This is part one of the new video over at Path to Freedom Urban Homesteaders. It gives a QUICK look at garden before an interview with Farmer D.
I have more to say, but we are running out the door to catch a movie with DD as a belated birthday celebration. Oh, and I want to say that My Hero came home with a small cake to celebrate last night.

♥

After reading HausFrau’s The Fruit Tree Commitment at Peak Oil Hausfrau, I became….um….wellllll….envious of her lovely peach tree and harvest. Being envious when visiting HausFrau is nothing new though, it is a common occurence with her solar cooking successes and victorious efforts toward sustainability.

I have a confession to make.

I have a love for pear trees, which is weird because I rarely even purchase pears in the store. Store pears always seem hard and difficult to eat. I love everything about a pear tree..its shape….its produce (no matter the variety)….its juicy, coarse texture….the jewel tones of its flesh…. and the clean, crisp aroma of a fresh pear which emanates from that very first bite. In my mind nothing beats ice cold pears with a side helping of cottage cheese.  Pear butter or pear preserves smeared over hot biscuits or pear relish served with a yummy pork roast warm my heart and tummy in the winter months.

I have planted three pear trees in my life. I very lovingly planted two pear trees in my Texas backyard so that they could be trimmed to form an archway into my vegetable garden. Many hours were spent on their care and dreaming about a future bounty. Unfortunately, the ex and his new wife gained custody of the pear trees and organic vegetable garden before I ever saw one bit of fruit.

After DH and I were engaged, he received a promotion and a transfer to a new location. One of the things I first wanted to plant was a pear tree, so we purchased an 8 foot Bartlett and continued to search for another variety to compliment. DH  had to move immediately and I had to stay behind, until after we married, so he was left in care of the new “baby”.Another unfortunate demise of my pear tree dreams came when we realized that there was a severe problem with water where we had to live. Pear dreams quickly turned into pear disaster.

Now, twelve years later from the second debacle, I am going to attempt another hope for having my very own pear tree. Maybe I will even have three…Bartlett, Orient, and Keiffer.  Locally, there are no fruit trees to be found, so I will be purchasing online. I realize that by purchasing online I will be settling for smaller trees, but it appears that an online purchase is the only way I will get one (or three) planted this fall. The Arbor Foundation has a great selection of trees of all varieties and has free gifts with your purchase or if you become a member, you can get 10 more free trees. The other exciting find at The Arbor Foundation is that shipping is only $4.95 for any amount of trees that you purchase.

This morning, I drew a rough schematic of our front and side yards so that DH could help me determine how many trees I could plant. If you are going to dig….say, three holes…why not go ahead and dig 7 or 8 more. If I purchase some of the dwarf varieties I can get more diversity in our fruit diet. My neighbor planted (what she thought) was an ornamental dwarf plum in her parkway and it presents her with the most beautiful dark, sweet bountiful harvest you could ever imagine every year. I hope that my eyes are not bigger than my husband’s digging prowess, but I plan to order:

• Keiffer, Orient, and Bartlett Pears
• Burbank, Damson, and Methley Plums
• Bing and Black Tartarian Cherries
• Early Golden and Moorpark Apricot (My second fav fruit)
• Golden Jubilee Peach (cold hardiness..might add another later)

So that is 11, did I count correctly? Yep, 11 trees! I am probably being considerably too ambitious here. DH jokingly says we can start digging holes now (which may secretly mean…YEAH! less to mow…lol).

Anyone have any suggestions, critiques or similiar wish lists?

♥

I was tagged by Mrs. Mecomber at New York Traveler.net  for The 7 Things Meme some time ago. We have been so busy here that I have not been able to catch up on my “blog duties”,  so I hope she will forgive my late response.  So seven things about me, that I would dare to share…..

1. I will be 50 soon, on Aug 6th. Woohoo! One-half a century old!

2.  I am over 6′ tall and have a most terrble time finding clothes “tall” enough.

3.  I have had many “professions” over the years….from real estate agent to bartender/waitress to deputy sheriff to Tupperware Manager to Private Investigator to State Investigator to Loss Prevention Manager to Child Care Owner/Operator to middle school and elementary teacher…and that is just hitting the highlights.

4. I love watching my daughter play sports.

5. I love traveling..whether it is camping, resort hotels, traveling by car or cruising the Caribbean….I love it all.

6.  My dream is to visit all 50 states before I leave this earth and I am only a bit over half way there.

7.  I melt in hot/humid weather and become a lazy bum.

I don’t believe I will tag anyone in particular with this Meme, but those of you who enjoy them or desire the links….please, please step right up .

