Country Women: A Handbook for the New Farmer

My housemate, Sharne, picked up this book for the 'ladies of the house' in a free box yesterday. I love it!

The cover boasts that it will teach you:

"How to negotiate a land purchase, dig a well, grow vegetables organically, build a fence and a shed, deliver a goat, skin a lamb, spin yarn and raise a flock of good egg-laying hens, all at the least possible expense and with minimum reliance on outside and professional help."

It's peppered with helpful charts, really cool, descriptive illustrations and poems written in calligraphy. Every 5-10 pages is a box with a journal entry about the season, farm, lesson learned. Many are very vulnerable entries about the author's engagement of women's issues and the accompanying anger, heartache, struggle toward growth, relationship problems, etc. I believe the writers may be what people I grew up with referred to as "Women's Libbers." Published in 1976, the hair and clothing styles, depicted in black and white photography, are modeled by strong women doing farm tasks like building fences and shearing sheep. There is a blonde afro in there.

Today I learned that I've been watering too little, too frequently -- that vegetables like good soakings, less often. And that I should have transplanted the radishes and lettuce with more of their root system and soil attached than I did, then watered them more gently afterwards. I'm such a rookie!

While googling the book I learned that one of the authors, Tetrault, died of melanoma. Sad! Wear your sunscreen while working outside, my friends!!

For the gardeners and country women among us: What have you learned this year that you'd like to share with us?

Prayer for Peace

Alicia (happy birthday yesterday Al!) reminded met hat I haven't posted on Who Cares since I've been gone. MY BAD! This one isn't about MN, it's about MJ.

Like Lindsay said, Jon and Kate and now MJ's death is trumping Iran and other world news and that is crazy! Obviously feasting on the king of pop's death is preferable to engaging global politics for most of us. Sadly...myself included. How tacky that I am even devoting a post to it all. :)

When we heard the news my housemate and I immediately pulled out the Bad record in his memory. We've been re-watching all those amazing videos. We are reminded of the pool and roller rink parties...those classic moments and good feeling he evoked through his music and dance. Knowing that the creator of all that wonderful music is gone brings a sense of melancholy nostalgia.

On another level, his life mirrors the sadness, isolation, loneliness and estrangement of the human condition. We can all identify on some level.

I read this post on Sticks and Snakes, a recent addition to my google reader blogroll -- she's an episcopalian fresh out of seminary who is moving to Omaha to pastor her first church.

She writes,

"I find it interesting to watch how the public reacts to the deaths of pop-culture icons. I am sure that there is some psychological significance to the ritual actions surrounding public deaths--gathering outside the hospital, 24-hour television vigils disguised as "news," etc. I think it is important for people to be allowed to grieve in this way, especially because they seem to be grieving something about themselves and their own lives. After all, most of us didn't actually know Michael Jackson."


They seem to be grieving something about themselves and their own lives.

After years of engaging suffering in the world, I still prefer to find ways I can personally identify on some level with MJ than to do the same with the situation in Iran. It seems natural to look for more information about this man who lived in a fishbowl his entire life. Yet it is a real struggle -- work even -- for me to engage the millions who suffer from being ignored today...the oppressed in Iran, a child starving in Africa or North Korea, all of it.

Of course, Iran demands a response and MJ demands nothing of me.

I've been thinking about it a lot...thanks for getting me there, Lindsay. What do you all think?

-----

Prayer for Peace

Michael:
Thanks for the music, the dancing
And the wonderful memories that are a part of it all.
Your life was a gift in so many ways
Forgive us for feasting on your live
Forgive us for our judgments
Forgive us for our voyeurism
I pray you are finally, finally
At peace.

And Iran:
Peace, peace, peace to you
Our thoughts and prayers
Reach out to you and you people
Today.
Now.
In this moment of knowing
Our hearts pray for your tomorrow too...
We are a forgetful people
And if we do not remember you, our brothers and sisters,
Pray for us.

Free tomatoes

We have a volunteer tomato plant with blossoms growing out the side vent of our compost pile. How cool is that? If it grosses you out, I'll promise to alert you when I'm serving my "garbage tomatoes" if you're over for dinner. Also, we have what looks to be some sort of vine growing, too-- my guess is a watermelon. I'll keep you posted.

80mph winds

needless to say we no longer have a tree to hide our house behind.  

happy father's day...

to all the whocares daddies: jason, matt, kyle, nate, andrew, justin, and michael. ya done good.

the great grill mystery: solved!

i'm supposed to be working on making final revisions to my pirate book. instead, i'm still chuckling about a mystery i solved this afternoon and have decided that the only way to get my focus back is to share my story.

the set up: my grill broke a couple of weeks ago. a pipe must have gotten blocked or broken or something because i came out to find my food uncooked and a flame working its way through the front of the grill by the controls. scary! i put the grill out in the alleyway by my garage and garbage cans and got a new one. yay!

the mystery: a couple of days ago, i went out into the alleyway and noticed that my grill was gone! did the garbage collectors take it? or did some wandering rogues take it away? in either case, my disposal problem was solved, but a mystery was created.

the outcome: driving up the alley this afternoon, i noticed a bunch of chairs and stuff in my neighbors' driveway. i stopped to see if i could figure out if they were moving out. and, lo and behold, what did i see there, but MY GRILL! haha. my neighbors have guts. it takes guts, i think, to see a grill by someone's garage in the alleyway and to assume that it is being tossed out and to then take it and put it in your driveway just two houses down.

the new mystery: will they notice that there's a hole burned through the front and have second thoughts about the wisdom of their decision? will the grill blow up when they try to use it? time will only tell...i'm hoping no injury results.

thanks for letting me get that off my chest. now. back to work!

