There are two basic concepts that affect our attitude about things: what we have (the way things are) and what we want (the way we would like things to be). If we are unhappy it is generally because what we have and what we want are not the same. We can change what we want, change what we have, or choose to do nothing.

Changing what we have requires action.

I have a book that I no longer have use for. If I want to change that, I have several options. I could give that book away, donate it to charity, I could sell it or even toss it out with the trash. Each one of those actions will change what I have, so I am left to only make a decision about which course of action is the best one to take in my situation. My neighbor wanted to read that book and giving it to her would help us both. On the other hand, I could really use another tax deduction and donating it to charity would get me a tax receipt. Selling it could give me some extra cash that I could use for another book… you get the idea.

Changing what we want requires a shift in attitude.

Before we can change what we want, we need to understand our wants a little better by asking ourselves a few questions.

• Why do I want ______?
  This is possibly the most important question of all because it goes straight to the root of our desire.

• Does wanting ______ improve my life in any way?
  Does your desire make you happy, keep you motivated, or make you feel like a failure?

• Would I be better off if I didn’t want ______?
  An extension of  the previous question.

• Is there any valid reason for me to want ______?
  If the answer is no, the solution should be obvious.

Once you understand your wants you are in a better position to evaluate their priority in your life and whether they should change or not. Further, by understanding those wants you can more easily begin to shift your attitude about them as needed to make them healthier, more productive and more in line with your goals.

As for the final option, doing nothing requires absolutely nothing and will return exactly what you’ve invested. Instead of doing nothing, are you willing to take action and shift your attitude?

Over the weekend I was doing some thinking. As a so-called authority on gardening I often have people tell me that they would love to garden, but… and then I am greeted with a barrage of excuses reasons ranging from space issues to time constraints, each of which I have a solution for.

I was blindsided though when someone recently told me that gardening was just too complicated.

After decades of doing it I was probably a bit jaded and operating on auto pilot more often than not but that comment made me question not only gardening in general but more specifically my own practices. Because I fancy myself as one who tries to make things as simple as possible, the idea that we are overcomplicating something as basic as gardening is troubling to me.  I was reminded of the unlikely gardening guru Ruth Stout (sister to Nero Wolfe author Rex Stout) and how decidedly uncomplicated her methods were.

After being tired of waiting on the plowman who was perpetually late, Ruth Stout took matters into her own hands and planted her seeds without plowing the soil first, by just scraping the soil, dropping the seeds and patting them in place. To her surprise, the seeds grew.  She went on to grow a thriving garden for many years before her death in 1980 at the tender age of 96.

On Sunday I went in search of the short documentary film I’d seen years ago about Ruth and was lucky enough to have found it so that I might share it here.

Ruth Stout’s Garden (Video 1 of 2)

Ruth Stout’s Garden (Video 2 of 2)

Big Questions

As someone who has built my career on being a gardening communicator, I had to ask myself a few questions:

• Have we made gardening too complicated?
• Are we disenfranchising those who want to garden but lack the experience and are therefore scared to try because there are too many hoops to be jumped through?
• What can be done to make things less complicated for new gardeners?

Do you think gardening has become too complicated? Give us your tips for easier gardening in the comments below.

At least once a day lately I will be watching the news on television (which will no doubt mention the recession) when I will hear someone utter the words “we’re heading for another depression.” With the U.S. economy in the toilet and fuel prices making it difficult for many people to even get back and forth to work, I can’t say that I completely disagree.

The truth of the matter is that a part of me even thinks that to a certain extent, this recession is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now, before the hateful emails start, allow me to explain myself. It has been my experience that the overwhelming majority of Americans are, for lack of a better or more accurate term, spoiled. We are a country of convenience, and nowhere else is this more evident than in the way we eat.

McDonalds is the nation’s largest purchaser of beef, pork and potatoes, and we wonder why Americans are overwhelmingly obese. Whatever happened to the family dinner table and home cooked meals? Our society became more technologically advanced and free time became a commodity. Prices went up and the paycheck didn’t, leading stay at home moms to take on a job in order to make ends meet.

There is good news despite all of the negativity, though. The decline of the economy does not have to leave you wondering where your next meal will come from, and with just a little research and preparation you may end up eating better than you ever have.

I’ve put together this list of four possible solutions for those who need help with their food budget and catered the list specifically to those who tell me that for whatever reason they cannot raise a garden.  Please bear in mind while reading that I encourage everyone to grow something that they can eat even if it is only one or two plants.

