Is Raising Beef Sustainable?

Here is a post written by a farmer about raising beef...specifically how much water it takes to produce a pound of beef. She cites an article (one of many out there) that state that it takes 1800+ gallons of water to produce each pound of beef. I've often wondered about statistics like that one, trying to figure out how they come up with that number and if it can really be right. Numbers like that have never made sense to me, but I never sat down to calculate out what a more accurate number might be.

She figured out that on their farm, it takes 17.5 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. Pretty sure that is comparable to the amount of water needed to grow a tomato plant in a location like Kansas, with a much more nutrient and calorie-dense end product. Hence, a more efficient source of food for humans. Not that tomatoes aren't healthy and all that or that they aren't nutritious, but you would need to eat a lot more tomatoes to sustain your life than beef. Well-balanced meals, people, is the goal.

The other thing that I always question, when I read articles or hear people talking about how cattle are bad for the environment, is the quality of the land they are talking about. Not all land is equal. Not all soils are equal. Certain land/soils should NEVER be tilled, or at least very rarely. Those particular areas are frequently well-adapted to pasturing animals. If there weren't animals being pastured on that land, then it would be completely unproductive, except perhaps for whatever wild game could be harvested off it in the proper season.

So if you want to go off on some sort of crusade about what is or is not killing the earth, at least do your best to know all the facts first.

No Blizzard for Us

In fact, hardly even any snow for us! I'm not sure if that makes me happy or not. In general, not. I'm very jealous of everyone that is getting large quantities of snow! Here, everyone is in a tizzy over a little bit of rain, some sleet/freezing rain, and a random flurry of snow here and there. To be fair, icy streets are really annoying and treacherous. Still, I would rather have snow. The downside to large amounts of snow here, is that it rarely stays cold enough for the snow to stick around more than a couple days, so no one learns/gets used to driving on streets that have a certain amount of snow on them. Ugh.

Pretty much my least favorite part about living here is driving to and from work when the roads are slick and the idiots are out and about driving on them. Although, I guess I can't complain too much, since I almost caused an accident myself this morning getting to work. A light turned yellow in front of me, and I didn't decide soon enough if I should brake or if I could make it through. Luckily, the person waiting at the light on the cross street saw that I wasn't going to be able to stop and didn't hit me. Thank God!

I was supposed to be going up to Manhattan and then Topeka tomorrow for a website meeting, then the Turf Conference. Yeah, it's funny, I know. Me, going to the Turf Conference. Anyway, between the weather and this nasty cough I've had for a week now, I'm going to skip out. Apparently they do actually have snow up towards Manhattan. Driving through blowing snow before dawn is not my idea of fun for work. Definitely not.

Now to figure out what to do with myself for the rest of the evening...cross-stitch, another sewing project, wrapping Christmas presents, washing dishes (or not!), find a book to read....

Around and About

Obviously I've been hanging around this blog a little bit recently...not that there is actually anyone still hanging out and reading this blog, since it has been almost 7 months since my last post. I have no idea what that means, if anything. I may actually get around to posting something once in a while over the winter. Of course, the issue usually is not that I lack for brilliant ideas of things to write about. The issue is that I either don't have the time to write when I think of a brilliant post or that by the time I do have time, the inclination has passed. Anyway, enough excuses!

Weed or Not a Weed, that is the Question

The craziness of spring classes is almost done, but the number of questions we get during the day will increase drastically. The questions that are the most frustrating are the weed id/random plant id ones. Now, common weeds and plants - not a problem. What is a challenge is when someone brings in a few leaves, usually mostly wilted, and wants to know what it is and what to do with it.

These occurrences can usually be categorized in two ways: Unknown Plants in the Lawn and Unknown Plants in the Flower Bed. Each has its own problems, pitfalls, and headaches. To be fair, 7 or 8 out of 10 samples are easy and straightforward to identify and deal with. I have a whole novel in my head about this. However, I don't feel that it is really a good idea to spew that all out onto the Internet, at least while I am still gainfully employed at my current job. Sometime in the future, do ask me about it, and I'd be happy to spew.

The Leaning Tower of Pita

Hi again. Long time, no post. Did you really expect anything different? No, I didn't think so. It's been pretty busy and work and so on, but I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel...sort of. At any rate, things should be slowing down somewhat for the summer.

I took Friday off, because 1) I have the time available, and 2) because I needed a nice long weekend. (Yes, I know Memorial Day is coming up, but that isn't a "lazy" weekend, what with family things.) So we got the apartment somewhat cleaned up, restacked everything in the second bedroom, went shopping for a few things, had a meeting with our insurance agent, and generally got to where we feel somewhat in control of the apartment for the moment. (If we didn't need to eat, it would be far easier to keep things clean!)

Saturday we ran around and went to the Farmers Market, grocery shopping, etc as is the norm for Saturday morning. I also checked on the "kids" in the Demo Garden. We planted tomatoes last week, and I was afraid that the ridiculous wind (80+ mph straight-line) from early Friday morning might have broken the stems or knocked the plants over.

