Let's Eat!

It was so nice to see everyone again today! I guess it has only been a few weeks since our last pick up, but it seems like a long time. So many of you had such wonderful things to say - thank you for your continued support of Eden's Garden!

WHY WE DO THIS
Just last week the new mayor of Balch Springs came by, at my invitation, to see what we were doing over here on the edge of town. As you know, they have been considering an ordinance that would regulate the number of chickens and outlaw ownership of roosters as well as require cooping all poultry here in town. After explaining to Mayor Gordon that there are families right here in town that, for health reasons, rely on organic food, including organically raised poultry and eggs, I feel very confident we'll prevail in our struggle to maintain our right to eat free range poultry and eggs. Just as she was leaving, one such resident pulled in to my driveway explaining her son, who has autism, is basically prescribed organic food so his body dosen't have to process the chemicals and pesticides. Nor can he drink the city water due to the highly toxic fluoride in it.

While my farm would likely be exempted due to the acreage size, many home owners with smaller yards would be adversely affected. Some of these are the very people who have lived here in town for many years, in some cases, generations, raising livestock, including chickens.

While I agree you need a minimum amount of space to raise and process large livestock, a small flock of chickens needs only a small area comparatively, and the occasional crowing of roosters, that are needed to keep a closed flock sustained, can be compared to many other noises heard in any community, such as the barking of a dog, the singing of a mockingbird or the laughter of kids playing nearby.

When people rely on the nutritional values and affordability of raising their own food, it seems a mute point to complain about a little noise or the way it may look to someone. This goes way beyond a nuisance issue. I've been asked to sit on the committee that will oversee many of the ordinances that are up for review - including the one about livestock/poultry ownership. I've accepted the invite and will keep you posted. Thanks for your support on this issue. If we're ever going to get our flock up and organized enough to lay us tasty free-range eggs for our group, we need to be able to let them roam free. Free range should mean more than 4'x4' areas of dirt....not much omega 3's there......

SPUDS & SUCH
The 2 kinds of potatoes we harvested this week do look very much alike but are supposed to be very different types. The Yellow Finn are a creamy, buttery type, great I would say, for steaming or mashing. Try it without adding butter. The Binjinte are a French Gourmet potato that is supposed to be great for frying. Both sound good to me!

I sauteed myself some onion, potato and squash with the rosemary Robert brought us for dinner tonight. Deelish! Thank you Robert! (he has apparently got a monster rosemary bush that needed a hair cut.)

Hopefully the heirloom tomatoes will start turning red here soon and we'll have those to add to your shares. The sweet 100's, Beefsteak and Large Red Cherry are growing and blooming - and the wind is helping pollinate them, but no fruit just yet. It was a late year with Easter coming so late and that freeze the Tuesday beforehand. But we've got eggplant, more squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe and some sorry slow growing peppers in the ground. I even put in some corn, which I noticed was up the other day. I'll admit I've not had great luck growing corn in the past, but I wanted to give it a try in this soil my farmer friend Jack says is soooo great! We'll see.

A STAR IS BORN
The irrigation system is running very well, thank you Herb, and an article about that very renewable energy system running our pump/irrigation system is going to be in print very soon! Herb is getting published in Mother Earth! We'll let you know which issue so you can be sure to bring it and get his autograph. ;)

The whole idea behind this system, besides providing green energy for our farm, is to help show other farmers how they, too, can do this. In fact, a couple of brothers stopped by the farm today to ask about our set up and Herb filled their ears with the set up he has put in for us, explaining it is all about to be put on line for the taking.

By using natural energy, a farm can pretty well be put out in almost any field where there is a tank or ability to capture rain water or tap into a spring or well. Electricity won't be needed if the farmer uses wind and solar energy to power things. This opens up a whole new frontier for some people living "off the grid".

COMING SOON
We're getting closer to having our own web site just for Eden's Garden CSA members - that will replace our weekly newsletter email. Butch will explain how we can all tie in so we'll know when something is updated on it and our pick up notices, recipes, driving group conversations, etc., can all be accessed through one place rather than all of the emails. I don't know about you guys, but my in box gets FULL! I'll still put up entries here on the blog, as it isn't just us that follows this, but more of the CSA news will be on the web site and this will be more "farmy" news, instead.

Well, I hope this finds lots of happy taste buds and full tummies tonight. I'll keep planting if you guys will keep eatin!

Be well!


Marie
Eat Your Food - Naturally!