Just a quick tip…Mrs. Mecomber has an interesting ( OMG! ) YouTube travel related video on her latest post.  It is an extremely short clip…but it will leave you shaking your head.

Answer: PLENTY!

Lewru, at Wisdom of the Trowel, has a great post Wastrels and the Wastey Wasters They Rode in On….. about how people all around her continually waste resources and seemingly have no clue or care of the negative difference they make on an overburden earth.

She concludes her post with the summation that we all at “different steps in our journey” to becoming a greener society and maybe it is not best to judge (though darn difficult at times), as we all have our own areas in need of greening. She confesses three areas in need of more diligence in her very own quest at reducing waste.

I will let you read her blog to find her three, but I will mention that we have one area in common…solar cooking. My solar oven has yet to arrive (ordered well over a month ago now) and I have not had much success with attempts made with my home-fashioned cookers. My enthusiasm wanes and motivation to “destroy” yet another meal is lacking, so this is the first area I wish to list as needing my attention.

Food storage is an area that I would like to reduce waste. I have not kept on top of monitoring expiration dates, which has resulted in moths and waste.

Making do with what I have is an area that is in serious need in my part of the household.

I want to be better at remembering to take my cloth bags into the grocery. My cup runneth over with plastic bags.

Though small, these four waste reduction areas will see more effort in our household.

Last night after dinner, our favorite restaurant owner and I were talking about the price of fuel and its effects on his industry. He mentioned that he did not understand why gasoline was so much cheaper in Mexico, stating that it was only $2.50 per gallon. I thought maybe he was just  misinformed, because I thought the fuel economy was a global thing….well except for oil rich nations that shall remain unnamed. After searching a bit, I see current fuel prices somewhere around $3.50 a gallon. (I am quoting USD here, so we can get past the math.) Several sources mentioned that fuel was about a dollar less a gallon in Mexico than here in the United States. After reading around, I discover that their fuel is government subsidized/controlled. Hmmmmm.

In my search, I also found an interesting blog written by a trucker in Mexico, who has written an article, Go South for Cheap Gas?

A Natural History of Four Meals….

This has been one of the slower reads than I have had in a very long time. Normally, I would finish a book in a day or so, but I have been working on this book for over two weeks now, which means I am racking up some hefty late charges.  Our little library was able to find it for me on Interlibrary loan, so that means it cannot be re-checked.

Several times while reading, I have thought to myself, “this would make a great post”…but then I would not stop to actually write the post. Today, something I read made me think of a post from Anita at Prairie Dreams about a couple who were planning to live off-grid and eat locally. She and I have had discussions about how it is somewhat difficult to eat locally in our area partly because there are few CSAs near and mostly because farms in our areas are monocultures of corn, wheat, or soybeans.

I wish to share a paragraph from chapter 13 (my favorite number, by the way) of Michael Pollans’, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, titled The Market, “Greetings from the Non-Barcode People”.
“The supermarket wants all its lettuce from Salinas Valley, all its apples from Washington State, and allits corn from Iowa.  (At least until the day it decideds it wants all its corn from Argentine, al its apples from China, and all its lettuce from Mexico.) People in Iowa can eat only so much corn and soybeans themselves. So when Iowans decide to eat locally, rather from the supermarkets, their farmers will quickly learn to grow a few other things besides. And when they do, they’ll probably find that they can give up most of their fertilizers adn pesticides, since a diversified farm will produce much of its own fertility and its own pest control.”

Throughout the book, Michael Pollan paints vivid imagery of our food chain and its journey to our table. He explores Pokey Feedyards in Garden City, Kansas to view the feedlot process of mass producing beef, which is then counterbalanced with a stay at Polyface Farms in Virginia. Given the choice betwen the two, I choose “clean meat” from Polyface.

What do you think?

Anita, at Prairie Dreams has sent me a fun to read award and I would love to send it to a few of my favorite places to visit!

THANKS ANITA!

Wisdom of the Trowel

Peak Oil Hausfrau

Empress of  Dirt

Down to Earth

Joy’s Victory Garden

Freaky Frugality

It Takes A Planet to Raise a Child

Revolutionizing the Rat Race

MamaFlo’s Place

Touch the Earth Farm

♥

WoooHooo!

My Very First Award

Thank you to Jan at It Takes a Planet for this awesome Sweet Home Blogger Award! It Takes a Planet is written from a mom’s perspective on becoming a green socially aware family.

 It will be difficult to choose only five bloggers who contribute love, joy, creativity and inspiration in every post, but soon I will post my selections for the award. We are trying to get our life back in order after traveling this weekend.

