Planning ahead

Dh already has ordered some seeds for the coming growing season, and we're still perusing for more. His favorite place is Johnny's, although we also have ordered from Seeds of Change, The Cook's Garden, and Territorial.

This year, we'll be going back to sweet potatoes after trying butternut squash. I love butternut squash, but it seems to take so much more effort to cook them. I haven't decided what I want to grow yet, and I've forgotten what the kids have chosen. The rest is up to DH, the master gardener (no, he doesn't have certification, but he knows more than those who do...in fact, there was a grad student in his department who did the Master Gardener program, and then kept going to DH to ask him questions about gardening).

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Here there be Foodies

...of monstous proportions!

We've always been foodies (or, gourmet, depending on the company we're keeping), but several things made me think of this again recently.

One is the very cool book, Hungry Planet, by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Luisio. It's almost appalling how much packaged stuff we in the "civilized" world eat compared to the foods that are consumed by the families of smaller villages that produce their own food. Seems like, as DH noted, that the more "advanced" the culture, the worse the quality of food becomes.

The other is a chat I had with a colleague of DH's. I teased him about being at the office even though he was retired. I said that if DH were retired, he'd be home all the time, gardening. This gentleman said that he went through that "phase", and that when you realize how much hard work that was, it's more relaxing to go to the office. It's a bit sad that some people consider growing their own food a "phase", or only do it because their finances dictate it (and they stop as soon as they can afford not to grow their own food).

For us, we grow our own food because it tastes far superior to anything store-bought. The quality of our food is so much more important to us than the cost (although that is a pleasant part too).

We live to eat. Others eat to live. We are Foodies.

(The photos shows a strawberry shortcake I made with our own strawberries and mint leaves.)

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Just a puppy afterall

Dumb dog. This morning when we went to let out the geese, she just could not resist and chased them around again, causing a loud ruckus (I hate loudness, especially in the morning). I did what the AWFA list told us to do: approach calmly and then reprimand. Well, she would not let me get near her. Every time, I got to within 3 feet, she sprinted off like a maniac (and yes, some day, many years from now, I'll look back on it and laugh). Well, after about the 4th time of that, I lost my patience and did the other thing the list recommended: threw a can near her. Didn't even slow her down. So then came my fancy sailor language.

I was going to just give her the Voice of Doom and a serious eye-to-eye at first (both also recommended by AWFA), but after working up a sweat trying to get to her...and that's hard to do when the temperature is 27 degrees Fahrenheit (when the heck will the U.S. get modern and switch to Celcius?)...I tossed her into her pen for a time-out when I finally got her.

Boy, was I hopping mad.

Then, this afternoon, when she was outside on her own, supposedly protecting the chickens from the hawks and us from the mean, old UPS guy (just kidding; our UPS guys are wonderful), I noticed the geese had made their way up to the driveway by the house.

"What the h***??!" I exclaimed. Yes, my kids are learning lots of fancy words from me. I poked my head out the sliding glass door and yelled "get off there, you d*mn geese? Where the heck is that darn dog??" And I see her then, a mere foot behind the geese, standing there as though they were the best of buddies, her and the vermins. I shouted, "Gali, go get 'em; go chase the geese?" and she just cocked her head at me like, "are you crazy? You just gave me what-for this morning when I chased the geese." So I had to go out there in the cold to chase them myself while the dog just stared at me.

And then she had the nerve to give me the baleful look when I lectured her about "chasing the geese when they're in the field and not chasing them when they're up by the house."

She and I may never understand each other.

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Too short a visit

Three weeks may sound like a long time, but my sister's three-week visit simply flew. She is so wonderful to have around...always willing to help with whatever needs to be done and always cheerful. Can't wait for her next visit.

On the chicken front, Don Juan's eye is not getting better, but he is slightly perkier. We noticed his handicap hasn't stopped him from hitting on the hens. What a male. The stinker's to the far left on the photo above.

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)