Made in America

We've become too cheap for our own good.
We want LOTS of STUFF
for not much money,
and we don't want to think too much about it.

So jobs have disappeared, disappeared, gone overseas.
And that has led to more bargain hunting
and more disappearing jobs.

It is time for those of us
who still have jobs and savings
to start investing
in our neighbors,
in each other.

My new motto....
***Buy less,
***spend more.

Spend more effort in the shopping
(stop to think and research),
spend more money
(it costs money to pay decent salaries)
and BUY MADE IN THE USA.

I started with musical instruments.
Both my mandolins
were hand crafted
here in the U.S.
One of the luthiers
has become a valued facebook friend.
The instruments mean more
(and play great!)

Now I'm moving on to shirts.
I don't need a lot of shirts,
just a few for work and home.
So I'm going to chuck out
more money
for each American made shirt.

I'm going to think
each time I wear that shirt
of people who got up,
drank their morning coffee
and went to a job
that paid a living wage.

You know you are going to buy something soon.
Why not spend a little more time and money
and help make an investment
in our future together?

Links for further thought:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/

Links to American made products

The World's Smallest Watermelons

Okay, so they are not really watermelons.
But aren't they cute?
They are "fairy cucumbers"
that I grew from seeds
given to me by a good friend.

They taste kind of like
a lemony cuke.

And they are cuteness itself
growing on the climbing vine
and hanging down like little jewels.

I hope to save seeds...
but have been warned
that they might have cross polinated
with the nearby pumpkins, cukes and squash.

We'll see what happens next year.

(**Note...the more common name for these is "Mexican Sour Gherkin.")

Lookout at Brown County State Park, Nashville, Indiana

On a recent trip to Indiana
for a family graduation,
took a hike to see woods and wildflowers.

Found a great old structure,
an elevated log cabin.

Cool as the place was,
the point was really the views.

Windows all around
with vistas
and the showy
green of spring.

So many places of beauty in the world--
so many areas left to explore.

On a weekend in May
the world in Indiana
was just waking from winter.

I love state and national parks
and Brown County is on my list of favorites.
The park's Abe Martin Lodge
is a great place to stay.

And the north lookout tower
is a fine place to visit.

Scarecrow maybe, but Mockingbird Unafraid

I just missed the shot
of the mockingbird sitting
on the scarecrow's shoulder.

 

The backyard, with young beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and ancient scarecrow.

Glowing Shaker Barns

 More shots from the Shaker Village in Kentucky.

I liked the way the evening glow picked up the reds and yellows.

Glimpsing a Quieter Time

Visited the Shaker Village
at Pleasant Hill in Kentucky
this past weekend.

The Shakers are long gone,
but a non-profit group has restored the village
to more of what it was like
back in the day.

While it seems quaint and old fashioned today,
when the village was at its peak in the 1800's
they were ahead of their time,
including having the best and latest in farm equipment.

Today it is a shock to see
a horse team pulling a plow or discs,
but it was a beautiful thing.
No tractor roar or fumes
and fertilizer added as you go.
Plus, the sound in the air
was the song of dozens
of small birds.

I was fascinated by this window to the past.
The Shakers controlled this land from 1806 to 1910.
At that time hundreds of people lived and farmed here.

Such historical sites teach us
not only who we were,
but a little about who we still may be.

And they remind us of the beauty and dignity
of a horse drawn plow
on a spectacular spring day.

Babies!

Robins faithfully sat on their little blue eggs
and hatched out young mouths to feed.

Interest wanes when the bug is gone.

Although we suspect another bug will come soon.....

The parental units are keeping the hunting and gathering going
while keeping an eye on the nest.

Bird Nest on the Party Porch

 The other day
when I locked myself out of the house
I went and spent some time
sitting on the party porch.

I was amused to see a bird's nest
up on top of the ceiling fan.

Will keep you posted of future happenings
in the nest.

Plowing

You never know what is going to happen
if you go outside for a while.
Last night while walking around the block
the neighbor with the huge garden
(who has been known to trade greens for honey)
said that she was hiring someone to come plow her garden.
She was looking for other local business to make it worth his while.

This fit right in with the plan
to convert a huge chunk of back yard
into garden space.
So next thing you know....

Eventually this area will be raised beds,
but no reason not to start the old fashioned way this year.

With chickens in half the original garden space
and raised beds in the other half
the back yard gives room for space eaters
like corn and pumpkins
and an expanded production of dried beans.

We turned the chickens out after he finished plowing.
They found a feast of worms and bugs.
He'll come back in a few days to smooth things out a bit.

Perigee Moon

The moon came close for a visit this week.  At perigee, the moon is 31,000 miles closer to the earth than when it is at apogee, its farthest orbit.

This week's moon is 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than it will be at apogee.

I missed the full moon yesterday, due to the clouds that always seem to come to cover interesting astronomical events, but took these photos on Friday when the moon was still amazingly close and full and bright.

Only 18 years until our next close lunar snuggle.  Safe travels, moon.

Stewardship Proclamation

Pay a little more...buy local products and food.

Use less plastic.  Can the things we throw away break down into dirt?

Recycle.

Turn off lights you aren't using.

Consume less.  Treasure more.

Share.  Tithe.  Donate.  Think of the needs of the community.

Volunteer.

Play more with others.  Make connections face to face and voice to voice.

Learn that wealth is not the opposite of poverty.  Enough is the opposite of poverty.

Live in gratitude and generosity.

Face addictions, all addictions, honestly.  More of what you never needed will never feel like enough.

Will Work for Food

Today's project...yogurt! 
Heated a quart of whole milk
two tablespoons of powdered milk
and about a quarter cup of half and half to 180 degrees,
stirring constantly.
Heating kills bacteria we don't want.

Then put the heated milk in a sink of water
to cool it down to a temp
that would not kill the bacteria we want to grow.

Added a package of store bought
unflavored, "all natural yogurt" from the grocery store
for our culture.
Used Greek yogurt, which is a bit of an experiment.
The bacteria list looked good,
and it is just hard to find a small container
of unflavored, all natural yogurt.

Put it in little jars
put the jars in the yogurt machine
and set it for fifteen hours. 
When I get up in the morning,
I'll take them out, put on their wee lids
and pop them in the fridge.

I plan to add a touch of honey
some frozen or canned fruit
and some granola for eating.
Yum.  I hope.

Chicken Love

This is Cooper eyeballing the camera, with Iris on the left looking for snacks on the ground.  Below is Ethel, who appears the picture of shiny chicken health these days.  Cooper and Iris run over for us to pet them.  Ethel avoids us ever since the "catch me take me to the vet and shove antibiotics down my throat twice a day for two weeks" incident.

I Feel Definitely Overdue for a Walk on a Beach

A Picture Doesn't Do it Justice

Shells

What is more interesting and peaceful
than walking down a shell covered beach
looking for colors and shapes
textures and surprises?

I wonder sometimes
about the lives of the mollusks and shellfish
and crabs and such who left these remnants behind.

Tybee, fall 2009.  Need to go back soon.