UPDATE~UPDATE ~UPDATE

I have been such a bum with my blog these past few days…been keeping busy with outdoor stuff and fighting some kind of bug…but here are my beginning choices for the Sweet Home Blogger Award.

Prairie Dreams

 My first real blogger friend. Anita has made me feel at home in this new blogger-technology-world I have entered.

Empress of Dirt

in the Garden

Coming to us from Ontario, Canada, Empress of Dirt was the very first blog I began reading on a regular basis….way back—when I was afraid to even leave a comment. Melissa’s gardens are beautifully eclectic and an inspiration for my future gardens.

◊ 

Take a look at this article….

$7-a-gallon gas, 10-million fewer cars: Rubin

MATTHEW TREVISAN

Globe and Mail Update

June 26, 2008 at 1:47 PM EDT

A new forecast calls for gasoline prices to hit $7 (U.S.) a gallon in the next two years and oil to soar to $200 a barrel by 2010.

The report by CIBC World Markets also predicts there will be 10 million fewer cars on the road in the United States by 2012.

“Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America’s highways in history,” Jeffrey Rubin, the lead author, wrote in Thursday’s report.

Economist Benjamin Tal, who co-authored the report with Mr. Rubin, said Canadians can expect to pay about $1.85 to $2.00 per litre of gas at the pumps by 2010.

~snip~

After reading this news article and letting out an OMG!, I visited Our Friendly Earth again to read Joy’s post, The Price of Gas and Public Transit.  So here’s another dilemma….how are all those people who have to give up their vehicles going to get around? As Joy pointed out, in Kansas City the public transit system is woefully lacking. In addition, what about rural Americans? At present, most small towns can not support the employment needs of their population, which demands the breadwinners to drive to larger communities. What are they going to do?

Yesterday I had some pretty devastating financial news that has me questioning my two year haitus from teaching. We had planned for me to be a SAHM until DD graduates next year, however because of one little…itsy, teensy letter (well actually it was several pages thick) that I received yesterday…those plans may have to change.

So today, I find this article….and…the neighbors could have heard my OMG! What the heck will I do if THIS happens? two streets over. 

A quick, in my head, calculation gave me a rough estimate of what it would cost me to drive to work every day….close to $27 a day! As a substitute that would be almost 1/2 of my daily net pay…as a full time teacher…about 1/3. How in the world is that going to work? Okay…I realize it is not THAT bad for ME…I will at least have some amount of money left over after stopping at the pump…and unfortunately be netting less than minimum wage….but again (tell me if this gets old here)….how in the sam-hill are younger families, minimum wage earners, the elderly on fixed incomes going to survive this?

My thought is the rural areas will suffer greatly with population declines. The Ghosts Towns of the Old West will now have competition from every state. People are going to have to move where they can find employment and be able to either walk or take public transit. So there’s a new dilemma. Kansas City cannot not be the only large city with deficient public transportation. Will the cities be able to handle the influx of new residents?

When I was much younger, and before I actually understood the ramifications of public administration, I lived in a suburban city of Dallas, Texas. Public transit was on the ballot for our city. Proponents wanted to offer public transportation from the bedroom community to the inner city, however, those opposed argued that public transportation would bring poverty, thus crime to the area as well as raise the sales taxes. I believe that suburban city still does not offer public transportation (outside of a taxi). So what is suburbia going to do?

What are we ALL going to do?

♥

I was just reading my friend Anita’s great post, Off Grid, Part-Time at Prairie Dreams  about a family who is going off the grid and eating locally  for a one month trial.

 When I began thinking about eating locally or growing my own food, I found inspiration at Path to Freedom with their 100 Foot Diet Challenge. My garden is small and actually looking like it may never produce ANYTHING, so I feel a bit defeated at the moment.

Here are the specs for the Urban Homesteader/Path to Freedom 100 Foot Diet Challenge….

If not from BACKYARD, then Locally produced (PTF’s addition)
If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

In the past, Anita and I have shared our concerns over not being able to find much locally grown produce available for purchase.  We hope that soon the Farmer’s Market will be able to assist with this dilemma, but I began thinking about an alternative for future seasons after I left a comment on her post. What if Anita and I cooperated with each other…with a backyard C.S.A.? We live within 20 miles of each other, so that would certainly meet the 100 Mile Diet requirements. What if we found just two more backyard farmers who were interested in the same?

I don’t quite have the logistics of how this might work, but it is definitely something to think about for when Anita is moved into her house and has her garden growing. Do you think I should have asked Anita first, before putting her garden up for barter?  

