July 29th, 2009 by Margie

It has been weeks since I have sat down to write.  My absence is not a sign of my lack of need to communicate with you, it is just that, my absence.  Everyday I feel so connected to all of you and to our farmers.  I always think of things I want to share with you – I just might not make it back to the computer with these thoughts.

I am also realizing that I am now feeling so connected back to my own land.  I don’t mean the land I own but the land I roam. Speaking of connecting to our land, a dear friend and one of the faces that shows up at your door with fresh food (ms Edie) turned me on to this great site, Anthony Masterson Films that features several short films on sustainable farming from a wonderful local filmmaker.  If you check out Farm!, the second person on screen is our very own Jason Mann of Full Moon Farms and if you view another film listed as Who Grows Your Food, you will hear from our good friend Rashid at Truly Living Well.  Maybe if someone asks you why you try to eat local and organic, share these films with that person.  They are inspiring and entertaining.

Last week as I told a friend that it was July I suddenly stopped and exclaimed, “Oh my God!  It IS July!”  The shock was not that it was the month of July but that the spring season had come and gone and I forgot about my annual battle with allergies.  I have a ritual of going to buy the local bee pollen from the health food store and starting to sprinkle it in my food each day, little by little, in hopes that I will not suffer as much from the achy, itchy, sneezy world of Spring-time in Atlanta.  It really does help.  When I don’t do this, I am much worse!  Well, except for the fact that I completely forgot to do it this year and never had any allergy symptoms…

This is also the year that I have been only eating local organic veggies from my Georgia farmers.  OK I am not eating completely local, since I do go to a restaurant or pub now and then that get all their fresh food from the Sysco truck.   Let’s just say I only cook local ingredients and I do most of my own cooking.

The point is that this year for the first time in over two decades, I had no allergy symptoms and the only difference was my locavore habits.  When I started to think more and more about this, it seemed less and less surprising.  Allergy problems have increased over the last 30 years and so has our food transportation.  As we began to eat less and less local, we also were not ingesting the local pollens.  Many people suffered and felt the need to see a specialist to help with the allergy symptoms.  Allergy shots or immunotherapy are doses of allergens made up of pollens and other items we are allergic to.  Now I know this does not help with a cat or dog allergy but it seems to me that if you eat the food grown in your own region and free of chemicals to aggravate you, you might have a greater chance of suffering from allergies in that same area during any given season.

I feel that by eating the fruits of my land I am connected to the land.  I have no itchy eyes, no runny nose, and no tremendous headaches and it already July!  I am so excited at the very thought that this could be something more than just an illusory correlation that I am contacting several research programs to see if someone is already writing on this subject.  Let’s see – maybe if we eat fresh food from our own community we stop suffering from seasonal allergies…that is worth questioning!  I hope eating your ingredients in your basket each week helps you feel a little more connected to this wonderful community.

June 30th, 2009 by Margie

This week has been all about Food, Inc.  If you have not seen this film yet, please put it on your radar.  It is currently playing at Midtown 8 Theater on Monroe Drive and hopefully it will continue for a couple of weeks.  I am seeing it for a second time this week.  It is not that this film gave me new information but it certainly put loads of points together in a very compelling way.  This e-mail really summed it up:

Hi Margie,

Amandine and I saw this last night:

www.foodincmovie.com

If you are not familiar with it, I highly recommend seeing it.  Some of the ideas could have been explored further but the message of the film hit the nail on the head.

Gut wrenching, even if you already knew the ugly truth about our industrial food system going into the movie.  But it did remind us of how happy we are in our decision to be partnered with you to support local farming and local farmers.

Thank you again and keep up the great work!

(the cheeses are excellent by the way.)

Best,
Mike

I love getting encouragement like this from you guys - It keeps me going!  I keep thinking about how we can do more about the problems we are faced with and one important element is awareness.  Now, I am painfully aware of the problems, but I think we can all be more aware of the small solutions…

Tonight I went out to a local Pub with a great menu of local food ingredients, The Porter in Little 5 Points.  It didn’t cost a hundred bucks and I was able to eat amazing sausage made from local meat from Riverview Farms.  The salad was featuring local veggies and goat cheese.  The chef here has made a decision to not only be reasonably priced but give us food we can enjoy, and not fear.  We ate, drank and tipped and still got out for less than $50 for two people!!  It doesn’t always have to cost a load to support local organic food dining out thanks to The Porter.

After dinner I realized I had to get ready for the big farm day and deliveries.  I was still doing laundry for the baskets so I ran home.  Instead of running a dryer twice to get all the fabrics nice and crisp, I hung them out before rushing off for supper.  When I got back, I felt the fabric and everything was dry.  It was that simple!  Using a dryer sometimes they get tangled so I have to run a second cycle and use twice the energy.  This was late afternoon sun that dried our fabric for the baskets.  No power plant fueled this, no money spent, and most important, no adding to my own carbon footprint.

