Eek! The slugs have launched a counter-attack. Farmer David forgot to put the beer out last night, and the slugs advanced. We had to eject 12 of the voracious little buggers this morning! Farmer Julie Ann set out the beer tonight.
We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave! It was 92 degrees here! We're melting! Send rain to reconstitute us as soon as possible!
We thought we'd give a project update with regard to how we are doing with the 4 different goals.
1) Eat seasonally, locally, sustainably, and organically. This goal is going quite well. Most of our food now comes from local sources, the farmers market or directly from the farm or from our own garden patch. We do seem to have a couple of problem areas to continue to work on, specifically our coffee habit and our love of grabbing bite while out and about, but we have noticed that both of these are decreasing. We're trying to purchase organic, fair-trade coffee as our personal exceptions and to choose locally owned restaurants. We've also joined a great local CSA and gotten to know many of our local farmers. What's next? Decreasing our exceptions and checking out more local sources especially for fall and winter, when many of the farmers' markets are gone for the season.
2) Grow more of our own food. We are doing pretty well with this goal. The summer garden is in full swing, and we are in the process of planting our winter garden. All the seedlings are beginning to sprout. We've build one raised bed and extended the garden fence to accommodate the new planting areas. We've also built a 3 section composting system. What's next? A more permanent worm bin system and 2 more raised beds for the winter crops. Then, it's chicken time.
3) Increase community, decrease our consumerism. This goal has been going very well. Our purchasing has mostly revolved around garden supplies! Friends have been great about saving and digging up jars for our jam endeavors. We've been able to borrow, rent, or purchase used several large tools, technical books, and music to cook by. What's next? We plan to continue our participation in the farm work days on Full Circle Farm as it helps put fresh produce into our community's foodbank. (It's also a heck of alot of fun!)
4. Live and play simply and locally. This summer we didn't take a family vacation to some exotic location. We have had several day-cations to local beaches, parks, and hiking areas to enjoy our beautiful surroundings. We've also had a few get-to-know the local neighborhoods of towns around us. Some of our favorites include Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, the Ballard Locks, and the Blueberry Farm in Bellevue. We're finding that our quest for local, healthy food is a family adventure in and of itself. What's next? This weekend we're going to seach for multitudes of peppers to dry for winter.
Our technical guru let us know that we had the comments button turned off. It's back on now. So please feel free to comment on the blog! (Family friendly only, please! and NO SPAM!)
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