In(ter)dependence

Had a nice day yesterday with my first ever farmer's market at The Trail Mix. Sunny all day (hide the lettuce, let the plants bask). I brought a salad mix of Black Seeded Simpson, Bibb, and Salad Bowl Mix Lettuces, Bull's Blood Beet tops and Red Russian Kale. All other items were potted plants, mostly heirloom purple tomatillos, dill, and some random nasturtiums, calendula, and parsley. For a first market, it went well. There were five vendors selling all manner of art, hand-made leather goods, walking sticks, dog treats, fresh-picked herbs,  baked goods and more...obviously the wetness has made the farming a bit tricky, but more produce will trickle in as time ticks by. Here are some details and links you may like to check out:
  

Market Locations and Times 

Senior Center in Parsons: Wednesdays 10am-1pm (heard this may not start until late June or July?)

Hypnocoffee in Davis: Fridays 4pm-6pm

 The Trail Mix in Canaan Valley (Timberline Road): Saturdays 10am-2pm

 Tucker Cravings Blog.

Make the connection between food, community, and local agriculture...

Found this cool video on beekeeping in Hong Kong. Turns out even the concrete jungle can get some local goodness. Now all the buildings need huge gardens on top of them...


Nokia - HK Honey from The Silentlights on Vimeo.


UPDATE: Honey likes to kill chickens. After many days of free time with the birds, she got lucky enough to get a barred rock in her mouth. Dang. Many are missing (hiding, me hopes...) but returning slowly (what would you do if a murderer were loose in your yard?)

Young Funk Sung is blending more Reggae, Psychadelia, and insane solos to make for a helluva good dance party. Haven't seen MSBC that packed in a while. They get more fun every time. For real.

Sprung

I added this because I liked it.Click on it if you dare.

see more Funny Graphs
Old School, New School, It's All Cool!

From Wood to Plastic...and back to Wood!

Out from under the cold rock,

waiting for the water to recede,

fingers ready to dig into dirt,

seeds, water, warmth, growth, light.

I just came across a neat organic seed provider, based in Vermont, called High Mowing Seeds. It seems that they are offering some very interesting varieties of veggies. Golden beets, dinosaur kale, yum!

A trip to Morgantown/midwife brought visions of green grass, blooming flowers, and, well, over-primped sorority girls. Nothing new there. Anyhow, growing things has me excited!

The fine folks at Backbone Food Farm are working hard to provide much of the area's herbivores/omnivores/yea even carnivores and esp. localvores with hormone/pesticide free and organically grown food, meat, and flowers. "Horse and Heart Powered!!!"

You can't be what you don't eat, so get yer teeth into some local plants grown by people you can meet and hug. Oh yeah!!!

It's Out: Wind Great for Community, Mining Great for Mining Companies!

We've been having some visits by the local wildlife...

Energy and Politics

Downstream Strategies just released a report that lays out some of the benefits of wind power over MTR mining at Coal River Mountain. Surprisingly, the report boldly states that private landholders and mining companies benefit from MTR mining, while local/county governments could actually receive nearly two (2) million dollars annually for property taxes on the wind farm. The mine would only send some 36,000 dollars to Raleigh County.

See the details at Coal River Wind. Also, Massey Energy coated over a bunch of fuss over Ohio State University Pres. Gordon Gee by pointing out his dedication to Massey. Gee, co-chair of the Energy Initiative Advisory Committee of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges is important in shaping the climate and clean energy debates within the realm of higher education institutions. Hence, many people called for his resignation from Massey, one of the worst environmental and social offenders in the US today.
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Talk about energy (and not politics), spend even a second at Scott's Rolling Thunder organic farm and you will undoubtedly feel more joy in your life. Fresh spinach and multiple types of lettuce, all organic and local, are seen below and soon to be enjoyed!




Meanwhile, on the homefront the irises are blooming wonderfully...