thefarmblog.org

Give Peas a Chance

ds — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:58:50 +0000

It has been a bountiful year for peas. From just a three rows about 8 feet long we have been harvesting about half a gallon of peas per day.

We grow Snow Peas which have an edible pod.

They taste great raw in salads, steamed, or added to stir fry.

We pick the pods when they are full and plump. That’s when they are sweetest.

Since the pea harvest is much more than we can eat fresh, I freeze some to save for the winter.

First I remove the stems and the tough “string” that goes down the spine.

Next I steam the pods for 1-2 minutes to stop the action of the enzymes. If you do not steam your peas, the enzymes will continue working even after the peas are frozen and they will lose their flavor and become mushy.

I arrange the peas in the steamer so that they are all equally exposed to the hot water vapor. One cup of water is sufficient.

After my timer goes off, the peas go directly from the hot pot to another pot containing ice water.

This removes the heat quickly and keeps your peas from becoming overcooked, keeping them crisp and fresh tasting.

The cold peas are transferred to a towel on a cookie sheet where they are dried to remove any excess moisture.

Next the towel is removed.

The peas remain on the cookie sheet and are transferred to a freezer.

I place the cookie sheet on the bottom shelf of my upright freezer where temperatures are coldest. You want the peas to freeze as quickly as possible.

Spreading the peas apart on the cookie sheet also allows them to freeze separately rather than being stuck together in a large mass.

After a few hours I transfer the peas to a freezer bag for long term storage. I put a date on the bag so I know exactly when the peas were harvested and frozen.

Throughout the winter we can serve the peas as a vegetable, add them to a stir fry or as addition to soups.

The Deltec Home

ds — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:44:20 +0000

The Deltec Home

One of the newest homes built last year on The Farm is a Deltec, a 8-sided round house "kit," also known as "The Original Green Home."

The components for the home, including roof trusses, floor system and pre-wired wall panels with exterior siding, are all manufactured with green energy generated by 273 solar panels at the company’s facility in North Carolina, and then delivered and assembled on site.

Round homes are more energy efficient, exposing less outside surface area while maximizing the amount of enclosed square footage.

Improved aerodynamics means there are less drafts, with improved overall comfort along and lower heating and cooling costs.

Combined with soy based spray foam insulation, the walls have virtually the same R value of a 4 inch SIP or Structurally Engineered Panel.

Buyers also have the option of upgrading to a 6 inch wall.

To see a larger imkage, click on the picture.

The home here on The Farm incorporates passive solar design with primary windows installed on the south side of the home.

A two foot roof overhang helps block out the higher elevation summer sun while allowing the lower elevation winter sun to pass through the windows bringing warmth and sunlight into the interior.

In addition, "light tubes" have been installed to bring passive solar lighting into the interior rooms.

An exterior deck wraps around the home, constructed of locally milled sassafras, which is naturally rot and bug resistant.

The kitchen, living area and bedrooms all have bamboo flooring.

All in all it is a beautiful and unique living space.
More on Deltec homes.

Green Homes - The Recycled Cabin

ds — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:30:42 +0000

It’s only logical that much of the the focus and discussion on sustainability is centered around housing. The definition of “green building” can be very broad, as evidenced on the many different shows airing on the cable network Planet Green. These programs profile homes around the country and around the world, and it can be both inspiring and eye opening to see what constitutes “green” construction. In an effort to live in a more sustainable way, we all make compromises, doing what we can to make responsible and at the same time practical choices, decisions affected by both our pocketbook and our situation.

Here on The Farm many of the homes were constructed during the 70’s, when working with recycled building materials was both an ideological choice and an economic necessity. Over the decades we have continued to build on and improve our living situations as I will illustrate in the first of my on-going series, Green Homes.

Our “recycled cabin”

I live in a what I call a recycled log cabin. Half of the logs came from an 1800’s log cabin from around the Nashville area. The original cabin was disassembled by Farm work crews back in the 70’s and the cedar logs were re-stacked to form one half of this home.

