Buying Local: May 10

• Milk and eggs from Sunset View Pastures
• Asparagus and cornmeal from Oxford Farm Market, an Amish farm cooperative dealing in bulk grains & spices, baked goods, and fresh produce. This week, very little of their produce was locally grown. We might have better luck with the weekly farmer's market, where local growers bring their goods into the town ... unfortunately it's held on Tuesday afternoons which isn't very convenient for us.

Spring Growth Spurt

The garden has suddenly taken off! After some rain this week, everything is growing:

About 2 weeks after sowing, the lettuce is just peeking out of the ground. And the potatoes are producing nice leafy bunches nestled between mounds of dirt , which stand at the ready to form hills around each plant when they get a bit larger:

We have some nice rows of peas, after about 5 weeks, although the snap peas have not done as well as the shelling peas. We think that side of the bed might not get as much sunlight.

The berries, which were planted a couple of years ago, are coming along quite nicely. The fence has made a world of difference by protecting the plants from the deer. We have both strawberries and raspberries blossoming:

And here's the best surprise of all !

Just when I had resigned myself to not having goslings this year, on Monday another pair of geese turned up with four goslings in tow. I have no idea where they nested, but then this is the "magic" that's occurred almost every year now. Yea!

Buying Local: May 3

• Milk and eggs from Sunset View Pastures; now part of our weekly routine.
  
• Lettuce, asparagus, and scallions, along with a jar of hot chili peppers, from nearby Maple Arch Farms. This Amish market has just opened for the season and the selection was somewhat limited but oh, the produce is gorgeous!

No magic, after all

I promised goslings. Like magic, I said. Happens every year. Sadly, there will be no goslings in 2008.

This year followed the normal pattern at first: hundreds of geese in the winter, with a pair remaining through the spring. Unlike past years, the couple chose to nest in plain view. Mama started spending her days on the nest, which was right at the edge of the pond. Papa took up sentry duty, staking his claim to the entire pond and chasing off anything that came near. The poor ducks had to make do with a few nearby puddles.

Papa was just starting to relax and allow us to pass through the area when suddenly the pair disappeared, leaving behind a nest with visible signs of disturbance.

A closer look at the lower part of the nest reveals a damaged egg:

The couple returned the next day, but one of appears to have an injured leg. A fox, perhaps? We don't know, but I'll really miss watching them raise their young this spring.

Five-month pupdate

At five months, Woody is starting to look more "dogg-y" ...

He's starting to outgrow his favorite chair, but refuses to acknowledge this reality ...

We've had some beautiful warm days lately and he's discovered his own special spot in our stream. Yesterday morning he repeatedly disappeared into the bushes and emerged wet and wild. After about 30 minutes it was time for a nap in the sun!

He still has bags of puppy energy. I forget sometimes how little he used to be; I created a slideshow, Woody Grows Up, to preserve the memory ...

There are no bodies buried here ...

I understand that 6-foot-long mounds of earth could spark lots of questions, so let me dispel the fear and rumors right now: those are potato beds. I did mention last week we'd soon be planting potatoes. This weekend's weather was fantastic, and of course I could think of nothing better to do than dig 6-8" deep trenches. Well, I did have some help. On Saturday the kids lent a hand by bringing glasses of ice water. On Sunday I convinced Chris that his superior digging techniques would get the job done more quickly (I was right!). The mounds of earth come out of the trenches, so to speak, and will be used to form little hills around the potato plants as they grow. The bed to the rear contains Maris Pipers, a British variety. The front bed has both Desiree (a European red potato), and Austrian Crescents (a fingerling potato). Can you ever have too many potatoes? No ....! Behind the potatoes are the peas, which are just starting to come out of the ground (pictured at right).

Finally, all the way at the back of the garden, are the strawberries and raspberries. Oh, and weeds. Those beds are kind of a mess but we're trying to improve on last year's neglect. This weekend we "recycled" some metal poles, formerly a silt fence, to create a barrier from the deer. This should give the berries -- and, in fact, the entire garden -- a fighting chance.

Next up: lettuce, in that bed at the very front. But that will have to wait for another day ...

Becoming Locavores

We live on what is currently the edge of suburban sprawl: just a couple miles north or west lies farmland, and lots of it. So why do we buy so much of our food from the local supermarket, where produce is sourced from all over the world? Sure, this guarantees that just about anything we want to eat is available year-round. But this comes at a cost represented by transportation, fuel consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions.

That's why, last Saturday, we went for a little drive, turning left at a sign that read, "Grass-fed Jersey Milk 1.5 miles." The road grew narrower, and the grass and cows more plentiful. We pulled into the driveway of an Amish dairy farm we'd found through Local Harvest. A young girl was sweeping the driveway, and a boy was dribbling a soccer ball. Their mother came out of the house to greet us. Trying not to look too much like city folk, we asked for milk and eggs. She escorted us into an immaculate room with a large tank, dipped a pitcher into the tank, and poured its fresh, creamy contents into a half-gallon glass bottle. We learned that most of their milk is sold to consumers like us, some is used to make yogurt and cheese (also for sale), and a truck collects unsold milk weekly for packaging and distribution elsewhere. The family's goal is to be a 100% local consumer business within the year. The milk was delicious, and the eggs made beautiful golden omelets. I'll be back this weekend, this time for a full gallon of milk, and more eggs.

Even closer to home is Briar Hollow Farms, another Amish homestead with its own produce market. Their selection is highly variable, but by July you can count on Briar Hollow for the best-tasting corn in Chester County. Local Harvest has details of other nearby farm markets, most of which open in May. I'm going to use these markets to supplement our own home-grown produce, and reduce supermarket purchases by planning our meals around what's fresh and available locally.

Ideas like these have been germinating in my mind for a while, and crystallized when I read Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (read my review). Kingsolver is a convincing advocate of local eating, and the internet is chock-full of resources on the subject. We are not going "cold turkey" as some have done, but we will learn by doing. And I expect we will enjoy the process!