What to Do, and We Have a Winner

Two things I'm trying to decide: first, is it okay to bring turkey feathers into the house? What about other feather varieties? And second, is it acceptable to wrap your swing's chain around the top beam and then swing on the swing when it's four feet off the ground? I have never had to formulate a reaction to either of these two apparently inevitable happenings before. I'm clueless.

Also, we have a winner in the contest in which various authors do their best to keep my attention while I read their entire book before I am distracted by another interesting-looking book. This week I read a whole book from start to finish, which totally disrupts the grazing pattern I had spent the entire summer establishing. Here is the winner:

Holy Cows & Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide to Farm Friendly Food, by Joel Salatin

The first time I read something by Joel Salatin, it was a very entertaining article I found on the internet called "Everything I Want to Do is Illegal". Just reading the title really resonated with me. Just kidding!!! The author makes the case that there are so many government regulations placed upon farmers that they find it difficult to sell their home-grown products directly to the consumer. If you read his article, some of these regulations are beyond stupid. The government doesn't want us to eat food from the farm next door, but wants us to eat food from a farm 2,000 miles away on the other side of the country. Personally, I'm not sure I trust those California farmers after all this e. coli spinach non-sense that's going on right now.

I really appreciate all the farmers in our area that sell directly to the consumer. Just tonight, we were about to feast on homemade tortillas when I realized that we had no more tomatoes. What did I do? I drove down the road where some neighbors had set up a table full of tomatoes in their front yard with a coffee can on it that said "donations". I put some money in the can and made off with an armfull of fresh homegrown tomatoes which became salsa half an hour later.

Unfortunately, the government would like to see us put all our trust in the huge mega-factory farm monopolistic corporations to provide all of our food. This book was very encouraging to read because it gave a do-able solution to this out of control problem - buy locally as much as you can, and it will make a difference. Will I see you at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning? I'm buying my greens there.