The other logs came from oak trees harvested on the site where the cabin now stands, hand hewn into shape by a member of The Farm who became one of the cabin’s first residents. Many of the support beams throughout the home also came from the local timbers harvested from the building site.

Exposed support beams

The log walls are about 8 inches thick. Because wood is comprised of plant cell walls, the millions of tiny air pockets make an excellent source of insulation, keeping the cabin warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Although they do not require any painting or maintenance, on some of the interior walls we have sanded the logs and coated them with linseed oil to bring out the natural honey color of the wood.

Interior walls coated with linseed oil

The entire floor system and the framing for the second story and interior walls all consist of recycled lumber acquired by Farm salvage crews. Throughout the 70’s, The Farm was involved in the demolition of hundreds of buildings across the region, bringing back the the materials to use in the construction of homes and community buildings back on the land. This was economically feasible because there were no labor costs due to the collective economy that was in place at that time. Once it became necessary to pay workers wages after The Changeover, it was no longer cost effective to acquire salvaged lumber through demolition.

Our sub-floor of old barn wood

During the communal period, this home housed about 40 people, including several families and assorted single folks. After The Changeover the house was duplexed and it remains that way today. By sharing resources, we are able to live comfortably while dividing various expenses, keeping our cost of living down. For example, our two families share one electric meter, one propane gas connection for our cooking stoves, one water heater, one washer and dryer set, and the list goes on and on. We have also shared costs of improvements to the home over the years.

One of our first investments together was a wood furnace in our basement. The furnace heats both sides of the house with a forced air or central heat system, which keeps all of the dust, debris and smoke associated with wood heat out of our living areas. We spend about $300- $400 per year on wood, which we use whenever temperatures go below freezing

Our wood furnace

A couple of years ago, my wife and I had an addition built on to our side of the home to expand our living space. It features a floor of Vermont slate. We added a computer controlled electric radiant heating system to the floor, which actually can use less energy than most water based radiant heating systems. It is enough to keep our side of the home warm when temperatures are above freezing.

The exterior siding on the addition and on our second story is cypress, a wood that is naturally resistant to rot and insect damage. It requires no painting or exterior treatment.

Vermont Slate

In Tennessee, we are concerned as much or more about keeping the home cool in the summer than gathering heat in the winter through passive solar. For this reason on our south wall we installed tall, narrow windows that let in light without allowing a lot of heat come through.

We also built the addition with six inch stud walls giving us two more inches on insulation than is typical in standard home construction. Under the siding there is an extra layer of foam board, providing yet another layer of insulation.The north walls feature extensive Low E gas-filled windows and a sliding glass door to maximize our view and to let in cool air during the summer.

Out back, our deck is constructed on locally harvested sassafras lumber. Sassafras wood is laden with natural oils, making it also naturally bug and rot resistant.

The Sassafras deck

The latest home improvement has been the addition of new flooring in our upstairs hallway and bedrooms. We chose to use bamboo both because it is a renewable resource and because it is also one of the more affordable options. The downside of bamboo is that although it resembles hardwood in appearance, it is actually quite delicate and susceptible to scuffs, dings and dents. We felt that the upstairs floor would not be exposed to the same amount of traffic that our downstairs receives and hopefully it will hold up OK. We’ll know if that was a good decision in a few years.

Our other options could have been pre-finished hardwood or locally milled hardwood from the nearby Amish community. The Amish hardwood would have required extensive sanding and finishing, something that can be endured with new construction, but impractical when remodeling.

Bamboo flooring

It has taken many years to get where we are now. Instead of a mortgage, we have always worked with a “pay as you go” plan, doing a few improvements or projects each year. We have always been happy that we were not burdened under the weight of a mortgage, but these days it feels very good indeed.

It Is Up To Us To Stop the Nukes

Elizabeth Barger — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:43:16 +0000

NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT IS NOT CLEAN OR SAFE

February 16, 2010 by Elizabeth Barger

As an American citizen, I love my country. As a poet and an artist I live on the edge of incredible beauty and awe overlooking a gulf of horror and despair caused by insane greed for power and control from the thrones of empire.

