Monthly Archives: May 2013

Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Deborah Meyer!

Deborah Meyer (dmeyer, #4099) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an Expert Level Civic Heritage Merit Badge!

“I researched our courthouse in Carthage, Missouri. It is one of the oldest buildings in our area. Jasper County’s first courthouse, a one-story building on the north side of the square in Carthage, was built by Levi H. Jenkins for $398.50. He completed the building June 29, 1842.

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Enter the world of ENTO

Hot on the heels of my recent peek into the peculiar genius of the Gleaner’s Kitchen,

I find myself facing another burning question about our food boundaries …

Would you eat

(  . . . . .  )

bugs?

Before you answer, let me qualify my query.

I’m not asking if you would pluck a beetle from your yard and …

C-R-U-N-C-H it.

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Photo by Bob Peterson via Wikimedia Commons

It’s okay; I’ll give you a moment to recover before I move on …

Ready?

Atta girl.

The bugs that beg the question emanate from a more elegant field of entomology.

Actually, Ento for short.

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Kindergartners Take the Farm

I’m so proud of our son, Brian. Every year, he invites a kindergarten class to the farm for a field trip. He figures out ahead of time what he wants to teach them and how the morning will go, and afterward seems so energized. He’s such a good daddy himself, and yesterday’s visitors are our future farmers, so thank you, Brian!

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Perennial Plate

Have you had a chance to catch The Perennial Plate?

The Perennial Plate is an online weekly documentary series dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating.

Who doesn’t love THAT idea?

Creator Daniel Klein and co-producer/cameragirl Mirra Fine are traveling the world exploring the wonders, complexities, and stories behind the ever-more-connected global food system.

“Klein, who has cooked at the restaurants of Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal, and Tom Colicchio … offers a closer look at where our food can actually come from (but often doesn’t) than anything you’re likely to see on the Food Network,” says the Huffington Post.

The episodes follow the culinary, agricultural, and hunting explorations of this intrepid chef.

“Season One took place over a calendar year in Minnesota where, every Monday for 52 weeks, the duo released short films about good food,” reports the Plate’s website. “In Season Two, Klein and Fine traveled across America, taking the viewer on a journey to appreciate and understand where good food comes from and how to enjoy it.”

This season, Klein and Fine are blazing a trail around the world—to China, Japan, India, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Along the way, they’re telling the stories of real food and the people who make it.

In a recent episode called “Do Not Blame the Sea,” the destination was Sri Lanka, where a small fishing family was nearly decimated by the 2004 tsunami. “And yet today, they still fish (either on stilts or in a boat) because they have to do it to survive,” explains Klein.

Even though I’ll never be able to catch up on the site’s bounty of past episodes, I can’t wait to see where they’ll go next.

Who knew I could be an armchair traveler and a footrest foodie at the same time?

If you’re already a fan, share your favorite episode.

Photo by Lars Swanson

Photo by Lars Swanson

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Make-A-Glamping-Wish

Can you help make a wish come true for 6-year-old Miette?

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Courtesy of Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington

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Good morning!

This is the pathway that greets our crew every morning, winter, rain, or shine. Yesterday, we were all back to work but the sunshine and warmth from the weekend turned to rain. I spent most of last weekend in the garden planting 50 new perennials in one of our main flower beds (day lily, poppy, columbine, and lupine). How about you? Have you been in your garden yet? What did you do on Mother’s Day weekend? I also took a long Sunday nap. On Saturday I scrubbed the walls and floor of our dairy, cleaned out the cow’s water tank, took photos around the farm, and helped hubby with an excavation project. (More on that later.)

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