Garden Visitors

Earlier this week when it was nice outside, I had finally gotten around to the flower garden out front to get it cleaned up for the summer and found I had visitors. I usually don't like visitors to my gardens (well the 4 legged kind anyway) as it usually means trouble...and this kind of activity only creates more trouble. As I was cleaning I noticed that something seemed to be different....I had a dirt mound where I hadn't before. After pulling some of the creeping thyme away, I found out why.

If you look close enough (you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it) you will see fur. Once I saw this I knew exactly who it was. I knew because this has happened a few times before.... and it seems to be in the same spot none the less. It happens about every 3-4 years so I'm not thinking it's the same momma that tries this. In years past, I have caught this earlier in the process and just filled the hole back in and put everything back and that was the end of it, but it was too late this time.

See if you can guess who it is.


I pulled some more the plant cover away so you can see it better.


Pulled some of the fur away to see if I had any activity or just a hole. I was occupied with 4 little ones.

Know who my visitors are yet?


Maybe this will help give you a better clue. I pulled one out of the warm fur-lined nest to see how big they were. Their eyes are still closed and they were sleepy.....and didn't seem to care for the draft that I had created.


You can see how small they are in this picture. This one was looking for a tight, warm spot to crawl into so it headed between my fingers.

I put everyone back, covered the nest back up as best I could and continued cleaning.



Ironically I have one of the frozen, life-like kind in the bottom part of the garden already for decoration. This is the kind to have in your gardens....no damage done with this one.

I guess I don't mind it so much with these guys as so far the adults don't seem to bother anything around the house or the gardens other than doing this spring stuff.

I have not seen the mother at all except for one morning hopping away over by the driveway.....at least I'm assuming it's was her as we don't normally see rabbits this close to the house. I don't know how or when she feeds them but it must be at night as we never see anything there during the day.

I will keep an eye on them to make sure they are doing OK now that I know they are there and hope the cats don't find them. When they are grown and have left, I will clean out the fur and fill in the hole and everything should be back to normal with little damage done.

Going Local

This article I found at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund website and thought I'd pass it along as it has some good points and also as we here are about buying and supporting local as much as we can.
You know our forefathers got about everything they needed locally. I'm sure not having to trot all over the globe in horse and buggy might of had something to do with it, but even so, they managed just fine sticking close to home....and as a result had more time for the more important things in life.


Local is Not What You Think
By Ryan Mickle-- April 7th, 2010

Local is not about buying the same stuff at higher prices from a local vendor. Local is about happiness.

I believe that the concept of Local is not well communicated. When people suggest that we “buy local,” it comes off as preachy and turns many of us off. How many times have you gone into a corner store and left feeling like you’d been ripped off? The $2 Coke or $1.50 orange may as well be considered marketing for Target, Walmart, and Costco, which sell the same Coke and orange at lower prices. The math doesn’t work. And it should be said that these retailers aren’t inherently bad. But guess what? It doesn’t have to be this way.

So, what is Local?

Local is something that should be celebrated. We shouldn’t feel guilty, Local should invigorate us, inside and out.

Local is more choices. Endless choices, all with unique stories, people and artisanship.

Local is buying from friends. Just as it used to be, I know companies right here in the Bay Area who love to invite people to their factory for a tour, or even to their homes for a meal. When was the last time you were invited to fly in the private Boeing 787s of a company that you buy from or even invest in?

Local is learning and knowing more. I want to know where my food comes from, appreciating the subtle differences and varieties as we often do wine (rather than by brand). I don’t want to have to watch a documentary or read breaking news to find out what is hidden from my view.

Local is about relationships. I don’t know about you, but I’m not comfortable being considered a “consumer.” I am not a consumer, I am a person and I believe that our central role on our society is a lot more than to consume stuff.

Local is about slowing down and discovering our talents again. In our world of hyper productivity and endless information, is the goal to work every waking hour? A friend of mine, actually a successful CEO, has no TVs in his home, only music instruments and a garden. Perhaps we’ve lost something by having everything we could possibly want available to us in shopping aisles. Our parents or grandparents probably preserved their own jams, pickled their own pickles, and received more in return than just something for their sandwiches.

Local is making less of an impact. We all know that we are destroying our natural resources and that this can’t keep up. We’ve done a really good job at hiding the truth from ourselves, of the resources we are consuming and the endless waste we are creating. Yet, when you can look a local company owner in the eyes and ask them about the impact they (and we) are making, everything changes. We need to get back to that.

