Road Trip

I admit to being a bit of an ostrich but there are times when I’d really prefer to turn off the bad news. And, I’d rather bring about wider acknowledgement of the good. I’m fortunate in that I’m able to travel to some remarkable places each year and now, I’m going to try to focus on the amazing individuals and projects in those places.

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2010 Photos – A Year in Review

Are pictures worth a thousand words? I usually only shoot for 500. And I do shoot!

Howdy Y'all and thanks for reading the Blog!

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Easy Holiday Appetizers

I’ve had many comments from readers who thought the idea of knowing how to prepare one easy appetizer really well was a great idea. It’s that time of year when we’re invited out and it’s nice to take something along to share. So, I sat out to make a list for us with the rule being that I can’t link to a recipe. Rather if it’s truly simple, I can explain it in a few words and you can replicate it.

flickr.com/photos/ceanandjen/3133691882

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Food Stamp Fail?

If I didn’t call this failure, it would be hypocritical. That said, I,m reporting back on the outcomes of our food stamp challenge. Challenge – it was. As a full-time working mom, could I feed my family of five, nutritious meals on a food stamp allocation of $30 per person per week?

flickr.creativecommons/photos/millsbaker/3568168515/

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And Then We Gave Thanks

There was nothing vegan about it. My boys planned the Thanksgiving menu. They took a somewhat traditional path; turkey, green chili cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry frappe, sweet potatoes, red cabbage and carrot salad, braised greens and pie. My husband took them shopping and I agreed to one convenience – the pies. I’ve never been much of a baker and with everything else I was asking them to do, ready-made pie might seem like a vacation.

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There’s No Inflation Unless You Eat

My brother in law is a cracker jack financial advisor who has been helping hundreds of fortunate clients manage the recession. The title of his blog this week was “No Inflation Unless You Eat“. Apparently, the Fed omits the price of food when calculating the Core CPI but as Jay points out, “most of us don’t live in a core world.” I can appreciate his issue with the numbers and the underlying increase in food costs but it also caused me to think about all sorts of food and income related issues.

Bloomberg Inflation Chart

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Do You Have the Huevos?

Our eggs were delivered on Thursday. We received 3 dozen precious eggs of varying sizes and colors in unmatching recycled cartons. Actually, our egg lady delivers to one of my company offices and colleagues on their way to my building for a meeting are kind enough to schlep them along. They put them in the fridge and someone always puts a sticky note on my light switch that says DON’T FORGET EGGS.

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This is National Farmers Market Week

There is encouraging news coming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Today we have 6,132 farmers markets. That’s a 16 % increase over 2009 and a marked increase since the USDA started tracking. The USDA has declared August 1-7 as National Farmers Market Week for 2010.

Olympia Farmers Market

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Tammy’s Top Ten (the t3 report) Reasons to join a CSA

Community Supported Agriculture is a growing phenomena and if you haven’t guessed, I think that’s a good thing. And I’m tickled by the variations that I’m seeing.  ArizonaKnitter recently posted about the CSA that she joined which is focused on yarn and fiber. At one of my kid’s schools, they’ve embraced a slighty marked up CSA program as a weekly fundraiser.  But to what end? Why should you participate in Community Supported Agriculture?

 

flickr.cc.thebittenworld.smalleggplant

 

Here are my top ten reasons for joining a CSA:

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Dear America

I set out this July 4th to write a celebratory letter to America about watermelon and sweet corn and fireworks. For inspiration I took time to read the Declaration of Independence and surfed the sites of other favorite bloggers. I read a post at Spirit Lights the Way that focused on these words from the Declaration: He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

PMillera4 cc2.0

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