President Obama has proposed funding 70-80% of the cost of building a nuclear power plant in Georgia. He wants to put more billions of money into nuclear power and several more billions in atomic weapons.

People speak of atomic energy as “clean”. The truth is, it is the dirtiest polluter of all. We talk about nuclear weapons as tactical, but in truth, they are mutually destructive. We forget that at our peril. In the process of enriching uranium for power or weapons, we produce a product, depleted uranium, that is so caustic, it eats away most of its storage containers. It is toxic and radioactive. The alpha radiation is mutagenic, meaning it affects DNA, and it has a half-life of 4.5 BILLION years.

We have sown this depleted uranium [DU] in the Balkans. We continue sowing the seeds of death and mutation in Iraq, Gaza, and Afghanistan. Our troops bring it home in their bodies. We have caused death and disease in American populations, especially Native Americans. People are dying now where destructive mining processes in the Dakotas have encroached on their sacred places and polluted ancient aquifers. Navajo children in Arizona and New Mexico play on hills of uranium mining tailings that are dumped at the edges of their communities.

All this waste lasts forever and we are running out of places to store it. Tennessee has already no place to send the waste it produces from its nuclear facilities. The salt caves under Yucca Flats, called Serpent Mountain by the people who live there, are in an unstable earthquake prone area, and situated over an extensive aquifer that is the water supply for much of the South West. It is unsafe, and Nevada, suffering already from past experiments in nuclear development, doesn’t want the nation’s atomic waste.

There are people in our government who are determined to bomb and kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Iran because we don’t want them to develop atomic capability. The US is being arrogant and loose with the truth in this issue. America is the only country that has used atomic weapons against civilian or military targets. Listen to the cries of the people:

Sorrowsorrowsorrow!

“Our children are dead! Our people are dying!”

Beautiful women fall by

in the crying rain of war.

The dust of destruction lives in our seeds

foreboding strange changes,

lying seven times seven over our generations

who must look into the dark glass of pain.

Oh, the laughter cuts so hard.

A smile dies in vain.

Ephraim, my son! My son!

Where are your eyes?

Where are your little hands I want to hold?

My heart is wrung dry with anger.

Will there be enough tears in my sorrow

to even sustain despair?

We breathe the ends of fire

sifting through the window form.

Instead of children calling in,

there comes the awful storm. *

We have hoped for change, yet this administration remains in the pay of the nuclear investment corporations. It is determined to continue the move to increase the crime of atomic weapons that are even stronger and more radioactive, that will kill more people immediately, and will be deadly over the centuries. Why would we want to use our resources to develop more and better destruction? This is insanity and the people who are pushing to carry this criminal insanity out will not be able to escape the consequences of these actions, no matter how safe they may feel from the consequences of their decisions.

Private industry won’t pay to build more atomic power plants. They are too expensive and too dangerous. They have bamboozled the President and Congress into taking taxpayer dollars to back an investment that smart entrepreneurs understand as too risky. But, you can be sure that there is gold for nuclear investors in this dangerous scheme wrung from the resources of working people who will be paying in lives and earnings for generations. Wisdom says that atomic energy is a dumb way to boil water.

The intelligence and “can do” work ethic available in the United States could be better used to disarm atomic weapons, develop alternative energies, and work for ways to resolve conflicts peaceably. It is up to us to stop the insanity proposed by President Obama in budget presented to the Congress and the American people.

The Arrest of Pat O’Donnell

Elizabeth Barger — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:35:49 +0000

Ireland: The Arrest of Pat O’Donnell from David Rovics who was on The Farm last June.

In a country with the kind of tumultuous history that Ireland has it’s not surprising that a man being arrested and jailed for seven months would escape the notice of the media, at least outside of Ireland. What should hopefully pique some interest is that this is a man with a long history of being bullied, intimidated, arrested and treated roughly by the authorities for his nonviolent resistance against Shell Oil’s construction of a gas pipeline, and now the judge is calling him a bully and jailing him for seven months on the extremely dubious charge of intimidating an officer.

