Fall Planting

Well, we have been going forward with the removal of plastic, but mostly we have been eating locally as much as possible and planting the fall garden.  We have carrots and beets in and a wide variety of greens, green onions and an even wider variety of lettuce.  I’ve still got to plant collards and broccoli and garlic.  I’m sure there is something I have forgotten.  The greens and the carrots and beets are sprouting.  I love those little green plants happily coming up all over the dark raised beds.  They are the prettiest shades of green.  

I made ratatouille on Friday.  I had never made it before, just seen the movie.  But I had that late summer abundance of eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes and was looking for something to do with it all.  The recipe I came across on the internet turned out to be the classic Julia Child one.  I have her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but have only ever made a couple of things out of it.  I think I may have to make more things from it.  The recipe is fairly complicated and requires a lot of attention and time.  But it was well worth it.  It was so delicious, almost sweet with all those vegetables condensed down. 

And now a word from Pat:

Does Plastic = Metal? Do you remember the Sesame Street game where you choose the one thing is not like the others? Apparently the folks at Google, either never played that game or always got it wrong. I searched for *metal freezer containers*, which you would think would return links on, well, metal freezer containers. Not so! Shopping results were for “4 Pack Freezer Containers” (two different stores, both plastic) and Arrow *Plastics* Freezer Containers. I should snail mail Google’s research lab a whiffle ball and a rather large ball bearing. Both round, etc., but one is made out of plastic and the other out of metal. Don’t know if that will help but will let you know if I get a response.

Maybe The Rooster Knows Best

Our rooster does not like plastic bags.  He is very adamant about it.  My husband took a bag of oyster shell out for the hens and Mick put three holes in his pants and his leg.  We thought he just had a problem with that specific bag, but yesterday, I went out with a plastic zip loc of arugula that was past its prime.  The chickens love any kind of greens.  As soon as I entered the run, with the bag in hand, Mick started up with his karate call and was flapping and carrying on.  I pushed him back with the rake I carry while in there and stepped out again.  I took the greens out of the bag and took only them into the run.  He was as peaceful as could be.  So maybe roosters know something we don’t.  He’s not having rattly plastic bags in his space though.  Now we have to figure out a replacement for those plastic feed and water dispensers in there.  I’m pretty sure that make metal ones so that will be easy to fix. 

And now a word from Pat  (He wrote the last post also):

Unavoidable Plastics

We are rapidly finding out that there are *unavoidable* plastics in our
food supply. Despite going the extra mile or two to purchase locally
produced milk from grass fed cows, you guessed it, we buy milk in
*plastic* containers. No other options offered. Not even for extra money.

Not to mention that such plastics are *not* recyclable. See:
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Best-Recycle-Plastic.htm. I was looking
up the composition of the milk jugs, just to see the extra “goodies” we
are getting with the milk when I found that site. Worth a close read.