Lisa Zahn

Well, I was all set to awe you with photos of my first kayaking foray down the Sauk River today. But it rained. All day. So my W.E.T. friends and I went to a movie instead. We saw Mamma Mia! and were just rolling in our seats laughing. I highly recommend the movie. It's really goofy, but so much fun with all the ABBA music. ABBA was the band of my youth! At least, when I was about Rose's age, so it brought back memories of dancing for hours in my friend Laura's brother's bedroom. He was the one with the record player back then, ha ha. Instead of the beautiful kayaking women pictures, today you get the amazing garden photos. Things are really coming along nicely. We've got huge cabbage, collards, broccolli and peas. Here George is picking bugs and slugs off the collards (a job I gladly give to him): Right to left in this photo, the peppers, tomatoes, beans and potatoes in the garden bed are getting bigger every day too: And just look at the potatoes in the tires b...

Due to some prodding, I finally made a post on my Herbalist Lisa Zahn blog . I have written about yarrow, a wonderful herbal remedy that is in bloom right now in Minnesota. I also wrote up some instructions on making tinctures and oils and salves in the sidebar of the blog, to have as handy reference. Do go check it out!

Sharon's written a fabulous, even hopeful, post on why we need to know about peak oil. It's time to read it! Here's the link in full: http://sharonastyk.com/2008/07/16/sleeping-beauty-and-why-you-should-think-about-peak-oil-even-if-it-seems-much-nicer-not-to/#comments "Sleeping Beauty and Why You Should Think About Peak Oil Even If It Seems Much Nicer Not To" And as someone in the comments said, people call those of us thinking about peak oil and trying to change our lifestyles pessimistic, but in reality those of us trying to do right by the world are the ultimate optimists. I'd like for my children to have a decent life, oil or not, ya know...

"We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately." - Benjamin Franklin Just a brief post to let you know of a great project and a great new online store. Project Laundry List is working to promote hang-drying your wash, trying to change laws against clotheslines, etc. It's a seemingly *simple* little project but they are really having to work hard to change attitudes and ordinances that are now against the simple act of laundry hanging. Their new store features all kinds of laundry gear as well as books, artwork and more about clotheslines and line-drying. Funny me, I love laundry art! Check it out...

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I've sort of been walking around in a state of shock because of the financial doom lately. You see, I've been reading about economic problems and peak oil for a year now. Starting back when things still looked pretty rosy. And I had been hoping for months that the people who were writing this doom and gloom stuff were crazy! But then so much of their "predictions" have started becoming reality. It really stinks. And has me not nervous so much as stunned. Want to check on the soundness of your financial institution? The Life After the Oil Crash Breaking News Page offers these websites as places to check: http://www.bankrate.com/ and http://www.bauerfinancial.com/home.html . It's really easy to find your bank and check on how many stars it's got and read the bank's financial statements. I'm happy to report our two local banks, and even our icky large mortgage company (I prefer to bank local and small), all have f...