To be sure, this is not Nigeria, where Shell regularly massacres those opposed to the oil drilling which is destroying the environment and the livelihoods of so much of the population. Shell doesn’t run Ireland in the way it controls Nigeria. But at the same time, much like my own country, the Irish government has proven itself to be far from free of corruption.

When I arrived in Dublin last June, on the other side of the country from where Pat O’Donnell’s family has fished the bay for the past five generations, the Shell to Sea campaign was a subject that came up regularly in conversation. There was, and is, a buzz around it because, especially for those of us the authorities like to denounce as “professional activists,” the Shell to Sea campaign in County Mayo is inspiring as an example of an effort that has brought together people from all walks of life. To be sure, there are many scruffy young activists involved of all sorts, from Dublin, Cork and Galway, with and without dreadlocks, along with scruffy environmentalists from England, France and elsewhere. But the backbone of the campaign are local school teachers and fishermen.

Despite my GPS it was difficult to find the tiny town of Rossport in Mayo because, well, it didn’t seem to exist. Occasionally there was a cell phone signal and I was able to make contact with a very patient volunteer, but between the two of us we couldn’t figure out where I was or how to get to Rossport from there. My traveling partner, fellow US musician Shawnee Kilgore and I resorted to asking for directions, which we ended up doing frequently. Once in a pub full of three generations of locals enjoying the craic, then at a little grocery store. The woman in the grocery store was the last little town we came to, then it was all narrow dead-end streets that ended at someone’s farm. At one such farm we were met by a very nice but completely unintelligible elderly farmer whose border collie herded us into submission when we got back in the car and wouldn’t let us leave for a good couple minutes.

Like everyone else we had met in Ireland, people seemed to have a positive view of the campaign in Rossport. Until now our sample had been fairly self-selecting, the types of folks who come to leftwing folk music shows, but here in Mayo it was a decidedly random sample. The next person from whom we asked for directions was a young man with a wheelbarrow full of shit, a physique that suddenly made me question my heterosexuality, and the humble, friendly manner that gives the Irish countryside its reputation.

Once we crossed into County Mayo, and increasingly as we neared our destination, there were home-made signs of all sorts on the sides and roofs of barns, perched in front of haystacks and all kinds of other places making clear in no uncertain terms that Shell and its pipeline were not welcome here. Finally, getting tantalizingly close to our destination, we stopped in front of the house of a transplant from England, yet another sympathizer, who was the last person from whom we required assistance that day. (After that, finding our way around got a bit easier because I could at least find our way back to the camp by saving our coordinates on my GPS. The GPS had the road in there marked as “road,” which was better than nothing…)

First we found the B&B where we were booked in for the next couple nights, a couple miles down the road where the Shell to Sea camp was now set up. The woman running the B&B was another strong supporter of the campaign. She also had probably the only wifi signal to be found for a hundred miles. We asked her where to find the camp, and she explained that now that we had gotten this far it was easy – just drive down the road a bit further and you’ll see all the police vehicles.

The ranks of the police as well as of the campaigners were swelled that weekend for the planned events, which were many-fold – an introduction to the campaign for newcomers, a workshop on how to do civil disobedience, a workshop on how to talk to the media and workshops on other subjects, a mini-festival with an impressive roster of punk, hiphop and acoustic performers from several different countries, and an attempt to scale the formidable steel fence surrounding the nearby Shell base of operations for this stage of the pipeline-building operation.

Within a couple hours of our arrival I found myself sitting around a fire on a field that sloped down to the water fifty meters away. Sitting on logs and chairs around the fire with people from County Mayo and others from England, Lithuania and elsewhere in Ireland, a man sat down and introduced himself to us one by one. This was Pat O’Donnell. He thanked us for coming and joked that a few years ago people in the town would cross the road in fear if they saw someone looking like some of these unwashed feral types, but now they were all good friends. Around the fire there Pat gave us an informal course on why this community had mobilized against Shell.

