Independence Days Challenge..or is that interdependence?

First, because I have been so busy there are a couple of links I want to share with you. The first link is just wonderful. Meet your farmer ..er...Maine Farmer. These videos are just wonderful. A true slice of the food and farming tradition I am so fortunate to have access to.

The second link is more sobering but I think equally important. Stoneleigh is one half of the dynamic duo who write for the Automatic Earth, a finance website that addresses the broader issues of peak oil and climate change and how they are inter-connected. I really think she has a great understanding of what we are facing and she does a fine job of distilling the issues down to its basics. She also gives some great advice. Well worth finding a cool corner to listen to it.

As for life here at the mobile farmlette-stead, it is still busy. The garden is just a mess. There just isn't enough time in either place to give both gardens the full attention they need. Work has picked up a lot. However, after this week, the old house should look like it is missing furniture and the new house will have a new bathroom wall.

But I am still trying to keep the IDC going. I figure that even if I am not doing as much as I may have done last week, checking in here weekly at least keeps me on task.

Plant: nope

Harvest: oregano, broccoli, peas, scallions, yarrow, swiss chard

Preserve: 14 quarts of broccoli and 1 gallon of strawberry wine.

Local food systems: we brought home gleaned potatoes from work and I was given a bunches of free broccoli from work.

Eat the food: broccoli, scrambled eggs with swiss chard. local steak on the grill and boiled new potatoes.

Waste not: still making piles for the thrift store

Want not: Tristan found a metal scrap pile on our new property. He has been sorting some of it for is own uses but we may be able to get some roofing for our coop in the new place from the pile. I am making another rag rug from scraps from my winter rug endeavors.

I am going to add a to-do list at the end. While working in the fields I think of things I would like to do and then I forget.

To-do:

I need to buy a couple of small bars of bees wax the next time I go to the health food store. I want to make a salve with the calendula, comfrey and plantain that are available in the garden.

I need to get another peck of peas from the farm. I think we may be able to glean from the field and get a better price, so I need to check on that.

I need to buy a bottle of cheap vodka for tinctures

pack pack pack move move move....swim:)