Lisa Zahn

I know I've been on this topic a lot lately, mainly because it's gardening season and I'm thinking a lot about food--growing it, buying it at the farmer's market, etc. Also, I work at a grocery store and I'm passionate about the way we deliver food to hungry people so there it is! I've been reading a bit of the classic book, The Contrary Farmer , by Gene Logsdon. Today I just want to type up a longish quote from the book, which I think is wonderful... This 'reconnecting' [of farmer to consumer] so well exemplified by farmers' markets in the cities, makes for a healthy economic system. Human beings are mostly rather wonderful creatures in their personal relationships with spouses, their children, their parents, their friends, their comrades at work. So when food shopping becomes a direct experience between the farmer and the consumer, mutual solicitude is invariably generated. The farmer wants the customer to be pleased, and the customer, so served, w...

Yesterday Eli was reading CNN Money.com over my shoulder and saw this article about moms making their own detergent (with Washing Soda and Borax--just like me!) and growing their own food and doing other things to cope with the tremendous rise in prices lately. So he and I talked some more about this rise in prices for basics like food and gas, and how some people are losing their homes because they couldn't afford to pay their mortgages, etc. He has been pretty aware of the terrible state of the economy. We make it a game to see how much gas prices have risen each time we have to drive somewhere. I'm not sure if I should be sheltering the kids more or not, but I know by this point they know plenty and we just need to talk about it and help them to understand. It wasn't many minutes after this latest discussion that he came back to me and started talking non-stop about how he and Dad could build some traps and go hunting, how we could make our own teepees out of trees and ...

Today started gray and chilly, but as soon after the sun came out this afternoon, so did everyone in Minnesota I think! Above is Rose and her friend in the tree "house". I got the garden staked out into 4 foot wide planting beds with 18 inch wide paths in between. Then I planted about 24 potatoes, just under the hay and on top of the newspapers. If this "Lasagna Gardening" planting method works out, this photo will be the beginning of a success story. If not, it'll give us all an example of what not to do. Let's hope for the first! George staked the pole bean trellis, which in past years has blown and blown and blown over with any bit of wind. This year it's solidly in the ground and ready for us to actually plant something! Elijah worked on his knife sharpening skills and George cleaned out the bird houses so they could be re-hung. We have enjoyed this beautiful day! Tomorrow thunderstorms are in the forecast, and we could really use the rain so ...