Saturday night we didn't want a big dinner, but we'd been craving pita bread and hummus. So Steven went through The Bread Bible to find the pita bread recipe and looked through the Mediterranean cookbook to find an acceptable hummus recipe. (For the uninitiated, hummus is basically chickpea/garbanzo bean puree seasoned with other things.)

The pita bread was very simple. (We actually made the dough Friday night and refrigerated it. Not necessary, but handy.) Homemade pita bread is far tastier than what you can buy, and very cheap! The only moderately scary part of the process (other than the extremely sticky dough to start with) was slapping the discs of dough straight on the baking stone (you can use a cookie sheet if you lack a stone), closing the oven for 3 minutes, and opening it with the expectation that the bread is done! Surprise! It worked!Mmm...tasty looking pita bread in all shapes and sizes!

Steven did up the hummus, and then topped it off with paprika, pine nuts, and the Kangaroo Paw Lemon-Myrtle Infused Olive Oil. (Yes, it would have been cheaper to go to a local Mediterranean restaurant and get an order of hummus by the time it was all said and done. So?)We sliced up some tomatoes we got at the Farmers Market to finish off the meal. Yes, we got fresh, Kansas-grown tomatoes. We bought one from a grower who grows hydroponic tomatoes in a greenhouse, and the others from a grower that grows in a greenhouse, but uses bags of soil for growing the plants. We intended to do a taste test. The hydroponic tomatoes were larger, but the soil-grown tomatoes were much tastier. I wasn't extremely surprised by that outcome.

The leftover pita bread became the Leaning Tower of Pita.
Yes, this entire long post was written with the sole purpose of giving me a good reason to post the "Leaning Tower of Pita" picture, and thus to allow using the same as the title of this post.

15 Questions for Heavy Readers

15 Questions For Heavy Readers

Go ahead, include up to 3 answers each if you like. If you’re religious, consider The Bible or other religious texts a gimme, particularly for question #15. I have to admit that I don't read near as much now as I did in pretty much any prior stage of my life, so this isn't quite as exciting as it might be. Someday soon I may need to write a post ranting about technology and its effect on modern society and specifically my life.

1. Most treasured childhood book(s)?
- Little House on the Prairie series
- Janette Oke animal books
- A Little Princess

2. Classic(s) you are embarrassed to admit you’ve never read?
- Classics? What are those? I have a modern public school education. We aren't supposed to read classics.
- Okay. Seriously? Anything by Tolstoy or Dostoevsky (except Crime & Punishment)
- Wuthering Heights

3. Classics you read, but hated?
- Out of Africa
- The Grapes of Wrath - oh wait...I didn't actually have to read it. We only watched the movie in 9th grade English.
- Of Mice and Men

4. Favorite genre(s)?
- Mystery
- Fantacy/sci fi
- Historical fiction

5. Favorite light reading?
- J.D. Robb
- Various mysteries - Perry Mason, Nero Wolfe, etc.
- Cookbooks

6. Favorite heavy reading?
- Anything on modern agriculture/food system, etc.
- Religion/theology
- Jane Austen? Does that count as heavy reading?

7. Last book(s) you finished?
- The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara

8. Last book(s) you bailed on?
- Hmm...bailed on? Not sure...I've been working on The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila for over a year now...I'm not bailing though! I'm not!

9. Three (only three!) books on your nightstand?
- The End of Food by Paul Roberts (I really recommend it, even though it is slightly apocalyptic.)
- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Yeah...I'm probably not going to actually crack this one open before it's due back at the library...)

10. Book(s) you’ve read more than once?
- Little House on the Prairie
- Perry Mason, all of them
- David Eddings books

11. The book(s) that meant the most to you when you were younger (ie, college/young adult)?
- Umm....I think I still am young adult? Although the library defines that as teenagers...I'm confused.
- N.T. Wright books
- Lots of stuff John Woodward gave me to read.

12. Book(s) that changed the way you looked at life?
- N.T. Wright books
- The Catholic Passion by David Scott
- The Politics of the Cross by Craig A Carter

13. Favorite books
- The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
- Lots of others...

14. Favorite author(s)
- I think I've mentioned most of them already.

15. Desert Island Book
- I really have no clue how to answer this question.

BONUS!
Desert Island Book for Your Worst Enemy
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (I actually liked this book, but I know it drives most people crazy.)

Snapshots

~~~1~~~

So I have made it to my sole "free weekend" in the middle of the spring craziness. (To be fair, two weeks from now, Easter Weekend, I technically am free, but...it's Easter. Not quite the same as "totally free with nothing to do." Although, I guess using that definition this is not a "free weekend" because there's lots to do! Well - except that inactivity is being forced by the weather. But more on that later.) Anyway, next weekend is our Tree Festival/Vegetable Gardening Workshop/I'm speaking in the afternoon at the Harvey County Garden Show in Newon, KS. Then Easter, then April 18th I'm teaching a lawn care class for 3 hours in the morning. The next weekend I conned Steven into going to Topeka with me, since I'm speaking a vegetable workshop there. Then we have Herb Day, which is the day before my birthday. Then...I think...other than the Farmers' Market, my weekends may be gloriously free for...well...awhile anyway.

