Farm Friday

"Vote for Pedro." That's how I've felt this week, contacting people and institutions, talking about the Bon Appetit Farm to Fork Grant Program, explaining our project, and asking for votes. (For those of you who don't get the reference, it's from the Napoleon Dynamite movie.) We've been in touch with the local university, talking with the dining hall director. He purchased some of our produce and meat to feature on Tuesday, the day of voting. I've also contacted my alma mater (another voting location) and they're spreading the word via the alumni association, marketing, etc. So excited to be participating in this program and hoping we get good results!

The summer gardens are winding down, leaving us mainly with purple hull peas (a type of black-eyed pea) and green beans, although we still have some eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, and tomatoes. Our shiitake mushrooms should be taking off soon since the weather has cooled and we've had some rain.

Our dog Ginny is doing so much better. I'm now convinced she has an extreme case of GERD/acid reflux but the meds weren't working for her. I'm also convinced if I had continued to take her from one specialist to another, they would have eventually killed her as the next steps were to put her under and do an endoscopy and then exploratory surgery. Not good options for my 11 year old girl. What is working for me? Mainly DGL licorice tablets, supplemented with a homeopathic remedy (nux vomica), slippery elm powder, some probiotics, and a little aloe vera juice. And I've taken her off dog food and am feeding her venison and pureed butternut squash. I must love her a lot as I had to cook up a deer liver that we had frozen this past winter thinking it might be a possible source for dog food. Little did I know that it would end up being an essential part of her diet by the end of the year. After her stomach gets back to normal, I'll be looking into giving her a healthy, balanced, homemade diet.

A couple of weeks ago we got to hear Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, talk about his latest book. Command and Control is about the nuclear weapons industry and how antiquated the military system is. Kind of scary. Fast Food Nation was very influential in my life as I read it right after having a severe case of food poisoning. I went in search for answers - wondering what type of food poisoning I had and how I got it - and discovered Schlosser's book. I'm looking forward to reading this new book. He also has a documentary coming out this year - Food Change.

I'm enjoying the end-of-summer wild flowers. Aren't they pretty?

Have a great weekend!