Solution #1 – Heavenly Help

In 1994, Angel Food Ministries began meeting the grocery needs of 34 families in Monroe, Georgia. By 2008 the ministry had grown to serve thousands of families all over the country.

Angel Food Ministries host sites collect and distribute a wide variety of restaurant quality food to anyone who wants it for only $35.00 per unit. The actual contents of the unit varies from month to month, but the average retail value of each unit is over $60 and includes meats, frozen and canned items and even eggs. Generally speaking, one unit will feed a family of four for approximately one week, and I dare you to find another way of feeding four people for an entire week for $35.

To find an Angel Food Host Site near you, visit www.angelfoodministries.com.

Solution #2 – Do It Yourself

I realize that many people simply don’t have time to cook, but I would take a wild guess and say that out of every five people who make this claim, it is only true for one of them. What it comes down to is a serious breakdown in our priorities as a society.

1. Make a meal plan for the week before you go to the grocery store. Buy only those items necessary to make the meals you listed and avoid impulse buys by shopping after a meal when you aren’t likely to be hungry.

2. Spend a couple of hours once a week preparing and cooking several entrees that freeze well, then freeze them in meal size portions. This is especially effective if you double your favorite recipe because you will have an entire meal standing by in the freezer without much extra time spent preparing it.

Solution #3 – Pot Luck

Having friends over for dinner is another lost art in this hectic-paced society, but nothing fosters friendship and fun better than personal time with a few friends in a low key and comfortable environment. Why not be the first in your circle to host a monthly pot luck dinner at home?

The host provides the location, plates, utensils and cups and the attendees bring a dish that will serve themselves plus four. This can take a bit of planning to ensure that there aren’t four bowls of green beans and no main course, but once you get started you and your friends will never want to stop.

Solution #4 – Inconvenience Foods

Nearly every convenience food on the market is loaded with sodium and other preservatives that are just plain bad for you, especially if you have high cholesterol, diabetes or high blood pressure. Let’s not forget that generally speaking, convenience foods are not convenient for your wallet. In fact when you compare the cost of most of them against the price you would pay if you made them yourself, you will realize just how inconvenient these so called ‘convenience foods’ really are.

By implementing even one of these possible solutions you stand to save a lot of money and you might just find that you’re enjoying and appreciating your food a little bit more as a result.

When I first read the article on the Science and Development Network I was sure they’d been hacked, but as I read on I started to understand that the simple idea was so crazy it would probably work. 

Since the experiment would not cost me anything at all and in a roundabout way was going to save money, I got started immediately.

The article, posted on September 9, 2009, is called “Tomatoes thrive on urine diet”.  As mentioned before I was simultaneously skeptical and bemused by the titled alone until I began to see the science behind the claim and the simple, painless way that I could try it out for myself.  I have been a proponent of peeing on my tomatoes ever since.

Now for those about to tell me how gross I am and how you will never eat one of my tomatoes, I have three points to make:

1. Animals piss on your plants all the time and you still eat the produce.  If you wash what you grow, you’ll be just fine.  Also, my diet is a hell of a lot better than that of the local stray dog population.
2. I don’t pee directly on my tomato plants.  I water the roots with my collected urine.
3. Get over yourself.  Seriously.

Studies have shown that the yield can be as much as 4 times as high and that the quality (and safety) of the produce is not compromised in any way.

In the study “Stored Human Urine Supplemented with Wood Ash as Fertilizer in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Cultivation and Its Impacts on Fruit Yield and Quality”  in the August 2009 edition of the  Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, various combinations of human urine, fertilizer and wood ash were used.  Results and details about the study can be seen here.

My Experience

My own experience has followed closely with the results of the study.  Here are the high points:

• a substantially increased yield, even in sub-par soil conditions
• less money spent on fertilizers and amendments
• less water used for toilet flushing
• less water used for watering the tomatoes

Between the two of us we don’t pee enough to sufficiently water all of our tomato plants, but by supplementing the regular watering schedule with our own homemade nitrogen, phosphorus and magnesium solution we are adding nutrients to the plants that will add nutrients to us later in the season.  Do I expect that everyone will be so evolved as to “lower” themselves to collect their own urine and use it to water their tomato plants?

I can only hope.

Dear Arbor Day Foundation,

Let me start off by saying that I am a fan.  I’ve even been a vocal supporter of your organization for years.  As a professional garden communicator it goes without saying that I support the planting and growing of trees and given your extensive history of doing such good things, how could I not be supportive?  That said, we need to talk.