~~~2~~~

So speaking of the weather, we are currently in a Blizzard Warning. Sounds delightful, right? Well, this is the first "blizzard" I've been in that doesn't involve snow. Grr... Actually, it has been throwing freezing rain, or something like that I had to drive across town at noon for one of the local TV news shows, and after that I decided that I would rather take a half day of annual leave rather than drive back to the office and then back home in the evening. After I made that decision, the roads seem to improve a little bit. But I really need a break, so the 4 hours off is worth it! On the other hand, I'd really appreciate it if some of these other cities in Kansas would stop hogging all the snow. Some of them have 7, 10, or 15 inches of snow. We have none! Just nasty accumulating frozen pellets of gunk. The purple splotch on the radar just keeps staying on top of us.

~~~3~~~

During our trip to St. Louis a couple weeks ago, I read Rise to Rebellion, a novel by Jeff Shaara about the Revolutionary War. I have always loved reading about that period of history, both from a "daily life" standpoint and from the political/army standpoint. Now I'm working my way through The Glorious Cause, the sequel novel. So far, I think I like the first one better, just because it covers more of the politics and perspectives of events leading up to the war. What I think is the most amazing, that you often don't think about or realize, is how long the Revolutionary War was. We all know the dates from 1775, 1776....Lexington & Concord, the Declaration of Independence, etc... and Valley Forge (1777-8). Yorktown, 1781. The final treaty was signed in September 1783. 1776-1783. That's 7 years. 7 years of fighting back and forth, forming an army from whoever would volunteer, constantly retreating and reforming, trying merely to survive to fight another day toward independence.

~~~4~~~

Since I had some free time this afternoon, I took the opportunity to get the kitchen totally clean for the first time in...weeks, I think. And then I promptly turned around and started getting it dirty by starting some bread and then making dinner. But after dinner I mostly cleaned it up again. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it in better shape. Now for the rest of the apartment...

~~~5~~~

Other things on the to-do list for this weekend (just in case you actually care about all the tedious detials of my life): clean the apartment, grocery shopping, finish taxes (KS income, and Steven's), shopping at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and.....you know, I think there was more on this list, but I can't remember anything else. That doesn't actually seem like a terrible list. (At least it doesn't as long as you can't see the apartment!) Oh yeah. Buying and writing and mailing Thank You notes. We have a few left from the wedding, and then a whole bunch from last weekend in Wisconsin.

~~~6~~~

Maybe we will soak our shiitake mushroom block again this weekend to encourage it to put on its second flush of mushrooms! Did I ever post pictures of it the first time around? I don't think I did. Here's one from when the first mushrooms were just starting to develop.

~~~7~~~

And, if you're interested, here's a couple pictures from the display garden we did at the Wichita Garden Show.

Snapshots

~~~1~~~

I've had a couple of busy weeks at work, which is nice, and not wholly unexpected. Between meetings and teaching classes, I've had 2-3 nights taken up each week, as well as a couple of exhausting days. This last week I taught a class on Tuesday evening about "Growing a 'Fruitful' Landscape," discussing ways to incorporate fruiting plants in the home landscape. There were 99 people at that class, which was excellent attendance for a very specific topic of interest.

The next morning was my first gardening class in the Hispanic community. I had to go into work a little early, because I'd been too busy and hadn't had time to finish translating the presentation into Spanish. (I was teaching in English, but had handouts available in Spanish in order to facilitate both languages.) So I spent 2 hours translating, then rushed off to that class. Sadly, I only had 2 people in attendance, neither of whom needed the Spanish handouts.

This is pretty consistent with the ups and downs of Extension work. Some things go over well, others don't, and it's hard to predict which will be which. With all fairness to the program in the Hispanic community - it's a very new program, and I'm still making contacts and getting established. It can take years to develop something like that.

~~~2~~~

Steven's family gave us a Mushroom Patch for Christmas, and we are watching it grow mushrooms as we speak! It's a Shiitake patch, and it seems to be behaving itself admirably. Hopefully I'll get around to taking a picture or two and posting them, eventually. It has only been sitting out in the living room under it's humidity tent for 1 week, but already there are many baby mushrooms poking out!

~~~3~~~

Last night we ate Indian food for dinner, and it was tasty! Steven cooked up some Tandoori Chicken from the Joy of Cooking and I made some stir-fried cabbage. Sounds disgusting, right? Wrong! It was really tasty, and simple to make. We had half a head of purple cabbage left from making a bean soup last weekend, so I decided to try this recipe. To paraphrase the recipe, I heated 1/4 c. oil to the smoking point, threw in 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds, then 1/2 tsp. turmeric, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper. After a quick stir, in goes the cabbage, sliced thin. Stir to coat, then pop the lid on and let it steam for 5 minutes. Mmm...tasty!

~~~4~~~

We are finally getting mostly settled in the apartment. I got a lot of cleaning done yesterday, and I think the second bedroom is organized to a livable state. There is even some floor space! Unfortunately, we are still short on bookshelves. Even more unfortunately, I'm not sure where we'd put another bookshelf, even if we had one! Sadly, clutter seems to accumulate on the counters and floors no matter how hard I try to keep them clean.