Although the circumstances are always different wherever you go, I was reminded sitting around that fire of other small gatherings around a firepit where I have heard other people say the same things. Sometimes the phrases are identical. I heard elderly Dineh women around a firepit in Arizona talking about the uranium mines and middle-aged farmers from the Wendlandt area of Germany talking about the nuclear waste transports. I imagined Pat O’Donnell had never been to Arizona, but he’d sure find the discussions familiar there in Black Mesa.

Some people are cynical and just accept that “progress” is inevitable, he said. Some make money from selling property to the corporation. Others talk about the jobs the pipeline will bring in. But what about those whose livelihoods will be lost when the fish becomes toxic? What about the drinking water they’re going to poison? They say their operations are safe but we know that’s not true, we know their safety record, it’s disastrous.

It’s when people like Pat start talking about “generations” that I feel like I’m in a David and Goliath type movie – the Milagro Beanfield War or Civil Action or something – my family has been fishing here for five generations and I want to make sure we can fish here for the next five generations.

Certainly the only people visible in Rossport who supported Shell were the police, and there were a lot of them, from all over Ireland. Pat and others from the community gave speeches to those police that would make a fascist cry, one would think, but the police were studiously unmoved. Others protesting were a bit more confrontational at least in their chants, if not in their actions – “Whose cops? Shell’s cops! Whose cops? Shell’s cops!”

Attempts to scale the fence were beaten back, literally. One young Lithuanian man (a different Lithuanian than the one around the fire the day before) suffered a badly sprained ankle from being shoved down the hill by the police. It seemed like it might be broken. I drove him to the nearest hospital an hour away. Except for the local folks I was one of the few at the camp who knew I could find my way back. (Oddly enough it seemed that half the other people there at that emergency room that day were there for injuries below the knee.)

While some local people will profit from Shell’s operations, the company itself stands to make hundreds of billions of dollars from this vast untapped resource off the west coast of Ireland, but these profits will clearly come from the poisoning of the air, land and water of County Mayo and the region. Moreover, the Irish people, ostensibly the owners of this vast resource, are virtually giving it away. In 1987 and again in 1992 laws were passed that decreased the share of profit from such operations tremendously for the Irish public. One government minister was jailed for corruption as a result of the 1987 law but it remains on the books.

Most of the people arrested on the day of the protest that I participated in were released later that day. I found out later that a few days after I visited the Shell to Sea camp Pat O’Donnell’s fishing boat was boarded by four masked men who held Pat and a colleague in a room while the four men sank their fishing boat. Pat and his friend only survived because they were quick with getting on an inflatable raft, from which they were eventually rescued. And now, eight months after the sinking of his ship by these mysterious masked men, Pat is in jail. Coinciding with Pat’s imprisonment, Shell is making plans to get a lot of work done in his enforced absence.

As Shawnee and I headed towards Belfast for the next gig we had after our weekend in Rossport we were pulled over by the Gardai. They asked to see my license and the ID of the other three people in the car (we were giving a ride to a couple folks who had come down from Belfast for the festivities). They took notes. They didn’t say why we had been pulled over. They told me my American driver’s license wasn’t valid in Ireland (untrue) and that they could take my car from me. They said the car may be legal in Belfast (where it was rented) but not in the Irish Republic (where I had rented cars on many occasions with the same license). Then, out of the goodness of his heart, he decided to let us go – this time.

No, Ireland isn’t Nigeria. The outside agitators get harassed, not shot. The community organizers have their boats sunk by thugs and are regularly imprisoned, they’re not hanged. But in Ireland as in Nigeria, Royal Dutch Shell lies about their safety record, lies about their intentions, while making obscene profits off of the poisoning of the environment while most of the local people have less than nothing to show for any of it.

David Rovics is a singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon. For more information about the Shell to Sea campaign go to www.shelltosea.com.

A letter to Senator Alexander

ds — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:45:52 +0000

December, 2009

Dear Senator Alexander:

I wish to offer a formal complaint about how American citizens have been treated at their Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Serveable honorable and proper petitioners have been denied entry to their own country’s representatives in Egypt.

Moreover, two citizens were detained by Egyptian security for several hours after mankind a proper request to visit their states representative in Egypt and a Canadian citizen accompanying them was innappropriantly mistreated.

