Mental Farmer

Clockwise from top:  Sweet Pea, Snapdragon, Poe, and Clara Barton. Like I say, they’re getting along pretty well.  The girls were happy to roll in last  year’s mulch and freshly scratched dirt in the warm sun today.  They had chopped pear and strawberry and banana for a treat, and I cleaned the coop and changed […]

Meet Clara Barton.  John named our nurturing bird after the Red Cross founder.  The girls (still females as far as I can tell) have settled in nicely.  They seem to be getting along better.  Less bickering, fewer squabbles. Poe and Snapdragon tend to hang out together and seem to have forgotten about Mama and their other […]

I have poison ivy in 6 places.  Ear, neck, cheek, chest, wrist, bicep.  ITCH.  Not sure where I picked it up, but I hope it was not in the perennial garden last Sunday, because I spent the day out there today battling briers and vines.  If that is where the current rash came from, I […]

Oh boy! Look what I just found! http://www.Madisonfarms.org contains a comprehensive list of local farms I can get to and enjoy, just down the curvy River Road! (working link in list to your right) Thanks to Laura Boosinger for turning me on to the up and coming local meat pick up program, where one may […]

My sister Dana and her husband Paul recently gave me “Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle, and Pigs.” According to the marketing starburst thingy on its cover, this book is a guide to 163 breeds, COMMON AND RARE! I am very excited! Three hundred plus pages!! Remember when you were a kid and the […]

Everywhere I goooooo… As a result, I have suggestions and ideas! I am planning to buy more, yet less, this holiday season. More local food, art, produce, and music; less mass-produced crap! Are you IN? Here are a few options: – Buy a tree for someone, even if it’s only 2 feet tall. Trees are […]

I finally had the opportunity to stop at Kinnikinnick Farm on a glorious summer day!  The last time I visited, the snow was blowing sideways in a 30 m.p.h. wind, so driving up the road to the farm under a brilliant blue sky and puffy white clouds was a treat.  In case this is your first […]

This morning, I’ve been surfing the internet to find raw goat milk for sale.  I want to try making my own chevre and mozzarella cheeses.  It turns out it is legal to sell raw goat milk from a farm in Illinois, but not legal to advertise it.  Hunh?  Time to gas up the Guzzler and start driving around to goat farms, […]

Steven L. Hopp wrote the article below.  It is part of Chapter Three, Springing Forward, in Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  You really should read the chapter in its entirety.  It’s about the beauty of heirloom seeds and open pollination… but this story by Mr. Hopp really got to me.  I think the subject needs our attention: In 1999, a quiet, middle-aged farmer […]