In mid-February of this year I signed up through your website for a 6 month membership.  As a perk of new membership I was offered 10 flowering trees and assured that they would be sent in time for planting in my growing zone.  Several weeks would pass without word, so I emailed the address provided in the email confirming my order, orders@arborday.org, not once but a total of 4 times since the beginning of April 2011.  Never once have I received a response from this address.

Given that summer is here and I never received the promised 10 flowering trees or the courtesy of a response to my repeated emails, I called the customer service number provided on the website.  The representative I connected with was unable to pull up the details of my order and after a short explanation of my situation she asked to forward my case to a supervisor for follow up.

This morning I received a voicemail from “Ed”, explaining that my order never transferred from the web to the fulfillment process.  He further said that I would need to prove that I paid for the order or place a new one.

At this point four months have passed since I placed that initial order, provided my personal payment information through the website and received my confirmation number, 9262553-534363.  After being promised that I would receive trees in time for planting season I now realize that I should have asked for clarification as to exactly which season and in which year.

Please understand that I fully support the work of the Arbor Day Foundation and I am not seeking some sort of handout.  I seek only to draw attention to a glaring problem with your fundraising system that can not only leave you open to potential fraud, it can lead to a great deal of bad impressions on the part of people who may not understand the depth and extent of your work.

I realize that I will not receive the trees that I was promised and that’s fine.  I just need for you to realize that I will not be able to support the Arbor Day Foundation’s fundraising efforts any longer when my own efforts to support them were met with sloppy follow up, inadequate customer service and questionable record keeping.

I telephoned customer service again after receiving Ed’s voicemail and midway through explaining my case, I was disconnected.  After the extensive frustration over this situation, I won’t be calling back.  The trees are not why I signed up in the first place, but I would have appreciated the courtesy of knowing that they weren’t going to be here so I would not have held space on my homestead property for them through the entire spring planting season.

UPDATE 6/21/2011: This afternoon I received a telephone call from Luke who is the supervisor over the customer service department who had come across this blog post.  We spoke for several minutes and I now feel that my concerns have been heard and will be addressed appropriately by the organization.

DISCLOSURE:  I was offered and accepted a year membership to the Arbor Day Foundation during the conversation with Luke.

Portugal knew I was coming.

That’s the only possible explanation for why the City of Lisbon (Lisboa) would pull out all the stops and give me a string of experiences that led me to want to pack up my things and hop the next flight back. I like to consider myself well traveled and though there are many entries remaining on my “Places To Visit Before I Die” list, never before have I taken holiday to a location where nearly every restaurant, bookseller, convenience store, supermarket and gas station offered me a coffee.

The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a rockstar’s heart is directly connected to how much caffeine you pump into his bloodstream and Ladies and Gentleman, Portugal is in the lead by a long shot.  At this point I can safely say that unless you plan to connect an IV as soon as I deplane, your city is not going to fare well in the Great Caffeine War of 2011 and that’s okay.  Man / Rockstar cannot live by caffeine alone.

In fairness I should disclose that prior to planning this trip neither my roommate nor I had ever considered a visit to Portugal. We’d never even thought about it until making a knee-jerk change of course from our planned excursion to Venice, Athens and Corfu. We did not regret the decision for a moment. If anything, I hate that I didn’t visit sooner.

It was when I ordered a Coca-Cola on our first outing on Day 1 that I remembered how Europeans don’t use high fructose corn syrup on a large scale due to production quotas.  I took a sip and had an out of body experience that I would repeat throughout the trip, far more often than I would have had I been at home.  Later that same day I would be asked if I wanted Coke by a well dressed, good looking chap on the street.  I turned and responded, “No Coke, Pepsi.” and walked away.

Want Some Coke?

Speaking of the Coke incident, if there was one downside to the Lisbon vacation it would be solely in the number of times my roommate and I were offered drugs on a daily basis.  Bearing in mind that these encounters only happened when we were in well known tourist areas such as the party district of Bairro Alto or the high foot traffic lanes of Rossio, it was still disheartening to be sitting at an outdoor café and have no less than three dealers come right to your table offering cocaine, marijuana and most surprisingly, hashish. People still use hash?  Really?