~~~5~~~

We are quickly winding towards the Wichita Garden Show. I have to say, that I really wish that it was March 8th rather than February 8th today! I just want the whole thing to be done with! The show itself isn't so bad. It's the preparations that are a killer! Since I'm in charge of our display garden this year, I have to manage the construction and the herds of volunteers working on it. It is rather a daunting task, all things considered.

What Life Asks of Us and Objective Truth

A friend of mine linked to this editorial - "What Life Asks of Us" by David Brooks (NYT) - on Facebook. I'd recommend that you go read the article first. It'll help the discussion.

My friend made this comment:

Brooks explains the advantage of devotion to institutions (social functions) rather than personal happiness (psychic profits), e.g., "...a farmer’s relation to her land is not an individual choice that can be easily reversed when psychic losses exceed psychic profits. Her social function defines who she is..." I'm not sure what I think.

I replied with this comment:

I like the article. I think there is a balance to be found between the two ways of thinking. Sometimes the institutions need changes. But I think I agree that sometimes the basic foundations of those institutions should be left alone. I do agree that excessively individualistic thinking is one of the most destructive aspects of our culture right now.

Another friend from college responded with:

I'm not sure the article spoke to the balance Rebecca mentions as much as I'd like. I don't think there is any institutional practice that is beyond questioning. I think it is important to teach students to question the status quo. But it is also important to arm them with tools to help them discern things that should be changed from things that should not. One should always question, but with an open mind to the possibility that the way things are is best. The author seems to allude to a point that there are institutions that work so well or do so much good one should not question their practices, and I disagree.

To which I then replied:

I agree that education should provide the tools to question the status quo and then discern what should be changed and what should not. (I would also argue that the vast majority of modern educational institutions fail at this task gravely, but that is a different post.)

Then the question becomes how do we discern what is good and what is not? Is there some standard to use? What is that standard? Either social institutions are judged against a standard, or they aren't. If there is no standard, then the discernment is all subjective. It becomes on "me" or a selfish "us."

But if there is a standard, then maybe the standard is wrong and we should move the standard. The standard doesn't "feel right" to me, so it should change? It is too hard, so it should change? It's not "fun enough"? Where does that end? It ends the same way.

When you get down to it, either there is some kind of objective reality...objective truth, if you will, or there isn't.

If there isn't any sort of objective truth, then we can educate until we're blue in the face with little effect. If there is no objective reality, then we have nothing left other than self-centeredness. We will ultimately be most concerned about looking after our own interests, rather than the interests of others (the community). (Philippians 2:4) Everyone chooses their own moral code. Those that are loudest may get policy enacted to support them. Perhaps not.

Without that objective moral code in place throughout the social institutions and society as a whole, we ultimately decay into the situation we are in today. That code becomes so decayed that actions that would have once been nearly inconceivable become such common practice that a whole system collapses. In this case, the bankers and money managers became so concerned with their own interests, they forgot the larger role they played in society.

Does anyone else have comments or input on this subject?

So, How's Married Life?

Apparently this question is as ubiquitous after getting married as "What are your plans?" is when you near a school graduation. Our normal response is something along the line of a slight smile, a vague shrug, and "Oh, not too bad." or "It's good...pretty typical."

What we are really thinking when you ask this question goes something like this:

What does this question really mean? What do they want to know? Is there some topic I'm supposed to address? Something that is so blindingly different about being married that I want to talk about it with whoever I happen across? If I wasn't of the gushy-emotional type before the wedding, was that supposed to change after getting married? Somehow I don't think they are looking for a logical analysis of our first X weeks of married life. Maybe they want to know if we're considering murdering each other yet? What would they say if I said I was contemplating such an action? (I'm not...no worries...just an example...)

Okay, so we don't think all those things each and every time someone asks the question. But they do cross the mind at times. (And to be fair, I get a lot more of this question than Steven, probably because my work environment lends itself to that type of small talk more frequently.)

So, in case you were wondering: Married life is good. We are learning to live together, as everyone does. What else do you want to know?

Because if you want to know about our sex life, ask a direct question and who knows? We might give you a direct answer. Then again, we might not. (Sorry if I just scandalized anyone.)

Do you want to know if everything is unpacked and in its place? Ask. We'll happily tell you that if you think there is a remote chance of that, you are probably deranged and deluded.

Does Steven like your cooking? Well...he had enough chance to sample that before, and he still seems to be eating, so I'm not too concerned.

Is the snoring keeping you awake at night? Wait...one of us snores? What? It's not me!

Is he/she driving you nuts yet? Um...no more than usual?

When are you going to start having babies? Whoa there...let's not get ahead of ourselves!

Are you settling into a comfortable routine? Hmm...I think so. Still trying to figure out how to maximize the hot water in the mornings. I blame that on our finicky water heater though.

You seem to be blogging more. Are you ignoring Steven to while away the hours on the computer? Hmm...no, I don't think I'm ignoring him. I'm just not planning a wedding. Or trying to pack his stuff. Or getting ready for Christmas.

I am now out of any semi-relevant questions that you may come up with to ask that fit under the category of "How's Married Life?" Perhaps I've forgotten something, but you can save those for sometime when you have an actual conversation with one of us!

