Support Local Agriculture

Sure, you go to Farmer's Markets in season.  You even go to local farm stands on a regular basis and pick up whatever you can.  It's freshly picked, in season, and you have eliminated the middle man.

image: A Produce Bundle from Local Homestead

But, did you know there's an even better way to support your local farmers?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a not so new trend where people take the risk with the farmer and buy a share of produce for the growing season.  You put your money down up front, and this gives the farmer the necessary influx of cash to get started growing for the season without having to take out a bank loan to buy seeds and get the growing season started.  This small influx of cash at the beginning of the growing season makes a HUGE difference to the small local farmer.

As a result of your cash investment at the beginning of the season, you get to reap the results throughout the growing season.  Once a week, you get to pick up a box full of fresh produce.  (Your share of the crop.)  The sizes of the boxes vary by farmer, and the contents vary by season and the growing conditions in the field.  You are sharing the risk with the farmer, and reaping the rewards along with the farmer.

We've been members of various CSA's throughout Central Maryland for close to 20 years now.  We've always been a member of a CSA that only requires our cash.  There are other CSA's out there that require an outlay of cash AND your physical labor.  I could never guarantee that we could put in that much labor over the course of the season, so we've always paid a little bit more to just go and pick up our box of produce.

So what have we gained?  We've made great friends with the farmers.  They are lovely people who live and work in our community.  Some of them only run CSA's for a year or two before they move onto a different business model, and others have been in the CSA business for years. Spaces are always limited in CSA programs, and if you don't get your deposit in fast enough, you find yourself scurrying around to find a new CSA before all the slots close!  We have been slow with our deposits in the past, and found ourselves shopping around for new CSA's more often than I would like to admit... but we've always enjoyed our fresh produce, and we've always enjoyed getting to know the farmers that we are supporting.  We greet our old friends when we hit up the Farmer's Markets over the summer!  They know that I enjoy canning, and they'll let me know when something is about to come in big so that I can place an order for a case of something (peaches, tomatoes, apples) for the following week.

Now is the time to join a CSA program for this year!  If you're searching for one in your area, follow the links below and search by your zip code for a program close to you!  The first one is a link to the USDA's website.  The second is a link to Local Harvest.  Enjoy!

https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/community-supported-agriculture

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Mission Accomplished

Five years ago, I began to work on my Master's Degree.  I've been sidetracked by family illnesses, death of loved ones and life in general.  Over a year ago, I made a promise to myself.  I was going to finish my Masters Degree.  Come hell or highwater, I was going to finish this degree and get it done.

I had a child go off to college.  The last one started high school.  And I kept plugging on along.  College applications for the middle child have gone out, and a college has been chosen.  And through it all, I've been plugging and chugging, working on my Master's degree.  The papers have been steadily written.  My laptop has  gone on vacations with me, and I've been reading papers and writing papers and completing projects on the side of sports fields, in hotels around the country, and in libraries around the area. 

And the perserverance has paid off.  Last night, I submitted my final posts on Blackboard.  I submitted my last project.  Everything is finally finished.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry with relief.

My kids were thrilled beyond words for me.  They have sat with me while I've worked on papers.  We've gone to Wi-Fi hot spots and bitched about our homework together.  I've maintained a straight-A average, and the kids have seen the amount of work and dedication that has gone into keeping those grades up where they belong.

This last class has been the most frustrating of them all.  I loved the class before this one.  This class was not a good match for my personality.  It has been a struggle for me to slog my way through these classes, assignments, and readings.  As of now, I have an A in the class, but there are still 3 papers that I have submitted that have not yet been graded.  As long as I get a C in the class, I will graduate.
HOWEVER, I would really, really like to keep my A average at this point.  I'm patiently waiting to see what will happen next.

It is a strange sensation.  Earning my Master's Degree has been a goal of mine since I graduated from high school.  25 years after I graduated from College with my Bachelor's Degree, I will be graduating with my Master's Degree.  I've accomplished a major life goal.  Knocked a major tick off of my bucket list. 

Within 10 crazy days this summer, my middle son will graduate from high school, and I will walk across the stage and receive my diploma.

I love the feeling when you accomplish a dream.

