{ The Economics of Local Living }

I'm back from a fabulous trip to North Idaho. Time with my friends, taking naps by the creek, seeing a baby moose and it's mama...all lived up to the expectations. I laughed from deep inside, something I thought I wouldn't be able to do after my mom died. It felt good to find that spot in my heart again.

But it's a conversation I had yesterday that I wish to expand upon here today. I listened as my grandmother worried aloud over the phone about the cost of food and daily items. Not an uncommon worry for an older person on a fixed and small income. Of course, we as her family will never let her do without, if she has a need we will step in to assist her, but as I hung up I pondered my own reality on that front. Yes, everything costs more. Yes, I've had to do some serious adjusting to the budget. But when I look at my pantry, my freezer and my garden, I'm doing alright. Tonight we canned 10 pounds of cherries. Tomorrow we'll dry another 2 or 3. I bought them directly from the grower for half what the grocery store wanted. The same farmer will have peaches, apples and pears for me in the coming weeks. I have organic, free range chicken coming, again directly from the local grower. For what one traditional trip to Costco would have cost me, I'll get enough chicken for the whole winter. It won't be cut up or boneless breasts...it's a whole chicken. Yes, it will take more time to cook and deal with but it's organic, free range and the local farmer I'm buying from will spend her money here, in my community AND be able to grow more chicken for me next year. I'm still saving a little bit of money each month, I'm still contributing to an IRA, and we are still careful. But I am finding that living local and buying local over the coarse of season is leaving me in better financial shape then I thought. It's not the "saving" money that matters, it's the not being held hostage by the wild weekly flucuations that are paying off in the long run. All in all, I think the food budget for the year will come out as previuosly projected in late 2007 but given the upward movement of prices, that's money in the bank if you ask me.

{ To Idaho }

To Idaho
To a quiet cabin in the woods, with the good company of some of my closest friends. To no internet, no phone, no email, no client emergencies, no calendar or clocks. To watercolor, to reading, to journaling, to yoga and a most anticipated massage in the woods. To the soft sounds of a creek, to Deb's boisterous belly laugh, to long chats with Tamara and Tracy and April.
To Idaho.

{ Project "Feed Ourselves" Update }

Project "Feed Ourselves" (aka the vegetable garden) is going very slowly. We have had a very wet and cold spring here in the Pac. NW and that cold has set back our already short food growing season by several weeks. The potatoes are plugging along, the lettuces and spinach are happy but everything else...tomatoes, cauliflower, onions, squash and herbs are struggling. I would have had to worry about strawberries except that they were mowed down by the deer last week. I forgot to protect them...sigh. If this keeps up I think our only hope is to return to cold weather crops.

{ Countdown to Nowhere }

This week is my countdown to nowhere. In six days I will be embarking on my first ever vacation to do absolutely nothing. Several girlfriends and I are going to Idaho to Moosemommas - An Art Retreat for Women

Now I am sure and I happen to know that several of my girlfriends go to craft and create till the cows come home. I am signed up for a watercolor class which I am most excited for, but generally, I'll be laying around. I'm doubled up on client work because this is the longest stretch of time I've every been gone without them being able to contact me (no cell or dsl, whew hoo!) As crazy as the next six days will be, it will be all worth it as the quiet of the Idaho back woods awaits.

{ Happy Birthday, James! }

This is a special shout out for one of the cutest little men I know! Happy Birthday, James! We wish we could be there to celebrate with you but we know you'll have a great party!
Love,
Aunties of the North

{ Farm Chicks }

Dori and I travelled east this weekend to Spokane to go to The Farm Chicks event. This is an antiques and craft show that has cultivated quite the fan base over the last few years. Serena and Teri are the event founders and they have absolutely created an EVENT. In the pouring rain and Saturday morning, there stood at least 500 people waiting to get in and as they rolled open the gates, up went hoops and hollars. We asked at the door at the end of Saturday if they had a head count and the woman didn't know, but there seriously had to be a few thousand people over the course of six hours. I junk A LOT and there was something for everyone. Of course, my four favorite booths belonged to my girlfriends from Women Take Wing! Bari J, Tammy Gilley Studios, Present Past Collection and Kennedy/Kennedy Designs - ReTreat and Amy Smith of Goosey Press was found shopping too but we had such a fabulous time. We're looking forward to next year.
Well done everyone!

{ Cheese Making 101 }

This weekend we got to take a cheese making class offered at Hedgebrook - a retreat for women writers. Now, you may wonder what cheese making and a women's writing retreat have in common. Well, Hedgebrook supports women writers ("women authoring change") but they are also strong stewards of the land. Writers in Residence eat the food that is grown on the property by Cathy B. the head gardener extrodinaire and prepared brilliantly by Chef Jess. Chef Jess decided this weekend (while the retreat is without the usual level of creative genius for one week) to throw open her kitchen and share one of her many talents with about a dozen of us.

We visited the local creamery and milked goats and then returned to Hedgebrook to learn the wonders of feta, chevre and keeping things sterile (yes, Jess, we really were listening). Jess fed us a fabulous lunch, served us wine and then let us take away our own custom blended feta and chevre cheeses.



My friends that took the class the with me have all committed to gathering once a month or so and making cheese...now if only Chef Jess would send over the wine!

Learn more about Hedgebrook at: http://www.hedgebrook.org/