Snapshots

A number of people have asked for more details about the wedding, the honeymoon trip, etc. So this edition of Snapshots will give a little bit of that information.

~~~1~~~

The wedding went smoothly. Everything was beautiful, and more or less what we had in mind. The food at the reception was delicious, and you really missed out by not being there. Pictures will be available when they are available. We don't have them yet, but rest assured that we will share them when we have them. Um...yeah, we should be getting around to Thank You notes ASAP.

~~~2~~~

We went to Dallas, TX on our honeymoon. In general, the weather was nice, although it was cold (32) and drizzly on Monday. It was 85 and sunny by Friday. While in Dallas we went to: Dallas World Aquarium, Dealey Plaza, The Sixth Floor Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Central Market, Dallas Arboretum, Fair Park, Dallas Heritage Village, and the Fort Worth Zoo. We also spent a couple hours in Grapevine, TX Saturday morning. We visited a glass-blowing studio and watched the artisans work for awhile. In retrospect, we would have spent less time in Dallas, more time in Fort Worth, and more time in some of the areas surrousding the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. Maybe next time.

~~~3~~~

One of our favorite stops from the early part of the week was Central Market. Basically, it is a huge grocery store with a lot of gourmet ingredients. We tried hard not to go too crazy. We ended up with some fingerling potatoes, which we just finished eating tonight, some blue potato & chioggia beet "potato" chips, some tomatoes, two different types of pears, a McIntosh apple, and Kangaroo Paw Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Lemon Myrtle Oil. Since Lemon Myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) plants are virtually impossible to come by here in the U.S., I jumped at this as our "splurge" item for the trip. We just opened it tonight, and it was awesome. We used it as part of the dressing for a purple potato salad. Mmm...

~~~4~~~

So, we are back in Wichita and trying to get settled in. We finally got the living room mostly clean and set up last night. We bought another bookshelf to house the stereo and DVDs, whcih cleared up a lot of space on the floor. Unfortunately, there is virtually no space left in the second bedroom. I think it will be better after we get some more unpacking and organization done. We also have a few boxes/tubs of stuff that is going to Goodwill or otherwise disappearing. That will clear out space too.

~~~5~~~

Both Steven and I have been in the habit of cooking two or three dishes on the weekend, and then eating the "leftovers" for meals all week. This was more efficient since Steven had evening classes and homework, and I was either busy with work or driving over to his place in the evenings. Since both of those situations are now cleared up (Steven is done with classes, and I live in the same apartment as him), we are going to try cooking throughout the week. I have to say that it is a little bit different for me...both in having dishes to be done more often and in juggling having meal prep to do during the week. Not that it's bad...just different. Cooking meals during the week allows us to reduce the foods we eat that have lots of carbs and increase the amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables. At least that's the theory...we'll see how it works out.