I am here in Egypt to work for peace in the middle East and offer American support for women and children who are suffering in the Gaza territory due to the blockade by the Israeli military of essential support of food and shelter.

I do not approve of Hamas’ or Israeli military actions in this tragic situation. It is my hope that America will insist that aide brought from concerned people all around the world be allowed to enter Gaza.

It is essential that America use its considerable influence in the region to relieve the suffering
of the people of Gaza and defuse tensions by insisting on the lifting of the seige. Our tax dollars must not be used to kill civilians and children, we know how to save lives and ease pain.

I know you as a principled and compassionate man and look forward to your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Barger
in Egypt

CODEPINK: women for peace and social justice
Leave the Oil in the Soil,
the Coal in the Hole, and
the Tar Sand in the Land.

Report from Cairo

ds — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:42:49 +0000

I had a beautiful flight and, while sometimes tiring, rather smooth, with only the kinds of glitches one runs into while traveling. I met so many interesting and kind people on the way. In the very long line connecting to Royal Jordanian in JFK, I met an American Egyptian woman whose daughter was flying to visit her married sister. The girl was on break from college and the mother had a wedding planning business that she had built herself.

One of my seat mates was an electrical engineer on his way to a convention in Alexandria. The plane was an airbus with seats 8 across and across from me was another peace marcher from Arizona. There were several on the flight and were treated very sympathetically by everyone we met. The food was a surprise. It was very good. We were served dinner at midnight our time by very pretty oriental women who had a challenging job serving so many people in a short time. They gave out food and drinks with polite commands, “Water, please!” “Tea please!” My vegetarian breakfast was epicurian, a lovely polenta and garbanzo beans with perfect spices and fruit and cheese and juice and tea. What a pleasant surprise.

After the sun came up and we were flying over the Mediterranean, I looked out on a blue sea with dabs of clouds and a golden shore with thick clouds covering all the inland hills. It was Greece! A place I had never seen in person! Even from 39000 feet, I felt so excited to be there.

We had a very short time between planes in Amman, Jordan and I sat with a young artist who was traveling to the Dead Sea to do some contract work with a commercial company. He realized that Amman was closer to the sea than Cairo, and that he would have a long drive ahead of him, but the company had arranged the travel. He was very interested in the Gaza Peace March and we may meet again in Amman on my way back from Cairo, as I had some sight seeing time in Amman before catching the plane to JFK, and he wanted to hear about the trip.

Cairo is so exotic to me. At the airport, I met a woman who was going to the same hotel and we struck up a real friendship. It turned out that our reservations had been lost, or something, and Tighe Barry, bless his great efforts, got us a bed at the Select hotel that Starhawk describes so well. We are in a room with 4 beds and a small bathroom with the shower, washstand, and toilet all together. But I am so happy to have clean inside plumbing!

The people are so sweet, and although we know we are under surveilance, I find the gentle treatment we recieve to be genuine and a great pleasure. I will try to write with more detail, but I am on a borrowed computer that has a strange type pad that jumps around strangely, and I just don’t have time to go back and correct everything. It is a little before 7AM here and when everyone is on the computers here, and we all are working to communicate with folks back home, and with the media connections we have, that it is difficult to get internet service. I would like to find a cyber cafe near here, but have had little time to do that.

I would like Cairo so much more if the air weren’t so thick…you can see the polution and feel it in your eyes and throat and lungs. I love the creaky elevators and arabic writing on every sign, even though i can’t read it. The people are caring and helpful, but language is a barrier to exact communication, like telling cab drivers where you want to go. But, amazingly, we get where we intend. Most of the time.

I am amazed at the respect and real respect peace marchers receive from people around here. And it is so beautifuly international at this time. I have met people from aaround the world who have no connection to the march, but who seem to feel what we are doing is important to them.

As you have heard, there is great resestance to our going to Gaza and the French contingent of 300 has set up camp in front of their embassy. They and under great police guard and threat of confinement and deportation. I am in awe at their organization and determination.

