Lisa Zahn

President-elect Obama just appointed former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack to be the Secretary of Agriculture. Besides Vilsack's obvious support of ethanol, which I believe to be yet another huge, unsustainable boondoggle, Vilsack is "in bed" with giant agribusiness and I'm extremely disappointed in this choice. Here are Six Reasons Why Obama Appointing Monsanto's Buddy, Former Iowa Governor Vilsack, for USDA Head Would be a Terrible Idea , from the Organic Consumers Association . And people wonder why I can't be a staunch Democrat anymore! Their ideals are just not completely in line with mine, even if they are the "better of two evils". Ack!

I don't want to write too much about this because it is not my area of expertise, but for a few years I've been hearing about the horrible practices of the giant U.S. seed/pesticide company Monsanto and I want to make others--who may not have heard--aware. Here is one article about Monsanto's raid on small farmers and now, seed cleaners--who make it possible to save and plant seeds that are not from Monsanto: Raid on Seeds (life itself) ... by Monsanto . The Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture recently raided a small Mennonite Farm, and in Ohio the Ag. Dept. raided an organic farm with a SWAT team. Departments of Agriculture in every state are held captive by huge AgriCorporations like Monsanto because of, of course, huge campaign donations. Read the article for more. You can also keep tabs on Monsanto at the website Millions Against Monsanto . If you have time, watch the video at the top of the page. I watched it and it's frightening. It's about Monsanto's Geneti...

Just heard on the radio that we set a record cold last night, -24F. Yes, that's 24 below zero! Currently it's about 15 below zero, but with not much wind so it doesn't feel too bad. George got the new puppy out for his walk and then, with this new routine to fit in, he missed the bus to work. So I had to get out of my warm bed and drive him to school. I didn't mind, as we get to visit with each other for a few minutes that way. How is life on the urban homestead in this cold? Well, we adopted our new puppy the day before a blizzard which brought in this bitter cold from the north and west. It's probably not the ideal time to get a puppy and have to stand outside with him for potty breaks and take him for a couple of walks each day. But we really don't mind and are feeling well cheered because Billy (should we call him Blizzard?) is doing so well at it all. We get him out to his "potty spot" about every two hours during the day and if he needs to go bef...

I moved the widget up so you could all see it more obviously. I'm simply amazed at all the places around the world from which I've received visitors to this blog. Amazed! It's so cool, and I'm so glad you all stop by. I can click on it and get a larger world map. Perhaps you can too?

His name is Billy. He's from the shelter. In a moment of insanity George, Elijah and I decided to drop by the Humane Society yesterday. We have been talking about getting a dog for a while and recently George "relented" and so agreed to go in. We're never sure when we go to the shelter that the "right" dog will be there. But there he was, begging to go home with us. Rose is so excited! Billy will never be lonely, I can tell you that. He got his name at the shelter. We thought of changing it, but Eli likes it, and since Elijah's a little afraid of dogs--due to past experience with a 95 pound yellow lab we had a few years ago but had to give up after a year--we're letting Elijah make as many of the decisions as possible. It turns out both Elijah and Billy are a little shy yet, but I think it's going to work out just fine. Billy's smart and calm, and he even tired out after just a 1/2 hour walk at 6 a.m. this morning. We're shocked. He's...