Despite the minor annoyances I couldn’t have been more taken by the beauty and vibrancy of Lisbon.  You can see it everywhere from the centuries-old architecture to the freshly designed subway stations like the surreal Olaias station that was just under my temporary home, Hotel Altis Park.  The station itself was an art installation that would have made Lady Gaga drool, complete with mismatched pods and canoes built of stained glass panels that were hung from the ceiling and acting as light fixtures.  Many of the other stations would be similarly appointed.

The Hotel

The Altis Park Hotel was clean and comfortable. The staff was among the most courteous, well spoken and helpful I have encountered in my lifetime, a trait that made up for some of the minor inconveniences that I dealt with during my stay. 

Internet Access

Internet access is insanely expensive, for example. At the hotel itself, one hour of access will cost €3 (about $4.40 US), and the time ran only until you logged off.  A 24 hour internet pass could be had for €15, but the time would begin when you logged on for the first time and not stop regardless of when you were actually using it.  The hotel’s “Business Center” was nothing more than a bank of 4 woefully inadequate desktop models that were unavailable more often than not and were difficult to use even when available.

Accommodations

As for the room itself, room 1421 at Altis Park was as clean as you could expect from a lodging facility. The bathroom had a bidet (hello, civilized Europe!) and a shower that was a religious experience unto itself.  My favorite feature of the rooms was something that is not common in the US, in fact it is one that I have yet to encounter stateside.  Upon entering the room with your card key, you must insert the key into another slot inside the room to activate power. This means that when you leave the room and take your key, you aren’t wasting electricity. Good on you! I hope hotel chains in the US start looking at this model; I can only imagine the thousands of dollars it might save over the long haul.

Breakfast

Altis Park Hotel features a complimentary breakfast buffet that had a surprising collection of food given that it was complimentary.  I guess I got accustomed to the standard American fare continental breakfast that consists of coffee, bottled juice and individually wrapped pastries.  This was much better than that.

The large coffee urn could not make up for the fact that I was high on espresso and it was woefully inadequate.  What did help tremendously was the large urn of hot milk that ensured by properly made morning coffee would not lose temperature on the way to my table.  There was always a large vessel of freshly squeezed orange juice of which I availed myself many times and in large quantities. Don’t judge me, the stuff was delicious, fresh and local and I enjoyed every one of the 6 or so glasses I drank every morning.

Breads were available and it was interesting to watch the guests from various countries gravitate to one over another.  The Germans for example, stuck to the hard rolls and butter, ham slices and muesli .  The French gobbled croissants, eggs and coffee.  The Asians eschewed the breads entirely, dining on fresh fruits, yogurt and juice.  My standard breakfast included a bit of all of these and varied little during our 9 days there.

• Coffee
• Fresh orange juice
• Scrambled eggs
• Croissant with jam
• Hard roll with butter
• Cherry yogurt
• Orange slices
• Granola with milk

Admittedly I ate more at breakfast time than I have in many years but it was free, I didn’t have to do the dishes and it fueled me for the many busy days of exploring that were ahead.

The Metro

I mentioned previously that the newer subway stations in the Metro were works of art and they are – literally. Some include sculptures in various forms, all include visionary artistry in use of painted tile work. Each stop along the way was a new experience, including the Jardim Zoologico (Lisbon Zoo) stop whose walls featured various animals.

The four lines of the Metro – red, yellow, blue and green – are surprisingly simple to navigate even to those with no experience doing so. My roommate had never been on the subway and yet with some basic guidelines she was able to do so on her own without a problem.

The Food

The first meal we ate was at a modern, hip joint called Hippopotamus. Given that we’d just passed a butcher shop that sold horse meat the name admittedly gave me pause but I just went with it. Because of my limited (read nonexistent) Portuguese, I opted for the only thing I recognized on the menu and enjoyed a delicious burger.

We would often take a taxi to our dinner destinations, enjoying a variety of foods from Japanese sushi to Thai to traditional Portuguese fare. We also enjoyed Italian pasta dishes on several occasions. The verdict with few exceptions is that the Portuguese people take food very seriously and they do it very well.

While wandering around a local mall I spotted a food court that included McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King. Curious, I had to take a closer look so I ordered a grande Coke (remember, no HFCS!) at the golden arches so I could spy on the menu. A large Coke was 20 ounces, a fact that no doubt contributes to why I didn’t see the rampant obesity in Portugal that we have in the States. When I noticed that the ketchup packets looked different, I grabbed one to look more closely and as I expected, no HFCS!