Sometimes it takes a very simple decision to change the world, one little step at a time.  I think we are all trying to do our part.  I will sleep good after drinking Athens, GA beer, eating North GA meat and veggies, and leaving Georgia power out of the process of drying our fabrics.  Maybe next week I will remember to turn OFF my computer every time I am not using it (smiles)!

June 5th, 2009 by Margie

Just like every girl needs a new outfit for the season, vegetablehusband.com is now sporting a new look for 2009…and I hope you LIKE!  We are on the road to interconnectivity and that is exciting.  I think that your ideas are at least as important as mine so please take a look and help me find the best features of our new website.  Of course, if you find something that doesn’t seem to make sense for you, please let me know.

We have tried to make sure we kept all your old favorites, while adding a few new features and information sources.  For those of you that have missed the Recipes section online, they are not only back but now very easy to print a single recipe.  You can also access all the recipes that were on the old website.  I know once I make something I like, I want to keep the recipe like an old friend.

Please indulge me for those of you that do not need to be walked thru a new website.  Some of you might appreciate the added explanations.  Now let’s just go from the Pages section to the Categories…

The first title to the right of our site is Pages and first up in the list is the blog.  This will take you to whatever the freshest info is in the site, whether it is a post in the the Field Notes or a recent article of interest to all of us.  Home is of course the Home page and now that we have switched to a more blog-drivin site, you will no longer always land in the home page but it will always be there to give you a simple welcome and explanation of Vegetable Husband.

About the VH is a little bit about how we got started on this journey and more specifically how I became your vegetable husband.  One day I will add a photo so you can put a face with the story but many of you see me in person showing up at your door from time to time.

Giving newcomers very specific information on how to join the service and if we offer delivery to your community is found in the Delivery Info section . Here you’ll find a map of the delivery area along with subscription rates and schedules. This will also be the place for newcomers to request service.  Remember how difficult it was to figure out how you actually subscribed in the beginning?  I am trying to hear that response and change the process.

I love that so many of you want to know exactly where your food comes from and this is why I added the Farms page.  Here you can see for yourself many of the folks growing your food.  We have brief descriptions and links to the farm websites, well to the few that have them.  Check it out!

On the Contact page you will find important links to forms if you need to suspend or cancel your service.  This will make things run smoothly when you have your next vacation.  Just fill out the form and we will automatically take care of your suspension time.  You will certainly get a confirmation note, as well.

Categories are a breakdown of all the blog posts and now your weekly letters are actually filed here.  I thought this would be cool for a couple of reasons.  One, you can now take a look online and see all that we are up to.  If I were checking us out for the first time, I think it would be fun to read through a few weeks of our letters.  It really let’s the season unfold.  The other nice thing is if you are wondering how soon you can expect a certain vegetable, now that we are rounding a full year, you can just look at the past.

Well rather than go through each title we used to classify the blog entries, just take a look on your own and see what ‘ya think.  I personally like Community Love because that is where I get to share wonderful notes and comments from you guys.

Have a beautiful week!

January 20th, 2009 by Margie

January is all about new beginnings for a lot of us.  We associate the New Year with a chance to start over.  Some of us start a new exercise regime, a healthy diet or quit a nasty habit like smoking or overindulging in sugars.  Well, this January is definitely a new beginning and hopefully we are all coming together to kick a nasty habit.

Yes, it is important to quit eating all the poisons that industry farming is pumping into our produce but I am referring to nasty habit that has been occupying the White House for eight years.  Most of you know that I do not hide my politics and I am certainly celebrating the hope of a new administration to lead our nation.  We will all come together this January 20th to witness the inauguration of that new leader, Barack Obama.  I am so hopeful that the nation will come together under this new leadership that I am traveling to our Capitol to personally step foot on the lawn of the Mall for that special morning.

As I travel to Washington D.C., I will reflect on my high hopes that our new administration will acknowledge that we have a problem with access to healthy food in our communities.  Why can’t our President be a shining example by having a small organic garden for the White House?

December 10th, 2008 by Margie

We are not even into the winter months but we are certainly feeling the chill.  We had several unseasonably cold nights and they slowed down the growth in the fields quite a bit.  Today’s rain and warmer temperatures will surely jump start more activity, if only temporarily.  As I travel through the rain to pick up and deliver our veggies, I am not as nervous and aggravated by the rain as I normally am.  This year I have a closer relationship to this water falling from the sky,  I know that even though it backs up traffic on 75-85, it also gives nourishment to the luscious greens.  I look forward to seeing how the coming weeks are directly affected by the warm and wet weather of today.   Enjoy your greens!

And big thanks to my friend and photographer Manuel Llaneras for this nice shot of farmer Duane and myself.