I had posted this on the old blog on March 8, 2013.  This seems like a great Throwback Thursday!
 This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

Lobbying in Annapolis

They say that all politics is local politics.  I'm not sure about that, but I do feel like my voice is heard more at the local level.  Last month, I went down to Annapolis to lobby for some bills at the state level.  When I do go into lobby at the State Level, I go with an organized group of people.  The group itself makes certain that we have appointments to meet with the representatives or one of their aides.  I'm also with a group of people, which makes speaking out a little bit easier!  (for me, anyway.)  I don't know that I'd do anything more than write letters if it weren't for them!  I only ever lobby with two groups, because I feel so strongly about their mission.  In addition, I need to have the time off work, and believe strongly in whatever legislation they are working towards.  For this reason, I only go down once every few years.

Lt. Gov. Rutherford

This year, I went down to Annapolis with the health care lobby.  Before we were sorted into groups and sent over to the office buildings, we had some words of wisdom from our Lt. Governor, Boyd Rutherford.  He spoke about the Heroin epidemic in the State of Maryland, what is being done to combat it, and specific steps that the State is taking this year and legislation that they are requesting to continue to fight back.  I don't know what the Heroin situation looks like where you live, but here in Maryland, we are losing our young people (and not so young people) at a frightening rate.  If you think there's no Heroin problem in your neighborhood, think again.  Call your local sheriff's office and ask about the number of overdoses so far this year.  How many of them were fatal overdoses?  I imagine the numbers are sobering.

Hearing Room

Anyway, after the talk, we headed out to attend a press conference and then onto the Senate office buildings for hearings.

I always enjoy listening to the hearings.  Expert testimony followed by a Q and A Session by the legislators.  I learn so much, and get to hear a clear cut presentation of both sides of an issue.  One thing is very clear to me every time I go.  I don't think I would have the patience to sit down and listen to the testimony, ask the questions, and make unbiased decisions that I feel best represent the views of my constituents.  I know that in my own life, both personal and professional, I am almost always right and have few hesitations about making the right decisions.  At a larger level though, I don't know that I would be able to make those decisions that impact so many people easily.  It's a heavy responsibility.  I sincerely hope that all of our elected leaders keep the best interests of their constituents - and not their party - in the forefront of their minds when they are making decisions that impact us all.

Downtown Annapolis by the Dock (Ego Alley)

Monday Musings

The Flu
I finally got over the flu and then my husband came down with the flu.  The flu hit him harder than it hit me, and he's really been struggling with it.  He'd had the flu for all of 48 hours when he decided he was going to go to work.  He got up at 5 am to go to work, got into the shower, and promptly passed out in the shower.  Yeah, passed out in the shower.  Talk about a slippery situation!  It turns out he was thoroughly dehydrated - and still running a pretty high fever.  He ended up spending the rest of the week at home.  He's mostly recovered, but he still has a wicked cough.

Weather
Have you had the wild weather we've been having in the Mid-Atlantic region?  We've had 70* weather, snow showers, and sun all within a week.  We still haven't had enough measurable snow to make me happy.  One good storm, with at least six inches of snow.  Is that too much to ask?   Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get that storm this year.

40 Bags in 40 Days
The bags are coming out of the house.  One of the bags that I pulled out was a bag full of expired prescription drugs that I took to the locked drop box at the police station. So very, very glad to get that stuff out of our house.

As of today, the bag count is 10.

Bad Books
So, have you ever started reading a book and discovered that you absolutely hated it?  I'm reading one of those books now.  Normally, I would give up on the book and move on, but it's required reading for a training at work next month.  I'm slogging through it.  It's a young adult book, and it's 350 pages long.  I've been chipping away at it for over a week now.  I'm making myself read it when I go to the gym.  You know it's bad when I find myself hopping off of the bike to GO LIFT WEIGHTS rather than read any more of the book.  I've been lifting weights, a lot while reading this book.  I'm going to make myself finish it, but it's not going to be pretty. 

Small Car Problems
Don't you hate when you park your car in the parking lot at the grocery store and come out to find that you have a Chevy Suburban parked on either side of you?  I drive a Honda Civic.  I swear I walked past my car - I couldn't see it from afar since it was boxed in by big cars.  And then backing that little car out when you've got such a huge blind spot on either side of you.  I have a back up camera on that car, but even with that, pulling that little car out is dangerous when you've got two such big cars on either side of you.

