberries and asparagus!

Seed starting stuff

Today a friend sent me home with:

• two boxes of seed starting supplies on loan
  
• a personal walk-through
  
• a book to figure it all out
  
• and a vow of support should I need it

Other friends were going on vacation to a Bountiful Gardens store location, and will pick up our seeds while they're there. This gardening thing is beginning to feel real... except for we haven't DONE anything yet!