Have I mentioned that I am ready to move to Portugal? Because yeah…

At dinner you can expect to be offered an aperitif, dessert and of course, coffee. You should know that "coffee" means espresso. You’ll thank me for that when you’re not peeling yourself off the hotel room ceiling at 4am.

More to come…

In the next 31 Days, I am writing 31 36 guest blog posts across the Internet. I think I’m gonna need more coffee.  A lot more coffee.

Each day’s blog post (in some cases there are two in a single day) are linked on the Google calendar below.  Click the title and then click the link for “read this post”.  A list of all guest blogs is available at the end of this post.

A few years ago I made a deal with myself. I guess it was less of a deal and more of a call to action.  I decided that in order to keep learning and growing I needed to challenge myself on a regular basis to go above and beyond in ways that aren’t always comfortable.

In March I gave up soda.  In April John & I did the food challenge.  This month the challenge isn’t so much of a challenge as it is stretching beyond myself and looking for new ways to reach out.  One of the pitfalls of having a regular and devoted readership (and I love you all) is that often you are preaching to the choir on sensitive issues.  That’s why in the month of May I am devoting myself to writing a guest post for a different website each day of the month.

The blog hosts will run the gamut from gardening to food, activism to the environment but they will each have one day off this month as I do their job.  I’m in the process of putting together the editorial calendar now, but half of the slots are already booked and I look forward to sharing these great websites with you each day while I share a little of my heart and soul with new friends.  Each guest post will be linked from here so that you can visit as well.

What do I hope to accomplish with this?  The short answer is that I want to touch people.  I want to reach out to readers who have never visited this blog, may have never read my book or even heard of me. I want to share my passions and hopefully make people see just why I love what I do so much.

If you would like to have me write a guest blog for your website during the “Around the Blog in 31 Days”, please leave a comment on this post and I will get back to you.  Please remember that there are a limited number of slots available for this event.

Post Archive by Date

1. “How Does Your Garden Grow”
2. “How to Trash Your Garden”
3. “The Fine Line Between Renovation & Restoration”
4. Guest post @ Dirt du Jour
   ”Repurposing With Purpose”
5. “When You Can’t See the Forest for the Food”
6. “Mother Nature Gives a Lesson in Time Management”
7. “Badass Bitches and the Gardens That Love Them”
8. “Look Ma, I’m Naked!”
9. “My “Greener Every Day” To-Do List”
10. “Whose Garden Is It, Anyway?”
11. “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”
12. “Double Duty Salad Dressing in a Flash”
13. “How Extreme Does Couponing Really Need to Be?”
    ”Three Lessons: What I Learned While Writing My Book”
14. “Dining on the Lawn”
15. “My Big Fat Racist Tomatoes”

ABC has pulled the plug on one of the best shows they had going but with viewership numbers dwindling the network can’t help but follow the almighty dollar. Why did viewers stop tuning in and what happens to the revolution now that its poster boy seems to be circling the drain?

My first problem is that while I like Jamie Oliver I can’t say that I am a big fan of the direction he chose to take his Food Revolution. While I understand the need for making a big statement in a big city, I kinda think that if he would have held back a bit more, the revolution would still be going strong.

So how would I, a largely unknown author by the standards of most, revive the revolution? I’m glad you asked.

As much as I love Jamie and appreciate his efforts, I think he had it backwards. If we want to really start a food revolution in this country we need to start at the bottom, not at the top. Michelle Obama’s efforts with the White House Kitchen Garden have drawn national attention to gardening but it can’t stop there. We have to take the food revolution to those who need it most, one family at a time.

What if I started a revolution right here in the south – in Alabama? What if I went to the poorest part of the state and made contact with families who are financially struggling whose children are on the free lunch program? What if I helped those families learn to grow their own food and in the process understand the basics of nutrition?

What if I showed them how spending a small amount of their government assistance on vegetable seeds could multiply their investment and increase their family’s health and well being exponentially?

Instead of starting with the city or the school systems, we should take a good look at the people who are affected by the food issues in our country. Not the numbers, but the faces behind them. By helping and healing just one family at a time we can cause a ripple effect that can have an impact that outlasts the hype, the showmanship and the TV ratings.

That would be truly revolutionary.

A crisis can be an interesting thing.  It can also teach you a lot about people.

When I first got word that there was a rash of bad weather headed for the south I didn’t really pay all that much attention.  To be fair, in this part of the country we hear about bad weather so often that it usually doesn’t register that “oh yeah, they mean ME!” until the tornado sirens sound and you are scrambling to gather your family, your animals, your cell phone and – where the hell did I put those candles – sheltering in your safe place, if you even have one.

