The eyes of others.

It is strange sometimes when you take a step back and look at yourself like others do. Yesterday I was speaking on the phone to someone from my mom’s hospice whom I have never met or talked to before. He said “I have heard that you are very type-A.”

I have never thought of myself of a type-A person, so I responded “I don’t think so, I’m just type-B, with focus.”

A while later when talking to hubby I realized just how very type-A that statement must have sounded.

Way back in high school I had a similar experience when a counselor told me I was an overachiever. At which point I told her that I did not believe in over achievers, because no one in the world was capable of achieving more than they were capable of. So there are two types of people achievers and under achievers and 99% of people are under achievers. All I was doing was striving to not under achieve.

It would be so strange to be able to sit back and see yourselves as others see you.

What would that tell you about yourself?

First real snow of the year.

One year when we were little we tricked and treated in full winter coats and leg warmers hats and gloves... what fun is that?

You cannot see in this photo but it is snowing pretty hard!

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Missing Pollan...

I am sorry to say that last night I missed Micheal Pollan. How sad.

It has just been one of those weeks. Hubby is back today after being gone for a few days. There was some reason I needed to be home, something I had to do, so I told the friend I was going to go with to give my seat in the car away, I had to bow out.

Then yesterday, my mom's phone stopped accepting incoming calls. Of course she had no idea, so after work I had to run over (after going home to take care of the dog and chickens) to be sure they could call out (which they could). I then spent an hour and a half on the phone with Vonage before they figured out that it was an OHIO WIDE problem... Nice, I first noticed it at 3:30, it is not 6:30 and you are just realizing that no people in Ohio can get incoming telephone calls? (We may be switching phone service soon.) So after trying a couple temporary numbers which did not work they said the problem was "red flagged" and they would fix it in the next couple hours.

So I got home around 7:00, made dinner, straightened up, and sat there relaxing, glad I had not decided to drive to Oberlin. Then around 8:30 I had a sudden thought... THE LEEKS!

That was why I had bowed out. I had promised a local chef I would bring him some of our leeks to try out, I said I would drop them off on my way home from work on Wednesday! That was the "something" I had been supposed to do!

I decided I better get out there now, because it would be just as dark in the morning, colder, potentially snowier, and much earlier! Way to early to pick leeks at 5:30, there is a reason I will never do dairy! So out I treked into the cold, by then it had started the freezing rain... NICE!

So I picked a dozen leeks in the dark and freezing rain, holding a flashlight in between my teeth as I pitchforked them up and tryed to shake some of the mud off them. Then in the cold I washed them with the garden hose and trimmed them. It was 9:10 when I was done, which surprised me because I thought the process took longer then that, I sure felt colder then that...

At least I did not have to do it after getting back from Oberlin at who knows what time. So while I am sad I missed his talk when he was so close (and free!) I am glad I did not go because it was one more thing I did not need...

That thing came when I was falling to sleep at 11:00 and my phone rang an "unavailable" number (I always pick up in case it is something about my ill mom, and in the middle of the night what else could it be.) So my heart was beating as I picked it up, it was Vonage telling me that the problem was still not solved, but they expected to in the next 24 hours... Thanks for waking up me and the dog to tell me that...

I mention my Rottweiler only because if he is disturbed in the middle of the night when hubby is not home he goes on hyper alert and proceeds to bark and growl at any noise ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!

yawn...

Will work for food?

I wonder if anyone would be willing to work for their share?

Maybe 4 or 5 hours one morning a week in exchange for their share of produce? Maybe someone who could not otherwise afford the share? Maybe someone like a stay at home mom?

Someone who wants to really know their food and their farmer?

I wonder...

Already...

My window at work... Can you see the sleet? It is there...

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Snow? Really?

I mean come on people. It is October. Snow?

Why?

They are saying an inch accumulation out east, of course it will melt almost immediately, but still... Snow. In October?

Trick or Treat?

Lazy days...

Most people think of the lazy days of summer. For farmers the first lazy days of the year come in the late fall...

Today we spent the day doing exactly NOTHING! AH!!! So nice.

We got up late and went for a drive to spy on road side stands and get a couple nice pumpkins, as our pumpkins did badly this year. Later tonight we are going to Fire for a late anniversary dinner.

Tomorrow we have a couple things to do in the garden before the projected SNOW comes next week... SNOW??!?!? But no picking or pickup.

There will be a lot to do this fall and winter getting ready for the big steps we plan on taking next year, and we do have two more farmers market and one more CSA share around Thanksgiving to get ready for, but for now, I am enjoying doing nothing...

Now please excuse me while I go and play Spore.

Worst networker...

I am an awful networker and business card hander outer!

Yesterday was an unusual day for me and we had two big events.

The first was a group from National Parks all over the country. We gave them a tour of the farm, talked to them about how we got into the program, and feed them some Leek and Potato soup... We had 60 people in our barn, coffee set up for them, a table with the soup, and I did not put ANY business cards on the table, not one!

Right after that was done I drove up to Cleveland where I was sitting on a Green Building Panel at E4S. This even starts and ends with networking and I did not have ANY not even one business card. I do not know how many times I had to say "I'm sorry, I forgot my cards!"

No one tell my boss, OK...

Two big business mistakes in one day...

Week 17...

Week 17 share: 4 leeks, 1 butternut squash, 1 acorn squash, 1 red onion, 2 yellow onions, 4 bulbs baby fennel, a small amount of lettuce, and 8 apples... This is the last share of the regular season.



