Monday, September 22, 2008

Community Supported Agriculture

There is one sure way to know exactly what you are eating and where it is from...

Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production.

Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production.

Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.

Community Supported Agriculture is becoming more and more popular around the country. I support local agriculture through our local farmer’s markets. And I would encourage you to do the same through a CSA or your local farmer's market.

Monday, September 08, 2008

The Importance of Being Right

The desire to have and know the truth and be right is an overwhelming desire for some of us.

I don’t know if it goes back to the Scot-Irish side of my family or growing up in a Christian tradition of always wanting to be and do what was right with God. Wherever it comes from I recognize this desire within me to want to be right.

One of the ways that I “prove” I am right is to ‘speak with authority’ and to state something like it is a fact. When I might have only read it in the NYT.

It’s ridiculous!

When I think about it, it reminds me of a guy I knew in college named Ray who was too smart for his own good. In order to impress his professors with his intelligence he would attempt to phrase questions in the wordiest manner possible. It was always an adventure listening to Ray ask a question in class. You were never certain where it would end up.

But there was something preposterous about Ray’s questions and statements…something that ate at his credibility.

I see some of that in myself and it troubles me. I don’t want my credibility to be eroded.

I also see it in most of the rhetoric being bandied about in this election climate. In some of the television commercials on both sides - claims are made and positions represented that are, in fact not true.

And yet the information is presented as factual, reliable information. Consider the source and the motives of the source.

Friday, September 05, 2008

With regards to Sarah Palin's snarky comment about how being a mayor was like being a community organizer, only with “actual responsibility”.

“Jesus was a Community Organizer, and Pontias Pilate was a Governor.” - Mudflats

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Yesterday Morning....

About 6:05 yesterday morning I had donned my crocs and was headed out the door and down to the dock to hop in the guideboat for a morning row on the pond. No matter how many times I see a moose I am still awe struck.
She was standing about 20 feet from my neighbor's dock.

Then she moved closer
And then she looked at me.

A few moments later another, younger, moose came to the edge of the pond and the two of them moved up into the woods. It was pretty incredible.