Buy It, Pick It, Grow It Yourself: 21

This has been an interesting couple of weeks, green-living wise. We did very well last week with our local veggies. This morning we went back to the farmer's market and came home with even more yummy vegetables. We even got some eggs from a local farmer. When I asked him about his hens, he said, "They're my mother's chickens. They run around inside a big fenced area. They used to have the run of the whole place, but they came up onto our porch all the time and made a mess. Wife didn't like that." The eggs were delicious for dinner tonight, along with a big salad of mixed greens, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes and carrots--all local--and some really nice local bi-color corn.

Some freinds came to the market with us this morning. They've asked us if we're interested in joining with them and getting a community garden plot or two to grow some vegetables, and maybe some flowers for cutting, for our families. It sounds like fun, and we went to take a look at the plots. One double-sized plot (about 20 by 60) was devoted entirely to sunflowers and pumpkins. They had several pumpkins the size of coffee tables, and sunflower heads like small umbrellas. The interesting thing was that the entire area of the plot was covered with the vines to make these five enormous pumpkins. All that sunshine, dirt, fertilizer, water and photosynthesis by all those leaves working to make five pumpkins! We really got enthusiastic about putting the sunshine and cow manure to work for us making veggies, and I think there's a good chance we'll be getting a plot this week and starting to make it ready for spring planting.

We were on a roll, and it was such a beautiful day--about 60 degrees and bright sunshine--so we went to a local pick-your-own place in the afternoon. We came home with apples, peaches, pears and nectarines that are juicy and tasty. In fact, there's a homemade peach pie cooling on the counter right now. All this has gotten me thinking. FarmFront will be a green development, and that's really important. And a CSA farm will probably be a big part of the project. But maybe we can find a way to incorporate the notion of trying to eat local into the whole plan. I think one of the things that scares people is the worry that you can't eat whatever you want year round. And so they can't eat a balanced diet. But you can! And helping people know how to do that by eating what's in season on the farm at different times of the year could be a really interesting way to go. John even had the thought that the community might be able to share information and experiences after the farm gets going.

More later this week about the appliances that died and their (relatively) environmentally friendly replacements.