Local is reusing more. Nearly everything we buy is mostly packaging and a little of what we actually need or use. But when we buy local we can return the container, no waste, no recycling (as environmentalists will tell you, recycling isn’t nearly as effective as reuse).

Local is more delicious. When it comes to food, eating local means more variety and fresher food. Isn’t life about variety, not a burger that tastes exactly the same, made with exactly the same ingredients? A diet that changes with the seasons sounds fantastic to me, perhaps even a reminder that I’m still alive!

Local is more colorful. Not many of us look like the models on billboards, so why should we bother trying to look like them? I want what I wear to connect me to the culture, people and art around me.

Local is more balanced. We often read about entrepreneurial triumphs to richness, but I have been meeting more and more business owners who are challenging the 5 day workweek. Rather than chase world domination growth, they grow their businesses to an “optimal” size and outcome for themselves, their employees, the environment and the community.

There are some great initiatives in support of Local. However, I think that Local is about completely reshape the way we live, and ultimately bring more happiness and purpose to our lives and our work. I must talk to someone new every day who escaped their cubicle to start a sustainable farm, brew kombucha, or import and roast coffee. Get ready for a new Local, full of flavor, color, and purpose.

What is Local to you?

Got that Pecking Feeling

I tried to post this a while ago but the camera picture wouldn't transfer to the computer. I then got that to work but couldn't get the picture from the software to 'my pictures' so I could add the photo to the post....actually the photo was the post. I finally did get that to work but then couldn't get into this blog account to finally post this but figured it out and here we are...finally. At least I got this posted before all the snow melted for the winter....which we are happy to see disappear! Trying to get around to do chores (or anything) is major work when snow is this deep.

Anyway.......
I had to go over to the barn for a few weeks in Feburary to collect eggs during the day (a job I don't usually do) as John was busy at that time and couldn't do it. We had just had all the snow from the storms that had come through (over a foot of that white stuff) so walking over there got my boots well covered with snow.

When I walked into the barn, I had the fan club greet me at the door and every time I would stop long enough to collect the eggs (or do anything else), I could feel pecking at my feet. They were all pecking the snow of my boots.

I am not sure if they like snow or if it's a novel thing to do....maybe a little of both. The hens do have access to the outdoors in the winter so they could go out there and peck at it all day as there was plenty of it but I guess it's funner this way. There wasn't many going out there anyway with this amount on the ground.....it was over their head.

A Wedding & A Trip

It has been a long while since I have posted something here....sorry about that. We had a very busy summer & fall. I thought I would catch you up with something that happen. I hope to get back to posting here more as things have quieted down now.

First-- John and I had our 25th anniversary trip scheduled for Oct.
Second--Nathan had become engaged to Jessica Hilliker at Christmas time 2008 and was going to get married in 2010 but they decided in the spring to change the wedding to Sept 2009.....our schedules now became more busy in many ways.

THE WEDDING:
I don't have a lot of photos yet of the wedding to share as some of mine are still on the roll of film waiting to finish and be developed....yes I used roll film....the kids were taking the digital camera on their honeymoon.

The wedding was to be next door to us outside in the back yard in the pine trees between our yards---Nathan was marring the neighbor girl- everyone would be facing our yard. Here are the guys a little before everything started. Chad (standing next to Nathan) was his brother's best man.


The scene for guest setting about a hour before everyone arrived. It was a nice sunny day and the wedding theme was tropical/palm trees but it was a bit cool out and by the end was not feeling tropical at all.


The happy couple after the wedding greeting guests...taking a brief moment here for a picture.

The reception was at the fairgrounds and the kids took their honeymoon in Florida...continuing the tropical/palm tree theme.
They still live in Wellington now but with Nathan married it has caused us to adjust what we do here for farm issues as he will not be here for the day-to-day operations. We are still adjusting to that in what we want to do and not do and also trying to figure out how this will all work in the long run.


**************************************

THE TRIP:
Our trip was to go to Santa Barbara--the American Rivera . The reason for here was it had a Mediterranean feel to it but also it boasted of 92% blue sky days with the average temps being in the high 60' and low 70's. As it turned out, a storm moved in from the coast and it rained while we were there and the temps were cooler than normal. The last time it had rained there was about a year ago. Irrigation is the only thing that keeps everything alive. If you did see a green patch out in the farm land, it was probably hay and it HAD to be irrigated. We drove around the country side and saw no grass-fed beef anywhere..... the grass everywhere was brown.