This is my view of Anita’s rainbow at Prairie Dreams…

Myspace Tickers at WishAFriend.com

AT

Myspace Tickers at WishAFriend.com

For Anita at Prairie Dreams!

I found this really interesting website My Wooden Spoon, Where it’s perfectly legal to use a little pot! that has loads of great tips, recipes, AND Giveaways! Every week between May 1 and July 31 Lori is giving away cool stuff, currently she is offering a KitchenAide Stand Mixer in her contest. Good luck!

This past week, I have had several different blog topics rolling around in my head. Most of those thoughts have been about food…either the growing of, the shortage of, the cooking of, the harvesting of, the preserving of, or, yes, the genetic engineering of…..OUR FOOD!

These thoughts have prompted a couple of movements for me.  I requested Michael Pollan’s books, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, , In Defense of Food, and A Place of My Own, from our local library. As I have begun to read, I have been wishing I belonged to a book club with members with whom I could discuss my readings and thoughts. DH has been kind enough to oglige, but it would be nice to hear what others have to say.

On another path, I attempted some solar cooking last weekend and hope to share my failures with you soon. Because of those failures with a home-fashioned solar cooker, I purchased a new one from The Peddlar’s Wagon at Path to Freedom/Urban Homesteaders. I am excited about the possibilities of not heating up the kitchen and still being able to prepare a meal.

What brought me to all of these thoughts about food and has me attempting action on those thoughts? First was the Path to Freedom Sustainable Food UCLA Lectures hosted on YouTube. Part four was just recently uploaded and now we are waiting for the Q & A video to be released. In Jules Dervaes’ lecture he mentioned Deborah Koons Garcia, the wife of Jerry Garcia, who is the producer of The Future of Food Documentary about, well, the future of food.  Immediately searching YouTube for Garcia and the future of food, I found several videos from which to choose. DH and I listened to Mrs. Garcia on a radio show broadcast, as she talked about the history of the documentary and her journey with food.

This radio broadcast is a bit longer than most YouTube clips…but you will gain so much info for a small investment of your time.

Introduction to The Future of Food…

The Path to Freedom Sustainable Foods UCLA Lectures began with Part One……

I had not written a post, because I was not certain what I, as an individual, could say about the mess that we appear to be heading toward. My head is reeling from everything that I am learning. Today, at Prairie Dreams, Anita posted an entry about farmers being thrown out of the Food Shortage Summit in Rome and though Rome is on the other side of the earth, I know that we are all in this together…farmers, consumers, and unfortunately, large agribusiness corporations. As Jules Dervaes often speaks…it is time for a HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION. While our backyard and patio “farms” will not head off world hunger, it might just make a difference in our own household.

I encourage all to “do your own research” and take some baby steps toward sustainability. That is all that we can all do….each take baby steps toward a success.

This looked like such a fun meme over at Prairie Dreams. Anita “borrowed” the idea from Daily Dose of Zen Sarcasm.

Go ahead…make your own!

 Here’s how:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? anajz
2. What is your favorite food? Italian
3. What high school did you go to? R. L. Turner High School
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Liam Neesom
6. Favorite drink? Strawberry Margarita
7. Dream vacation? World Cruise
8. Favorite dessert? Pecan Pie
9. What you want to be when you grow up? I don’t know
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One Word to describe you. Confused
12. Your flickr name. the sustainable backyard

Thanks for the following Flickr members….

1. old church, 2. RG Tests, 3. v. R.L. Turner 8, 4. ♫ YO Yo yo, there’s no place like a green penthouse… so i told the genie i wanted to be well hung. ^o^ ♫ nah… wildlife from singapore♫, 5. liam neeson, 6. Tipsy, 7. Queen-Victoria-Southampton, 8. Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars, 9. For you / Para vosotras (Sant Jordi), 10. The Avenue in mist and sun, 11. Which set applies to me?, 12. Sustainable Style

This is DH’s….

1. J…at Macricostas Preserve, 2. T-Bone Steak, 3. DSCN5612, 4. water droplets in the shower - o.k. bokeh, 5. 206, 6. The Dr. is IN, 7. colorado elk, 8. Grandma’s Famous Cheesecake, 9. Hay - Panoramic, 10. Hot Wheel Memories (with reflected self), 11. disneyland reflections, 12. Prairie Sunset

Okay, so I am going to try my hand at this blog award thing…if I have broken any blog etiquette rules or clearly appear to have no idea the “proper” way this is to be done…feel free to let me know.