~~~6~~~

This week I'm starting a new class at work. It's called the New Lawn-Owner Clinic. The first class is Thursday night. Hopefully there is a good group registered, although I don't mind having a smaller class for the guinea pig group. I'm also including some "hands-on" components that Master Gardeners are helping with. We'll see how all of that goes, too.

~~~7~~~
The other exciting thing from this weekend is that we bought a washer and dryer! In honor of MLK Day and Obama's inauguration, we decided to buy the "diversity" set. Our washer is black with chrome accents and the dryer is white. Unfortunately, the salesman wouldn't give us a discount on the black dryer just because it was black. Ah well. (In all honesty, the white washer was out of stock, and the black was the same price. So it made no difference to us what color it was.) We have the very first load of laundry in right now. Yes, I know the excitement will wear off sooner rather than later.

Weird Food and Me

I was intending to title this post something along the lines of indicating that I'm really a Southern girl at heart because I seem to like lots of traditional "Southern" foods, like black-eyed peas, grits, and sweet tea. Then I realized that my only experience with grits has been "instant grits" and I also like other strange foods, like pickled herring, braunschweiger, duck liver pate, and oysters. so I guess when you come right down to it, I just have a taste for weird foods. At which point this whole post just peters out, because I can't wax eloquent about Southern food.

Besides, fresh veggies are much tastier than nasty fried Southern cooking!

Cofftea? Teafee? What the...?

I like coffee. But I'm picky. You might even say that I'm a coffee snob. I don't drink just any old coffee (unless I'm truly desperate). Yes, you guessed it...I like expensive coffee/coffee beverages. (Read: Excellent quality medium-dark roast made well with 2 heaping tsp. sugar per 8 oz. or lattes.)

For that reason, I don't drink it frequently. Well, let's define some things here. What I mean is that my coffee/coffee beverage consumption usually runs about 1-3 cups each week, depending on schedule, what I'm doing, if I feel like drinking empty calories, and if I'm craving an espresso fix. I have no interest in developing a coffee dependency. I would rather keep it as a treat. Besides, I don't feel (as) bad about spending $3.50-$4.00 on one drink per week, if it's only ONCE per week, as opposed to more frequently. And I always get the smallest size (except in true coffee emergencies!). But enough justification of my coffee habits.

So as I was running a couple errands this morning, the coffee craving hit. Mmm....coffee.... I knew I wasn't that far from a Starbucks, so I thought, sure, I'll get something. (Yes, I frequent the evil Starbucks regime...unfortunately on the west side of town, I am lacking the good quality local coffee shops that we know and love on the east side.)

When I go to Starbucks or a similar establishment, I usually want some version of a latte...preferably with a flavor syrup for sweetening. But I want the espresso flavor, with nice creamy milk and the sugar kick. Now from early November through early January, coffee shops provide a delightful array of seasonal drinks involving peppermint, gingerbread, amaretto, eggnog, chocolate, and pumpkin flavors. It is the "happy" season of coffee drinks.

So when I pulled into the drive-thru, although I knew in the back of my head that the "happy" seasonal items were gone, I figured I could perhaps find something tasty and sweet. The first perusal of the menu board was rather a shock. The central part of the menu was filled with...TEA! BLEARGH. (Okay, not that tea is bad in and of itself, but when ou want coffee...not so much.) My brain was in shock.

"Welcome to Starbucks. What can I get for you today?" "Uhhh.....um, uh, well...I don't know."

Pure shock. I don't like new situations, and I usually eschew drive-thrus so that I can have time to stand and peruse my options without feeling rushed to make a decision. So my shocked system frantically searches for something familiar on the board. To the far right I find the frappucinos. Would have been nice last Friday in Dallas, but in chilly, windy, Wichita? Not so much. Finally I find the regular coffee and espresso drinks on the far right of the board. I have never SEEN such a stripped down menu from Starbucks. Something...anything...plain lattes are too strong...need flavor...no flavor options listed...not a mocha...espresso truffle? Yikes.

"Um...I guess I'll take a vanilla latte please."

"Would you like to spice that up today by trying one of our new TAZO tea lattes?"

What the...apparently I'm an obvious candidate for the hard sell. "Uh...well...I suppose I could..."

"The London Fog* latte is really quite good. I even like that one.."

Great...even the employees aren't sold on the menu change. "Um...sure, why not?" (Am I a sucker, or what?) Seriously? London fog? Argh. Nasty tea latte, here we come. Nothing like wanting a warm, creamy infusion of espresso and ending up with a nasty over-spiced tea latte with no espresso taste.

"That will be $3.13." Well...at least that's the least I've paid for any coffee beverage in ages. Not all bad, I guess.

"Here you go. Let it steep for a couple minutes." Huh?!? Ack. Whatever.

It doesn't smell awful. Hmm...

The cute little cardboard cupholder is orange and emblazoned with the Tazo Tea logo. Try our new full leaf tea lattes and tea infusions.

Full leaf tea?!? ARGH....I hate blatant marketing gimmicks. Seriously, I don't think you stuck whole leaves of Camellia sinensis in my drink. (Okay, I looked it up...I couldn't find anything telling me what "full leaf tea" is specifically, other than indicating that it is supposed to be a high quality loose leaf tea. Just to clarify for future reference: loose leaf does not equal tea bag.)

First sip...okay, it's not bad. It's much better than chai latte. But it's still not what I wanted. At least it's drinkable enough to finish. The spices aren't scorching my throat.

Next to last sip...what is this slithering around in my cup? Opening the lid...dang it! There's a tea bag! No wonder the drink was cheaper...they filled space with a tea bag! MROWR.

Starbucks, you have failed me. You have replaced your tasty espresso drinks with nasty "healthy" tea drinks. I will have to find alternate sources of tasty sustenance until you come to your senses.

From the Starbucks Gossip blog: London Fog Latte, an intriguing blend of black tea, citrusy bergamot, French lavender, vanilla and freshly steamed milk.

Do Something Radical for Christmas! A Reminder

Several weeks ago, I highlighted my friend Nettie's blog: Heart of the Mission. You can also find it regularly on my sidebar Blog List. Nettie is a "novice" with a mission called InnerCHANGE. She works with Latino youth in the Mission district in San Francisco.

Nettie spent last year in San Francisco as an apprentice. As a novice for the next 2 years, she needs to raise an additional $2000 in support each month. This is a lot! I would like all of you to consider supporting her - either regularly or with a one time gift. InnerCHANGE is an ecumenical ministry, so no need to get your knickers in a knot about supporting or not supporting a particular Christian denomination. If you want to support Nettie (or get more information), you can click here, and search for Antoinette Spitz.

From Nettie's Blog:

InnerCHANGE is a Christian order among the poor, and I am both proud and humbled to be walking within it. Our foundation is Micah 6:8 - we seek to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. We do this through relationships in our neighborhoods…where strangers become neighbors, neighbors become friends, and friends become beloved family.

From the InnerCHANGE website:

We are communities of missionaries living in poor, marginalized neighborhoods around the world – places most people want to avoid or ignore. We seek to live out the good news of Jesus among the poor, both with words and deeds.

We neither glamorize our calling nor diminish its importance. We are moved by the life and love of Jesus, enticed by his goodness. We have sensed his call to take up our crosses and follow: knowing that as we lose our life for his sake, we will truly find it. Despite the enormity of the missionary task, we do not pursue this work with long faces. Rather, we rejoice in our opportunity to be messengers of the King as he invites all people - poor and rich alike - to his banquet table.

Twittering?

I'm not going to join Twitter. And here's why. Umm...okay, I am going to join Twitter. And here's why. Well...I really don't want to join Twitter, but I'm really very very curious as to what it's like. Okay, fine. I'll give in and join. But I won't promise to like it. Or even use it very often.

I really don't need more technology in my life, at least not my private life. My work life could use some more technology sometimes. I think we're going to get a video camera that we can use to post short videos to our website. That will be fun! Hopefully it will also be useful and impactful in our ability to reach audiences we otherwise might not reach. Apparently the newspaper here is close to going bankrupt, which would pretty effectively cut back on a lot of the easy, cheap marketing and good press we get. Ouch.

Anyway, I really prefer blogging, even though I've been pretty lax about intelligent, thoughtful posts this fall. I blame it on the wedding. (Notice how I've lapsed into Kansas-speech regarding seasons. It probably qualifies as winter now though, since we've had a day where the high temperature doesn't get above freezing.) "Tweeting" on Twitter seems so...juvenile. Less thoughtful. I really don't need the additional temptation to distraction at work. But we'll give it a try. Chances are it will become what Facebook is...an interesting tool, but something I only check infrequently or when someone harasses me.

Snapshots