We stopped at their year-round farmer's market and that was interesting seeing things you would never see here....like avacodos, oranges, lemons, several kinds of nuts...and yes they had California strawberries. We bought some and they didn't taste any better than the stuff you get in the stores around here. I felt sorry for them as they might never know what a real strawberry is suppose to taste like.


This is a pic of West Beach (Pacific Ocean), Santa Barbara and the mountains behind them. If you notice the mountians are not too green looking at all because they had had some wildfires up there not too long ago. When it rained, they were worried about mud slides. We now know why they have so many wild fires out there...no rain.


We found a little park above the city that gave us a very nice vista of the Rivera. We stayed here a good while and enjoyed the view, sun and the quiet.


Santa Barbara actually faces south so you need to make an effort to see the sun set in the west. On a few different occasions, we went to a park on the west side and climbed down the cliff and watch people on the shore below, the activity in the water (which wasnt' much) while we waited for sunset. No irrigation here.....you can see the brown grass.....the green you do see are shrub like things.

Another end to a day. Sunset over the Pacific Ocean....the last of the sun for the continental US.

Mrs Obama's Garden

Who knew that putting in an organic garden at the White House would cause such a stir?

Michelle Obama wanted to plant a garden in the White House lawn to promote the eating of fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet and bring awareness to the local food system....and she wanted their garden to be an organic garden.

Well--she heard some grumbling from some of the agibusinesses and they don't like it.

"For too long, the ag guys have said, If we raise it you're gonna eat it. You don't have options," says Mitchell. "Well, now we have options."

The pesticide peddlers are not happy with Michelle Obama. The Mid America CropLife Association, which represents agribusinesses like Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection, does not appreciate the Frist Lady's organic garden at the White House.

According to a spokeman, "While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder." The Association wrote a letter to Mrs Obama encouraging her to consider using "crop protection products" and "to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire U.S. economy."

In a press release, it asked, "What message does that send to the non-farming public about an important and integral part of growing safe and abundant crops to feed and clothe the world--crop protection products?"

It is also asking its own members to send letters to the First Lady.

STOP! HR 2749

Urgent Action Alert!!!
New Food Safety Bill HR2749

Background Information
A new food safety bill is on the fast track in Congress-HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill needs to be stopped.

HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse.

HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.
To read a detailed account of the bill, go to: http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-15june2009.htm

Alarming Provisions:

Some of the more alarming provisions in the bill are:
* HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any "facility" that holds, processes, or manufactures food. Although "farms" are exempt, the agency has defined "farm" narrowly. And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times.

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers.

* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including "prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area." Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area.

* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make random warrantless searches of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation. Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.

* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a tracing system for food. Each "person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food" would have to "maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food," and "establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons." The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods. With all these ambiguities, it's far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers.

* HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals.

Action to Take:

Contact your Representative now! Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues. Tell them you are opposed to the bill. Some points to make in telling your Representative why you oppose HR 2749 include:

1. The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.

2. Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.

3. The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.

HR 2749 needs to be defeated!! Please take action NOW.

To contact your Representative, use the finder tool at www.Congress.org or send a message through the petition system (the petition will be on our website this evening) at http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions_new.htm.
Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
To check the status of HR 2749, go to www.Thomas.gov and type "HR 2749" in the bill search field.

FOOD INC.--the movie

Mark your calendars for July 3, 2009!
You will never look at dinner the same way again.


If you have not heard about it already, there is a new movie opening on June 12 that you might like to see! So far the only play date for the northeastern Ohio area is July 3 in Cleveland Heights @ the Cedar Lee Theatres.

One of the people staring in the movie is Joel Salatin and his Polyface Farm....the farm that Nathan apprenticed at a few years ago.

Watch movie trailer @ www.foodincmovie.com

SHORT SYNOPSIS OF THE MOVIE:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Features interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

MOVIE REVIEWS:
"Does for the supermarket what 'Jaws' did for the beach. "- Staff, Variety

"More than a terrific movie—it's an important movie." - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

"A riveting cautionary tale. This is one movie that truly provides food for thought." - Patrick Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

"A cleverly written and well produced documentary. Kenner crafts an intelligent, visually compelling argument grounded in old-fashioned investigative research and journalism." - Maria Garcia, Film Journal International

"Excellent in every respect." - Pete Hammon, BoxOffice Magazine