I am fairly new to blogging…say by five months or so..and for the longest I had visitors, but no one ever left comments…but then I found Anita at Prairie Dreams. Anita’s comments and participation let me know that there is someone out there…that someone does actually read what I write…and is friendly about it. She extended a hand and has been a joy to get to know better.I want her to know how much I appreciate her….so..without further ado…I present Anita with my first ever…

Just passing along a contest at the cool blog Two Barking Dogs!

I found her blog while I was searching ideas for garden totems. I absolutely loved her whimsical tea pot totem…check it out–here.

I was so inspired that I spent the entire day searching thrift shops and flea markets. OH…the lovelies I found!

Further search on the internet, landed me on a webshots page belonging to an extremely talented couple who are definitely in the know when it comes to concret. Take a look at their webshots profile here for additional slide shows of leaf print bricks and unusual conrete artwork.

More Garden Totems

I often visit No Impact Man’s Blog and found this was posted while I was away this weekend. I hope to assist in spreading the word even to my small readership. If you have not ever visited his site…you are in for a treat!

No Impact Man  

We can really make a difference. TODAY. But I need your help. Plus I have some free Reverend Billy DVDs to give away.

I really, really need support from all of you today (and I’m unashamedly bribing you with the offer of free Reverend Billy DVDs). But first I have to give you some background. Just read the bits in bold if you’re in hurry.

Next Friday, May 30, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York’s Eight Congressional District has kindly agreed to meet with me in his New York office. As one of his constituents, I intend to ask Representative Nadler to support an effective global warming mitigation policy that is based not on what is politically possible but on what is scientifically necessary.

More specifically, I intend to ask him to:

• Introduce, as soon as possible, a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives asserting that we need a climate change mitigation policy with a goal of no more than 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide (read why here). Furthermore, the resolution should say that the United States must collaborate with the international community to achieve an effective successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will achieve the 350 goal or better (depending on how the science progresses).
• Pledge to support the 1sky.org policy platform that also includes creating five million green jobs (through, for example, weatherizing our buildings and manufacturing solar panels and windmills), and placing a moratorium on the building of new coal power plants.
• Pass on to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter addressed jointly to her and Representative Nadler, in his position as Assistant Whip, asking them both to push for the introduction of new and the strengthening of currently pending climate change legislation to reflect the crucial 350 goal. This means, at the very least, aiming for an 80% reduction in climate emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 and a 25% reduction by 2020.

Now then, here’s how I was hoping you could help. My dream is to present Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi with between 350 and 3,500 (10 x 350) emails of support for these policy objectives.

Can you help? All it requires is a cut and paste job (see below).

Fellow bloggers: would you be willing to pass this request onto your readers?

Everyone: would you email this around and get your friends to pitch in?

Two bits of good news:

1. Representative Nadler has been an ardent supporter of environmental issues ranging from the thorough cleanup of the World Trade Center site to securing federal funding for state conservation and wildlife grants. He received a score of 95% for his voting record in the 1st session of the 110th Congress from the League of Conservation Voters.
2. Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping have provided me with five copies of their new DVD, What Would Jesus Buy (watch the trailer here). I’m going to give the DVDs to people who send in their emails of support (the 1st, the 35th, 100th, the 350th and the 1000th).

Here’s how to send in your email of support:

Simply cut and paste the below, making sure to substitute in your name, mailing address and email address, and send it to noimpactman+nadler+pelosi@gmail.com (it looks like a weird email address but, don’t worry, it will work).

Dear Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi–

Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the people of the United States. It is indisputable that the health, happiness and security of the American people depends upon the well-being of our planetary habitat. It is also indisputable that the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is causing changes in our habitat that will adversely effect Americans on every level–from our health to our economy.

On May 30, Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man will visit Representative Nadler to express to him support for a number of climate change mitigation policies that are much stronger than those currently passing through Congress. Please consider this a letter of support for the measures Colin Beavan will be advocating.

Specifically, I support Colin Beavan in requesting that Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi both, together or separately:

• Introduce, as soon as possible, a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives asserting that we need a climate change mitigation policy that accords not with what is politically possible but what is scientifically necessary–a goal of no more than 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide (read why here). Furthermore, this resolution should assert that the United States must collaborate with the international community to achieve an effective successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will achieve the 350 goal or better (depending on how the science progresses).
• Pledge to support the 1sky.org policy platform that also includes creating five million green jobs (through, for example, weatherizing our buildings and manufacturing solar panels and windmills) and placing a moratorium on the building of new coal power plants.
• Push for the introduction of new and the strengthening of currently pending climate change legislation to reflect the crucial 350 goal. This means, at the very least, aiming for an 80% reduction in climate emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 and a 25% reduction by 2020.

Yours sincerely,

<Your Name>
<Your Mailing Address>
<Your Email Address>