I was house sitting for one of my best friends while she was with her daughter as she had a baby.  I was there to take care of the cats, the fish and the 7 dogs, one of which is mine.  Then I was awakened just before the sunlight broke over the trees with a loud THUD! that shook the house. It wasn’t uncommon for a truck’s load to shift on the curvy road so I didn’t think much of it until the dogs began to whine.

Then I went to the front door.

The majestic oak that once shaded the house from just a few feet away was now flat on the ground, including the 13 foot wide root ball.  The massive tree took out the fence that enclosed one of the dog pens and three of the dogs were missing.

In full panic mode I began running around the rural area calling out for the dogs.  The first, Levi, was safely ensconced under the house.  The second, a precocious pup named Bonnie, was running around the field about a block away.  It wasn’t until after the sun was up that I found Jake, a black lab, about a quarter of a mile down the road.

When I got back to the house I snapped a few photos when I realized that this tree could have easily fallen the other direction – the direction it naturally leaned – and it would have fallen right across the bed I was sleeping in.  I lost it.

The animals were safe, so I could melt down without fear.  Unfortunately I didn’t have a lot of time; there were more storms – worse storms – on the way.

As I stayed glued to the television watching the storms roll in, watching live video of tornadoes touching down and creating paths of destruction, I realized that I was not prepared for this.  I was in an old house with three more oaks that could easily crush it and the “safe place” was the hallway that wasn’t safe at all.

Then a mile-wide twister destroyed Tuscaloosa and made a direct path toward me.  As debris from as far away as 60 miles to the west began to litter the sky over the house, I lost power and cell phone service. I knew that the next city was without power from the morning’s storms already. I was cut off.

Beyond nervous to the point of nausea, I fed the dogs and began to clean the kitchen with what remained of the daylight coming in through the windows.

It is now noon on the following day. At 8am I fed the dogs and left the house to find somewhere I could connect to WiFi and let my friends and loved ones know that I was okay. The power was out for as far as 20 miles away but I drove to the other side of the county and now sit in a Books a Million store in Trussville, Alabama.

I am in awe of the sheer number of messages, email, texts, phone calls… from all over the world. There are so many that I can’t even respond to them all individually and yet they gave me a momentary pause and some much-needed perspective.

I’ve been feeling sorry for myself a lot lately, truth be told, and the past 32 hours have given me a clearer mind than I have had in a long time.  Things don’t matter.  Even items with sentimental value don’t matter when you realize just how close to death you can be at any given moment.  I didn’t once worry about saving anyTHING yesterday. I checked and re-checked on the people and the animals, but then again my compassion for the living is sometimes my strongest weakness.

I sat in the glow of an antique oil lamp while I watched the sunlight break over the trees this morning.  I still had no idea of just how widespread the damage and the death was, but I prayed.  I prayed for people that I know and for those that I don’t. As I prayed I was flooded with the memories of my time working the Red Cross Disaster Relief shelter in Birmingham in the wake of Katrina and though the extent of the damage wasn’t anything so severe, for 24 hours – in my mind and my heart – it was no different.

If you aren’t living like you were dying, then you aren’t really living at all.

I wrote earlier about influence versus change. I got to see what I find to be a small miracle, and one that I thought would never happen. Tears welled in my eyes and I said to Michael, “Something is happening here, and the land likes it.”

As I helped put in some natural breaks to prevent erosion yesterday I looked at a small, slightly underdeveloped mulberry tree. As I look closer I see that it had something that it didn’t have before, NEVER in it’s short life. I can see mulberries in their infancy stage hanging and waiting to become what they have longed to be.

Growing up, I had a neighbor that had mulberry trees in her back yard. She never used them, so I would pick and eat them. She liked the fact they didn’t all go to waste and allowed all the kids to eat them if they liked. Here we will be slightly greedy as we only have one tree that has given us the blessing of berries this year.

Where the persimmons are for the squirrels, rabbits and yellow jackets (hate the yellow jackets) and the peach tree is still struggling for new growth; the berries will become a pie, maybe even a cobbler to be shared after dinner.

I look forward to those dinners in the cool evening breeze around the fire pit while talking about our day and planning the next. It is moments like this one with the mulberry tree that make it easy to see how we will be able to grow at least 60% of our own food by next year while getting back to simpler times on our homestead. When you do right by Mother Nature, she even wants to help.