~~~1~~~

I had my first dress fitting with the seamstress on Wednesday. Happily, the dress fits beautifully, so all there is to do is the bustling and a couple minor things. My next fitting will be in 2 weeks, just before we are headed out for Christmas.

~~~2~~~

As we move through December, our fall classes wind down at work, but Garden Show planning speeds up. I have one more Market Farmer class, we have only 1 more Master Gardener Basic Training class (after this week), most of the committees are having their "Christmas Party" meetings, and so on. This is a good thing, of course, since I've got plenty of other things to do before January.

~~~3~~~

The Garden Show is 3 months from now. Since we are doing a vegetable display garden, I'm doing a lot of the planning and planting of veggies. Today I planted tomato, brussels sprouts, and globe artichoke seeds. Hopefully everything turns out okay, since I really have no idea what I'm doing.

~~~4~~~

Since it's now December, and the temperature is going to get down to a "frigid" 22 degrees, I decided to harvest some of the things I've been keeping going out in our demonstration garden. I harvested the rest of 4 varieties of lettuce, the remaining purple carrots, and the gold beets. Yum! I gave some of the produce away to staff, and the rest I made into a salad for MG Basic Training. The lettuces and carrots were gorgeous...maybe I'll get around to transferring some pictures to the blog.

~~~5~~~

Is it just me or have there been absolutely no movies worth going to see for months?!? Every few weeks I think, "Gee, we could go to a movie for something fun to do." Then I look up the movie listings and realize that there is absolutely nothing that looks enticing enough to pay too much money to see. Supposedly there are some movies coming out in December that are worth seeing, but I don't think we're going to have much time for movie-going.

~~~6~~~

I hope the Federal government doesn't bail out the automakers. I'm sorry that people will get hurt from losing jobs. But people are going to get hurt just as bad, if not worse, in the long run if the government keeps spending money it doesn't have. And that's all I've got to say about that.

Hmm...

Now this is an interesting competition: Dance Your PhD. Yeah...I thought you'd find it amusing. There are over 30 videos on YouTube - some of them are pretty good, and some of them are pretty bad. All of the dissertations danced are from science fields, so you have to be pretty impressed that they even attempted to put these topics to choreography.

Do Something Radical for Christmas!

Several weeks ago, I highlighted my friend Nettie's blog: Heart of the Mission. You can also find it regularly on my sidebar Blog List. Nettie is a "novice" with a mission called InnerCHANGE. She works with Latino youth in the Mission district in San Francisco.

Nettie spent last year in San Francisco as an apprentice. As a novice for the next 2 years, she needs to raise an additional $2000 in support each month. This is a lot! I would like all of you to consider supporting her - either regularly or with a one time gift. InnerCHANGE is an ecumenical ministry, so no need to get your knickers in a knot about supporting or not supporting a particular Christian denomination. If you want to support Nettie (or get more information), you can click here, and search for Antoinette Spitz.

From Nettie's Blog:

InnerCHANGE is a Christian order among the poor, and I am both proud and humbled to be walking within it. Our foundation is Micah 6:8 - we seek to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. We do this through relationships in our neighborhoods…where strangers become neighbors, neighbors become friends, and friends become beloved family.

From the InnerCHANGE website:

We are communities of missionaries living in poor, marginalized neighborhoods around the world – places most people want to avoid or ignore. We seek to live out the good news of Jesus among the poor, both with words and deeds.

We neither glamorize our calling nor diminish its importance. We are moved by the life and love of Jesus, enticed by his goodness. We have sensed his call to take up our crosses and follow: knowing that as we lose our life for his sake, we will truly find it. Despite the enormity of the missionary task, we do not pursue this work with long faces. Rather, we rejoice in our opportunity to be messengers of the King as he invites all people - poor and rich alike - to his banquet table.

Snapshots

~~~1~~~

Have you noticed that whenever I say I'm going to be very busy and probably won't be able to post, I inevitably find the time to post something. In this case, I shouldn't have been too surprised, since I usually have spare time in the evenings when I'm traveling for work.

~~~2~~~

I was reading through a commentary/Bible study on the book of Acts this weekend, and one of the footnotes discussed the word "witness." The origin of the Christian usage of the word comes from a transliteration of the Greek word "martyr." Our current use of "martyr" was also derived from the same Greek word. That really puts a new spin on the concept of "witnessing" to our faith and what we believe.