We held a large demonstration in front of the UN building, called the World Trade Center here. Such irony. I got several good interviews that I will be sending to edit as soon as I can. The representative from the Phillipines, Ann Wright, and Medea were negodtiating with the consular general there, but the best they could do, it seems, is maybe getting some of our supplies delivered for the Gazan people.

Many are adamat about no compromise, but the pressure from Israel, and especially from the USA, is very antagonistic to our efforts.

We as internationals are treated gently by the police and military, but our mission is very dangerous to synpathetic Egyptians, and I admire their courage and willingness to risk supporting us. There have been incidents and it is mostly Egyptians who have been hurt.

We are going to the US embassy this morning. We went yesterday, and a few people were allowed in and got appointments to speak to the ambassador today. I am so ashamed of my government at this time. We have a huge representation of many countries who are concerned about the plight of the people in Gaza, but we are being used as pawns in a political game of power and control. We must focus on the goal of lifting the blockade and real peace talks and free movement in this tragic situation. It becomes more and more clear that governments are criminal operations. If we are to bring peace and justice to our world, we must be more active in overseeing the actions of our governments. The situation is dire, and America is the frog in a pot of heating water. Our freedoms are being boiled away and we are in terrible peril of losing everything we hold dear. That sounds grim, and I wish it were not true.

This is a short summaary of my time here, and so unevocative of what I am experiencing. I will try to get out more information as it happens, and pray you will be patient with my typing. I have much to tell, and so little time. love, Eliz

PeaceRoots Elizabeth Barger Leaves for Gaza

Elizabeth Barger — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:37:29 +0000

Farm Community and PeaceRoots Alliance founding member Elizabeth Barger leaves for Gaza December 26 for a 2 week mission to see first hand the situation in the Middle East.

Farm School Holiday Bazaar Dec. 5 ‘09

ds — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:35:54 +0000

Hear ye! Hear Ye! Come one, come all to the Annual Farm School Holiday Bazaar!!!!!
Since 1991, The Farm School Holiday Bazaar has been a local celebration of Crafts, Music, and Children’s craft table FREE while you shop!
On Saturday, December 5th, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., The Farm School will host it’s Annual Holiday Bazaar. Each year, vendors from throughout Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia bring their unique and affordable wares to The Farm School in Summertown for one day only. The Bazaar traditionally features handcrafted gifts, clothing, jewelry, plants, books, tie-dyes and much more.
This is a great opportunity for local community members to find many varied products and services. Many folks return year after year to do virtually all of their holiday shopping at this event! All vendors donate a percentage of their sales to the Farm School in what has become their biggest Fundraiser of the year. And as always, support of The Farm School contributes to a sustainable future for our local community.
Coffee and breakfast breads will be served in the morning with vegetarian lunch and desserts available until 4:00 p.m. Other offerings include The Farm School’s time-honored Craft Table where kids can work on holiday themed crafts while adults take their time to peruse the diverse merchandise on hand.
The Farm School is located at 151 Schoolhouse Road, Summertown, TN, 38483 off Drake Lane 1¼ miles west off Hwy 20. For directions, visit: thefarmcommunity.com on the web or contact The Farm School at 931-964-2325 or thefarmschool@gmail.com. Peter Kindfield: peter@thefarmcommunity.com | www.thefarmcommunity.com/thefarmschool/

Garden Update

ds — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:13:33 +0000

Most of the harvest is in and it has been a great year for the garden with abundant rain. In the fall garden we now have kale, broccoli and my favorite, lettuce. We typically pant a mix of lettuce types, thinning the patch from week to week to give the remaining plants more room to grow.

I really like the flavor and texture of Ranch Dressing, but prefer this vegan recipe to the standard sour cream. It’s quick and easy to prepare and satisfies that desire for a creamy dressing.

1 cup vegan mayonnaise (Vegenaise or Nasoya Nayonaise)
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together in a blender and combine until smooth. When I am in a hurry I even forgo the blender and mix everything together in a jar with a small whisk.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Plants

The Lettuce Bed