Weekend in the Smokies

Recommended Reading

Sarah had to read My Green Manifesto by David Gessner for a class. She enjoyed it, so I picked it up. I'll forgo giving a long review but will say that it spoke a great deal to us as people who became environmentalists during childhoods lived in less-than-pristine areas of Georgia. The book asks us to fall in love with the places that are right outside our door, even if they are not perfectly preserved. Then, we should fight for those places instead of considering them beyond hope. If we all did that, we might really get somewhere.

Also recommended is the article Dramatizing the "death" of environmentalism doesn't help urban people of color, or anyone else, from March 2005 on Grist. This is another great read about needed shifts in popular environmental thinking.

Enjoy!

A Loaf

Pent-up Farming Energy and Sourdough Bread

As every gardener out there will tell you, this warm winter has brought on the itch to plant a few weeks early this year. Since there's still the chance of freezing weather for the next four weeks or so, I'm turning to this terribly neglected blog as my outlet for pent-up farming energy.

But first, for those who have wondered about our friend Liz, we have good news to report. Liz made it through the surgery as well as anybody makes it through a double lung transplant. She's doing great! A couple weeks ago she left the hospital for an extended stay at a rehab facility. Thanks to all who sent, and continue to send, good vibes of all kinds for Liz.

So spring. It's almost here. I actually have two reasons to exercise restraint in the lead-up to the planting season. Sarah and I may be moving before the end of the growing season. She's graduating from Duke in May and looking for work outside of Durham. So, what would we do if we had to move in the middle of the season after starting the patio garden? I certainly don't like the thought of leaving a patio garden mid-season. So along with my itch to plant, I have a worse-than-normal envy of those with land.

Here's some sourdough starter. I've forgotten to photograph a loaf so far.

Since we don't have land, we're getting more serious about another activity. Cooking and baking. Sarah and I have been discussing how community food security and the sustainable agriculture movement depends so much on maintaining cooking knowledge within communities. If we're going to follow Michael Pollan's advice and eat ingredients, we all need to know how to produce a meal from ingredients. Right now we're trying bread baking and hope to try canning a little later in the season.

Well, I think that's all for now. Look for updates on our kitchen experiments and see whether or not we're able to hold off planting until we have a permanent home. I'm guessing not.