Happy Friday Ladies

8:40am today. "Mom, Where's dad?"
"Honey, he's gone to work already."
"Mom, why did he go to work?"
"You know the answer to that."
"Yeah, to make money so we can get the Iowa channel back when we pay Cox more money."
"I'll talk to dad about it."



2:47pm "Honey, I spoke to dad and tomorrow you and I and Ella and Dad are all going to drive over to the Cox store and pick up a thing that we need to make channel 13 work again."
"What?"
"You heard me, we are going to the Cox store in the morning."
"You mean to go get a digital converter box since Iowa PBS went digital?"
*sigh* "Honey, why don't you just go take care of all the details yourself since I think you have things more clearly worked out in your head than I do."
"What are you talking about?"

shameless

it's been too long.  you want a copy of the shameless 2009 mix?  sign up in the comments.

A relaxing Sunday afternoon in midtown...

Omaha Chamber Music Society Summer Concert Series

June 21, 2009 - 3:00PM
Saint Margaret Mary's Church - 6116 Dodge Street
Marie Rubis Bauer, harpsichord; Maria Harding, flute; Darci Gamerl, oboe; Anne Nagosky, violin; Wilfredo Pasamba, cello

Colours through the Centuries
Handel, Trio Sonata
CPE Bach, Sonata for Flute and Harpsichord
Rameau, Piece en Concert
Beethoven, Duet for Violin and Cello
Hurnick, Sonata da Camera

I don't think that's a thing...

Kyle volunteered today to fulfill our family's t-ball obligation of working 2 hours in the athletic association's Snack Shack.

Kyle relayed to me that as he was about to empty the juice out of a large jar that no longer had pickles in it the owner quickly stopped him and told him that she freezes individual cups of pickle juice with popsicle sticks in it and sells them. Seriously? Doubtful, Kyle complied and sure enough, a while later a lady at the window requested a pickle juice popsicle. Bizarre.

UPDATE: I googled. Turns out it is a thing.

Hummus among us

I can see Cheryl doing this while demonstrating her awesome hummus recipe.

Farmer's Market?

Anyone up for the FM downtown...say 8'ish? Perhaps a stop by Delice would be in order too...

i will remember: delice omaha

i suppose it should be comforting to me that i'm in omaha during the week that the closing of "delice" was announced.  only it isn't.  i could include a very long, detailed log of the visits i've made to delice and the wonderful memories (and heartbreaks) that involve that bakery.

of course some of our favorite WC personnel earned a living at delice...and many other adjunct friends, as well.  those coconut macaroons...!!!  the creepy table-clearer!!  the time i dared a guy named wes to eat a clove cigarette in front of delice and he did!  (not to mention that later he broke my heart, but whatever).  change.  change. change.  sad.

while we're laughing at unusual family scenarios...

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com has been cracking me up lately. click on the pic for a link. there are some real gems on there.

oh snl, you are cynical in all the right ways

I saw this clip on Saturday and I've been laughing at it ever since.

Breakfast on my deck.

You are all invited to my house this Thurs. morning starting at 8 a.m.* for a breakfast on my deck. I'll make homemade bread, homemade jam and freshly brewed coffee. How can you resist?? If you have kiddos, please bring them! And, Jane, please come if you are able so we can all get to know you!

*If you'd like to attend but 8 a.m. is too late, please let me know and I'll happily change the time to 7.

introducing jane!

I'd like to introduce a new 'inductee' to our little fellowship-of-the-blog: my dear friend, Jane Thorson.

I've known Jane for almost nine years. We were roommates for awhile, she's taught school, lived/worked in Afghanistan for a few years, travels like it's her job, loves all things British, hard cider, great coffee, good music - and happens to be in Omaha for (most of) the summer before jetting off to Boston College to pursue her masters in International Education Development. She is like a sister to me and Michael more than anything. I can't say enough about her. I think she'll be a great addition to the V-blog. :)

So....welcome, Jane!

Fitness Craze

So I've been researching this fitness program lately - it's called Crossfit. My brother did the certification through the Canadian Army. He will be going to Afghanistan in the fall so your prayers are greatly appreciated. It's high intensity, 30-min. workouts that kick your butt. Here is one such example:

happy birthday, darci!

happy birthday to my favorite oboe-playing canadian, who always has something interesting to add to any conversation. many returns of the day, friend. glad you were born.