Rain, rain, rain, and wind and snow and.....

Drenched we are, here in the foothills (unless you are higher in the foothills and then you are snowed). There is no working in the garden: cold, pouring rain, sodden and mushy soil. The forecast for the week is more of the same; I haven't seen a mention of sun at all.

So, I just went out in my full rain gear and chopped down all the remaining kale plants. They will become a kale salad for guests tomorrow evening and probably some green soup (if I am energetic, I will offer the recipes below, or maybe next time, or......). Soon I will do the same with all the remaining lettuce plants, but most of those are now just compost. The heads were already past their prime and this weather has done them in.

But, speaking of lettuce, Penny wanted me to add a bit of information on economics. We don't buy grocery store lettuce any more, unless we absolutely can't help it, but she purchases it often when she does shopping for our Monastery neighbors. She came home from the store last week to report that the lettuces she bought them were $2.00 a head. At this moment, we have 60 new lettuce starts in the greenhouse, so at store prices that would be $120. The seed for these plants probably cost us less than 20 cents. Throw in whatever portion of the planting mix went into this one tray, less than a teaspoon of Maxicrop, and a very small amount of labor on our part, and that is true savings!!

We've been enjoying reading about other people's food growing/farming exploitations. My current favorite of these is "A Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. It's a story of creating an amazing CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) from the ground up, using draft horses, and a love story to boot. The location is upstate New York. An equally good read from a very different perspective is "Farm City" by Novella Carpenter, who does her farming in a vacant lot in the worst part of Oakland, California - including pigs!! A little bit less fun for me was "Coop" by Michael Perry who launches his farming career in Wisconsin. I enjoyed the story but didn't quite get into it as much. Our favorite chicken book is "Chick Days: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens from Hatchlings to Laying Hens" by Jenna Woginrich. We just bought another of hers called "Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life." We'll report after we read it!

And, finally, for today.....Our great local organic growers and promoters of sustainability, Eric and Christine Taylor of Outer Aisle Foods, are the recipients of a Sierra Vision Award from the Sierra Business Council. Here's what SBC says about the awards:
"Historically known by many as the Vision 2020 awards, we've renamed this prestigious regional award for leaders and innovators in the region. Some of the greatest things happen under conditions of adversity and at Sierra Business Council we’re committed to solutions that create opportunity from those exact circumstances. Each year, we host an event to recognize and encourage leadership in the Sierra, honoring community members as their work continues to demonstrate community vitality, environmental quality, economic prosperity, and social fairness." Yea, Eric and Christine!!

(Recipes later - Penny knows where they are and she is out in the rain somewhere at the moment.)