Week 18 will be a thanksgiving share...

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when a hard frost hits the peppers...

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Keeping peace and being careful...

Going into the election I would like to take a minute to remind everyone to think twice about their words in both personal life and professional meetings.

Sitting in a meeting last week I actually heard someone say that if you did not vote for a certain candidate you were a racist. This was at a meeting with lots of different people including clients of the person who made the statement.

Regardless of your political beliefs (or mine) how fair is that statement, really?

A friend told me that she saw a person selling pumpkins at a stand make a statement that if the same candidate was elected she would have to close her business, her taxes would jump too high, and you were stupid if you voted for "that one!"

People, think twice before you speak... Broad brushes either way are wrong.

If you work at a place where 90% of the people believe one way, do not make life totally uncomfortable for the minority 10% for the next few weeks. Be considerate. Most people have made up their mind by now and brow beating them will not change their mind even if you call them racist for one choice or stupid for another...

If you ever want to check something either side says check this... http://www.factcheck.org/

nyk logistics, "K"line, cai, seaco, triton, gvs, interpool, zim...

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My grandmother...

I think it might help to explain my previous and kind of rambling post.

My take on America and life here might be diffrent then many of my friends, colored by the fact that I am a frist generation American.

My grandmother (same grandmother) came to the United States by herself after the second world war. She left my father and aunt in Germany and came here, alone, to find a better life for her family. My father and aunt joined her a bit later, my father then in highschool and my aunt younger.

My father joined the milatary, as so many who are not native born do (says something, no?) And I grew up living life through the eyes of a first generation army brat. We did not live in a big subdivision, and none of my friends had parents with expensive cars, or got to go on annual expensive vacations. So none of that was put forth to me as "the goal."

It probably helped this that my mother was a little hippy dippy...

The Amercian Dream

I heard a piece on NPR this morning and in the commentary about a forum on the middle class someone said that the "American dream is now about stuff."

So often it is, or seems to be, about just that. How big is your house, how many bedrooms, how new is your vehicle, and (even) did you go to the "right" school and do your kids.

I grew up thinking that the American Dream meant if you worked hard you could achieve your goals. But no one talked about what those goals were. For me they never about money and stuff they were bigger. When I was younger they were very much about being sure that your children have access to a better life then you. But what is better?

As I got older I though about it in relation to the Four Freedoms - The freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear... I think a lot people misunderstand freedom from want for freedom from wanting! It is not the BMW, the McMansion, the designer clothes, and elaborate vacations.

We may have a better "quality of life" then our parents, but what does that mean? I may have a Hi-Def flat screen TV (granted it is only 27 inches, how do we do it?!?) but does that help give me a better quality of life then my parents who had a big box color TV with just BASIC CABLE!?!

Quality of life does not come from stuff. It comes from within once the basic needs of life are met, and to be honest a majority of people reading this blog have all their needs of life met. It comes from a deep sense of contentedness and happiness. From joy in small things. From happiness in spending time with your family and in nature.

If I can teach this to our children they will have a better quality of life then we do, then I will have lived the American Dream, regardless of what happens to my 401k or if I can never afford a new vehicle or a designer wardrobe and if they never get to meet Mickey Mouse. If I don't they will never be happy regardless of ho much STUFF they can acquire...

Taking joy in small things is a part of the American Dream we all need to relearn...

fall on the farm...

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the last good quantity of something in the garden... 1500 leeks wait for the thanksgiving markets and our last shares...

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Anouther visitor...

This time of year we see more catepillers as the foliage starts to disappear...

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Deer dinner...

Hello. wildlife... Our garden is not a salad bar!

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October 7th...

This morning I was running a bit late, having stayed up to long last night, primarily because at 8:45 I decided it would be a good idea to make a pie with some of the crust I made this weekend. Pie was in the oven at 9:10, done at 10:10, cooled outside until 10:30, at which point we each had a piece, mine with coffee (hubby is smarter then that!) So I did not get to bed till close to midnight, so 5:00 am came awful early this morning and was followed by too many snoozes!

So at a couple minutes after 6:00 I made it to my car, without coffee or other warmy beverages, and sans-jacket, as this is the time of year I tend to leave them at the office as they are not needed in the afternoon!

I turned on my wipers and heard the unmistakable scraping sound that indicates our season is pretty darn close to being over! A couple tentative strokes of the wipers made it clear that I would have to scrape! Although my radio told me that it was 41 degrees "at our studios" it was clear to me as I pulled my emergency tiny scraper from the back of my vehicle, that barring some extraordinarily unprecedented meteorological (shifting the chemical composition of the atmosphere so that frost forms above 32 degrees) I was not enjoying the heat island effect that buffers the cities a little...

I would like to point out to those of you who are thinking now that "It's fall!" That our average first frost day is somewhere in mid to late October with only 10% of years seeing a first this early...

We will see what damage was done to our garden later today and tomorrow... But as we only have 5 more pickups scheulded this year, and some frost tolerant stuff in the ground, we should be fine...

Huge Toadstool...

8 inch toad stool found in a random place somewhere near our farm... wow is that one big mushroom!

Any identification anyone? Ed?

I have a sneaking suspicion I found it online...

If that is the case, I am glad we washed our hands after touching it!

It is the beginning of pickup, just 7:00 and already getting dark, more then that I am getting cold! I guess I should expect no less on October 1 but still... i enjoy fall i just want it to stay a little warmer a little long....

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