~~~3~~~

I think we got all of the wedding invitations mailed out. Hopefully they all found their way to their intended destination. (We've only had one returned so far, but it took quite awhile for it to find its way back.) Now we are on to tallying up RSVPs and figuring out some of the other last minute details. Like decorations for the reception. Music selection. Other minor details. Hopefully most of those things will get ironed out in the next couple weeks.

~~~4~~~

24 will be back on Sunday!!! It's been a long time since there's been a new episode of 24 (and this is really just a 2 hour made-for-TV movie to bridge the seasons). Thank you screenwriter's guild strike! Anyway, without getting into all of that, it will be interesting to see where the show goes in the new season, because last season wasn't very excellent. After all, there is only so much abuse that one man (Jack Bauer) can take without experiencing total mental collapse. Not that the show is supposed to be realistic, but it seems to gradually become less believable with every season, and everything that Jack is subjected to by the writers of the show.

~~~5~~~

New (2009) seed catalogs have started to arrive! I love this time of year. The only bad thing is all the drooling over plants that I don't have space to grow. Exciting new things for this year:

• 'Purple Rain' Carrot from Johnny's Selected Seeds
• 'Padron' Pepper from Johnny's and Thompson-Morgan. Padron Peppers are a cultural curiosity from Spain. The story is actually pretty interesting.
• 'Waterfall' Pansy from Thompson-Morgan. This is a small-flowered pansy that is specially bred for hanging baskets.
• There are several 'spineless' varieties of summer squash on the market this year. Good to know that gene trait finally made its way to commercial varieties. The plants lack the tiny spines common to most squash stems. These spines frequently scratch the fruit when they are harvested, reducing the shelf life. So the varieties aren't that exciting for the average gardener, but commercial growers should appreciate it.
• 'Summer Ball' is a mini pumpkin variety that is bred for growing in containers. From Johnny's; Thompson & Morgan.

Snapshots

~~~1~~~

Our goal is to have all the wedding invitations mailed by this weekend. I suppose that would require me to work on addressing envelopes, wouldn't it? Or work on printing invitations? Or other stuff like that? Yes, that would be correct. And yet again, I am sitting here typing a blog post rather than doing something semi-productive. Oops.

~~~2~~~

On the wedding, my dress is here! Yay! I got to try it on last weekend, and it fits pretty well. It will need a few nips and tucks, but that's typical. The bodice actually needs to be taken in an inch or two, because while it has a lace-up back closure, it will look better if you can actually see the lacing. It will also fit better if it can be tied up tighter. Of course, I could consider gaining weight...or NOT! After all, Thanksgiving and Christmas are both between now and the wedding, so I can't help but gain some weight...especially if I eat too many of the green cornflake wreath cookies. I could probably live on those for a whole day.

~~~3~~~

I went into Walmart yesterday to buy some tulip bulbs to teach a class this morning, and I found that I had to wade my way through Christmas decorations and Christmas dishes, and wrapping paper and ribbons and fake poinsettias (ACK!). Seriously. Isn't this a little bit much? I did see some very pretty blue ribbon that could be nice for wedding decorations. But that does not redeem the fact that Walmart is decked out for Christmas before Halloween.

~~~4~~~

Does anyone else find it annoying that Barack Obama has bought 30 minutes of airtime tonight? Good. I would be disturbed if you didn't. I think I would still find it annoying if it was John McCain buying airtime. Ugh. I will be SO HAPPY when this election is over. I will be even happier after the media gets over drooling over Obama. Double ugh.

~~~5~~~

Tomorrow I'm teaching the fruit class for our Master Gardener Basic Training. I feel like I'm trying to cram too much information into 3 hours. You want to try fitting comprehensive information on apples, pears, cherries, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes into 3 hours with a break and an activity? Yeah, it doesn't work too well. The problem is that so few of our MGs are even interested in fruit, let alone have any experience with growing it. The only reason they need the information is to answer questions on Hotline, which won't apply to all of them. They probably will forget most of the information by the time they need to use it anyway.

However, I will make the attempt to teach the information in an interesting way, force them to think a little bit, and hope to encourage a few of them to try growing fruit in the future.

~~~6~~~

Next Monday begins the craziness that is the month of November. My classes for market farmers/gardeners is getting some nice publicity, and I have people registered from a number of locations, so that makes me feel good that I'm offering something that is needed. Hopefully the classes go well, the participants get some good information and ideas, and I get some good contacts. I'm also seeing an increase in people coming in to ask about planting fruit for commercial production, which I think is a wide open market in this area. We have next to no commercial fruit operations. Agritourism places could do a booming business here.

~~~7~~~

Ummm.....ok. I guess I ran out of things to say. I guess this means that I have to go to addressing envelopes. On that note, if you know that you have changed your address in the last couple months, please let me know so I don't have to hunt it down!