gardening, mostly

It's going to cost $115 to repair my camera. It's not something I can really afford, but I also can't afford to go through life without visually documenting beauty (or blog land, for that matter!)!

I attended a meeting tonight for a local nonprofit group called New Roots ... basically it partners with what are called "fresh stops" -- weekly farmer's markets in "food desert" areas of Louisville (usually underserved by grocery store/low income neighborhoods). the farmers who supply these ... are amish! anyway ... what my goal is is to help with a new community garden that's being started in one such neighborhood, and hopefully eventually help teach cooking classes for children and adults! food education...one person at a time. right up my alley! i can't wait for this to begin.

there is also a possibility of getting my own fairly large garden space at a local bed and breakfast very close to the school where i work ... more on this if it pans out.

on the home front, my first-ever attempt at gardening has gone okay. My cats devoured the cat grass which grew pretty and tall ... and didn't grow back. my romaine failed, probably 'cause i never harvested it, thinking the leaves would grow as big as they did in the grocery store. The basil is just now coming up, very slowly. The chard .... gorgeous, springy, tall, beautiful ... and delicious, though the leaves are not gi-normous! :-) all in all, not a bad start. just sun, organic potting soil, water, and love.

Louisville has a great project started called 15,000 farmers, a movement started by an owner of a chain of local coffeeshops (dedicated to organic, fair-trade products...i link to them on my sidebar) to get 15,000 people growing their own food in the city of Louisville alone. So far the movement has about 700 farmers. I'm going to join and be one! And maybe get my school involved, too. This will involve reading the step-by-step manual Square Foot Gardening, no doubt.

Lots of good things going on in this town.

I'm making vegan carrot-raisin-walnut loaf right now, if my trick to get my brown sugar softened works. using up stuff in the house. I also want to find some kind of recipe for my exotic pho noodles. not tonight.

had my favorite tofu/steamed bok choy dish tonight. i've posted on it before.

food and sustainability and self-sufficiency have been on my mind a lot lately. I'm glad my life has headed down this path.

The Happiness Project is an inspiring book .....

be well, all. i might try and get to a hatha yoga class tomorrow night. friday night, i'm going to see wicked! i love a night out at the center for the arts.