Enjoy your week!!

The Christmas Story

Disclaimer Notice: This Post Contains Affiliate Links

I know I said I was going to stay away from reviewing books on here, but I found a book today that I have to share. It's gorgeous, it's beautiful, and the artwork is phenomenal.  If you celebrate Christmas, and are looking for a meaningful way to share the Christmas story, this book is for you.


In The Christmas Story by Robert Sabuda, the illustrator lovingly retells the story of the birth of Christ.  Beautifully illustrated with white and gold pop up images, this retelling will capture the imagination.  With the bold, 3 dimensional images literally jumping off of the pages, you will be transported to Jerusalem at the time of the census.

The text is simple and straightforward, written into modern day English that makes the story easy for anyone to understand.

This book is beautiful and amazing.  If you have younger children in your life, you need to look into adding this book to your Christmas traditions. 

Starbucks Theater

One more try to see if this works!

2017 Resolutions - March Update

It's that time!  My monthly look at my resolutions!  After several failures at meeting my goals last year, I'm hoping for more success this year. Are you ready?  Here goes:

1) Complete 12 Home Improvement Projects This Year
We finally got the handles on the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink.  Six months after we claimed to be finished with the repair, we finally put the handles on!  We can open the doors without pulling at the top, which should extend the overall life of those cabinet doors.  It's the little things!

Handles!!!

2) Lose a Few More Inches Around My Waist
I've had the flu for most of the last two weeks.  I don't want to talk about this one.

3) Get Away With My Husband - Just the Two of Us - Twice
The first one is done!  We went up to Pennsylvania to visit our oldest son.  We were with him, but we also had some alone time.  Too bad that was the day I came down with the flu.  Ah romance - NOT!  Not quite how I envisioned time alone with him!

4) Lenten Cleaning Challenge
On your mark, get set..... GO!  Today is the beginning of Lent, and today the challenge begins.  I'm hoping to throw out/ get rid of 40 bags of crap in 40 days.  The key thing to remember here is that the bags can be any size bags.  That's going to make a difference!

5) Post at Least 12 Book Reviews on my Books for Teens Blog
2 Down!

This month's title was The Rithmatist
My Review: http://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-rithmatist.html

6) Finish the Hallway Bathroom
This one ties into the one below...
March 31 is the date we will have the amount of money set for our budget, and the chaos begins!

7) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge
February is over!  Our taxes have been submitted, and the refund we get will be applied to the bathroom balance.  Keep your fingers crossed that NOTHING BREAKS.


8) Learn Another Language
Our public library has Rosetta Stone available online.  I've begun working my way through the Spanish program.  I'm also watching Sesame Street on VeMe (Spanish Language PBS)  Does watching Jane the Virgin count?  The program is bilingual....

9) 100 Things Every Marylander Should Do
I didn't get out much this month.  That whole not spending thing, you know.


10) Daughter's Quilt
Is being worked on!  Here, you see the adorable Luna "helping" me quilt.

Can I just say, since I'm doing the NoSpenduary Challenge, I'm not going many places.  As a result, I'm making some pretty serious progress on that quilt!


11) Clean Out the Closet and Dresser Drawers in the Master Bedroom

I've cleaned out the drawers in one dresser.  I've cleaned out the closet.  I've been tackling the pile of crap on the floor, but I am losing steam on this.  The pile isn't getting any smaller!  For this month, I'm going to cut that down into smaller chunks and make myself deal with ten items from that pile every day.  Hopefully, that pile will be gone and I'll be on to the other, short dresser when I check back in on this next month!

12) Clean Out the Little Room in the Basement and Make it Usable
I haven't gotten to this yet.  I should make some progress while I'm attempting to get through the 40 bags in 40 days.

13) Work on the Landscaping in the Front Yard
It's not nice enough to be working on this yet.

14) Take At Least One Class Through the American Library Association
I finished the class!  I submitted two of the lessons that I wrote, and they have been approved as library programs for this summer!  Hooray!  It's going to be a great summer!  Even better?  I got a few more CEU's to add to the total number of hours I need to renew my teaching certificate.


How are you doing with your resolutions?