ephemera
Hooray for the extra light in the morning. By butt was awake at 6:00 am and the dogs were eyeing each other confusedly. Although darkness at 5:30 pm and earlier will be the tradeoff. What a busy weekend. I am running for local office (township supervisor) so the weekend was spent doing door to door campaigning and Sunday was my fundraiser. I was pretty scared doing door to door. My township is extremely conservative, so running as a democrat is a little risky. But everyone was really nice. I spend too much time talking to people about their landscaping though...and playing with dogs. But who knows, maybe that will get me some votes. "Oh, that's the girl that let our weimeraner jump all over her, sure, we'll vote for her". So I still have many more homes to cover. Hopefully I'll get to do some after work for an hour or so. The fundraiser was fun too. Not a ton of people, but the ones that did make an appearance were very generous. But I was exhausted by Sunday night. And I had grand plans to do yardwork in the few remaining hours of sunlight on Sunday, but that didn't happen. The garlic is still sitting in paper bags in the garage. If I don't get motivated, I'll be doing it with a headlamp on sometime next week.
I think maybe I'm in denial about not wanting any kids. At the fundraiser I spent most of my time with a 13 month old boy and a 2 -1/2 year old girl. I've spent a lot of time with the little girl over the past month and she now refers to me as her best friend 'Mary'. Her mom (the host of the fundraiser) put colorful fall leaves all over the buffet table and my 'best friend' and I had a terrific time taking the leaves outside and pretending to be trees and letting the leaves fall all over the lawn. Maybe it's not that I want a kid, maybe it's just that I miss being one.
One of my 'initiatives' for my campaign as supervisor is a minor one, but still one I'd like to see. I want to put a book together to list what each farm has for sale and where they are located and where farmstands are located in the summer. Some farmers sell eggs and chickens during the year, and then there are the tomato stands and sweet corn stands during the summer, but none of them are listed anywhere. And speaking of farmers selling things, in my travels through the township over the weekend, I came across a farmer that sold 'raw milk'. Which is obviously non-pasteurized, but are there health advantages to raw milk? has it been already separated? does it taste better? Does anyone know?
I think maybe I'm in denial about not wanting any kids. At the fundraiser I spent most of my time with a 13 month old boy and a 2 -1/2 year old girl. I've spent a lot of time with the little girl over the past month and she now refers to me as her best friend 'Mary'. Her mom (the host of the fundraiser) put colorful fall leaves all over the buffet table and my 'best friend' and I had a terrific time taking the leaves outside and pretending to be trees and letting the leaves fall all over the lawn. Maybe it's not that I want a kid, maybe it's just that I miss being one.
One of my 'initiatives' for my campaign as supervisor is a minor one, but still one I'd like to see. I want to put a book together to list what each farm has for sale and where they are located and where farmstands are located in the summer. Some farmers sell eggs and chickens during the year, and then there are the tomato stands and sweet corn stands during the summer, but none of them are listed anywhere. And speaking of farmers selling things, in my travels through the township over the weekend, I came across a farmer that sold 'raw milk'. Which is obviously non-pasteurized, but are there health advantages to raw milk? has it been already separated? does it taste better? Does anyone know?
posted by meresy_g at Monday, October 31, 2005
8 Comments:
Good luck! I would vote for you if I lived in your area.
I like the farm book idea.
Funny you mention raw milk. I've been wanting to get raw milk for awhile now. From what I've read it's a lot healthier than regular pastuerized milk which can actually be harmful from what I read.
Only problem with raw milk is that it's illegal in a lot of states New York being one of them, but I think it's legal in New Jersey.
It may be illegal in PA too, just nobody ever noticed this little out of the way farm with 'fresh eggs & raw milk' painted on a piece of scrap board under the mailbox before. I'll do a little research before I buy some. I'm not a big milk drinker, but Bob is, and it would probably be good for cooking. I've only seen raw milk once, in high school, our church youth group had a retreat at a Mennonite farm. When the mom made breakfast at 4 am, the milk she used literally clung to the sides of the pitcher...it was that thick. Freaked me out then. But I'll try it.
I love your idea for the farm resource book...I'd vote for you on that alone. :)
Raw milk. We love it, and drink it every day. At first I was freaked out by the whole cream on top business, but I have come to love it, especially in the winter. Our dairy also offers a skim version (which is so cool...just naturally 'skimmed', not put through a centrifuge). Pasteurization kills alot of the nutrients in milk, so getting it raw is better for you. And farmers who are interested in selling raw milk are more old-fashioned and are probably against things like rBGh. I also feel like I make better cheese with it, because it hasn't been heated before. From what I know, pasteurization isn't really necessary but has become the norm. Try it...you'll like it. :)
You say you make cheese???? Excellent. When I get around to playing with that, I'll be asking lots of questions.
Cheese & politics, I love the combination! Very interesting about raw milk--I never think of these things because I am not a big milk drinker. Is it a physical recipe? Does it require a lot of manipulation of the raw milk by you or machine? I picture strong arms! I do wish you lived in my neighborhood, as you would get our vote. We are quite involved in politics & activism. Very happy to hear you are out there! Much sincere luck.
I definitely don't have strong arms, so hopefully there is no wrangling with large quantities of half-formed cheese required. Raw milk just means un-pasteurized, so it has a lot more nutrients, and apparently flavor, than regular milk. The cheese recipes I've seen (and these are basic soft cheeses) basically are combinations of combining rennet, milk, and I think sometimes salt, brining the mix to a certain temperature, letting it sit, and then several series of drainings...so we'll see. Won't be doing anything till after the election, but definitely want to try it. Or maybe I should try it now so I have something to hand out at the polling place on election day! You all would vote for someone that handed out homemade cheese, wouldn't you? haha
Garlic. is this the time to plant garlic? I love garlic. My tulips are in the ground. well in pots on top of the bathroom roof so that the squirrels won't get to them. I spent the past 2 weekends loading the car with bags of free soil from the brooklyn composting and recyling site. www.nycompot.org I bought 2 small compost bins and have gotten the tenants to collect their kitchen scraps and hand them to me when the smal container is full. Do yo know anything about adding compost to the soil? I read somewhere that the sun is the worst thing for the soil. It kills it! so I am wondering if I should keep my compost in the dark till spring and add it tot he soil then or if I should just do it now.
Planting garlic now will give you a summer harvest. You can also plant garlic in the spring for a late fall harvest. Just imagine the pesto with your own garlic. Yum. I would add the compost now. Then it can benefit all the soil organisms over the fall and winter and you'll have nice healthy soil for spring. And just keep making compost all winter. Composting generates heat, so don't worry about the cold temperatures. Just keep adding those kitchen scraps.
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