Food

couple of years or so ago Lincoln and I both read this book.

It changed a lot about how our family eats.  While you will still find some processed food in our house, there is a lot less than there used to be.  We are more cognizant of where our food comes from and try to choose food from local sources when ever we can.  Even in Seattle we attempted to grow our own food.  We co-gardened with some friends who had a yard.  The problem with growing food in Seattle, however, is that you need three things for vegetables to grow: water, good soil, and sunlight.  Water we had plenty of, the soil needed help and we provided that, sunlight, however, was in very short supply.  The previous two summers we only produced enough food for each of our families to have a couple of small salads.

Well, I just happened to move to one of the richest farming communities in the country.  There is no doubt where your food comes from when you live on an orchard with a vineyard across the way, horses, cows and sheep aplenty, and all the resources needed to grow a garden and raise animals readily available to you.

I know it's still January, but we are novice "gentleman" farmers.  We are city people.  We are working against a pretty steep learning curve.  (Although, Link's family always had a garden and my grandparents had two small orchards and a large veggie plot, so we aren't TOTALLY clueless. . . we think.)  It's time to get started.

For inspiration I am reading this book.  (Thanks, Grandma!)  The Kingolver family moved from Tuscon to a farming community in Virginia to be able to produce their own food.  Hmmm. . . .

For instruction I am reading this book.  (Thanks, Sarah!)

First items of education on the agenda: chickens, rabbits, and building raised vegetable beds.

For those of you interested in more interesting reading along these lines:

The Encyclopedia of Country Living Blog
Michael Pollen's website (great index of resources)