This is our last day in hawaii. my inner-soul battery is recharged...will finish later.
I am slowly adjusting to the time difference. I think last night I went to bed at 8:45? and didn't wake up till 7:30 a.m.! jet-lag progress! So I just looked outside the window and descending from a cloud right over the island of molokai (which i can see in the distance) is a giant rainbow. hawaii is filled with subtle surprises like that.
Cue the ukeleles. We have arrived in Maui. We left the house at 6:15 a.m. and landed 9:30 p.m. eastern time. That is a long travel day.
Movies I want to see
I wrote this article for the New Canaan News back in July. It's about how New Canaan residents can support local farming. I looked it up because I'm working on another article about farming. And looking back, I'm really proud of it. So I'm posting it here. Read away.
When you think of a farm, you most likely picture a quaint, rural setting. Maybe there's a cow in your reverie, or perhaps some fields of wheat. Whatever you envision, it's probably miles away from New Canaan.
But if the model of agriculture is to change to account for people's demands of fresher, healthier food with a smaller carbon footprint, New Canaan will have to embrace certain farming practices.
Luckily there are plenty of ways to do that without converting your garage into a barn and your tennis court into a pasture (although, experts say, that's not as outlandish as it may seem.)
1. Join a CSA
Community supported agriculture, ( CSA ), gives a farmer more financial stability and is a way for participants to get a steady supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Community members buy a stake in the wintertime, usually about $500, in the upcoming season. Buying into a CSA is a risk because if the crops fail that year, participants get less crops. But in a good season, shareholders usually get a crate of whatever is ripe each week.
Patricia Popp, owner of Sport Hill Farm in Easton, has 75 participating families in her CSA program this year. They come mostly from Easton, but also from as far as Norwalk and Stamford.
"There's already a waiting list for next year," Popp said.
Since participants buy-in during the off season, farmers can spread their expenses over the year.
Participants not only get fresh food, they also "eat seasonal," a concept that dictates eating produce when it is in season because that is when its nutritional content is the highest.
2. Buy produce from local farmers
"We have to make sure there's a market for local produce," Liba Furrhman, executive director of the Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust said. "The larger the market, the more people who will want to go into farming."
Become a "localvore," or someone committed to eating food grown within their local food shed.
New Canaan has a Saturday and Wednesday farmer's market where local produce is available, as well as farms within a half hour's drive.
Going directly to a farmer's stand is less expensive than going to a farmer's market, farmer Patricia Popp,of Easton, said. "The whole idea of buying local or being a localvore has become more popular not only to support the local economy, but also to lower carbon footprint," New Canaan resident John Kriz, who is a board member for the Connecticut Farmland Trust, said. "It helps support local employment and local open space. People in New Canaan are really a very sophisticated group who really understand and care about what they eat. Buying fresh, local organic food is part of their lifestyle and part of the values they believe in and want to support."
3. Replace landscaping with agriculture
Anyone can farm on the small scale with a vegetable garden or even a small chicken coop.
Kriz considers himself a producer of agriculture since he keeps beehives on his property in New Canaan.
During World War II, when food was rationed, people dug up their lawns and planted "victory gardens" to demonstrate self sufficiency.
"Considering that New Canaan is made up of a significant amount of parcels with generous surplus land there could be a lot more personal or neighborhood scale gardens," Town Planner Steve Kleppin said. "Obviously the soils would have to be amended and I would recommend some industrial strength deer fencing. But if you have a 2 to 4 acre lot that is not all wooded, there is more than enough room to install a large garden and/or some fruit trees. Like anything else they need a lot of maintenance, but if people really want to talk about sustainability, that would be a great start. Couple that with some home-based composting and now you're cooking."
If that sounds like too much hard work, you can always ask your landscaper to plant vegetables instead of flowers or even hire an organic farmer to till your soil, Fairfield County Land Trust President Candace Benyei said.
4. Educate the next generation
"If we want to save farmland in Connecticut, we have to start teaching and put love in kids," Popp said. "Just because you have farm doesn't mean children will want to carry it on. It's hard work, lots of labor, extreme heat, you're soaking wet."
Popp hosts a summer camp on her farm.
They plant seeds, pick the fields and talk about seasonal eating. If they are brave enough, they can go into the chicken coop and pick an egg.
"We need to teach people that understanding and love when they're little," Popp said. She said she has some potential farmers in her group.
"I have handful of kids who from day one we started just took to it and truly do love it," Popp said.
The interest is there. The Fairfield County Farm Bureau hosted a conference for beginning farmers in March. The 13 workshops were filled to capacity. At the Northeast Organic Farming Association's winter conference in February, 700 people attended and there was standing room only. Two-thirds of the people were under 45.
"Huge numbers of young people, who are college educated, understand the way we are growing food in this country, with pesticides and such, is killing us off," Benyei said.
5. Support a land trust
Organizations such as the Connecticut Farmland Trust and Connecticut Farm Bureau work with Connecticut farmers to help them preserve their land for agricultural use only.
"All those all non-profits help preserve small farms like me," Popp said. "Donate your time, money. Preserve it. Help farmers find a way to do it. If not, they'll have to close their farm."
- Ugh, Vanessa, hate you. I just know she is going to find a way to F up Scott’s life. Scott’s express orders: Vanessa don’t tell anyone.
- Ahh, love love love blair and chuck.
Blair: pity, I already got my bidding paddle
Chuck: I’m sure you’ll find some other use for it.
-oh look, Vanessa is already running her mouth to dan. It’s been what, two scenes?
- Why is dan going to the auction? And why did he invite Vanessa? Why does Vanessa always weasel her way into everything? Ok watch, somehow she is going to mess up things between dan and scott at the auction.
-ooh, serena’s dress is hot.
-ew, and vanessa’s is not. She always comes to these classy events drastically underdressed like some boho freak.
- ha serena got the photo! Love it!
- p.s. where is jenny? I mean im not complaining. She’s prob my least favorite character after Vanessa, but she seems to have been phased out completely.
- and there better be a really dang good explanation as to why lily has completely disappeared.
- awww. Blair and chuck. Blair just wants to love.
-I knew something about this new georgina seemed fishy.
-GO AWAY VANESSA.
-ew, rufus using lily’s limo. So disgusting.
- ok, did you see georgina’s laptop? It’s a picture of her and dan!
- are dan and serena about to hook up? Aww man, no.
- I actually think carter is so cute. Sooooo cute. Serena and carter are so cute.
- oh there’s jenny! She still exists!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww blair and chuck!!
I saw a Bollywood movie last night with my friend Sobia called "What's Your Rashee?" I actually liked it. It's about a Gujarati NRI who goes back to India because his parents want him to get married. There's like 176 who respond to his ad, so instead of seeing them all, he decided to see 12, one girl of each sign. The 12 girls are all played by the same actress, Priyanka Chopra. The film really does show her versatility as an actress.
If he had followed his dream of becoming an architect sooner, she probably would have committed to him.
Shakira is so beautiful and an amazing dancer. I love this video for her newest song, she-wolf:
Would you believe, since deregulation of energy in 1996, you let the store, manufacturer, and transporters put in a cancer,... read more
on In the Dressing Room