Still snowing .....
But! today we reached 34F with glorious sun! I went for a walk at 8:30 am and my face did not freeze off! I came home and had coffee in the hoop house; by 11:00 am it was 82F with humidity and I had to open the west door to cool things off. I stayed out there way too long! And if the sun is out tomorrow I will be back again. I think I need a recliner out there.
I left the compound around 2 pm to pick up two fittings for a hydroponic tower I'm cobbling together. I haven't gone out on a Saturday in quite awhile and I was shocked! I have been reading that consumer confidence is down by 10% this month. Apparently not in our neck of the woods. Route 20 was bumper to bumper. Every store, including the ones I currently boycott were loaded: Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Goodwill did not have a parking space in sight! I stopped at a local grocery store to pick up a few fresh veggies and we checked out. I had my own bags and always bag myself. The woman in front of us was MIA as the groceries careened down the belt. The check out woman just kept scanning away. A bump from behind and a frazzled woman plopped a giant chunk of plastic sealed red oozing meat on the belt. It was a big piece of beast or something like that but the splat was alarming. She had one grocery cart of plastic filled bags and her total came to ........ (drum roll) ..... $513.72. Did you buy a whole cow? Even when I used to buy a whole cow it didn't come to $513.72! I was dying to ask her what she got for more than my house payment.
We were up next and even Butch commented on how healthy our stuff looked rolling down the belt. We are belt judgers! A lot of greens; 2 bunches of kale, 2 bunches of green leafy lettuce, a big bunch of radishes, a bottle of red wine that was on sale, a large head of purple cabbage that cost as much as the wine and a couple organic oranges. And a bag of potato chips that somehow fell in the cart when I wasn't paying attention. Try not to take Butch shopping, ever! Every stop something ended up in the cart that I had not budgeted or even wanted in the house, like sea salt chocolate bars. A perfect meal, chips and chocolate. Anyway our bill came to $31.04. The same checker grabbed our receipt out of the machine and said; Well that can't be right! She had me take all the things out of my bags and compare them to the receipt. Yup, we are careful shoppers. She said a couple times, but you have wine. And we pointed out it was $10 off a bottle and was now $6.99 a bottle. She verified it with manager and we won! She was in utter disbelief that we were getting out of the store for under $100. Yes, I was smug about the whole thing :) And I gotta say I even think $31 is bit high for what we got! The produce was from a local grower too. Not GREAT LAKES GROWERS out of Middlefield as they had the biggest MAGA signs outside their greenhouses that I had ever seen, visible from space! They hire Amish women as below minimum wage and I'm just not supporting them. I'm not sure if they even know what DEI stands for.
I honestly thought we'd be enjoying greens out of the hoop house this winter but that didn't happen! So once again I am realizing how resourceful we need to be. How you must not put all your eggs in one basket and always have a backup. Micro-greens are great but they're just not a salad. They great on top of the salad but not a whole salad.
I started collecting buckets from bakeries around town. I'm up to 9 bucket for hydroponic grow towers. I should have at least one hooked up tomorrow. I'm planning on turning the bay on the south side of the house into a conservatory with three bucket set ups and Ursula. Ursula has been amazing this winter!
It is possible to grow greens all winter here, it's just been a bit of a learning curve. When I read the data on getting lettuce to the grocery shelf; great paper Ohio State research on growing local lettuce I am committed to either growing my own or buying as much locally as I possibly can. A head of romaine lettuce uses 29 gallons of water, is shipped over 2,000 miles from drought stricken southern California and manages to land on the grocery shelf still green. Yikes that is a lot of resources for me to enjoy a bowl of crunchy water! 70% of the lettuce in this country is produced in Southern California, so read those labels!
The studio has been too cold to do much tinkering this year. As the days grow warmer and longer I am finding myself out there more and more and I couldn't be happier! I found myself walking in a snow storm on Tuesday with windchills that took my breath away but it was worth it! The sun is coming back and the sky is so blue. Tulips are forcing their way through the ground next to the studio but no sign of the garlic yet.
I have time to call my congress people every single morning. All three republicans and only one has a
real live person that answers a phone and listens to constituents concerns. The other two are newly elected MAGA nitwits. I swear I'm ordering a rainbow hat with MAGA letters in sparkles: "Make America Gay Again" and I'm headed straight to Home Depot! I am not sure how we get out of this mess but daily I watch our country slip away. Food Security is front and center. And then this came out yesterday.
Since our drinking water comes directly from Lake Erie I have been shopping for a water filtration system to go under my sink. All the Great Lakes are at risk Forever Chemicals in the Great Lakes
Everyday we wake up to new nightmare and it's getting impossible to keep up. So I ask what do I need to stay healthy and live? Food, water and shelter. So I guess that is what I am working on.
Climate change is foremost in my mind, even bigger than politics. If there is no planet who cares about politics? I am honestly exhausted by this administration but that is how they want us to feel so we stop calling, stop writing letters, stop speaking out. Step back catch your breath, recharge and step into it again. And participate!
Today is recharge day........
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